BEHIND THE SCENES
Programming Team
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Martine McDonald (She/Her)
Creative Director and Senior Programmer, Queer Rhapsody
Martine Joelle McDonald is a film curator and teaching artist with over a decade of experience in social impact storytelling and anti-bias media arts. She advocates for historically excluded artists, aiming to transform disparities in the narrative and documentary film industries. As the founder of Practice Wonder, a creative studio and narrative change consulting practice, she highlights stories rooted in joy as resistance, underrepresented childhoods, politics of care, and the practice of wonder. Martine previously served as the Director of Artist Development at Outfest, leading initiatives to empower emerging talent. Her collaborations include Tribeca Institute, Firelight Media, National Endowment for the Arts, and GLAAD.
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Moi Santos (She/Her)
Senior Programmer, Queer Rhapsody
Moi Santos is the Manager for the Equity, Impact, and Belonging Program at Sundance Institute. In this role, Moi works across all Sundance Institute Programs to deepen engagement with, and support of, storytellers and audiences across ethnicities, genders, abilities, sexual orientations, and geographic regions. She is the founder of the Trans Possibilities Intensive, an incubator program that provides a supportive environment for transgender artists of color to work on their projects, sharpen their craft, develop community and challenge the obstacles that continue to exclude transgender artists of color. She holds a degree in Ethnic Studies with a concentration in visual culture and gender studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Natalie Jasmine Harris (She/They)
Associate Programmer, Queer Rhapsody
Natalie Jasmine Harris is a Black queer filmmaker and Associate Programmer with Queer Rhapsody. Her short film, GRACE, premiered at The 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and her 2022 NYU thesis film, PURE, received The DGA Student Film Award and was acquired by HBO. She is currently developing PURE into a feature-length film of the same name with producer Avril Speaks. Natalie has participated in artist programs with Film at Lincoln Center, GLAAD, SFFILM, Outfest, and more.
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Daniel Crooke (He/Him)
Senior Programmer, Queer Rhapsody
Daniel Crooke (he/him) is a film programmer in Los Angeles whose core work aims to amplify narrative and documentary filmmakers from around the globe and connect their work with audiences. At present, he is a Senior Programmer at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. Previously, he worked as the Senior Programmer at Outfest, where he held various programming roles including lead Shorts Programmer from 2016-2023. He has served on festival juries including the Nashville Film Festival and Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, and is proud to have taken posts across many leading arts organizations in the United States such as the Atlanta Film Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Overlook Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, AFI Fest, NewFest, Palm Springs ShortFest, and TCM Classic Film Festival
PRODUCTION
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Christopher Versackas (He/Him)
Design and Branding
Christopher Versackas is an Art Director, Graphic Designer and illustrator based in Los Angeles.
He is the founder of Bring Your Own Pen, an art group based in Echo Park that hosts events aimed at fostering community and connecting artists in Los Angeles through creativity.
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Sheryl Santacruz (She/Her)
Film Traffic and Community Outreach
Born and raised in New Jersey, Sheryl has been working at film festivals for over 15 years. After obtaining a degree in Communication Studies at New York University, she started her career working in artist hospitality for some of New York City’s most prestigious film festivals: Tribeca Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, and the New York Film Festival. She continued with various logistical, operational, and curatorial positions at other festivals across the US, including the Philadelphia Film Festival, the Montclair Film Festival in NJ, and the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. Most recently, she worked as the Senior Programming Manager at Outfest, growing its festival offerings and programs for eight years. Currently, she is the Associate Director of Programming at Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans and the Director of Filmmaker/Industry Relations & Accessibility at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas.
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Hansen Bursic (He/Him)
Communications
Hansen Bursic serves as the Communications Specialist for Queer Rhapsody. He is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, film programmer, and communications consultant based between Los Angeles and his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. He is a 2023 Ford Foundation Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellows and a 2023 Temple University 30 Under 30. He currently serves as a programmer for the ReelQ LGBTQ+ Film Festival and Backyard Docs (formerly the Rust Belt & Appalachia Documentary Film Festival) and has worked in communications roles at Outfest and the International Documentary Association.
An activist as much as an artist, his work is focused on stories that matter, told ethically both behind and in front of the camera. His latest film, Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania, tells the story of a legendary party that saw hundreds of trans women take over a small Pennsylvania town. The film was funded through the Creative Hope Initiative, an incubator for emerging LGBTQ+ filmmakers sponsored by Traverse32 and Outfest, and will premiere at Frameline in June 2024.
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Whitney Skauge (THEY/THEM)
Video Editor
WHITNEY SKAUGE is Director/Editor working in documentary film. Skauge uses their work as an extension of social and political activism, advocating for diverse storytelling and representation on both sides of the camera. Skauge is a recent recipient of the Emerging Black LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award from Newfest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival and a member of the inaugural GLAAD “Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative” for Black LGBTQ+ filmmakers.Their debut short film, The Beauty President, honors AIDS activist and drag artist Terence Alan Smith. The film premiered at SXSW in March 2021 and was produced by Academy Award®-winning company Breakwater Studios and Executive Produced by Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani of Hillman Grad Productions. Highlighted screenings include the BlackStar Film Festival, AFI Docs, Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the Camden International Film Festival, Outfest: Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival, Hollyshorts, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, and dozens of other festivals and art institutions around the world.
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Teri Bond (SHE/HER)
Publicity
Teri Bond is a communications strategist with experience advising executives and creatives on thought leadership opportunities and securing media placements. She is skilled at building valuable relationships with a range of stakeholders to amplify compelling stories. A results-focused collaborator able to pivot under deadline pressure, she specializes in the promotion of education, art, design, entertainment and wellness. She contributed to marketing and communications success at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television; ArtCenter College of Design and Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television before joining pH Collective, a socially conscious creative agency.
