WFA 2023 Directors Spotter Sheet

Alan Sánchez is a Motion Designer and 3D generalist. He is passionate about creating ideas and expressing them visually. Since he was 23 years old, he's been involved in the world of design and animation. 10:35 is the first short film in which he has participated as a director and it provided a great experience, as well as the passion to continue learning and improving as an artist.

Estelle Parsons was last seen on Broadway in THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN, receiving her 5th Tony Award nomination. She is most widely known for her Academy Award-winning performance in BONNIE AND CLYDE. As a director, she created the New York Shakespeare Festival Players for Joseph Papp in the 1980’s and directed Al Pacino in SALOME; THE READING on Broadway. She is a member of the Actors Studio and has received 4 lifetime achievement awards: a Lilly, an Obie, a LaMama award and the Cherry Lane award.

As a satirical comedic innovator, Jeff Hilliard’s music videos have garnered millions of views and have won numerous film festivals. His videos have been promoted by SteveO, Russell Brand and Tommy Lee.

Vega Halen holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication and works as a teacher of Audiovisual Language and Video Editing at CEV School in Madrid. She also works as a Freelance Photographer and Videographer. She wrote and directed her first short film, LA SANTA, which earned selections at several festivals and won the "Alice Guy Prize" at the Marató De Cinema Fantàstic i de Terror de Sants (Barcelona). Her latest project is the short film ABUELA DALÍ, which was shot in 2021.

Débora Souza Silva is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work examines systemic racism and inequality. Her work were featured on PBS, BBC, Reveal News, KQED, and Fusion. She received the NABJ Les Payne Founder's Award, a New York Times Institute Fellowship, 2021 Creative Capital Award, a member of the 2020 Chicken & Egg(celerator) Lab and the 2019 Firelight Media Lab.

Since 2005, Marta Renzi has directed over three dozen short films, completing her debut feature film HER MAGNUM OPUS in 2017. She has received seven NEA Choreographic Fellowships, and a NY Dance & Performance Award (a "Bessie"). Awarded by Dancing in the Streets as a "fearless explorer" in 1995, her Project Co. regularly performed outdoors for free. Marta is a 2013 Bogliasco Fellow and a RAW supported artist. She has collaborated in theater (Andre Gregory), circus (Cecil MacKinnon) and film (John Sayles), and danced with David Gordon, Douglas Dunn, Kei Takei and with Twyla Tharp in HAIR.

Raphaël Rodriguez studied graphic design in Paris and worked in art direction and illustration studio on various artistic editorials, musical and video projects for popular indie French labels and bands including Because Music and Scratch Massive. Léo Berne was born and raised in Aix-en-Provence. After studying sociology he started his career as a copywriter at BBDO Paris and began producing hip hop and electronic tracks at Chinese Man Records. In 2009 they founded the collective Megaforce and have directed campaigns and music videos for Rihanna, Madonna, Tame Impala, Kid Cudi and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and won Best Director at the UK Music Video Awards. In 2018, their campaign “Nothing Beats a Londoner” for Nike was the most decorated commercial of the last 40 years at D&AD.

Eliza Foss is an actor, writer and director living and working in New York City for over twenty years. She has been seen on major stages in New York City and in regional theaters across the country as well as in episodic TV and independent films. Most recently, she was seen in the film INDIGNATION and an adaptation of ENEMY OF HTE PEOPLE at The Barrow Group Theater in New York. She was the AD on Jeremy and Ann’s first film, PLOT. This is her directorial debut.

Step C. is an animation director, illustrator, educator and art director based in Hong Kong. He loves to use a variety of media to express the world in his imagination. His animation TOXIC RELATIONSHIP (2018) was selected in more than 50 international festivals, and won 6 prizes, his next short film, LITTLE THINKS ( 2019 ) was selected in more than 30 international festivals, and won 4 prizes.

