Documentary producer and director specializing in participant-driven production and social change communication.

(301) 514-8516
bryanmbello@gmail.com Bryan Bello Renga.io
LinkedIn (bryanbello1)

EDUCATION RECOMMENDERS
PhD, Communication Mridu Chandra
American University Tribeca Film Institute
Washington, D.C. (2020) (917) 312-2204
MA, Electronic Media Caty Chatoo
American University Center for Media & Social Impact
Washington, D.C. (2015) (202) 885-6485
BA, English Lit Gita Saedi Kiely
University of Montana ITVS
Missoula, Montana (2011) (406) 243-5354

POSITIONS
(select)

Washington, DC Researcher, Center for Media & Social Impact Sep 2014 - Present

Partner & producer, Renga Media, Sep 2016 - Present

Fellow, Humanities Lab Dec 2018 - June 2019

Assistant editor, Science News Sep 2013 - Aug 2016

FUNDING
(public, select)

Tent City Reporting Project Humanities D.C. $30,000 2019

Tent City Reporting Project American University $30,000 2019
Humanities Truck Henry Luce Foundation: $225,000 2017

Renga for The West Tribeca Film Institute: $20,000 2017

Cinema from The Street David and Reva Logan Foundation: $150,000 2015

COLLABORATIONS
(select)
Empathy in Filmmaking Apple Inc 2019
Renga for The West Al Jazeera 2019
Cathay Pacific 2018-2019
Tribeca Film Institute 2017-2019
United Nations for USA
International Rescue Committee
Cinema From the Street Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian 2017
Department of Justice 2017
Advisory Board Company 2015
Vis Arts Fair Use Best Practices College Arts Association 2014
 EXPERIENCE
(projects, select)

Project producer Tent City Reporting Project Sep 2019 - present

Renga Media

◊ Brokered relationship btwn International Network of Street Papers, Law @ the Margins, American
University and an encampment community for an intergrated media, citizen reporting campaign.
◊ Managing (currently) a team of 15 through the delivery of documentary video, photo and print
journalism content in the community driven coverage of overlooked local housing issues.
◊ Facilitating peer mentoring program pairing professional filmmakers and journalists
with activists surviving housing instablity to produce local accountability journalism.
◊ Training underway. Production begins late fall 2019.

Project director Apple StoryMakers Festival Dec 2018 - June 2019

Renga Media

◊ Designed 90 minute feature event, commissioned by Apple for their StoryMakers Festival. Apple
sought an authentic dialogue with D.C. community on the realities of homelessness in the city.
◊ Facilitated community stakeholder process that paired non-profit Street Sense Media, American
University’s Public History department, aritsts, and a focus group of D.C.’s unhoused residents.
◊ Delivered high-impact, well-received, multi-channel exchange between live audience, on-
line audience, Apple staff, performing artists, and members of D.C.’s unhoused community.

Project director Renga for The West Feb 2017 - June 2019
Renga Media

◊ Designed civic media project that gave Montana’s new refugee residents the opportunity to intro-
duce themselves to their neighbors through the shared language of cinema, bridging cultures.
◊ Brokered a partnership with Tribeca Film Institute to secure funding from MacArthur
Foundation and others (110k total), and to gain industry representation for distribution.
◊ Managed a team of twenty, instructionally designed curriculum and taught a group of refugees the
basics of documentary mediamaking. Generated local dialogue through state screenings with IRC.
◊ Generated international dialogue through a master product I produced and edited, distributed by
Al Jazeera, Cathay Pacific (in-flight ent), NY Public Schools (educational), and L.A. Film Festival.

Project director Cinema From the Street Feb 2014 - Jan 2017
Renga Media
◊ Organized a group of eight men and women surviving housing instabli-
ty to form a film collective. Taught them the craft of documentary filmmaking.
◊ Brokered partnerships with local non-profit Street Sense Media and civic institutions, such as the
Dept of Justice and Smithsonian Museums to facilitate screening-based community dialogues.
◊ Liaised with PBS, Washington Post and the Atlantic’s City Lab to spark national dialogue.
◊ Transitioned filmmakers into continuing education courses to further their careers, post-project.
 cont.
Facilitator Humanities Truck 2017
American University

◊ Organized an interdisciplinary faculty working group at American University to de-

sign a frame work for mobile humanities workshops and exhibits in Washington, D.C.
◊ Helped raise 225k in seed funding through the Henry Luce Foundation
◊ Facilitated cross-community dialogues and workshops. Curated projects for larger audiences.

Design Researcher Visual Arts Fair Use Initiative Feb 2014 - present
Center for Media and Social Impact

◊ Conducted 100 interviews with visual artists, museum professionals, art educators, publish-
ers and curators from around the United States to assess their understanding of copyright.
◊ Analyzed, coded and quantified patterns from interviews for a commmunity code of best practices.
◊ Facilitated focus groups with afore mentioned professional communities for refinement of code.

RESEARCH
Journal articles, reports and essays
Trevisan, F. and Bello, B. (2019). Believe Me, Folks: “Story Banking” and Personalized Advocacy in the
Post-2016 Era. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 16(4). [Accepted for publication].
Aufderheide, P., Milosevic, T., and Bello, B. (2016). The Impact of Copyright Permissions Culture on the
US Vis. Arts Community: Consequences of Fear of Fair Use. New Media & Society 18(9), pp. 2012–2027.
Bello, B. (2016). Of VR and Vérité: Reality Under Construction. Digital Media Arts and Practice.
Aufderheide, P., Jaszi, P., Bello, B and Milosevic, T. (2014). Copyright, Permissions, and Fair Use
Among Visual Artists and the Academic and Museum Visual Arts Communities: An Issues Report.

INVITED PANELS & PRESENTATIONS

Bello, B. & Aufderheide, P (2019). The Afterlife of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act: Exemptions
and the Power of Public Interest Participation. Association of Internet Researchers. Brisbane, AU.
Bello, B. & Rens, A (2019). Bot Speech and the First Amendement: A Communication Perspective
on Critical Legal Studies. ICA Pre-Conference: Internet Governance Beyond Borders, Was, DC.
Trevisan, F. & Bello, B. (2019). “The Battle for Hearts and Minds: Comparing the Integration of
Storytelling in Progressive Grassroots Advoc in the US and Australia. Presented at ICA, Was, DC.
Trevisan, F. & Bello, B. (2018). Believe Me Folks: “Story Banking” and Personalized Advocacy in the
Post-2016 Era. Presented at the APSA Political Communication Pre-Conference, Cambridge, MA.
Bello, B., Childress, S., Holmes, M., Khader, N., Premo, M. (2018). Whose story is it? De-colonizing
Documentary Practice. Allied Media Conference. Detroit.
Bello, B., Stochetti, B. (2016). Empowering Your Subjects. Big Sky Doc Festival. Missoula, MT.