Our Home is Not of This World

Director Russ Finkelstein, Producer Manuel Contreras, Phil Pinto, and Elaisha Stokes

In a rural south Texas medical examiner’s office, a Jewish physician works with a tiny team to identify the growing number of anonymous migrants who perish crossing the U.S.- Mexico border. With cases surging, her office is stretched beyond capacity. Will she be able to retire after decades of service if no one is willing to replace her?

Russ Finkelstein

Director

Russ Finkelstein was born and raised in San Diego, California. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, he lived and worked in South America for more than eight years, producing documentaries for Al Jazeera English on social and political issues in Argentina and Colombia. Russ received his masters degree from Columbia Journalism School where he specialized in documentary filmmaking. He’s worked as a producer for NBC, CBS, ABC, Vice News, Fusion Network, CNN and on a number of independent films and commercial projects. Russ’ first independent documentary, Looking for Love, premiered at the American Documentary Film Festival in 2018. He lives in New York City.

Manuel F Contreras

Producer

Manuel was born in Bogota, Colombia. Manuel has directed two feature length documentary films: Boys of Buenaventura (2016) and The Living And The Dead (2021). He is an alumnus of the DocNomads Joint Masters Degree and PhD in Arts from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. While in Budapest he worked for about ten years as university film lecturer and as the programmer of the Budapest International Documentary Film Festival BIDF. Manuel is based in the United Arab Emirates where he is a professor of film.

Phil Pinto

Producer

Phil Pinto is an Emmy-winning filmmaker based in New York. As a Producer, his most recent documentary, Lakota Nation vs. United States, premiered at Tribeca and won the 2024 News & Documentary Emmys for Best Documentary and Outstanding Documentary Direction. A New York Times Critic’s Pick, the film received support from the Sundance Documentary Fund, and was nominated for two Critics Choice Awards. It also received a Television Academy Honor recognizing impact and storytelling excellence. Previously, he served as Co-Producer on MLK/FBI, which received the Critics Choice Award for Best Historical Documentary as well as IDA Award and Cinema Eye Award nominations. It was also included in the 2021 Academy Awards shortlist.

Elaisha Stokes

Producer

Elaisha Stokes is an award-winning filmmaker, educator, and documentary programmer. Previously she was the Senior Producer for CBS Original Documentaries, overseeing several documentary series for Paramount+. Her documentary work has screened on National Geographic, CNN, The New York Times, and Vice. Elaisha was a 2018 Sundance New Voices fellow and a 2020 Cine Qua Non Screenwriting fellow. She has been recognized as a DOCNYC New Leader (2024) and a Flaherty Fellow (2025.) Her films have screened at BFI London, the Maryland Film Festival, and others. She has served on the jury at the Camden International Film Festival and speaks regularly on the state of documentary cinema at film festivals around the world.