Abigail Torres Melendez is a Philadelphia-based documentary filmmaker and visual storyteller with nearly 30 years of experience capturing community life through film. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Kensington neighborhood, her work is rooted in place, memory, and the lived experiences of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community.

     Her path began at 16 when she helped produce the award-winning short documentary Kensington Through Our Eyes, a project that documented the changing landscape of her own neighborhood. That early experience shaped a long-term commitment to documenting stories from within the community rather than from the outside looking in.

     Abigail has worked as a photojournalist for 69 News Edición en Español and Univision 65, and has filmed projects across Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Mexico, and the United States. Her work consistently centers people, culture, and the everyday realities that often go undocumented.

     She is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Somos Society, a documentary and community archive project preserving the historical living archive of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community. Through this work she leads research, interviews, and visual documentation focused on displacement, cultural memory, and neighborhood change. Her documentary I Am Danny Torres, produced through Somos Society, received multiple independent film festival recognitions including Best Short Documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.

     She is also Co-Creator and Producer of The Domino Dialogues, a filmed conversation series documenting community voices through long-form dialogue and intergenerational storytelling.

     Through her filmmaking, Abigail works at the intersection of documentary storytelling, community memory, and visual preservation, with a focus on ensuring that the stories held within neighborhoods remain visible and accessible for future generations.