No Le Digas a Nadie (Don’t Tell Anyone): a documentary film

Facing a grim future in a country devastated by civil war, Maria Rivera made the ultimate sacrifice for her and her three-year old daughter Angy and fled to the United States. For the past nineteen years, Angy has lived with a secret that has threatened to upend her life in the only country she has ever called home: she is undocumented.

No le digas a nadie follows Angy’s remarkable story as an activist for the rights of undocumented youths, working together with other inspiring individuals as they navigate the perils of a life led in the shadows.

In 2010 she began Ask Angy a blog and advice column for which she has gained both enthusiastic praise from followers and intense hatred from detractors. She also began a YouTube channel that now boasts over 27,000 views where she lends guidance about everything from dating to public policy, with an appealing blend of optimism and humor.

No Le Digas a Nadie is a film about courage, about facing insurmountable obstacles and about the determination to fight for justice.

The Team

  • Mikaela Shwer – Director/Editor

    Mikaela Shwer is an award-winning editor and filmmaker with a passion for bringing important stories to life. Her work was recognized early in her career when she won the “Emerging Editor” award with the short film 100 Mountains for the Adobe Real Ideas Studio student program at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Since then, Mikaela has worked on numerous films for HBO, the Sundance Channel, and PBS, including the Peabody award-winning series Brick City and critically acclaimed independent films Call Me Kuchu and Like the Water. In 2012, Mikaela joined Steeplechase Films, working with award-winning filmmaker Ric Burns helping to bring vibrant documentaries to the screen. She is also currently directing her first feature documentary film No Le Digas a Nadie (Don’t Tell Anyone) to be released in 2015.

  • Katie O’Rourke – Producer

    A Minnesota transplant, Katie O’Rourke is a New York based producer/editor whose work focuses on historical and cultural issues. Working with Emmy Award winning filmmaker Ric Burns at Steeplechase Films for the last five years, she has worked on films for PBS’s American Experience (Into the Deep: America, Whaling and the World and Death and the Civil War) as well as a short film on the history of Latin American immigration to New York for El Museo del Barrio and The New-York Historical Society, which was featured in the critically praised exhibit Nueva York. She also worked with the director of HBO’s The Loving Story, Nancy Buirski, on her film Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil le Clerq for PBS’s American Masters. Prior to working in documentary film, Katie was immersed in the world of new media as a producer of video content and social media strategy for Magnet Media.

  • Alexandra Nikolchev– Producer

    Alexandra Nikolchev grew up in California’s Bay Area. She works and lives in New York. Alexandra is an Emmy award winning field producer in the category of Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a News Magazine for Need to Know: Crossing the Line at the Border, a three-part PBS investigation into the U.S. Border Patrol. Other documentary credits include PBS, Moyers & Company, NBC, HBO Documentary and Sundance Institute Feature Film Program. Her work focuses on telling stories about a person or family where intimate transformations, revelations and surprising details lead to a larger conversation about our society and condition.

  • Arianna LaPenne – Director of Photography

    Arianna Lapenne is a Filmmaker and Cinematographer, born and raised in New York City, and maintains a home base in Brooklyn, though she escapes from time to time. She received a BFA in Film & TV from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, with special program work in Havana, Cuba. She shoots documentary, TV, commercial, news, and non-profit work. Arianna aims for imagery that seeks both inspiration from the mystical as well as the revelations of the “real”. She is especially interested in how the presence of a camera can transform the ordinary into the surreal within the four corners of a frame.

    Arianna’s coverage of Hurricane Sandy was part of the New York Times breaking news video coverage that was awarded The Edward R Murrow Award this year. Arianna’s video and photography has also been awarded by AI-AP, D&AD: Best Advertising & Design in the World, Photography Master’s Cup, The One Club and has screened at Brooklyn Film Festival and Union Docs. A feature documentary Arianna shot last year in Cuba, about infamous artist Andres Serrano, will be broadcast by VICE next year. Arianna’s documentary work has taken her to Mongolia, Iceland, Cuba, all over South East Asia, and Latin America.

    Clients and branded content work include: Showtime, Travel Channel, The New York Times, VICE, The Daily, Funny or Die, Survival International, Somaly Mam Foundation, Heifer International, Children International, Nike, GOOGLE, Toyota, Dicks Sporting Goods, British Airways, Jet Blue, Diageo, Absolut, HSBC, Macys.

    You can find Arianna online at ariannalapenne.com.

  • Ben Messelbeck – Composer

    Ben Messelbeck is a composer and musician working in Southern California. His music has been featured in major motion pictures and television shows, along with various ad campaigns and branded content. In addition to composing, Ben is an active musician, currently writing and performing with Robert Francis, Juliette Commagere, Robert Schwartzman and Love on a Real Train.

    You can find Ben online at benmesselbeck.com.