Meet the 2026 Jury

Gina Basso (Communication & Station Relations Manager, American Documentary| POV)) is an independent film curator based in San Francisco. Trained as an art historian, she worked at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) from 2008 - 2018 as the lead producer and program manager for live performances. From 2018 - 2021 she was the film curator for SFMOMA directing year round film programming and partnerships.Her film and video work has been shown at CROSSROADS Festival, Antimatter Festival, Artist Television Access and Public Records NYC. She is currently in post-production on her 16mm B&W split screen fantasy ode to gothic silent cinema. Most recently, she curated Sky Hopinka; Sonic Transmissions at Slash Art, an artist-run nonprofit gallery located in San Francisco, on view Jan 12 - April 18, 2026.

Kat Schulze is a Los Angeles-based non-profit arts professional with a strong background in film and organizational management. Since 2019, Kat has worked for the Sundance Institute, initially contributing to the Documentary Film Program and currently serving as the Manager of the Ignite Program, which fosters emerging filmmakers through the Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Fellowship. Kat lends their curatorial skills to various film funds, including the International Documentary Association, and offers creative consultation to independent filmmakers. Before Sundance Institute, Kat was the manager of a San Francisco event space, Manny’s, where they oversaw the gatherings of civic leaders, authors, and artists. Kat is in development on their first short film!

Charles is a writer, director, and arts educator. He began his career shooting and producing theatrical documentaries including Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead, Hey Bartender, Making the Boys, Fake It So Real and others. His feature-length fiction debut, Christmas, Again, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and went on to play at Sundance, the MoMA, and Lincoln Center, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2016. Charles is an alum of The Gotham and the New York Film Festival Artists’ Academy, as well as a MacDowell Colony fellow. He currently serves as Chair of Film and Media at Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University and founded the Bainbridge Island Film Festival in 2023.

Omolola Ajao is an interdisciplinary artist working within film, video and theatre. Her work repeatedly attends to the complicative intimacies of life, metaphysical and psychological. Her recent short film, After Sunday premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has held residencies & fellowships at the Whitney Museum of American Art, UnionDocs, Nightwood Theatre & more. She is a 2024-2025 Sundance Adobe Ignite Fellow. She holds a Masters of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto.

Gabe is an LA-based documentary filmmaker and a proud NFFTY alum ('18, '22). Notably, his Oscar®-contending short doc Team Meryland was acquired by The New Yorker and POV Shorts on PBS. Currently, he directs political ad campaigns for city-wide ballot measures and mayoral candidates, and works with LA-based companies & foundations focused on improving Los Angeles. Simultaneously, he built and currently runs the "SoCal Film Lab," an after-school film program for the Lynwood High School District. He's entering post-production for his latest short doc, Father time, which explores parternal love through the stories of six dads in different stages of fatherhood.

Alexandra Kern is a documentary filmmaker from New Orleans whose work explores America’s complex cultural fabric through intimate, character-driven portraits. The rhythms of the South shape the pacing of her work. Her latest documentary, Some Kind of Refuge (2026), premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Her short documentary Stud Country (2024) premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary. It later screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, receiving the Tribeca Challenger Spirit Award. The film is available via the Los Angeles Times and WePresent. Her directorial debut Wild Magnolias (2023) screened at the New Orleans Museum of Art and holds a permanent place in the archive of the New Orleans Jazz Museum.

Jas Keimig is a writer in Seattle. They are the 2025-26 Black Embodiments Studio apprentice art critic at The Seattle Times, covering visual art, music, film and performance. They previously worked on staff at The Stranger and are a regular contributor to the South Seattle Emerald. Keimig also curates Unstreamable, a screening series highlighting films you can’t find on streaming services. They won a game show once.

Brian Crawford is a Character TD in Technical Animation and CFX with experience working for DreamWorks Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios. His past projects include Zootopia 2, Encanto, and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

Michael Huang is a Seattle born-and-bred creative, strategist, advocate, and producer with 15+ years of experience working across advertising, design, film, culture, and social change. He is the founder and managing director of Milli, a full service, purpose-driven creative agency and a founding Seattle Film Commissioner.

