shalini Kantayya I DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER
Shalini Kantayya is a critically acclaimed film director whose work artfully marries the future of technology with the future of story. Her latest film, TikTok, Boom. premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, and went on to receive a 2023 Emmy nomination. Her previous film, Coded Bias (Sundance 2020), was hailed as “the most important film about AI you can see today,” earning nominations for a 2022 Emmy Award, a Critics’ Choice Award, and a NAACP Image Award, and reaching global audiences on Netflix. Love Apptually completes a trilogy of feature documentaries that trace the arc of technological power—from the hidden biases embedded in code, to the forces shaping global attention, and with this film, to the systems mediating human intimacy.
Her accolades include the GlobeDocs Visionary Filmmaker Award, Best Director at the Social Impact Media Awards, and the NYWIFT Hamptons International Award for Outstanding Documentary Achievement. Kantayya’s debut feature, Catching the Sun (Executive Produced by Leonardo DiCaprio), was released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016 and named a New York Times Critics’ Pick. Her television work includes directing for National Geographic’s Breakthrough (Executive Produced by Ron Howard), as well as projects for NOVA and YouTube Originals. Kantayya is also a TED Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, Sundance Fellow, Firelight Media Fellow, and Concordia Artist Fellow. Through her work, Shalini continues to shape understanding and expand the public imagination in an age defined by technology.
Elizabeth Woodward is a producer of documentary and narrative films, and founder of WILLA. She was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, DOC NYC 40 Under 40, Berlinale Talents, and is an Impact Partners Producers Fellow and a Sundance Catalyst Fellow. Her recent films include ANOTHER BODY (SXSW Special Jury Award, Sundance Catalyst), YOU RESEMBLE ME (Venice Film Festival, executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Alma Har’el, Riz Ahmed) and ON THE DIVIDE (Tribeca Film Festival, POV on PBS).
ELIZABETH WOODWARD I PRODUCER
steve acevedo I DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Mexican American Director of Photography Steve Acevedo is an action-driven, emotion- focused filmmaker. His visual perspective is informed by extensive experience as a cinematographer, including the indie feature credits SATELLITE OF LOVE and JACK’S APOCALYPSE. In the doc world, he recently shot CODED BIAS and TIKTOK BOOM, which both screened in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as the Leonardo DiCaprio produced feature, CATCHING THE SUN. He also collaborated with Ken Jeong on the ESPN 30 for 30 film, STUDENT/ATHLETE.
Flavia de Souza began working in post-production in New York City in the 1990s, a few years after moving there from Brazil. Over the course of her career, she has worked across various forms of unscripted media, including reality television, institutional videos, and news stories. For the past two decades, she has edited numerous documentary films. Among them, Rovina’s Choice (2026 Academy Award shortlist for Best Documentary Short), Razing Liberty Square (2025 News & Documentary Emmy nominee), and Aftershock (2022 Sundance Impact for Change Special Jury Award and Peabody Award winner). She also edited Armed with Faith (2019 News & Documentary Emmy Award winner) and Open Heart(2013 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Short).She is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
FLAVIA DE SOUZA I EDITOR
Randy Redroad is a Los Angeles based editor. Randy was editor on the feature documentary THE INFILTRATORS (2019 Sundance Film Festival – winner Audience Award and Innovator Award), about a group of undocumented youth infiltrating a for-profit detention center. Other work as editor includes the Showtime documentary FIRST CIRCLE, about the foster care system and the recently completed LIES CLOSED THIS SCHOOL, about a legendary education activist in Detroit. Randy's debut feature, THE DOE BOY, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the prestigious Sundance/NHK Award. The film went on to win 14 other festival awards and earned an IFP/Gotham nomination for outstanding directorial debut. Randy was the first Indigenous participant to be invited to the Sundance Filmmaker’s Lab.
randy redroad I EDITOR
Zachary ludescher I EDITOR & VIsual FX SUPERVISOR
Zachary is the winner of the 2021 Cinema Eye Honors Award for Motion Graphics for Coded Bias. An image guru and a passionate filmmaker, he has shot for major TV and film projects as well as edited at many of the top editorial houses in NYC. Quite an indulgent dog father, he’s also a master Dojo fighter.
Gil Talmi is an Emmy nominated film composer, sonic activist and recording artist with a passion for socially conscious films. Some of Gil's recent work includes original music for HARRY & MEGHAN (Netflix/Story Syndicate), WILD WILD SPACE (HBO), UNKNOWN: COSMIC TIME MACHINE (Netflix/Story Syndicate), LEAD ME HOME (Netflix/Actual Films), JACINTA (Hulu/Endeavor Pictures), WHITE NOISE (The Atlantic), ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY (Amazon Studios/Story Syndicate), THE GREAT HACK (Netflix/A Noujaim Films-Othrs Production) and CHAVELA (Aubin Pictures). Gil's score for Chavela was nominated for Best Original Film Score by the Music & Sound Awards and his music for TALES OF THE WARIA (PBS Global Voices) won Best Documentary Score.
gil taLmi I COMPOSER
Andrew Gross has scored more than 30 features and 100 episodes of primetime TV including THE KING OF QUEENS (CBS), 8 HEADS IN A DUFFEL BAG (Orion) and TENACIOUS D IN THE PICK OF DESTINY (New Line). He has won numerous BMI Film and TV Awards for his work on KING OF QUEENS and RIAA Gold and Platinum Awards for his string arrangements on TENACIOUS D’s debut album. Andrew also served as both composer and music supervisor on the Emmy nominated series, WHY WE FIGHT(ESPN+), THE DRESS UP GANG (TBS) and Season 3 of I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE (Netflix).
andrew gross I COMPOSER
WILLA presents a 7TH EMPIRE MEDIA Production In Association with MINDEROO PICTURES and THE CONCORDIA FELLOWSHIP with support from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Perspective Fund a film by SHALINI KANTAYYA “LOVE APPTUALLY” Director of Photography STEVE ACEVEDO Edited by ZACHARY LUDESCHER, FLAVIA DE SOUZA and RANDY REDROAD Music by GIL TALMI and ANDREW GROSS Visual Effects by ZACHARY LUDESCHER Production Design CATHARINA SCHÜRENBERG Graphic Design PABLO LONDERO Executive Producers DAVIS GUGGENHEIM, RAHDI TAYLOR Executive Producer DORON WEBER Executive Producer MALINDA WINK Co-Executive Producers MERYL METNI, NATASHA DOLBY and DAVID DOLBY Produced by SHALINI KANTAYYA p.g.a and ELIZABETH WOODWARD Directed by SHALINI KANTAYYA