Leadership

A graduate of DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts, Ryan cut his teeth in the festival world working with the Chicago International Film Festival from 2014-22 as an archivist, technical manager, programmer, and ultimately as the CineYouth Festival Director. He’s excited to continue NFFTY’s mission of encouraging young filmmakers to share their art with the world. When he’s not programming films for festivals or his podcast, you can catch Ryan trekking through the mountains of the PNW or sitting with his cat reading a book.

Amy Williams is an editor, producer, and film programmer based in Seattle, WA. This is Amy’s seventh festival with NFFTY, and she’s excited to help curate and produce another unforgettable program. A lover of creating and consuming media, Amy is most fulfilled by helping others bring their artistic visions to fruition.

Salome is a lifelong Seattleite. Spending college editing videos in her free time, she eventually had the opportunity to learn about and get involved with filmmaking thanks to Seattle based production company RG Pro’s intensive workshops and its apprenticeship program. She is thrilled to be a part of NFFTY 2025 and help bring forth films and programming that generate a deeper sense of meaning and connection.

Stella Naymik is a Junior at Kent State University studying Digital Media Production. She is a writer, director, and producer, currently involved in active roles with multiple production-based organizations in Northeast Ohio, such as The Female Filmmakers’ Initiative (Director). Stella can often be found working on student and independent films, or on sets of her own with her student-run production company mood9 (Executive Producer). She is beyond excited to help NFFTY continue to support and uplift young filmmakers.

Romina is a visual artist with marketing, distribution, and campaign strategy experience in the entertainment and photography industry. She is a senior at Cal State Northridge studying film with an emphasis on screenwriting. Her favorite movie is Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Lake Neill is currently a junior at Ballard High School, based in Seattle, WA. He has been involved in Ballard's digital film program the past two years, and will be running and organizing their end of the year student-film-showcase this year and the next. When he's not editing or making student films, Lake can be found drawing or doing photography. He's excited to work with NFFTY and help share the work of many talented young filmmakers.

NOAH WAGNER is an award-winning director, writer, and filmmaker, and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. His work has appeared on HBO, NBC, BBC, VIMEO STAFF PICKS and THE NEW YORKER, and has screened at film festivals worldwide. He’s also worked in varying capacities for – among others - THE DAILY SHOW, BBC, NICKELODEON, and HBO, where he spent close to a decade creating ancillary video, VR, and digital content for docs, sports, and series such as WESTWORLD, SILICON VALLEY, BALLERS, and GAME OF THRONES. He also loves to teach. Most recently he completed his latest directorial effort – existential AI thriller, WATCH ROOM.

www.noahwagner.com

Morgana McKenzie is an award winning cinematographer and director based in Toronto. Most recently, Morgana received two nominations from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers for her work on “Wild” (Dramatic Short Cinematography), and “Lost Time” (Robert Brooks Award for Documentary Cinematography). Her short films have garnered over 40 awards from international festivals, including Best Director and the Canada 150 award for Best Film from TIFF Jump Cuts Next Wave. As a cinematographer and colorist, Morgana is currently working on a number of narrative and documentary projects in Toronto, Tokyo, Kentucky, and Seattle.

Born in Seoul but growing up in New Jersey, Dennis spent much of his middle school science classes drawing and designing fantastical creatures and characters; to this day he is still trying to compensate for his neglected classes by creating absurd works in science fiction. While studying Fine Arts and Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, he has directed a number of animated short films which have been featured on notable online platforms including Short of the Week, Vimeo Staff Picks, DUST Sci-Fi, Omeleto, and received recognition in festivals internationally.

Barb Hoffman is an emerging filmmaker/animator based in Seattle Washington. She has had a strong passion for film ever since her small directorial debut of Weird Al Yankovic parody music videos that she created with friends in elementary school. More recently, Barb has had the pleasure in playing at NFFTY for the past 3 years with her animation What We See In the Clouds, winning an audience award at NFFTY 2020. Her films have also played at festivals such as the Seattle International Film Festival and Destiny City Film Festival. Barb looks forward to creating more work in the future, incorporating both her love of animation and experimental filmmaking.

