#  Leonard Cortana 

Research Assistant, X-Media Lab

Ph.D. Candidate, NYU Tisch School of the Arts

 

 

 



   ![Leonard Cortana, Ph.D. canidate, NYU](/sites/g/files/omnuum4491/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/gse-edumedialab/files/rsz_cortana_01.jpg?itok=83J6ikJ-) 

 



 





 

 Leonard Cortana (Guadeloupe/France) is a Ph.D Candidate at the Cinema Studies Department at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a 2019-2020 Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center, Harvard Law School. Prior to his doctoral studies, he conducted several artistic and educational projects with non-profits and UN agencies that engage with youths in mulitple countries including Chile, Brazil, France and Bulgaria. He became a Trainer for European Commission Youth Program projects and the Children International Summer Village Organization (CISV) and designed methodologies in theatre and storytelling for social inclusion.

 Cortana is also a filmmaker. His last documentary *Marielle's Legacy Will not Die* follows activist movements spreading the intersectional legacy of Afro-Brazilian activist and politician Marielle Franco in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His doctoral research focuses on the circulation of transnational film narratives about racial justice and activist movements, that re-open wounded historical memories between Chile, Brazil, France and the US with a special emphasis on youth-themed productions.

 At the Harvard X-Media Lab, he will investigate the transnational, cross-media connections that have shaped the narrative of the Chilean film *Machuca* (Andres Wood, 2004) and will contribute to the Educators’ Resources project for the film. He studied and worked for a year at the University of Chile and UNESCO Chile.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Team Role
    
     [Contributors](/team-role/contributors)