Katherina Harder is a Chilean film and TV director. She is the co-founder and director of the Iquique International Film Festival and ‘La Gran Pantalla Barcelona’. Her short films have been exhibited in important international film festivals like Tribeca, La Habana, FICGuadalajara, Mar del Plata, Camerimage among others. Her short film DESERT LIGHTS has won more than 24 internationals awards and qualified for the Oscar. She is currently developing projects in Chile and Spain and is writing her debut feature film.

Iván Ordás is from Madrid, Spain. He has made multiple videoclips in Spain and is the co-founder of the audiovisual production company Blanco Atómico.

Malcolm Randles has a passion for the preservation of Africa’s last remaining wilderness areas. Between 2003 and 2017 his job took him around the world and he was lucky enough to meet with individuals looking to experience his interpretation of an African safari. Shortly thereafter he formed Off Piste Africa - one of Africa's leading responsible tourism companies. His frequent trips to Tsavo inspired Malcolm to make this movie about Tsavo's super tuskers, and in particular, Lugard.

Ari Groobman is a writer and director living in Los Angeles, California. He loves to tell bittersweet stories blended with dark comedy and horror to highlight culturally diverse journeys surrounding mental health and identity. Born in Colorado, Ari comes from a mixed heritage family. He graduated as an engineer and Boettcher Scholar, however, his undying love for film and television brought him into the industry. Ari has resided and worked in China, Brazil, and Israel.

A director with a strong aesthetic and authorial language, Felipe Sassi is responsible for directing music videos for the main Brazilian pop singers – such as IZA, Duda Beat, Gloria Groove, Karol Conka and many more which together add up to more than 1 billion views on Youtube. Graduated in advertising from Centro Universitário Belas Artes, he has also signed campaigns from different brandes such as Niely and MEC.

Lone Star Emmy®-winning filmmaker, Paul Michael Bloodgood enjoyed a 20-year career as a professional ballet dancer and has a B.A. in Dance and the Humanities from St. Edward’s University. Paul Michael’s TRENCHES OF ROCK premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival, ultimately receiving 14 accolades across the globe. A SAG-AFTRA member and a 4-time Austin Critics Table Award recipient, Paul Michael credits his extensive background in film, music, and dance for his approach to creative storytelling.

Chengqing Zhu is a Chinese filmmaker based in Shanghai and Los Angeles. Educated as a film director at the California Institute of the Arts, she makes fiction films about contemporary absurdity and people's beliefs in general.

Kgosana Monchusi is a Soweto born and bred creative who discovered his love of entertainment at a very young age. Other directing credits include the international award winning debut short film OPUS (2019) winner of the Best Short Film at Silicon Valley African festival, award-winning Queer short film FEMININE LOTUS (2020), and the hit romantic comedy A SAFE BET (2021).

Yunhong Pu is a bilingual film director and producer based in NYC and earned an MFA Degree in social documentary film from the School of Visual Arts. GO THROUGH THE DARK is her thesis film and her first feature film.

Changhee Chun is a professor and filmmaker at The University of Texas at Arlington. He produced over fifty television commercials, music videos, fiction films, documentaries and also produced the Korean broadcasting of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. After extensive experience in the media industry and independent productions, Changhee is really interest in creating visually stimulating films that directly incorporate current and prevailing issues including social justice, discrimination, diversity, and environmental issues.

Dark Avenue Film consists of Patrick Crellin and Bethany White, and is a production company based on the Isle of Man. The business has been operating since 2018, and since then, has produced two award-winning fiction short films and three short documentaries.

Cheryl Bookout co-directed the doc film INSIDE THE BEATUY BUBBLE; she is currently producing the feature documentary ACTING LIKE WOMEN and a short film JUST A FRIEND and is the founder of The Chimaera Project, a nonprofit that champions women filmmakers. Cheri Gaulke is a pioneer in the feminist art movement; directed the award-winning documentaries GLORIA’S CALL and MISS ALMA THOMAS: A LIFE IN COLOR; co-director of INSIDE THE BEAUTY BUBBLE and is currently in production on her feature documentary ACTING LIKE WOMEN.

