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Mimi Chakarova is a Bulgarian-American filmmaker, photographer, journalism professor, activist, immigrant and single mother. Her documentary \\u201cMen a Love Story\\u201d premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2017 where Davia Nelson of The Kitchen Sisters interviewed her on stage.

How can you not be mesmerized by a woman who makes a film called \\u201cThe Price of Sex,\\u201d about women throughout Eastern Europe who are pushed into prostitution and who goes underground into that world herself to document the story. \\u201cI didn\'t intend to spend more than a year covering human trafficking,\\u201d says Mimi.\\xa0It ended up taking a decade. \\u201cI didn\'t intend on reporting in more than two countries,\\u201d she says. \\u201cSo, how did I end up in nine?\\u201d

Mimi said, \\u201cBefore my trips my mom used to ask, \\u2018It took us so many years to get out of poverty, why do you keep returning there?\\u2019 I would sit in her kitchen and the only answer that would come to mind was, it was so damn familiar.\\u201d

Now Mimi has a new series of documentaries, \\u201cStill I Rise,\\u201d premiering online Friday, April 27th at stillirisefilms.org.\\xa0\\u201cStill I Rise\\u201d is a short film series whose title pays homage to Maya Angelou\'s famous poem. It features individuals who\'ve journeyed from the depths of hardship and struggle and have come out the other side.\\xa0As an immigrant herself Mimi creates a platform where other immigrants can tell their own stories and show how even in the face of adversity they fight to rise.