Mirror Dance

Frances McElroy began her career as an independent filmmaker in 1991, when she founded Shirley Road Productions, an award-winning nonprofit independent production company in Philadelphia. She is especially drawn to subjects that relate to the arts, community development, and social change, often with an international perspective. Recent production credits include Ballycastle, a documentary she produced and directed, which tells the story of Stuart Shils, a Philadelphia painter of Jewish heritage whose infatuation with a remote Irish village changed his life. The film won a 2004 CINE Golden Eagle Award. An Angel in the Village, a documentary McElroy produced about Chinese-born community-based artist Lily Yeh, premiered nationally in 1999. It received a regional Emmy Award, First Prize for Documentary Excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists, Greater Philadelphia Chapter, and a Gabriel Award.

Before becoming an independent filmmaker, McElroy was director of program development and an Emmy award-winning producer/director at WHYY Philadelphia. Her credits include Philadelphia’s Ed Bacon, a documentary about renowned city planner Edmund Bacon, and Who is Red Grooms?, a documentary about the beloved American artist. In 1987/1988, she directed INPUT 1988, the International Public Television Screening Conference.

Producer/ Director María Teresa Rodríguez's work often centers on untold stories of Latinos in the Americas whose experiences reflect a larger sociopolitical reality. Her work includes Mirror Dance, which was broadcast on Independent Lens and received a LASA Award of Merit and a Cine Golden Eagle Award. María most recently worked with Vital Pictures and California Newsreel on the series Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? which received a PBS national broadcast, a 2009 duPont Columbia Award in Television News and a 2009 Council on Foundations Henry Hampton Award. Other work includes From Here to There/De Aquí a Allá which won first place for short documentary at the XVII International Film Festival of Uruguay. She is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships including a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a Leeway Transformation Award, which recognizes the work of women artists engaged in social change.