Israa Al-Kamali is an LA-based Iraqi filmmaker who has worked on various projects in both regions. Al-Kamali’s work tackles matters such as social justice, immigration, and culture. She founded the Iraqi Film Festival to celebrate films from Iraq. Al-Kamali holds a BSc in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and an MFA in Filmmaking from New York Film Academy. Her debut feature film, THE ANXIOUS PLACE, is the first feature film by a woman in Qatar and is currently in the financing phase.

Kryzz Gautier is a Queer, Afro-Latina, formerly undocumented writer/director from the Dominican Republic. Kryzz was on The Black List 2021, has written on an HBO series and on 2K Games’ BioShock 4. She's sold shows and features to studios, some of which have her attached as director. Kryzz has been a fellow in prestigious programs like NBC’s “Female Forward”, Ryan Murphy's "Half Initiative", Joey Soloway's "Disruptors", the Sundance Institute, and The Academy's Nicholl Fellowship, among others.

Daphne Yeager Ostendorf is an independent Documentary Filmmaker based in New York. She holds degrees in Anthropology, Political/Social Science and Documentary Filmmaking. Daphne was a Peace Corps development worker in a small fishing village in Sierra Leone, West Africa; after surviving this she lived and worked in Germany, Italy and New York. Daphne has been a producer, cinematographer and editor for both short and feature documentaries and fiction films.

Debra Solomon has been animating since 1995. Her films have won awards including a Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale, Best Soundtrack in Annecy, and a Special Jury Award at the World Animation Festival. Her film EVERYBODY’S PREGNANT is in MOMA's film and video collection. In 2001, Debra helped create the Disney Channel's hit show LIZZIE MCGUIRE, acting as animation director for the series and movie. Her film GETTING OVER HIM IN 8 SONGS OR LESS, was featured on HBO.

Vivian Papageorgiou holds a doctorate in Cinema Studies, has a Master’s Degree in Audiovisual & Cinema and studied TV & Cinema Directing, English Literature and Interior Design. She created 6 short films and is a Sarajevo Film Festival talent alumni (2016). Her script HANSEL was at the Pack & Pitch of the same festival. She is working at the University of Athens and is in development of her first feature documentary.

Robin de Levita has produced 3 features and line-produced more than 100 TV shows and motion picture films, but is best known for producing more than 80 first class theater productions in 7 countries, including 17 Broadway and 4 West End productions, winning numerous international awards including Tony Awards for Titanic, 42nd Street and Into the Woods, plus a Laurence Olivier Award for The Who’s Tommy.

Sepi Mashiahof is a second generation Iranian-American immigrant and trans-femme filmmaker, screenwriter, and musician. Since 2012, she has lived in Oakland, CA where she cultivated relationships with the queer underground arts community through her work as Executive Director at Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, host of the cult Scream Queens Radio program, and member of industrial no wave band SBSM. She has directed a plethora of music videos before making her short film debut with LOVE YOU FOREVER.

Natalie Plaskura has a diploma in photodesign studies, directing and cinematography (MA). Her short films INTRUSION (2012), FAINT (2014), MINOTAUR/BLACK VULPINE (2019) and SKRZYKOT (2020) went to several film festivals around the globe.

Guillaume Scaillet graduated from the screenwriting department of La Fémis and now works on projects as a writer and director. He’s currently writing the script of his first feature JEANNE DARK produced by Caïmans Productions. He also works as a scriptwriter and consultant on diverse movies and series projects.

