Who the hell are we?
Controversial opinions are usually shared when a Taurus and a Pisces get together. Charia and Rachael are writers/directors surviving in Los Angeles. Together, they create a dynamic duo with opinions that usually start with, “If I Speak” because chances are it will be something wild.
Charia Rose
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Charia Rose *
is a Detroit-born writer, director, and executive producer. dedicated to using her passion for storytelling as a means for social change. A self-proclaimed "Midwestern Baddie," Charia highlights the rich, often overlooked stories of Black and Brown people from the Midwest with a dark, but always comical, spin. Her directorial debut, WITH(OUT) YOU had a beautiful run on the festival circuit. Her follow up, OH GREAT, RILEY’S DEPRESSED AGAIN, is out now. She was in the 2020 New York Stage and Film Filmmaker Workshop and recently an executive story editor on All American: Homecoming. Therapy, Mariah Carey lore, and saving the astrological birth charts of her first dates are just a few things that bring her joy.
Rachael Moton
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Rachael Moton *
is an award-winning writer, director, and film educator with a passion for telling darkly comedic stories about marginalized people to promote empathy. Rachael’s short Dad’s Dead Damnit earned her a 2019 Sundance Ignite Fellowship, and her feature film Paper Trail, a dark comedy about performative allyship and gentrification in North Philadelphia, received the 2019 SFFILM Westridge Grant and was selected for the 2020 Sundance Talent Forum and IFP Week Project Forum. She has been recognized as a 2021 Mural Arts Philadelphia Fellow for Black Artists, a participant in TIFF’s 2021 Filmmaker’s Lab, and a finalist in both the ABC Women’s Production Initiative and ATT/Tribeca’s Untold Stories program. If she wasn’t a filmmaker, Rachael believes she would’ve been a great reality tv star.
Producers
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Producers *
Gia is a Los Angeles-based Mexican-American film producer who made her producing debut at the age of 20 with the feature film, Rock Steady Row. The film premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and won both the Narrative Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Best Narrative Film. Gia holds a BFA in Creative Producing from Chapman University and was mentored by Michael Apted. Her senior thesis film was a Student Academy Award Finalist. Gia has been recognized for her talent by various film industry programs including Berlinale Talents, Project Involve Producing Fellowship, Sony Pictures Entertainment Fellowship, NALIP Producer’s Incubator Lab, PGA Create, and Rotterdam Producing Lab Fellowship. She is currently an inaugural fellow of Film Independent's Imaginar Producer's Residency. She founded Discordia, a production company, in 2020 with her frequent collaborators. Their work has received support from Locarno, Film Independent, The Gotham, Tribeca, PGA, and SFFilm.
Johnn is a Chicago native currently residing in Los Angeles. With a background in communications and public relations, she’s worked with tech innovators like Google, Android, and Coinbase — transforming complex ideas into relatable narratives for diverse audiences.
A true advocate for equity, Johnn’s passion lies in centering forgotten and ignored voices, ensuring they’re not just included in conversations but amplified. As the co-founder and vice president of Science Sistas, Inc., she’s breaking down barriers for Black women and women of color in science and healthcare, creating pathways for future changemakers in medicine.
When she’s not championing big ideas, Johnn is diving into The Sims 4,watching gaming streams, or immersing herself in the eerie twists of a great horror movie.On the podcast, she contributes to content strategy and episode planning while dropping hilariously bold truths and sharp commentary that keep the hosts on their toes.
DISCORDIA is an independent, female-founded artist-driven studio & production company that focuses on creating and supporting work by those who seek refuge in images. Filmmakers and frequent collaborators Gia Rigoli︎, Emiliana Ammirata︎, Vero Kompalic & Esteban Zuluaga founded DISCORDIA in 2020 out of an urge to foster talent and support work from underrepresented voices in our communities. Collectively, and as partners, they have gained support from renowned organizations such as the Locarno Film Festival, Sundance Institute, La Biennale di Venezia, Berlinale, Film Independent, the Student Academy Awards, the Producers Guild of America, HBO, and more. In 2023, DISCORDIA premiered two films at the SXSW Film Festival. Both films have since then continued on their festival run, which has included DEADCENTER, SIFF, Champs-Élysées Film Festival, Bend Film Festival, among others. This same year, DISCORDIA also premiered at the Locarno Film Festival with a short that later won a special mention by the jury.