Alexander Zorn is an award-winning filmmaker based in Chicago, IL with over seven years of independent filmmaking experience working as a producer, director, and editor. Born and raised in rural Indiana, he studied film production at Indiana University and gained a Master of Fine Arts in cinema production from DePaul University. Alexander is currently traveling with his latest film Bird of Paradise which tells the story of a young queer geriatric nurse who falls in love with one of his elderly patients. The film has screened at festivals around the world including Kashish Mumbai Queer Film Festival, the largest LGBTQ+ film festival in South Asia; Maryland Film Festival; and the Academy-Award Qualifying INDY SHORTS Film Festival.

Lindsay was born at a very young age, and grew up in Los Angeles where she still lives and accumulates parking tickets. She has directed and produced content for Grammy nominated artists and her narrative work has been screened at festivals internationally. She has been the Lead Designer at the Venice based production company Jojx, and is currently the Co-founder/Creative Director of the tech startup Reelfolio. Before all that, she got her start in film with NFFTY (2014, 2018, 2019, 2020)! When she isn't working on something creative, she is most likely camping, surfing, eating lunch at 11am, or hanging out with her rescue dog Nalu. She is a pro member of Free the Work, and repped by Anemone Artists .

Tiffany Lin is a Taiwanese-American filmmaker born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. A 2020 graduate of USC’s film and television production program, Tiffany has worked extensively across live action, animation, and virtual reality. Her work has been recognized at festivals including NFFTY (2019, 2020), Dances With Films, and more; in addition, a short film she wrote was a semifinalist for the 2020 Student Academy Awards. Through her films, Tiffany aims to present emotionally honest and unconventional perspectives on the experience of growing up.

Currently based in Los Angeles, Adam collaborates with artists as director, cinematographer, animator, and editor – often all four – to create works that bridge various media forms, some of which have earned international festival recognition over the years. Originally self-taught in high school by churning out whacky videos at home, he later gained professional experience at virtual reality production company Wevr where he wrote, directed, shot, and edited 360° video content for their platform. Adam studied cognitive neuroscience and perception at Brown University which left him curious about the ways we sense and engage with our shared environment. Art and film, in both its expressed themes and process, is a grand way to experiment with that.

An LA-based director, Leo Pfeifer is obsessed with pushing the boundaries of character-driven nonfiction storytelling. With a focus on finding the great stories of real life, his films have played festivals around the world and received hundreds of thousands of views online in publications like Directors Notes, GLAAD, Billboard, and Grammys.com. Recently, his film HAVEN IN THE BOOTH was shortlisted for a Young Director Award.

Vitória Vasconcellos is a Brazilian actor-director who goes around the world telling stories about female endurance and the peculiar, most intimate bits of the human experience which we often fail to treasure. Her short thriller Pathei Mathos was included in the 2021 Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner, won the Best Experimental Film Award at the largest student festival in the world (Ivy Film Festival), in addition to winning multiple awards. A 2021 TIFF Filmmaker Lab fellow, Vitória’s work explores the intersectionality of the female experience (with Latinas often in focus) and the sensorial poetry that connects us to the world.

She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where she was one of the 50 students awarded the Global Scholar distinction, and is a current student of the Stella Adler Art of Acting Studio in Los Angeles. Vitória’s short script The Killer California Club was invited to the Pitching Lab of the renowned Drama International Short Film Festival (DISFF) in Greece. Recently, Vitória was awarded the National Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) Emerging Content Scholarship two times in a role. She was also the winner of the 2021 Wood Island Media Emerging Voices Film Grant.

Vitória is currently working on her TIFF Filmmaker Lab-developed short film, Bleed, Don't Die, which was also a recipient of the TIFF Share Her Journey Canada Goose Grant and the Freestyle Cameras Emerging Filmmaker Grant.

