Film Team

Associate Producer

Liam Mejia Moran, Deputy Director of Digital Media at Gibney Company (Former Studio Manager, The Studio at Reel Works). He got his first taste of filmmaking at the age of 15, directing a coming-of-age short Journey to the Unknown with Reel Works. The film screened at Tribeca Film Festival’s 2006 Our City, My Story. Liam was featured in Latina Magazine as an influential young filmmaker to watch. Liam’s personal focus is on highlighting stories about the Latinx and LGBTQ communities in NYC. He is currently working on two LGBTQ+ Documentaries called Not So Different and Vivo Por Yo. He is a member of the first LGBTQ+ group to be created in Staten Island L’unicorns:  a Latinx LGBTQ+ community whose aim is to create a safe space for the LGBTQ+ Latinx community centered on the voices of Trans women in Staten Island.

Reel Works Workforce Junior Producer 

Marvin Hernandez is an aspiring filmmaker that wants to meet new faces, learn new skills and have a blast in the process. Marvin left college with no degree or any marketable skills. As a first generation American, this was suicide. Desperately he began trying to learn marketable skills without a career path in mind. Through the connection of a non-profit organization, Marvin applied to a filmmaking program at Reel Works where a newfound interest sparked. During his fellowship at Reel Works he produced four student films, directed and designed multiple projects as well as made connections with outside movie studios and assisted with their productions. For him this is only the beginning. 

Cinematographer

Daniel Kharlak is a cinematographer from Brooklyn, NY. He is a 2008 graduate of the Reel Works Documentary Lab and received his BFA in film from SUNY Purchase in 2013. His directorial work has been shown in major film festivals and on television. He has shot over a dozen short films in the last decade in both narrative and non-fiction. He is also a full-time camera technician at a major rental house where he provides technical assistance to filmmakers and production companies.  Daniel is a graduate of Reel Works class of 2007.  Additional camera by Mitchell Davis, Bill Lukas Marian, and Charles Reynoso.

Reel Works Workforce Assistant Camera

Greg Joblove is a 16 year old creative based in New York City. Greg creates videos, does VFX, and takes pictures. He became interested in cinematography and photography about five years ago, and since then it has fully occupied his free time. Most of Greg’s time is spent around the city with his friends, taking photos and making movies. He loves helping others tell their stories in a way that is captivating and entertaining and is infinitely rewarding.

Reel Works Workforce Assistant Camera

Sixteen year old Jesus Luna is a 2019 graduate of the Reel Works documentary program where he produced Under the Sun, a film that explores the relationship between religion and science play sleep paralysis. Jesus is currently writing his first narrative short film in the Reel Works Narrative Lab. After enrolling in Reel Works doc lab, Jesus fell in love with the art of storytelling, and continues to expand his passion of filmmaking about an artist who faces physiological traumas. 

Assistant Editor

Bronx-born Gerson Legend is currently an editor at Showtime. With a love for giving back to his community, he was also a Reel Works Teaching Artist in the NYC public school system. Gerson jumped into the film industry as a linear editor with music videos and documentaries, after a decade in other industries including sports photography, interior landscape, and butchering. Additionally, Gerson works with non-for-profits like Greyston Bakery and Fathers Forward INC. creating video content to drive awareness to their causes. When Gerson isn’t creating or helping others, he is playing sports and training for the 2024 NYC marathon.

Reel Works Workforce Junior Editor
Xander B, a film editor based in New York, has worked with Reel Works as a student film  fellow for the past two years. Involved in award-winning films about Ridgewood Savings Bank, ABC Get Reel With Your Dreams, and Scholastic, Xander B has been editing film since middle school. Currently a Freshman in college, his passion for film editing and film production has only increased. Xander B intends to continue to focus on film studies in college and pursue his dream to work in the film industry upon graduation.  

Reel Works Workforce Junior Editor

Maya Velazquez is a high school student in Brooklyn, New York. Last year, she participated in the Reel Works Documentary Lab. She created a short documentary called "Normal Family."  The documentary is about her two moms and how she discovered their coming out stories for the first time. This year, she is in the Reel Works Narrative Lab. She is creating a short film that follows a homeless man named Cory. He has to decide what he values in life after having a small interaction with a stranger. In addition, she is currently a Youth Producer at Reel Works. She is responsible for interviewing alumni about their careers after being a part of the Reel Works programs. She likes to edit short videos and she looks forward to learning more about the film industry.  

Sound
Jonathan Lau is a New York City based Production Sound Mixer and Boom Operator. He has worked on everything from commercials, documentaries, and music videos, to TV shows and movies for the past six years. His last feature was as an additional Boom Operator for the New York Unit on Lulu Wang's The Farewell. 

Post Production Manager
Stephen Czaja is a New York City-based producer, editor, and educator, and currently works as the Studio Producer at Reel Works. During his five years as a public school film teacher, Stephen developed a robust film curriculum spanning grades 3-8 that involved students in the creation of projects like traditional cel animations, stop-motion films, music videos, and narrative short films. He has been editing professionally since 2015 and his work includes The Short Goodbye, which was screened at the 2019 New York Shorts International Film Festival. In 2017, Stephen co-founded the nonprofit REÍR, with the aim of bringing extracurricular opportunities to underserved youth both domestically and abroad - in particular, children in Guatemala. Stephen graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in Ethics from Emory University and he received an M.A. in Media Studies from The New School. 

Post Production Mixing / Sound Design
Garret Harkawik is a documentary filmmaker and composer living in southern Vermont. Since 2010 he has made over two dozen short documentaries which have been screened at festivals such DOC NYC, Rooftop Films and selected as Vimeo Staff Picks. His most recent film is "This Temporal World" which is about Khalil Abu-Rayyan, a muslim American who repeatedly fell in love with FBI agents sent to surveil him.