Co-director Randall Dottin is a writer/director who works both in documentary and narrative fiction. He is currently chair of the Screenwriting Department at New York Film Academy. Brasilian-American filmmaker Luisa Dantas (Co-director) works at the intersection of storytelling, social justice, and cities. She produced and directed the multi-platform documentary LAND OF OPPORTUNITY, and co-produced the documentary WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOST PRICE. MINE is part of a suite of five projects created by the Rise-Home Stories Project, a groundbreaking collaboration between multimedia storytellers and social justice advocates seeking to change our relationship to land, home, and race, by transforming the stories we tell about them. More info at www.risehomestories.com

Marianne Blicher is a graduate from the Danish film school Super16. Her debut as a writing director was the short film MALLORCA, followed by BELINDA BEAUTIFUL, which won the main prize at Krakow Film Festival and has an extensive festival track. Her latest short ODD JOB MAN competed at 50+ festivals. In 2022, Marianne premiered her first feature MISS VIBORG.

Dawn Jones Redstone is a Mexican-American writer/director whose short films have screened around the globe including the acclaimed SISTA IN THE BROTHERHOOD. Her work often features women of color and explores themes of resistance, feminism and the internal machinations that help us transform into the people we want to become. She believes in using her hiring decisions to help create an inclusive filmmaking community that reflects and brings needed perspective to the world we live in.

Melissa Vitello is an award-winning producer and director who has over 15 years of experience in the film industry and, more namely, the horror genre. In the last ten years, Melissa has produced 4 feature films and over 50 short films, commercials, and music videos. Christopher Sheffield has always strived to push the limits of independent cinema, writing, directing, and DP'ing his own feature films, from ambitious action thrillers to the smaller drama projects with deeply personal stories.

Ley is Afro-Caribbean, born in Costa Rica and raised in the Dominican Republic. Ley is a production sound mixer by trade, their work in sound has been included in several film festivals and major streaming platforms. As an educator, Ley serves as an Adjunct Professor at Temple University. Their work as a filmmaker of trans experience is grounded in collaborating in the creation of films that highlight and empower the narratives of historically erased identities.

Fatemeh Ghadirinezhadian is an Iraninan director, writer and producer. She has a Ph.D. in psychology and has worked as a consultant on the sets of feature films and T.V series in Iran. Filmography: PANAH (2022, Short, Drama), WHERE IS THE HEAVEN (2013, Short, Drama). Sana Norouzbaki is a costume, production, and art designer from Iran. She was born in 1988 in Tehran and also has a master's degree in architecture and urban designing.

Jaco Minnaar grew up in the industrial wastelands of South Africa. He studied literature at University and learned directing at film school. He's taught film theory and worked in the television industry. He’s exhibited photographic projects and experimental video works, and has made music videos and short films. He has a strong working relationship with David Cornwell and together they wrote and produced their first feature film, Pou (Peacock). He lives in Cape Town with his wife and their cat.

Miriam Olken was born in Maine, grew up in New Hampshire and now lives in Boston. Miriam is a production assistant in film, TV and commercials. When she is not doing PA work she does assistant director work on music videos, pilots and features. She also continues to write, direct, and produce her own shorts. Films she has produced and/or directed have shown at: Shawna Shea, Boston Underground, Dances with Films, Wicked Queer, NH Film Festival, Other Worlds Austin, and Culver City.

Lewis Rose is a London-based writer and director. Usually working in comedy, many of his films explore issues of cultural and religious identity, aiming to uncover humor and heart that lies beneath. Alongside his fiction work, Lewis has also directed numerous commercial projects for companies such as Adidas, Barclays and Kia, as well as making music videos for a host of major label artists. His music video for Beardyman won UKMVA in 2016 and several other awards. When he’s not directing he performs improvisational comedy with The Free Association.

Takeshi Yashiro joined TAIYO KIKAKU Co., Ltd., a Japanese TV-CM production, after graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1993. He has worked as a director mainly for commercial films and is one of the top stop motion animation specialists. He not only directs but also create the art and sets by himself. He especially likes creating hand-made, story-telling pieces.

Sosiessia Nixon is an award winning Jamaican screenwriter, director and film producer. She is currently the head of film and television at iKon Media and Films. Sosiessia is the creative mind behind many music videos as she serves as treatment writer on music video projects including Shaggy, Buju Banton, Sean Paul, Spice, Conkarah and Dre Island.

