Judges
Our jury brings together filmmakers, artists, and industry professionals from around the world to evaluate and celebrate independent cinema.
Katia Houde
Katia Houde is a filmmaker and video & sound installation artist from Montreal living in Toronto. Her work deals primarily with memory, identity, and trauma using both found footage and original images. Her work has shown in the USA, Canada, Spain, Mexico, and Peru. She is currently on the board of directors at the8fest, a programmer with Ad Hoc, and a former board member of aluCine Latin Film Festival. She is currently pursuing a PhD in cinema and media studies at York University.
Ned Daly
Boston-born filmmaker Ned Daly has made found footage works, a mockumentary, an architectural study and several semi-abstract films. His directing career only began after retiring as a city planner and real estate consultant. Ned is a member of the Boston chapter of the National Writers Union (AFL-CIO). He was trained as a stage actor in Massachusetts. As a film/television actor he has worked with directors Alan Arkush, Miklos Gyulai and more recently with Morten Tyldum and Greta Gerwig. His earlier films have played at scores of film festivals worldwide. In 2016 he was awarded Third Prize at the Bed-Stuy Popup! Cinema Festival. In 2018 he was named Best Newcomer at the Borobudur International Film Festival in Indonesia. In 2021 he won Best Cinematography at the French International Film Festival.
Mauro John Capece
Film producer and director. The international experience and the set have perfected the instinct in the choice of the productions to be undertaken. He currently controls Evoque Art House, a company founded in 1996, focused on the production and co-production of genre films that follow the tradition of European cinema. Evoque Art House’s productions have been sold and distributed (theatrical; television; V.o.d.) in Italy, Canada, China, Japan, and the United States. The films produced and directed by Mauro John Capece have been repeatedly selected and awarded by important national and international Film Festivals.
Stephen Rutterford
Stephen Rutterford is a British born Visual Artist and Film Director based in New York City. He is the writer and director of “Finding Ophelia” a feature film starring Jimmy Levar and Christina Chu, which garnered over 30+ International awards including The Cannes World International Film Festival, The London Independent Film Awards and The Los Angeles Film Awards. Cutting his teeth in Advertising, Rutterford has collaborated with artists including Pharrell Williams, Michel Gondry, Talib Kweli, Shepard Fairey and Faile. He has directed music videos and a short documentary featuring media installation artist Refik Anadol. Rutterford’s imagery has a strong graphic and yet dreamlike quality. His work has been exhibited at The Museum of Art and Design New York and Embryo Gallery New York and Mexico City.
Jérémie ARNAUD
Jérémie began his career as a curator at the Clermont-Ferrand Documentary Film Festival, Traces de Vies. After completing his studies at the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) in France, he became a producer and joined the company Les Films de la Nuit. In addition to his professional activities, he develops and hosts several podcasts.
Danielle Johnson
Co-Executive Producer/Co-Creator/Screenwriter/Music/Social Media. Danielle Johnson is the founder of “deejayandcatsproduction”, a musician, mix engineer, music producer, and Co-Executive Producer/Co-Creator/Screenwriter of her first scripted drama series Jillian’s Peak with her lifelong partner Charzette Torrence. She has been an advocate for the diversity of African American women in screenwriting, music, television, and streaming. Their script, Jillian’s Peak, was officially selected in two major film festivals in 2018 in N.Y. and LA and voted one of the top 10 scripts in 2019 for the LGBTQ Toronto Film Festival. She is a member of NYWIFT, IFP, and SAG-AFTRA New Media Project. Danielle and her partner have been casting, screening, and voting on films for IFC New York, LA, and the Gotham Awards for the past six years.
Shizico Yi
Shizico Yi is an award winning documentary filmmaker; she holds a PhD in Fine Art. She is also a painter and installation artist; the Curator and Editor of No Barking aRt, a non-profit art organization based in London supporting independent artists and filmmakers worldwide.
Michael Marco
Michael Marco was born in Toulon, France. He got bit by the acting bug at an early age while performing in a summer camp play. When Marco moved to Dallas, Texas in 1993, it was inevitable that he would get into the film and TV business. Today Marco lives in Connecticut with his wife Jennifer. He is an award-winning writer and filmmaker, a seasoned editor and a passionate actor who now produces as well.
Cedric van Eenoo
Cedric van Eenoo is a filmmaker, musician, artist and scholar affiliated with Brooklyn Arts Council, Manhattan Graphics Center and New York City Filmmakers’ Cooperative.