Laura Holliday is filmmaker, screenwriter and actor from West Virginia, based in LA. She has written and directed original content for Comedy Central and Funny or Die, and has trained in comedy performance and writing at The Second City conservatory Hollywood and UCB LA. She was selected as a 2017 Sundance Ignite Fellow for her film "Persephone Goes Home,” which she wrote, directed and starred in. She directed the award winning dramatic short "Disfluency" and was a consulting producer on the adapted feature film version, which won the 2022 Austin Film Festival. She has a BFA in film production with an emphasis on directing from Art Center College of Design where she graduated with honors, and she is currently training in intimacy coordination with the IDC. She is a reader and script coverage writer for Stage 32, and is passionate about creating a more equitable and inclusive entertainment industry, particularly for disabled and chronically ill creatives. Laura was a NFFTY filmmaker every year from 2012 to 2019, and served as the Vice President of the NFFTY Alumni Advisory Board for seven years - she loves Nffty! She is currently writing several feature film projects and developing a narrative podcast. She enjoys making music and drinking coffee.

Dan Lesser is an Aussie-born, now L.A.-based director. Dan enjoys telling stories with themes of identity, self-love, and anything that can get a cheeky giggle out of an audience. Dan has created films that have been screened across the world from Sydney, to London, to the Chinese theater on Hollywood Boulevard, to billboards in Times Square, NYC. His films have gained acceptance to festivals such as the Oscar Qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival winning him the VORTEX DIRECTORIAL DISCOVERY GRAND PRIZE. Whether narrative or commercial work, Dan is striving to create authentic, visually dynamic, and kinetic work.

Tiger is a writer / director from Hong Kong. He first gained recognition at age 19 with his award-winning short, WUHAN DRIVER, which caught the attention of EP Jonathan Sanger (VANILLA SKY, ELEPHANT MAN). His subsequent short film, DEATH & RAMEN, stars comedian Bobby Lee and actor Matt Jones from BREAKING BAD, and premiered at the Palm Springs Shortfest. It was picked up by Canal+ for distribution worldwide.

Tiger studied at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he majored in philosophy and read a bunch of Russian literature. He has also studied under acclaimed filmmakers like Ruben Ostlund (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, THE SQUARE), and Lucrecia Martel (LA CIÉNEGA), and is an alumnus of the 2022 Short to Feature Lab led by Jim Cummings (THUNDER ROAD). Inspired by Hong Kong cinema, his films fuse Eastern and Western sensibilities, and blend the absurd with the serious.

Managed by Echo Lake Entertainment, Tiger is based in New York, where he currently develops his first feature adaptation for DEATH & RAMEN.

Kim is a Seattle-based Filmmaker and Producer with over 20 years of experience in video production, specializing in live-action broadcast commercials, digital media, and corporate videos. She is also the writer and producer of “Emotional Tourist: Raising a New Generation” a short film that explores how we can increase peace and create nurturing, creative spaces for future generations. She thinks deeply about peace, what it means and what it takes to build a sustainable peace, so in 2014, Kim founded an innovative mentoring program called Across the Bridge, which recently won the Creative Economy Contest at the Seattle Film Summit. She envisions a world where, together, we can safely go "Across the Bridge" to explore and create opportunities in the film, music, and creative industries, and most importantly, help young people develop their own creative agency to share their stories with the world!

As a middle child of Nigerian immigrants, Ogugua has lived a life shaped and informed by a myriad of perspectives and experiences that he enjoys capturing on film. He currently has a role within corporate finance and strategy, however in the past he’s also worked as a line cook, has led mentorship programs, and more recently as a scientist making life-saving medicine. An alumnus of UC Berkeley and UCLA, Ogugua spends his free time taking photos and taking his car to the racetrack.

Frank is an advertising art director and creative director who has developed campaigns for top brands in all media, including the production of dozens of TV commercials and web films. Over the past 20+ years, he has earned every notable industry award for his work, including the Cannes Gold Lion, The One Show, ADDY, ANDY, Clio, and Communication Arts. In 2008, Frank established Square Tomato, a creative practice dedicated to solving marketing problems in unexpected ways. He specializes in film direction, motion design, and visual effects.