Antje Duvekot has garnered critical acclaim from the animated videos she recently made for Toad The Wet Sprocket, STARTING NOW, Dar Williams, TODAY AND EVERY DAY, Eliot Bronson & Lori McKenna, EVEN THIS IS GOING TO PASS, and Eliza Gylkison, PROMISES TO KEEP. Originally born in Germany and transplanted to the US as a young teen, Antje Duvekot has had a two-decade long career as both a touring singer-songwriter and animator.

John Madere is a photographer and documentary filmmaker. His approach to directing documentaries is informed by his experience photographing people from every walk of life. John’s clients have entrusted him with assignments in over 50 countries. Pre-pandemic, he completed a seven-week ’round-the-world journey entailing photography in eleven cities on six continents.

Lloyd Lee Choi is a Korean-Canadian New York based director who found a magical escape with cinema early on. Growing up, he was a regular fixture at the local theater, and eventually, began to secretly create films of his own; directing, acting, shooting, and editing. With a number of awards including a Silver Cannes Lion for his Cornetto campaign, “40 Love” featuring Lily Allen, Lloyd has gone on to create global campaigns for Google, Chevrolet, Sony and Peloton. Lloyd also released his first original scripted 30-minute short film, BEFORE MARS, for National Geographic which is streaming on Hulu, iTunes, and Amazon.

Natalie Bruijns got her Filmmaking degree from the University of the Arts Utrecht in 2012, majoring in Fiction. After graduation, she started her career working chiefly on set as an Assistant Director for television and film. Natalie developed into making documentaries and directed for the Dutch television series TITAANTJES. She is currently working on a big screen documentary for young people. SEAHORSE is her fiction film debut.

Julie Joseph is a French animation film director, illustrator and art director based in Brussels. She directs music videos and commercial films, including for the American channel FX Networks, for luxury brands like Van Cleef & Arpels. She also works for the press: Le Monde, l’Obs, illustrates podcasts for Arte Radio, publishing books for Gallimard Jeunesse.

Mercedes Bryce Morgan is an award-winning queer Latina director. She just completed her feature debut FIXATION which is premiering at TIFF. SPOONFULL OF SUGAR is her second feature film. Mercedes has directed episodic series for different studios such as MGM, Facebook Watch, Snapchat, New Form, Eko, and Project Greenlight/ Adaptive. Her work collectively has over 1.5 billion views.

Mars Roberge is a Canadian-American dual-citizen filmmaker from Toronto and living in Los Angeles. Mars' previous films include his documentary THE LITTLE HOUSE THAT COULD about "Sex & the City" stylist Patricia Field (2013 Frameline, Audience Choice Award for Best Film at 2015 NewFilmmakers Los Angeles), the punk comedy SCUMBAG (2017 International Film Festival Rotterdam), the drag dramedy MISTER SISTER (closing film for 2021 Dances With Films + 2021 Winter Film Awards--Best NYC Film).

Jack Wingate is a queer filmmaker from Tallahassee, Florida now based in Brooklyn. In December of 2020, he graduated from FSU with his B.A. in Digital Media Production and Creative Writing. His work has been shown at Miami Independent and Student LA Film Awards. In his current work, Jack focuses on art, urbanism, and workers' rights. He most recently was awarded the Parlamentarisches Patenschafts-Programm as a Filmmaking Fellow which brought him to Berlin, Germany.

Silvester Zwaneveld is a Dutch animator, illustrator and performer. He has made more than 15 theatre plays, performed in the biggest venues in the country and his shows are aired on national television. In his shows he uses animation as a tool.

Sarah Heitz de Chabaneix, a graduate from The National Theater School of Canada, started her cinema career as an assistant director, before launching into script writing and film directing. She has since written and directed several award-winner short movies. Among them: SPOONING (2020), UNDER MOM'S SKIRT (2017), THE WHISPERS (2015), and I'M A BLANK PAGE (2012). She is currently writing feature-length fictions, short films, TV shows, produced in France.

