WFA 2020 Speakers

Anika Jennie Ji, aka AJ is a multi-faceted producer, director and actress. After her successful career as an actress in Asia, Anika returned to New York to continue pursuing her dream -- not only as an actress, but as a director and producer as well ...

Annette Insdorf is Professor of Film at Columbia University's School of the Arts, and Moderator of the popular "Reel Pieces" series at Manhattan's 92Y. She is the author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski; Francois Truffaut; Philip Kaufman, and the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust. Her latest book is Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes ...

William S Sondheim for years has been a respected home entertainment executive, known for taking independent content and exploiting it across multiple distribution channels. He has long advocated that digital across numerous business models is the future but physical remains viable in the short run as important financing element ...

Bri Castellini is an award-winning independent filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. She has an MFA in Writing and Producing for Television and a BA in Creative Writing, studying in New York and Oregon, respectively. By day, she's the Film Community Manager for Seed&Spark and an adjunct professor for LIU-Brooklyn and Stephens College. She has been described by collaborators as a "human bulldozer" and is honestly kind of flattered ...

Brian McKenna is a NYC-based Film/TV composer and producer. His work has been featured in hit TV shows, spots, major motion pictures and also on records by Grammy Award winning artists ...

Chelsea Pace (SDC) is an intimacy choreographer, coordinator, and movement specialist. She is Co-Founder and Head Faculty of Theatrical Intimacy Education. Chelsea choreographs and consults on best practices for staging intimacy for professional and educational theatre and film in NYC, DC, Baltimore, and across the country. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and President of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators ...

Christina Raia is an NYC-based writer and director, the Founder of CongestedCat Productions, and the Head of Education at Seed&Spark. Her work, a collection of short films, a web series, and two feature films, has gained a large online following through multiple crowdfunding campaigns. She has been covered by press outlets such as Indiewire, AfterEllen and BuzzFeed. She also turned her desire to foster collaboration and engagement in the local film community into IndieWorks, a monthly film screening series showcasing and supporting the work of other independent filmmakers in New York. Find Christina on social media: @craia9 ...

CR Capers is the Founder and CEO of Harlem Film House, a 501(c) 3) corporation, that creates and produces film & music festivals, operates year-round workshops, theatre productions and live events, while also offering business consulting to filmmakers and content creators in underserved communities around the world ...

Soundview Media Partners Founding Member and CEO Dan Gurlitz entered the entertainment distribution industry in 1984. His career began in advertising, and includes over ten years in sales followed by 15 years in senior management within rapid-growth, independent environments. Prior to launching Soundview, Dan was the Senior Vice President and General Manager, Video, for Entertainment One U.S ...

Fulden Kologlu is a Film and Content Acquisitions and Distribution Professional. As a representative and distributor for Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount Pictures, A&E Networks, Sonar Entertainment in territories over Europe, Middle East and Africa, she had been licensing and distributing content to TV networks/channels, mobile, all types of VOD, OTT, IPTV, theatrical and emerging digital platforms ...

As Executive Director and Founder of Haydenfilms LLC and Haydenfilms Institute, Hayden Craddolph has always been an avid film lover ...

Jared Kirby has been involved in Western Martial Arts and Combat for Stage & Screen for nearly 25 years. He teaches in New York City (and the metro area) and has choreographed fights Off-Broadway, Nationally, in London and Sydney ...

Judith B. Balkin is a graduate of NYU Tisch School Of the Arts. She has worked in various media outlets, most notably for wcbs tv news. She is an independent producer and a member of BAFTA and NYWIFT. Currently, she is the Chairwoman for the NYU Women's Initiative which has 73,000 women members, and Chairwoman of the newly launched NYU Arts and Entertainment Network which already has 1600 members who work in the visual and performing arts, television, film and entertainment ...

Laura Rikard (SAG-AFTRA/AEA/SDC) is an intimacy choreographer and coordinator. She is Co-Founder and Head Faculty of Theatre Intimacy Education. She is also a director, actor, and stage movement specialist ...

Lisa Osinloye is an Executive Producer and entertainment industry veteran for over 25 years. She began her career in the music business as an Artist, Writer, Manager and Producer who secured her first record deal with Atlantic Records as just a teen.  ...

Nick Savva oversees the digital distribution business at Giant Pictures. Prior to Giant, Nick led content acquisitions and digital distribution at the Tribeca Film Festival. Over a 20 year career, Nick has acquired and distributed hundreds of movies, documentaries and TV titles in multiple territories ...

Randy Frisch started LoveCat Music in 1999. Before that he was a musician and then a lawyer in the record industry. He’s written articles on music copyright law that are in the U.S. Congressional Record. Randy also enjoys watching music-based films, especially rockumentaries ...

Steven De Castro is a New York-based cinematographer and professor. Before he was a filmmaker, De Castro was a trial lawyer and served as Human Rights Commissioner of Jersey City ...

Cristina "Trinity" Vélez-Justo is a music composer for film and media. Currently, she works full-time scoring features, shorts, commercials, video games, etc. Trinity also teaches as an adjunct professor at UNC School of the Arts, as well as guest-lectures at various universities, film festivals and groups; educating industry professionals on the importance of music in film and how to successfully work with a composer ...

Zach Grinfeld is a recent graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in film studies and production and a minor in engineering. He is working as an assistant editor on several upcoming documentaries, and was a production assistant with CBS for the first 2016 presidential debate at Hofstra ...

Zelda Gay is a native New York ninja who loves to tell stories through violence and combat ...