Ashley Panzera

To celebrate Human Rights First’s 40th anniversary I created a fun way to look at our impact through the years and how we are standing up to current challenges. This is an internal video that also played at our yearly 2 million dollar fundraiser.

For Mother’s Day, i produced a video around the reuniting of a mother and her 2 children she had to leave behind to save her life.

In today’s global refugee crisis, 65 million women, children, and families have been forced from their homes. Sadly, refugees are often depicted as the “other,” a group so unlike us that it should be feared and distrusted. The overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens have never even met a refugee, much less had a personal connection with one.

But there are those among us who have.

#WhatIFoughtFor aims to tell those stories and build support for American leadership to protect the persecuted.

For International Women’s Day, I produced a video with a client to celebrate her courage, strength, and resolve to inspire our community.

CROSSING THE LINE brings us face to face with the refugee crisis happening right at our doorstep, along the United States' southern border with Mexico.

A year into the Trump administration’s harsh crackdown on asylum seekers, this two-part series pushes past the divisive politics and rhetoric to shed a light on the humanity many have lost sight of – the untold stories of the mothers, fathers and children who have risked their lives in search of the most basic human necessity: safety.

RYOT partnered with Human Rights First to share their stories – this is life through the eyes of asylum seekers at the border.

This video was produced to close out International Women’s Month. It features a client receiving her green card and reflecting on how much her life has changed.

Jeff Sessions claims that 80% of asylum seekers are “not qualified” for protection. That is absolutely FALSE. 

This is a quick response video that I wrote, shot and edited in one day.

Shandra had a good job at a bank, but when political unrest shook her country, she followed an advertisement to work in the United States. Instead she was sold into sex slavery. But her story doesn't end there.

This video is part of a series that I produced with Veterans For American Ideas features veterans sharing stories about a time during their service that really resonates to them personally.

In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, failed reconstruction has pushed social unrest to the breaking point. Protests erupt in the streets, and armed UN soldiers stalk the angry crowds. But a group of young Haitians, driven by their passion for a new Haiti, is sparking social change. To democratize information and offer hope to the population, they produce a radical newspaper, Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye (Noise Travels, News Spreads).

In 2015, Noise Runs was an official selection at the Miami Women's International Film Festival, the Cleveland Film Festival and the Africa World Film Festival. It was awarded Best Director and Best Sound Editing by the Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA) and continues to screen for audiences worldwide in SIMA's international traveling series.

When The Land Turned Black is a glimpse into the life of a third generation farmer in North Dakota, Donny Nelson, and the changes he's seen to his land during one of America's largest oil booms. He's now surrounded by 25 oil wells, and documented spills, accidents and the release of dangerous gasses on his once-peaceful farm. Donny's connection and love for his land is a powerful contrast to the oil industry around him.

In today’s global refugee crisis, 65 million women, children, and families have been forced from their homes. Sadly, refugees are often depicted as the “other,” a group so unlike us that it should be feared and distrusted. The overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens have never even met a refugee, much less had a personal connection with one.

But there are those among us who have.

#WhatIFoughtFor is a multimedia campaign to tell those stories and build support for American leadership to protect the persecuted.

A lawyer can be an asylum seeker's last hope for safety. Hear the compelling stories of the Marvin Frankel Award winners. Each year we recognize three firms' outstanding dedication to pro bono service with this prize. 2016's winners: Blank Rome LLP in Washington, D.C., Latham & Watkins LLP in Houston, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York City.

This played at Human Rights First largest annual fundraiser.

Migrants and refugees risk extreme danger in their search for freedom, safety, and a better life. Friar Tomas and La 72, our Human Rights First Award honorees, are some of the brave people standing up to help.