Filmmakers
DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER
Haney Armstrong
Haney was Peter Adair’s business partner for 13 years. While working together his credits include: Co-Producer of Stopping History, Coordinating Producer of The AIDS Show and Absolutely Positive, and Producer and Interactive Designer of In the 1st Degree. Later Haney was a Senior Producer at Ninth House Network, Community Manager at Second Life and Omidyar Network, Director of Network Strategy at Roots of Change, and Director of Marketing at GreatNonprofits. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Film and Broadcasting.
CREATIVE PARTNER AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Johnny Symons
Johnny is an Emmy-nominated independent documentarian whose films focus on social justice and LGBTQ issues. His film Daddy & Papa, about the personal, cultural, and political impact of gay men raising children, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, aired on PBS and international television, and garnered more than a dozen festival best documentary and audience awards. Ask Not, an award-winning feature-length documentary about the impact of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the US military, broadcast on PBS’ Independent Lens, and screened for Congress at the US Capitol. His feature documentary, Out Run, which profiles the only LGBTQ political party in the world, premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and won Best Cinematography at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival before airing nationally on public television.
His latest feature, Assembly, follows visionary artist Rashaad Newsome as he blends art, AI and performance to transform a historic military facility into a Black queer utopia. The film premiered at SXSW in 2025 and broadcast on PBS’ Independent Lens in 2026. Johnny’s work has screened at more than 250 international film festivals and is used by hundreds of college educators and community organizers. Johnny is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). He graduated with honors from Brown University and holds a master’s degree from Stanford University’s Documentary Film and Video Program. Currently, Johnny is a Professor in the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University. He is also the director and co-founder of the Queer Cinema Project. He has served as a Fellow in the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program, and is a former Co-Chair of New Day Films.
EDITOR
Ash Verwiel
Ash (he / they) is a trans & queer documentary filmmaker and editor from the Netherlands, based in Oakland. His first feature doc edit Assembly (SXSW Premiere, BFI Flare, Frameline49) has been a worldwide success, with 50+ festival screenings since its release in 2025. His focus on documentary film, often through an experimental lens, mirrors his often reflective personal work. They received their BA in Cinema from San Francisco State University.
SFSU’s Queer Cinema Project supports creators finishing production of LGBTQ+ films through the annual Barbara Hammer Award, which Ash received in 2019. Experimental short doc Heart Whispers (2020), which has won various festival awards, voices the struggle to find oneself as a trans person and immigrant from a rural small town. In May of 2021, Ash was granted the Marcus Culminating Funds by SFSU, towards completion & distribution of Unboxing (2021), the 2nd chapter of a trilogy finding his identity as a trans person. His films often excavate such topics of rebirth and belonging, in his personal work as well as collaborations with other artists. He is currently in production of the 3rd film in his personal film trilogy.