Kristal Sotomayor is an award-winning nonbinary Peruvian American director, producer, journalist and curator based in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Named one of “10 Latinx Filmmakers You Should Know About” by HipLatina, they are a 2023 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader Honoree and Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellow. Kristal’s short Latinx immigrant rights documentary Expanding Sanctuary won the Philadelphia Filmmaker Award at the 2024 BlackStar Film Festival and is distributed through OTV, Kanopy, and New Day Films. Their short experimental documentary Don’t Cry For Me All You Drag Queens won Best LGBTQ Documentary at the 2025 Poppy Jasper International Film Festival. Kristal’s debut narrative short film Las Cosas Que Brillan is a coming of age story about a Trans Latina mermaid and produced with support from BlackStar. They are in development on their debut feature documentary Untitled PARS Project about surveillance of immigrant communities, produced with support from the Sundance Film Institute. They are in production on their first audio documentary on water rights in Pennsylvania through support from Voice of Witness. They are in development on a number of short and feature-length directorial projects through their company Sotomayor Productions. Kristal’s work has also been supported by the Outfest, If/Then, Points North Institute, MDOCS, DCTV, and NeXtDoc.
Expanding Sanctuary has been over six years in the making, born from my deep collaboration with Juntos, a Latinx immigrant rights nonprofit. This partnership lies at the heart of my filmmaking process, focusing on authentic, community-driven storytelling.
The film follows an immigrant mother who becomes a leader in the fight to end police data- sharing with ICE. What begins as her e ort to bring her mother to the U.S. transforms into a passionate journey for immigrant rights. As Linda discovers her voice, the film documents her powerful shi from personal desire to collective action, culminating in a historic victory for the community.
This project is deeply personal to me, inspired by my love for my immigrant parents and my desire to honor the struggles of immigrant families, particularly Latina mothers. As a first- generation Latinx nonbinary person, my experiences mirror those of the community, yet I recognize the privilege I hold in telling these stories. I aim to decolonize the typical portrayal of immigrants in media and provide a platform for authentic representation.
My work with Juntos ensures that power, transparency, and accountability are at the forefront of the process. The crew, made up primarily of Latinx, immigrant, and gender-expansive people of color, reflects the community we document, ensuring an inclusive and intersectional approach to filmmaking.