Kaya Tone was raised in the mountains outside of Boulder, CO. She moved to NYC to attend NYU Tisch for her BFA in Film & TV with a minor in Religious Studies. She started her own production company in 2020, Tone Productions, with her sister and long time collaborator, Siena Tone. Together, the Tone sisters are excited to present their films, and hope to use them to educate and inspire people around the world.

Student Oscar Award winner Tristan Holmes is a director and writer, known for ELALINI (2005) and INNOCENT TIMES (2008). Hailing from the Johannesburg South Africa, Tristan was brought up a nomad. With a bohemian mother in tow, early life was an undulating tapestry of strange places, people and faces, a complex collection of anthropological opposites unique to a life in Africa.

Vignesh Vaithyanathan is an actor and filmmaker who is committed to the art of narrative storytelling. Having previously worked as an architect, he continues to tell stories through different mediums. He has also written, directed and produced CURVE BALL and BEHIND THE DOOR, which were screened in multiple film festivals across India. His current Film OPEN LOVE is in post-production.

Danny Ashkenasi is an American theater/film director, composer, actor, writer and producer born in Berlin, Germany. His short film Poe adaptation THE TELL-TALE HEART - A MUSICABRE played over 80 film festivals, winning over 65 awards. His follow-up THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM - A MUSICABRE, currently playing festivals, has already received many awards. In addition to Poe, Ashkenasi has musically adapted Twain, Melville, Langston Hughes, Lewis Carroll, and The Book of Job.

Jordan Ancel is a multi-award-winning Film and TV director/producer/writer whose films have been in over 100 festivals worldwide. He recently wrapped production on the feature film THE UNSEEN, a psychological horror/thriller, starring R. J. Mitte ("Breaking Bad"), which is an allegory for school bullying. His dark comedy short film, GOOD GUYS WITH GUNS, a commentary on the overwhelming gun violence epidemic, can be seen on Amazon Prime.

Paul Schwartz is a filmmaker, playwright and composer. His recently completed feature THE SEASONS has been out to festivals since September and has so far won over two dozen awards. His 2021 featurette A NEW YORK STORY also won multiple awards. He is currently at work on his next film, SHADOWS AND LIGHT, which will begin shooting in 2023. He is the composer and producer of the both the ARIA series and the STATE OF GRACE series of recordings which have sold over a million copies world wide.

Micah Stathis was born in the Midwest and raised in Ano Glyfada Greece, just outside Athens. Micah is a decorated veteran who spent three years serving in the US Army, and was deployed in combat in Ramadi, Iraq. Micah then received his Masters in Film Studies at NYU Tisch. He has written and directed many short films, music videos and short documentaries. THE SISTERS KARRA is Micah's first feature film.

Farnoosh Abedi was born in 1985 in Isfahan, Iran. He has made more than 20 short animated films and TV series, documentaries and one Feature Animated film. His films was presented and screened in more than 500 domestic and international film festivals and received 210 awards.

Kaye Spann is a new filmmaker and schoolteacher whose story telling career began in 2014 at the American Black Film Festival where he pitched to Robert Townsend during a Pitch Contest and won. That vote of confidence by such a respected icon in the field confirmed that filmmaking is his calling. Kaye possesses a strong passion in telling stories through the art of film. He studied at the New York Film Academy and has written screenplays, television scripts and also acted in films and plays.

Eduardo Bunster is a Chilean director and cinematographer, and has ventured into fiction film, documentary, stop-motion animation and video art. His short film D-CONSTRUIR (best short film at Sydney Fantastic Film Festival and Festival Cine B Santiago), his diptych of short documentaries INNER LANDSCAPES and his collaborations as cinematographer with prominent Chilean film directors stand out. Co-Director Belén Abarza is a first-time filmmaker.

Ian Phillips was born and raised in New York City. His first Feature Documentary COACH JAKE premiered at the Urbanworld Film Festival in September of 2017 and was distributed by First Fun Features. He is also a co-founder of Willful Productions along with his frequent collaborator, Otoja Abit.

