Alana Minkler is a Navajo and Jewish documentary filmmaking student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her passion lies in vérité-style storytelling with a focus on Indigenous and environmental issues.

Alana’s background is in print journalism as a staff writer for the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa where she covered education and public safety for three years. She has made the shift to visual storytelling in pursuit of more in-depth reporting and creative expression. She holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Arizona.

Her first fully-vérité project, SUNRISE, followed 16-year old Salvador “Bug” Pedroza on his journey to keep Pomo culture alive through dance on Alcatraz Island on Indigenous People’s Day, formerly Columbus Day, all while balancing his many extracurriculars as a high-achieving high school student. She then co-directed a profile, NEEDA, about Anita Miralle “Needa Bee,” a homeless advocate who has been preparing West Oakland’s unhoused communities to legally fight against the city’s encampment sweeps.