Cristina Malavenda is an editor and director originally from Boca Raton, Florida. After completing her undergraduate degree in Communication Studies at Vanderbilt University, she began her graduate work in film and television production at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. As an editor, she has been recognized for both her narrative and documentary work, including Woman Rebel (Oscar Shortlist 2010, HBO), Thunder Chance (Student Emmy Awards 2010, Comic-Con 2010), and Our Neck of the Woods (Sundance 2009, First Look Outstanding Achievement in Editing Award 2010). As a director, Malavenda’s influential documentary film, No Kill, won Best Short Documentary and People’s Choice Awards at various festivals around the country, and aired on the KCET Fine Cut Series in May 2010. For her efforts in exposing animal control problems and solutions, she received the 2010 Advocacy Award from Kitten Rescue in Los Angeles. Malavenda interned at the Sundance Institute in the Documentary Program, and continues to review their grant proposals for feature documentary films about human rights issues and social change. She is currently is in post-production on her thesis film, Understudy, which stars Jeanine Mason, Season 5 winner of So You Think You Can Dance. She is also editing a documentary film about indigenous women fighting the violence that plagues the mountain regions of Colombia, and a stylized documentary on the effects and origins of chocolate.