Meet the team.
Kevin Truong is the director, producer, director of photography and editor for “Mai American.” Kevin is a Sundance-supported artist whose work spans photography, journalism and filmmaking. As a filmmaker, he has received fellowships from both the Center for Asian American Media and BAVC Media, and his work has received support and funding from the Sundance Institute, MacArthur Foundation, A-Doc, California Film Institute, SFFilm, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Haverford College, Catapult Film Fund, True/False Film Fest and the Portland Events and Film Office. He is the winner of 2022 Ready, Set, Pitch! and the winner of the Audience Choice Award at 2023 DocPitch. As a journalist, Kevin has written stories for NBC News and Motherboard Tech by VICE and has worked as a producer with Student Reporting Labs at the PBS NewsHour, where he helped produce and film a series of short documentaries on misinformation.
email: kevin@kevintruong.com
Mary Conlon is an associate producer on “Mai American.” Mary is a video journalist based in New York City. She graduated from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY with her Master’s in Spanish-language Journalism in December of 2020. Her written and visual stories have been published by Univision, City Limits, the NYCity News Service, iPondr, and Latino Rebels, and her documentary short titled “Jornada” screened at the Queens World Film Festival this past June. In addition to her work as a freelance videographer, she previously interned with the documentary team at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and was the Storytelling Fellow for the Times Square Alliance.
Ariel Goodman is an impact producer on “Mai American.” Ariel Goodman is multimedia artist and investigative journalist based in Philadelphia whose work centers on community media and collaborative journalism. Most recently she worked as a Tow Fellow at The Marshall Project to create collaborative accountability journalism with communities impacted by the criminal justice system. Previously she managed award-winning community media programs across Philadelphia, including Atrévete, a bilingual community TV project, and Hear Us Out, the first youth radio show on LPFM 106.5FM. Ariel’s journalism has appeared in outlets such as ProPublica, The Associated Press, El Pais, Univision, and more. She has her masters degree in Documentary and Spanish language journalism from the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY. Ariel creates and teaches media as a tool for community members to understand themselves and each other, and a basis for collectively imagining, creating, and fighting for the world they want to live in.
Juan Andrés Vergara is a composer for “Mai American.” Juan is a composer, producer and guitarist. He creates immersive music environments with an intuitive approach to explore them in different areas and contribute to collaborative settings; from studio work, to songwriting, concert music, performing with indie projects and film. His music is presented as subtle pointillistic textures that morph gradually with a balance of delicacy and organic chaos. His work has been showcased in festivals like Sheffield, Cannes Marche du Film, Maine, Morelia and Rotterdam International Film Festivals; as well as programming the Open Source Music Festival, Manuel Enríquez International Music Forum, Cervantino Festival, and UNESCO ́s 51st International Rostrum of Composers in Estonia. His latest projects include the score for the film Black Minutes, a piece for JACK Quartet, songs for his band Plano and remixes for friends. He completed a Master’s degree in Screen Scoring at NYU under a Fulbright Scholarship, participated in the LA Philharmonic National Composers Intensive, holds Licentiate degrees in Music Theory and Composition from London College of Music and an Undergraduate degree in Contemporary Concert Composition from Mexico ́s Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música.