L.A. Times Short Docs celebrates filmmaking with a West Coast perspective. We seek bold voices who break with convention. We present undiscovered stories that challenge, move and inspire audiences.
L.A. Times Studios aims to showcase diverse, acclaimed and emerging filmmakers and to start conversations around the films we program. We host live and virtual events with filmmakers in venues across Los Angeles and online to engage audiences. Watch the films at latimes.com/shortdocs.
Please submit short documentary pitches through this form.
Senior Commissioning Producer
Nani Walker is a writer, director and senior commissioning producer at L.A. Times Short Docs, with premieres at Sundance, Tribeca and DOC NYC. A Nepali-American filmmaker and educator, she has been documenting social change over the past decade from LGBTQ rights in Nepal and voting in the American South to the global anti-casteist movement. Walker is an alum of UC Berkeley, SFFILM FilmHouse Residency and BAFTA.
Supervising Producer
Leslie Lindsey is director of development for L.A. Times Studios and supervising producer of L.A. Times Short Docs. Most recently, she served as managing editor for The Times’ Emmy-winning nightly news magazine, “LA Times Today,” on Spectrum News 1. During her television career, Lindsey has developed and produced shows across a variety of formats for national daily syndication and for networks such as FOX, Lifetime, Discovery, SyFy, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, TruTV, AXS and MTV2.
Senior Producer
Karen Foshay is a senior producer with L.A. Times Studios, producing and overseeing video content projects for various platforms and departments. She is the co-creator and lead producer of “Hear Me Out,” The Times’ award-winning video series based on letters to the editor. Before joining The Times in 2020, she was a senior news director and show runner at PBS.
Series Producer
Series producer Jessica Q. Chen is a Chinese American filmmaker and journalist whose work explores stories and change around women’s issues, youth culture and sports. In 2022, she directed her first feature-length documentary, “Surf Nation,” which documents the beginnings of China’s surf culture through the Chinese Olympic surf team. Before joining The Times in 2016, Chen was associate producer for a National Geographic documentary and was awarded the Aldred I. duPont-Columbia Award for her work. Chen has produced films for the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and UNHCR and is an alum of the Medill School of Journalism.
Executive Producers
Sharon Matthews is the deputy managing editor of Originals and vice president of L.A. Times Studios. With more than 25 years of experience in broadcast, television, film, digital and print media, she sets and oversees Times strategy, development, production and integration of original content for unscripted and scripted series and studio shows. Matthews is an Emmy-winning producer with more than three dozen industry awards. Before joining The Times in October 2022, Matthews was a senior director of originals for Andscape (formerly known as the Undefeated).
Terry Tang is editorial page editor, overseeing the editorial board and the Op-Ed and Sunday Review sections. She joined The Times in July 2019 as a deputy Op-Ed editor after two years at the American Civil Liberties Union, where she served as director of publications and editorial. Before that, she worked at the New York Times for 20 years in many positions.
Shani Hilton is the managing editor for new initiatives and senior vice president of L.A. Times Studios. She oversees the video and audio departments, working with those teams and other collaborators to sharpen The Times’ strategies. She joined The Times as a deputy managing editor in 2019. Previously, she was at BuzzFeed News as vice president of news and programming, executive editor and deputy editor in chief.
Kevin Merida is the executive editor of the Los Angeles Times. He took the helm of the largest newsgathering organization in the West in June 2021. Previously, Merida was a senior vice president at ESPN and editor in chief of the Undefeated, which he launched in May 2016. Before joining ESPN, Merida spent 22 years at the Washington Post and, prior to the Post, worked at the Dallas Morning News.
