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Director's biography.
Dr. Sophia Romma, PhD, Esq., has cultivated a distinguished career at the intersection of
international law, human rights, higher education, and the cinematic arts. A prolific playwright, screenwriter, and director, she currently serves as the Producing Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Garden of the Avant-Garde Film and Theatrical Foundation in New York. Through this visionary organization, Dr. Romma spearheads specialized filmmaking and dramaturgy programs designed to refine the craft of emerging artists, with a steadfast commitment to elevating the voices of women within the film and television industries.
Beyond her foundational leadership, Dr. Romma has served as the Producing Artistic Director for The O'Neill Film and Theatrical Foundation Inc. since 2013 and has presided over the International Centre for Women Playwrights since 2015. Her commitment to global advocacy is further evidenced by her tenure as an Antisemitism, Extremism, and Foreign Policy Fellow at Human Rights First, where she has contributed to the organization’s mission in New York and Washington, D.C., since 2018.
As an international human rights attorney with over two decades of specialized practice, Dr. Romma addresses complex legal frontiers, including minority and LGBTQ+ protections, the rights of the Roma and Indigenous peoples, and the combatting of extremist ideologies. Her pedagogical influence is equally expansive; she is currently a Writing Specialist for the Graduate and Professional Divisions at Touro University and a Professor of College Writing at the New York School of Career and Applied Studies. Her academic portfolio includes previous roles as Assistant Director and Special Legal Writing Advisor at the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, as well as instructional positions at the New York Film Academy and the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center.
Dr. Romma’s historical contributions to the arts include co-chairing the Oral History Series for the League of Professional Theatre Women at the Lincoln Center Library and serving as a literary manager for the Negro Ensemble Company. Her creative canon is vast, highlighted by the feature film Used and Borrowed Time (2021), which earned forty-eight domestic and international accolades following its red-carpet premiere at New York’s Quad Cinema. Her portfolio encompasses sixteen stage plays, several of which garnered Obie Award nominations—and the Garnet Prix Award-winning film Poor Liza, starring Academy Award winner Lee Grant and nominee Ben Gazzara. Driven by a profound interest in societal imperatives, her latest documentary, Soul Arbitration, which chronicles the existential struggles of Ukrainian refugees, is scheduled for release in the summer of 2026.
An alumna of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Dr. Romma holds a Bachelor of
Fine Arts in Film and Television and a Master of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing and Theatre
Arts. Her scholarly pursuits led her to the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute, where she earned a
PhD in Philology, and subsequently to Fordham University School of Law, where she achieved a Master of Laws in International Human Rights Law and Racial Justice.
A standard-bearer in her professional communities, Dr. Romma remains an active member of the American, New York State, and International Bar Associations. She serves as Chair of the United Nations Committee of the New York City Bar and as Chair of the Subcommittee on Ukraine for the New York City Bar’s Council for International Affairs. She holds board positions with the Baltic American Chamber of Commerce, New York Classical Theatre, and the League of Professional Theatre Women. A member of The Players and a ten-year veteran of the NYU Alumni Association Board of Directors, and a past President of New York University’s Alumni Club of Long Island, Dr. Romma attributes her enduring professional evolution to the foundational support of her family, whose encouragement has remained the cornerstone of her multifaceted success. On March 10 of 2026, Dr. Romma will be the 2026 Her Hero Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, awarded for her steadfast and courageous work in international human rights law from the New York City Bar Association.