Film Forum

María Hernández-Ojeda is Associate Professor of Spanish at Hunter College-CUNY. Her research area includes the literary and historical relationship between The Canary Islands and Latin America, the cultural production of the Spanish Civil War, and anarchist and feminist women authors. She has published two books on Cuban-Spanish author Nivaria Tejera, and a forthcoming edited novel authored by nineteenth century writer Juana Fernandez Ferraz. She is currently researching a book project on Antifascist Women Activists. 

Jack Mayerhofer is the Chief of Staff at the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR). As Chief of Staff, Mr. Mayerhofer supervises and provides programmatic support to all thematic and regional programs at AIPR. Through his role within AIPR’s Executive Office, Jack leads the development and implementation of all new and emerging programs at the Auschwitz Institute. He has extensive experience working with national governments to develop and implement atrocity prevention training programs. Mr. Mayerhofer has worked with African Union Member States, in the Great Lakes Region in particular, organizing training seminars for the development of state institutions dedicated to the prevention of atrocity crimes. Beyond this, he has also organized programs for government officials in Europe, Latin America, and North America. Finally, Jack leads AIPR’s parliamentarian program which seeks to engage Members of Parliament from across the globe to improve the role of legislators in supporting atrocity prevention efforts.

The International Service for Human Rights is an independent, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights. It works for the promotion and proaction of the rights of human rights defenders and activists, strengthens human rights systems, and leads and participates in coalitions for human rights change. Tess McEvoy leads ISHR's legal protection work, focusing on developing laws for the protection of human rights defenders and amending restrictive legislation. She is part of ISHR's legal team which engages in strategic litigation for the protection of human rights defenders. Tess co-leads ISHR's work on LGBTI rights defenders, and also engages in UN mechanisms in New York including the General Assembly and the Commission on the Status of Women. Before joining ISHR, Tess worked with leading international law firm DLA Piper, and with community legal centers working on women's and refugee rights. Tess holds a Juris Doctor from Murdoch University and a psychology degree from University of Western Australia.