Isara is an independent documentary filmmaker, cinematographer and editor based in Oakland, California. Through her work she aims to highlight the effects of structural injustice on historically marginalized & ignored communities in the U.S. She also explores themes of art and relationship with the natural world as forms of activism, community, healing and joy. She specializes in observational cinema verité camerawork.

Isara is currently part of Swiftwater Film’s editorial team for the feature documentary Undamming Klamath, which tells the story of the decades-long fight to remove four hydraulic dams and undergo the nation’s largest restoration project in history along the Klamath River in Northern California and Southern Oregon. She is also currently creating short videos for California non-profits La Cocina and NatureBridge and is a cameraperson for Sweet Harmony Sessions.

Isara is a member of New Day Films, where her first feature documentary, The Highest Standard, will be available in spring of 2025. The film, following three Boston Public middle schoolers on either side of a life-changing decision, premiered as the opening night film at GlobeDocs Film Festival, and received the Audience Award at the Roxbury International Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA.

For over five years Isara was an on-call producer for KQED Arts (SF Bay Area PBS/NPR affiliate), where she produced, shot and edited short documentaries about local artists and activists that reached a nationwide audience. She was part of the founding team of their locally loved, award-winning web series If Cities Could Dance: in 2022, her directorial debut episode Disability Arts Ensemble Takes Access & Dance to New Heights was KQED's first entirely accessible online video, which was was nominated for a NorCal Regional Emmy® Award and received a Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award.

She holds a masters degree in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was awarded a Documentary Fellowship.

Her background in journalism, psychology, social justice and visual art informs her worldview. She grew up in a neighborhood of Boston and traces her sense of awe back to the childhood discovery of coastal Maine.

Email
ifkrieger[at]gmail.com

Phone
617.504.6048