Fernanda Frick is an animation director, illustrator, and comic creator with over a decade of experience telling emotionally resonant stories. Her short film Here's the Plan was selected at festivals worldwide, including SIGGRAPH Asia (Jury Prize), CICFF, Anima Mundi, NFFTY, SANFIC, and the Nashville International Film Festival. She's published two books with Editorial Planeta: a picture book adaptation of Here's the Plan and the graphic novel Trazos, both taught in Chilean schools. She's worked as Art Director at US studio Nathan Love and Creative Director for a jingle in Apple TV+'s Yo Gabba Gabba Land! Her next graphic novel, Raise the Bar, will be published by Penguin USA in 2026.

Stephen P. Neary is a Hoosier-born writer, director, and animator living in Los Angeles, currently working as a story artist for clients including Netflix, Illumination, Annapurna, and Sony, most recently on KPop Demon Hunters. In 2026, Stephen’s independent animated short, Living with a Visionary, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Short Film Jury Award for Animation. Stephen created The Fungies! for Cartoon Network, serving as Executive Producer for the show's three seasons, which premiered on HBO Max in 2020. Prior, Stephen was Supervising Producer for seasons two and three of Cartoon Network's Annie nominated show, Clarence. Stephen graduated from NYU in 2008 and worked as a story artist at Blue Sky Studios for five years on franchises such as Ice Age, Rio, and The Peanuts Movie. Stephen has taught story and writing classes at CalArts and paints goofy little autobio comics about his family, which you can read on his Instagram.

Mulan Fu is an award-winning director, animator, and creative producer whose work bridges intimate personal storytelling with bold design and visual innovation. With a keen focus on authentic family narratives and the psychological nuances of life in the digital age, her creative practice spans independent film, commercial animation, and branded creative direction. Her animated short films — Journey, Stray Cat Ah Q, Beautiful, Sunflower Field, and Just One Peek — have received numerous awards and selections at international film festivals. In the commercial space, Mulan has led 2D animation and creative direction projects for clients including Team Wang Design, TaskForce PR, NYC Department of Education, EST Media, Condé Nast, MSCHF, 20th Century Animation, Pearl Studio, and Amazon Prime Video.

Lily Bolton is a Los Angeles-based creative from upstate New York. After studying film at Concordia University in Montréal, she continued moving through writing, festival work, production, and independent film spaces, including programming for the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) in 2022. She has since spent several years at Tubi, working across content curation and operations.

Marjorie Conrad is a Seattle-based filmmaker originally from France. Her experience in reality television production—both in front of and behind the camera—shapes the way she thinks about consent, representation, identity, and perception. She has screened her feature work at festivals worldwide, including Slamdance, and has recently completed the mid-length experimental documentary The Joyless Economy.

Melina is an award-winning experimental filmmaker from O'ahu, Hawai'i. Shooting primarily on celluloid film formats, her works explore themes surrounding memory, identity, perception and place. Professionally, Melina works as a Film Programmer and Program Director. She is currently the Programming Manager at the Hawai’i International Film Festival, Director of Programming at Portland Panorama, and Shorts Programmer at the New York Asian Film Festival and CAAMFest.

Justin Kaminuma is a Japanese-American filmmaker whose work explores nostalgia and internet-born aesthetics through a diaristic, and mixed-media approach. His films have screened at festivals including Ann Arbor, Chicago Underground, Leiden Shorts, and Antimatter, and he has also directed work for artists such as The Cure, Disclosure, and Vance Joy.

Adrian Alarilla, PhD, is the Programming Director of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival and Director of the Diwa Filipino Film Festival of Seattle. He is also a filmmaker and independent film scholar and historian. His films have been shown all over the US, Mexico, South Korea, Cambodia, and the Philippines. He has contributed articles and essays for the International Examiner, Wasafiri: Journal of International Contemporary Writing, Pelikula: Journal of Philippine Cinema, and Southeast Asia on Screen: from Independence to Financial Crisis (1945-1997).