Shaleece is an Emmy Award-winning documentary producer and a director based in Los Angeles. Her directing credits include REAL BOY (2016; Independent Lens); and TO THE FUTURE, WITH LOVE (2021; POV Shorts). Recently, she was on the producing teams of FOOD AND COUNTRY (Sundance, 2023); DELIKADO (Hot Docs, 2022; POV); LOUDMOUTH (Tribeca, 2022); and ASIAN AMERICANS (PBS; 2020 Peabody Award). TEXAS STRONG, a short doc she produced in 2018, won an Emmy Award for Short Documentary and premiered at SXSW

Malcolm Judah developed TRACK-MEMORIA since 2021 for his thesis. It has come a long way and undergone many different changes in regard to the story. Each change that was made made him more excited to find ways of telling Emilio's story effectively, He relates to these struggles with technology. This was his first time directing something of this caliber; the further they got into the making of the film, the more eagerheI became to get the story right.

Stacey Larkins is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and musician residing in the New York City metropolitan area. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Spelman College, and a Masters in Music from New York University. She has shot, written, directed, composed and edited several short films that have played in various film festivals as well as Shorts TV International. Her award winning film JABARI KEATING is currently airing on Aspire TV’s Urban Indie Film Block.

Eevin Hartsough is an NYC-based, award-winning actor/writer/producer. Her independent episodic projects include GEMMA & THE BEAR! (NYTFV), BECKYS THROUGH HISTORY (Miami Web Fest), and WHEREVER YOU GO (LIFF). Eevin began writing with the experimental theater company, the New York Neo-Futurists. She recently completed an MFA in TV Writing at Stonybrook University and is a proud member of Filmshop. Andrew Ramjattan Beguin is an award-winning Swiss-American writer, director and producer based in New York City. His feature film, NOWHERE, MICHIGAN, has garnered numerous best picture awards at festivals and is currently being distributed by Gravitas Ventures. He recently earned his MFA in TV writing from Stony Brook University and has worked as a writer’s assistant for NBC in addition to pursuing his own writing and directing projects with his wife, Brittany.

Tomer Shushan is a writer and a director from Israel. His film INSIDE SHELLS (2017) screened in FIPA and Sau Paulo international short film festival among others. WHITE EYE, his first independent short film, was nominated for Best-Live Action Short Film in the 93rd Academy Awards. Tomer has participated in more than 100 film festivals (including 30 Oscar qualifying film festivals), won the Best Narrative Short Jury Award in SXSW 2020. He is currently developing his feature film WAITING FOR THE SUN.

Katherina Harder is a Chilean film and TV director. She is the co-founder and director of the Iquique International Film Festival and ‘La Gran Pantalla Barcelona’. Her short films have been exhibited in important international film festivals like Tribeca, La Habana, FICGuadalajara, Mar del Plata, Camerimage among others. Her short film DESERT LIGHTS has won more than 24 internationals awards and qualified for the Oscar. She is currently developing projects in Chile and Spain and is writing her debut feature film.

Megan Magee is an actress, director, and producer based in Astoria, Queens. Megan has directed numerous theatre productions which have been staged at Teatro Latea, Manhattan Rep, the Arthur Seelen Theatre, and more. Her first short film she directed, HOPE, received an Honorable Mention at New York Lift-Off Film Festival. YELLOW LINES is her first spec pilot, and she could not have asked for a better production team than Carly Wilkins and Kristin Papadopoulos.

Cynthia Gray is an award-winning actor and writer with short stories and poems published, several scripts produced into films and plays that have shown in film festivals around the world. Besides writing the screenplay for YES, MOTHER, the film is Cynthia's directorial debut. Jennifer Enskat has worked for decades as an actor, working with directors like Stephen Chbosky and Kevin Smith. She eventually moving to directing, editing and producing, winning film festival awards in various capacities.