Alan was a commercial video editor for much of his career. He founded World Famous in 2005 as a creative editorial and design studio. Since then Alan has grown World Famous into a full-service advertising agency and production studio. A vocal proponent of the creative economy, Alan has been on the Mayor's Economic Development Commission and is the Vice-Chair of Washington Filmworks, the managing organization of Washington's Motion Picture Competitiveness program. Alan also loves being a father and mashing up found-sounds into sonic wonders and infectious grooves.

Executive Director | Arts Integrated

Philip (he/him) is an award-winning filmmaker and educator with numerous short films screened at festivals worldwide. In 2015, Philip received his BA at Columbia College Chicago in Cinema Arts. After undergrad, he lived in Los Angeles, where he worked on numerous TV shows and movies. After switching his focus to education, Philip has taught various media education programs around the country. In 2020, he completed an MFA in Film + Media Arts, focusing on media education at Emerson College. Currently, Philip serves as the Executive Director of Arts Integrated, a nonprofit he founded to enhance education by creating tools for K-12 teachers to inspire art-based learning.

Visual and Performing Arts Program Director | Syracuse University Los Angeles Semester (SULA)

Anna Proulx was most recently the Director of Admissions for the American Film Institute Conservatory, a top ranked masters film program. She has an extensive background in both arts and higher education management. Previously, Anna managed the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, creatively supporting and working with international and domestic documentary filmmakers. Anna’s passion lies in finding, developing and supporting future storytellers through education – formerly at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and currently at AFI.

Film Community Manager | Seed&Spark

Bri Castellini is the Film Community Manager for Seed&Spark, a graduate-level adjunct professor for digital media, an independent filmmaker, and, regrettably, a podcaster. She's known for the 2017 short film Ace and Anxious (writer/director, 150k views on YouTube) and for her podcasts Burn, Noticed and Breaking Out of Breaking in, covering the USA television show Burn Notice and practical filmmaking advice, respectively. She has been described by collaborators as a "human bulldozer" and is honestly kind of flattered.

Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief | Directors Notes

MarBelle is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of independent film curation and interview platform Directors Notes. Since its formation in 2006 DN has been regarded as one of the web's leading curatorial platforms for independent film, working with filmmakers to create in-depth feature articles which reveal the painstaking development and production stories behind their award winning work for a worldwide audience of industry professionals, festival curators and dedicated film fans.

Venue Eduction Manager | BFI

Noel has been the Director of the BFI Future Film Festival since 2008 until 2019 and run a variety of programmes and events at BFI for 16-25 years old including London Film Festival and Flare Film Festival Education strand, as well as monthly Labs and regular BFI Scene screenings of young people’s films. He is currently the BFI Venue Education manager looking after funds for venues across the UK to programme events and opportunities for young people. He is particularly interested in supporting the talent development of young aspiring filmmakers, and supporting them to produce new work.

Producer // VP of Sales & Distribution | Vanishing Angle

Benjamin Wiessner is a producer and VP of Sales & Distribution at Vanishing Angle. He was named to Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Indie Film in 2012 as part of ornana films, where he began producing and distributing shorts and features with partners across the world. He has produced short films in both hand-drawn animation and live action, with awards at festivals including SxSw and Sundance. He has also worked on numerous features with premieres at Sundance, Berlinale, SXSW, Cannes, and Tribeca, including producing and self-distributing THUNDER ROAD (SxSw 2018 Grand Jury Prize). He consults, mentors, and consoles numerous early career filmmakers. Raised by educators, he frequently speaks about filmmaking, distribution, and film marketing at film schools, festivals, and conferences from Cannes to Kazakhstan. In 2018, he co-founded the Short to Feature Filmmaking Lab and in 2020 he helped launch the Vanishing Angle Post Grant for short filmmakers.

