About US

Main Team Members

JULIE RUBIO | DIRECTOR, producer, writer

Julie Rubio is an award-winning film producer, writer, director, and actor. She is the President of Women in Film SF Bay Area. Rubio launched East Meets West Productions in 2002 and her films have been featured in many domestic and international festivals including Los Angeles Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, Cinequest, Miami International Film Festival, Napa Valley Film Festival, CAAMFest, San Francisco Latino Film Festival, World Film Festival of Bangkok, AFS American Center, Moscow, AFS Art Film Gallery, Yerevan, Armenia and many more.

Rubio produced the multiple award-winning feature film East Side Sushi, winning awards at 16 film festivals, and receiving a nomination for Cinema Tropical’s 2016 Best Latino Film of the Year and a nomination for Mexico’s Diosa De Plata award for Best Picture. East Side Sushi has domestic and international distribution through Samuel Goldwyn Company, Sony Home, HBO North America, and Netflix. East Side Sushi was identified in 2019 as one of the Top 20 Bay Area Films of the Decade (Mercury News) and one of Diablo Magazine's 2023 Power Players and innovators who are making a difference.

Rubio wrote, directed, and produced the feature film Too Perfect, distributed domestically through Amazon Prime and internationally through Osiris Entertainment. She wrote, directed, and produced the feature film Six Sex Scenes and a Murder, distributed through Apple TV.

Other films Rubio produced include Soledad is Gone Forever for Haiku Films, Oakland B Mine commissioned by the Port of Oakland, the comedy Del Cielo (Of Heaven), and Everything is Temporary, as well as music videos for the rapper Kahleo.

Rubio is currently in the final cut for her upcoming documentary feature, The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka and the Art of Survival, which explores the life of Polish Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka.

In 2022, Rubio became the Vice President of Women In Film SF Bay Area and in 2023 became the President of Women In Film SF Bay Area.

AMY HARRISON | CREATIVE producer, writer

Amy Harrison is a San Francisco based filmmaker of scripted and unscripted films who is passionate about socially relevant storytelling that feature strong female protagonists and underrepresented communities. Her work has screened at venues such as New York’s Film Forum, LA Film Festival, London’s BBC Short Film Festival, Slamdance, NY’s Museum of Modern Art, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and more. Her documentary Guerrillas In Our Midst, about the art activists the Guerrilla Girls and their critique of bias against women and artists of color in the blue chip art world, has screened at hundreds of festivals, colleges, and museums world wide, and is distributed by Women Make Movies. She co-produced the feature A Girl Like Grace, which starred Meagan Good, Raven-Symoné, and Garcelle Beauvais. She directed the short narrative Miss Finknagle Succumbs to Chaos, which won the audience award at Berkeley’s Playground festival, and she directed the short Tormenta with the American Conservatory Theater (ACT). She produced work for Comedy Central, the Ms. Foundation for Women, the PBS series In the Life, MTV, and more. She is a committed educator and mentor, and is currently a faculty member in the Media Studies program at Foothill College in Los Altos, California where she is committed to equity and access.

SVETLANA CVETKO | DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, Co-Producer

Svetlana Cvetko is an award-winning cinematographer known for her work on many critically acclaimed documentaries, including OSCAR® winner Inside Job, OSCAR® nominated Facing Fear, the Cannes Official Selection Red Army, and the Sundance US Documentary Special Jury Prize-winning Inequality For All. In addition, she was the first cinematographer on films such as OSCAR® winner O.J.: Made in America and Sundance documentary Miss Representation, setting the look for those films. Svetlana has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2019. Her feature-length directorial debut is the award-winning Show Me What You Got. An ode to Jules et Jim and the rule-breaking French New Wave, the film has been called a “work of courage in search of the meaning of life" by MadMass Cinema in Italy and "a captivating well-acted story with great style" by FilmThreat. Show Me What You Got tells the story of three twenty-somethings, Marcello, Nassim and Christine, who form a ménage à trois and struggle to prove their worth to their families and the world around them. Currently playing in festivals, Show Me What You Got has garnered five awards and one nomination in just eight festivals so far, including being awarded the Grand Jury Prize by Oliver Stone at its world premiere in Taormina, Italy. Svetlana also directed the genre film Deadly Switch starring Dylan Walsh, Teri Polo and Danika Yarosh, currently on Netflix, and she received the Grand Prix du Public at Films de Femmes for her short autobiographical film No War and Best Documentary at LA Shorts Fest for her blend of narrative and documentary styles for Yours Sincerely, Lois Weber.