Vitória Vasconcellos (b. 1998) is an actor and director from Recife, Brazil. After attending film school at USC, her early shorts received praise in both student and Latin American fantastic film circuits. Her recent work has played at Palm Springs, Edinburgh, Kinoforum, Biarritz and Curta Cinema. She is an alum of the Locarno Basecamp, DISFF Pitching Lab, and the Toronto International Film Festival Filmmaker Lab, where she was awarded the TIFF Share Her Journey Fellowship for her upcoming first feature, "Sangra, Não Morre", currently in development. Vitória is interested in the visceral intersections of gender, body, and myth through a decolonial lens; her work traverses genre and social commentary, often centering untold stories of womanhood and the supernatural.

Zia Mohajerjasbi is a filmmaker hailing from Seattle, a city that has served as the primary focus of his work. He has shot & directed critically-acclaimed music videos for Macklemore, Blue Scholars, Jake One and Common Market, as well as a 2007 mockumentary short with standup comedian Hari Kondabolu, Manoj. In 2009, Zia became the youngest winner ever of the “Genius Award,” presented by The Stranger, a Seattle weekly. In 2015, he wrote and directed the award-winning narrative short film, Hagereseb, and is also the cinematographer and director of an ongoing storytelling series, The Charcoal Sky. In April 2022, Zia's debut feature film "Know Your Place" which he wrote and directed, premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival where it was awarded the New American Cinema Grand Jury Prize and the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film. It is currently distributed in North America by Blue Harbor Entertainment.

Abdul Kassamali is an American-born, Kenyan-raised filmmaker based out of Seattle. Abdul is an avid storyteller, focusing on work reflecting his life experience as a first-generation child of Kenyan immigrants in America. He frequently works alongside other artists to help share their stories with the world through film, and he finds a lot of joy in this work. As a filmmaker, Abdul has cut his teeth in the music video realm, working with locally and globally known artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Pattie Gonia, Sango, Hollis Wong Wear, and Travis Thompson.

Olivia Thomas (LIVt) is a multidisciplinary creative working across music, video directing, branding, editing, production and marketing. Fearless with feeling and unapologetically rooted in story, she doesn’t chase what’s safe, she chases truth, bringing an edge that challenges comfort and deepens connection. Known for executing a clear creative vision and crafting distinct aesthetics, her work blends emotional depth with bold, perspective-driven visuals. As a director, Olivia creates narrative-led, human-centered work that moves, lingers, and feels lived-in. Through intentional collaboration and sharp world-building, she delivers imagery that breathes and stories that cut through. For brands that value truth, edge, and storytelling that actually feels something, her work speaks for itself.

Isabelle Hahn is an actor, director, and producer originally from Kailua, Hawaiʻi, now based in Los Angeles. She made her directorial debut with the music video The Stack, which was nominated for Best Music Video at NFFTY in 2023, followed by a second NFFTY selection the next year for New Year’s Eve. She has since collaborated both in front of and behind the camera with artists including Reneé Rapp, Remi Wolf, Cat Burns, Henry Lau, Super Junior D&E, Cassidy King, and more.

Chris James Cunningham is a Seattle-based director and editor operating under the production moniker Dark Details. Known for an aesthetic that blends cinematic naturalism with surreal, dream-inspired storytelling, Chris has established himself as a distinct voice in the Pacific Northwest visual landscape. His directorial portfolio bridges the gap between the underground and the mainstream, having directed music videos for international heavyweights such as the hardcore supergroup Dead Cross (featuring Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo), platinum selling indie-folk giants The Head and the Heart and punk legends Dropkick Murphys. His credits also include a rare collaboration with Danny Elfman & The Locust, as well as the official theatrical campaign trailer for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF 2023). Chris has built a reputation for translating sonic energy into distinct visual worlds, creating music videos that feel like waking dreams.

A Dominican-American writer-director based in New York, Olivia’s genre-blending style fuses film, music, and fashion with cultural nuance and striking clarity. Her debut short, CHICO VIRTUAL, was acquired by HBO/MAX and screened at festivals nationwide. Her most recent film, SIRENA, won Best Narrative at NFFTY and was featured at Locarno, Aspen ShortFest, Palm Springs, and HollyShorts. With a foundation in music-driven work, Olivia has directed music videos for artists like MARINA, Nathy Peluso, Maria Isabel, Yuna, Ruel, and Rebecca Black, alongside campaigns for brands such as The Ordinary, Billie, Kim Shui and RUIBuilt. Whether in narrative film, commercials, or music, her work feels personal, modern, and culturally resonant, marking her as a standout voice in today’s evolving creative landscape.

