Catalyst Content Festival

Screening:
"East of La Brea" tracks the untold stories of LA through the lives of two very different Muslim women from working class backgrounds: Aisha, a Black Muslim, and her Bangladeshi-American roommate, Farha.

Followed by...
Fireside Chat with
Laura Fischer (PowderKeg, CEO)
Margari Aziza Hill (Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, Executive Director)
Halima Lucas (Writer)




Margari Hill
Exec. Director, Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative

Margari Aziza-Hill is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC), a media based human rights education organization. She is an independent researcher and freelance writer with articles and chapters published in Time , Huffington Post, and How We Fight White Supremacy . She is a consultant and prolific educator with experience training screenwriters, consulting media and entertainment, teaching at primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions, serving as an instructor, curriculum designer, professional development trainer, and drafter of school policy.
Hill has an M.A. in History of the Middle East and Islamic Africa from Stanford University. Her research includes anti-colonial resistance among West Africans in Sudan during the early 20th century, transformations in Islamic learning in Northern Nigeria, International Student programs at Al-Azhar and Cairo University, and the criminalization of Black Muslims in the U.S. She is a public speaker who lectures in universities and community centers throughout the country.

Laura Fischer
CEO, Powderkeg Media

Laura is CEO of Powderkeg, Paul Feig’s digital content company that champions new voices with a commitment to female and LGBTQ creators and filmmakers of color. Fueled by the belief that entertainment should be fully inclusive, she and Paul started Powderkeg in an effort to empower and bring exposure to previously underrepresented voices that are new and distinct. In 2018 Powderkeg also launched Break the Room with Sameer Gardezi, focused on inclusive development with diverse writers. Prior to founding Powderkeg, Laura was Head of Production & Development at Yahoo! Originals, where she was responsible for overseeing production and creative for scripted and un-scripted original series. Some of Yahoo!’s tentpole original productions included Community: Season 6 (Sony), Other Space (Paul Feig), and Sin City Saints (Mike Tollin). Before joining Yahoo! In 2013, Laura was Senior Manager of Production and Current Programming for the Disney-ABC Television Group Digital Studio. Ms. Fischer led the team responsible for the 2011 Emmy award-winning Oscar Digital Experience. She was also responsible for the short form video created to support shows that air on ABC Primetime, ABC Daytime, and ABC Family. Laura is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America and the Television Academy having served on the board and executive committee for each organization, respectively.