Festival Director of Children’s Film Festival Seattle | Northwest Film Forum

Kendra Ann Sherrill brings her strong passion for film and youth to her role as the Festival Director for the Children’s Film Festival Seattle, which is the largest festival on the Wet Coast dedicated to children’s films. She is also the Editor of the award-winning local children’s television series Look, Listen, and Learn and enjoys making films for youth as a filmmaker herself. Her excitement for fostering film in the community has lead her to serve on boards for organizations such as the Spokane International Film Festival, the Spokane Film Project, Terrain Arts and now the NFFTY Industry Advisory Board!

Director of Programs, Media Arts Lab | Jacob Burns Film Center

As Director of Programs, Media Arts Lab, Sean leads the growth, overall strategic vision, and wildly talented staff of the education program and Creative Culture–an artist support program for emerging and established filmmakers guided by a philosophy of inclusion and collaboration. Sean's work in media literacy has received support from the MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities as well invitations to share work with the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities through Turnaround Arts. Since 2016, Creative Culture’s fellowship program has produced short films steadily selected at film festivals like Sundance, Berlinale, SXSW with acquisitions by Criterion, Fox Searchlight, POV, and other reputable outlets. In support of feature films, Creative Culture’s residency program is curated in partnership with sister organizations like Black Public Media, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and Sundance Institute.

Creative Economy Advocate | City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture and Office of Economic Development

Alex Rose brings her passions for music, culture, and community to her work at the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture and Office of Economic Development. As Creative Economy Advocate, Alex connects young people to creative careers, supports the Seattle Music Commission, and brings creative entrepreneurs together to network and access resources. Additionally, through this role she has been a lead team member for Film Career Day, co-produced in partnership with NFFTY. With a background in digital marketing (including roles at SIFF and the YMCA of Greater Seattle), Alex is drawn to the magic that happens at the intersection of creativity and technology. She is also a singer and bandleader (The Pazific), thrift store hawk, and mom.

Senior Manager, Ignite | Sundance Institute

Toby Brooks is the Senior Manager of Sundance Institute's Sundance Ignite Program, which cultivates and supports a new generation of filmmakers. Brooks has worked for Sundance Institute for over 8 years, first as the Assistant to the Director of the Sundance Film Festival. From 2012-2017, Brooks was a member of the Emerging Leaders Council at Outfest, an Los Angeles film non-profit that promotes LGBT equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he received his B.A. from UCLA.

Academy Manager & Mentor | BAYCAT

Azul M. Quetzalli is a first generation Mexican artist and educator residing in unceded land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Her creative work ranges from narrative illustration to graphic design, and centers around themes of identity, heritage. Azul's passion also lies in education and trauma-informed restorative practices. She currently works as Program Manager at BAYCAT Academy, a non-profit organization that educates and employs youth and young adults facing economic barriers and who aspire to bring meaningful change and representation to the media industry.

Founder | A Creative

Matt Cici is a brand strategist, educator, and award-winning filmmaker and actor based in Minneapolis, MN. In 2007, Matt founded A Creative to empower creatives to pursue their passions and foster youth education. Since then, he has created online platforms to provide youth with more opportunities for equitable access to resources and funding, including at Twin Cities Film Fest and Project Legacy. He received his BA in Film Studies and Communication Studies from Hamline University. Matt has enjoyed working with organizations like Catalyst Stories, Institute of Production and Recording, Headwaters Entertainment, Duluth Superior Film Festival, among several exciting nonprofits. For fun, he likes playing soccer, biking year-round, beta testing apps, and traveling with family.

Education Manager | SIFF

Megan Garbayo López is the Education Manager at SIFF, where she cultivates new and deepens existing audiences with education through filmmaking and film appreciation experiences. Megan previously worked as Outreach and Education Manager for Three Dollar Bill Cinema, where they managed the Reel Queer Youth filmmaking program. Megan is an award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter with a passion for changing hearts and minds by building community through film. A true child of the West, Megan grew up in Texas, California, and Oregon before receiving their B.A. at Emerson College in Boston. Megan has also trained on attachment with the BBC in London with a focus on factual television production. Megan’s passions in life are closing the arts access gap in underserved communities and promoting media created for and by young people.