NEVA TASSAN | Co-Producer

Neva Tassan co-produced From Baghdad to The Bay, which won Best Documentary Feature at its world premiere at Cinequest, screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and won several other awards. Neva is also an associate producer of One, a narrative feature which is currently in pre-production, by East Side Sushi producer Julie Rubio.

Jennifer Wallace | Co-Producer

Jennifer comes from a 20+ year career in Marketing, business development and operations for Fortune 100 and high-net-worth banking. She is active in the independent film community including leading a production company, Thunderbolt Forge Films, which currently has a feature-length documentary, “Who Do We Have Here” in production and "Mexico '85" in pre-production, and includes an active marine services division supporting all aspects of maritime needs during film production. Jennifer is also the President of the Board of Directors for Artists United, a global nonprofit with more than 30,000 members, helping artists connect to ask for what they need help with and offer what they can help with, to work in reciprocity for collaborating, coaching and mentoring.

additional team members

TASHA NESBITT | Associate PRODUCER

Tasha Nesbitt is a producer, director, and writer and is the President of Women in Film San Francisco Bay Area (WIFSFBA). Tasha runs the production company TASHA.MEDIA and coaches clients how to shoot and publish their own videos through her business DIYWEBVIDEO.COM. She has produced a wide range of video productions including documentary, web series, commercials, PSAs, music videos, instructional videos and narrative films in the San Francisco Bay Area. After placing in the Broadcast Education Association’s National Screenplay contest, Tasha earned a certificate in Professional Writing for the Screen through Writer’s Boot Camp LA. In 2004, she co-wrote and produced the feature film Pathogen and from 2005 to 2011 Nesbitt produced and hosted the annual Short Film Showcase for Bay Area Women In Film & Media (BAWIFM). At the heart of Tasha’s success is a love of story and storytelling. She is passionate about uncovering the universal, emotionally resonant message in every story. Tasha lives and works in Oakland and is a Bay Area Native.

alexis hazelwood

Alexis Hazelwood is a creative based in San Francisco. As an experienced video professional, she has worked on large and small scale productions for commercial, documentary, and educational platforms - with capacities for photography, set design, lighting, and sound recording. Post-production skills include long and short-form editing, 2D animating, compositing, rotoscoping, sound design, product coloring/retouching, and motion graphic design.

lisa tanisawa

Lisa Tanisawa supported the production of the award-winning documentary feature From Baghdad to the Bay. She trained in Improv and Sketch at The Upright Citizen's Brigade in New York. Lisa received her BA in Sociology from UC Santa Barbara and Masters in Public Health from San Jose State University.

Rachel Gamson

Rachel is a New York-based video editor and researcher. She graduated from New York University with a degree in Film & TV and a minor in art history. Her goals are to promote untold and authentic stories and to help create greater community engagement through documentary film.

nikki hausherr

Nikki Hausherr is an experienced creative who is all about storytelling. She was raised in the woods of Connecticut and received her bachelor's degree in Documentary Production at DePaul University in Chicago. Nikki now lives in sunny Aspen, Colorado.

Passionate about capturing the essence of individuals, experiences, small businesses, and places, Nikki works closely with her clients to deliver a final product they are excited about. Whether it's through photo or video, Nikki believes that everyone has a story, and she has the skills and mindset to genuinely capture and portray these stories.

Nikki has experience with food & drink photography, portraits, commercials, events and interiors. She also helps local businesses build an online presence through web design and social media.