Alex Herz is an award-winning writer, director & editor based in Los Angeles. His films have screened at festivals including SXSW, Heartland, and Tallgrass. He first attended NFFTY in 2012, and is honored to be serving as a member of the Episodic Jury this year. Alex is the creator of the viral internet series My Girlfriend Turned Into a Worm, which garnered over 50 million views on Reels and TikTok in its first year of release. He is currently adapting the project into a feature film. Alex is also the producer/editor of R&R, an independent pilot that premiered at SXSW in 2025. The project is in development with Liston James Productions.

Frida Perez is a Dominican-American filmmaker based in LA. Frida began her career as an assistant at UTA in the Independent Film Department before moving to Seth Rogen’s production company Point Grey Pictures where she worked under senior executives across film and television. Frida co-created and currently writes and produces THE STUDIO on AppleTV+. Frida’s work on the pilot episode won the Emmy Best Writing for a Comedy Series and the show won Best Comedy Series in 2025. In 2019, she became a Sundance Ignite Fellow for her short film White Noise. Her second short film, Bottle Bomb, premiered at the Chicago Latino Film Festival. Her third short film, Detox, was selected as part of NALIP's Women in Film Incubator Program sponsored by Netflix. It premiered at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival in 2023. Frida also served as Executive Producer for the podcast Storytime with Seth Rogen which was listed on several year-end “best of” lists. Frida was nominated for Best Scriptwriting for the Ambie Awards for her work. Frida is originally from the Bronx and graduated from Brown University.

Lacey Leavitt Gray is a Seattle producer whose credits include adult swim's Three Busy Debras, Lynn Shelton's Outside In, Touchy Feely, and Laggies, Megan Griffiths' Year of the Fox, I’ll Show You Mine, Sadie, Lucky Them, and The Off Hours, Todd Rohal's The Catechism Cataclysm, and adult swim projects The Hunky Boys Go Ding-Dong and M.O.P.Z., and Colin Trevorrow's Safety Not Guaranteed. Lacey was a Sundance Creative Producing Lab fellow, has a Cinema Studies degree from the University of Washington, is a member of King County’s Film Advisory Board, and serves as Board President of Scarecrow Video.

Rebecca Loftin is a writer and filmmaker from Austin, Texas. Her debut novel COWBOY NOD is set for publication through 831 Stories Spring 2027. Prior to writing fiction, she worked in film & TV as a development writer and showrunner’s assistant. Her film Shrike was a 2024 NFFTY nominee, and her essays can be found in Interview and To Be Magazine. She now lives in LA.

Jasira Andrus (she/her) is a Seattle based writer, and director. A lifelong lover of film, Jasira has become an enthusiastic and familiar face in Seattle's filmmaking community. Taking a hands-on approach to learning the craft of filmmaking, she learned everything she knows through Northwest Film Forum's education programs and Washington Filmworks' "Above the Line" Education cohort. She was also selected as the writer/director apprentice for Northwest Film Forum’s "Action! Narrative Apprenticeship" Program, where she completed her second short, “Babs’ Bouquets”. Always eager to branch out, she has more recently directed a music video, and co-directed a video poetry piece. Jasira’s works often incorporate surrealism, absurdism, and comedy. Aside from screenwriting, Jasira is also in the process of writing her first graphic novel. When not on set, she can be found introducing films at The Beacon Cinema or giving her cat lots of treats.

When Andy Spletzer moved to Seattle, he found work as the chief film critic and film editor of the alternative weekly newspaper, The Stranger. When he left that position he continued working in film, both as a film programmer for the Seattle International Film Festival and as a Script Supervisor on independent features. He’s worked with Viggo Mortensen on Captain Fantastic, Toni Collette on Lucky Them, Parker Posey on The Architect, and with any number of award-winning Seattle writers and directors. He writes screenplays in his spare time.