Charzette Torrence
Co-Executive Producer/Co-Creator/Screenwriter/Fine Art Photographer. Charzette Torrence has always been a spokeswoman for making a change in diversity in the photography, film and television industry. The project Jillian’s Peak is an episodic drama series made for television and streaming with her Domestic Partner Danielle Johnson. Jillian’s Peak script was officially selected in two major film festivals in 2018 in N.Y. and LA, and voted as one of the top 10 scripts in 2019 for the LGBTQ Toronto Film Festival. She is a member of NYWIFT, IFC, and SAG-AFTRA New Media Project.
YIBIN 'AB' SU
AB (Yibin Su) is a Senior Colorist & VFX Supervisor, specializing in color grading, finishing, and high-end post-production workflows. His recent work includes Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, Death of a Unicorn, and Apple TV+’s Disclaimer, as well as campaigns for Estée Lauder, Swarovski, Miu Miu, and Max Mara. AB’s work has been recognized with a 2024 HPA nomination for Outstanding Color Grading, six Telly Awards for Best Use of Color, and a Shark Awards nomination. He serves as a juror and panelist for multiple festivals and organizations.
Chun Chun Chang
Chun Chun Chang is a motion designer at Turner Duckworth and an independent filmmaker. She holds a Master’s degree in Animation from the School of Cinematic Arts at USC. Her short films Aura and Between the Shadows have been selected by multiple Oscar-qualifying festivals, including LA Shorts Fest, Encounters Film Festival, and Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
Lukas Berger
Lukas Berger is a photographer and film director. He has worked on projects in Burkina Faso, China, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan and many European countries. He directed the short films Circus Debere Berhan (2016), Circus Movements (2019) and Wuqiao Circus (2020), which were screened at more than 200 international film festivals including Ann Arbor, Melbourne, Vienna, Tallin and Hong Kong. He has a university degree in photojournalism and an M.A in Documentary Film Directing (DocNomads).
Genevieve Sulway
Genevieve is an award-winning director, producer, writer, and editor originally from Sydney, Australia. She trained as an actor at WAAPA alongside Hugh Jackman. Returning to the film industry in 2018, she completed an MA in Film/TV Producing in London. Her documentaries “I am Kanaka” and “When Worlds Collide” have garnered over 100+ awards at international film festivals. She’s been an invited judge at various film festivals including the New York City Independent Film Festival. Her upcoming documentary “Mind Over Muscle – Big Granty” is currently in post-production.
Yanghuixiao Gao (Gaoyang)
US-based independent filmmaker Yanghuixiao Gao (Gaoyang) has been honing her skills in fiction film directing, screenwriting, cinematography, and editing for the past ten years. She recently completed her Master’s Degree in Film and Media Art at Emerson College. Her most recent narrative short film “What If” has earned recognition as an official selection of Oscar-Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival and as a Semi-Finalist of Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Pierparide Tedeschi
Pierparide Tedeschi is an Italian journalist, writer and filmmaker. He was assistant director of Giorgio Strehler at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. He wrote and shot the video Arte in villa for Condé Nast Editions and directed Beuys frames, presented at the 2014 New York City Independent Film Festival and at Buddhist Film Festival Europe 2015 in Amsterdam. He has been the curator of several exhibitions of contemporary art, photography, and set design.
Rob Lobosco
Rob Lobosco is a Melbourne based Actor, Comedian, Writer, Author, Filmmaker, Doctor of Chinese Medicine, and Film Judge. He has had various roles in Australian TV and has funded/produced his first feature film ‘Groomless Bride.’ Rob wrote, produced, directed and plays identical twins in the film ‘FATE – It is what it is!’ which was an Officially Selected film at the 2013 New York City Independent Film Festival and won four awards at the Accolade Global film competition.
Vittoria Becchetti
Vittoria Becchetti is a video artist and film director. She has collaborated with important institutions such as Teatro della Pergola in Florence and known artists like Giacomo Costa. In recent years her films have obtained numerous selections and international awards in festivals such as New York City Independent Film Festival 2021 Winner for the BEST EXPERIMENTAL/ART FILM, Girona Film Festival, Rome Independent Film Award Prisma, European Cinematography Awards, Big Apple Film Festival, and Berlin Commercial. She is currently working on the “I am |A|” project.
Sylvain Séguy
Sylvain Séguy is a French actor trained in Paris, with experience in both theatre and independent cinema. He played the lead role in Eternal Rule, a short film directed by Xu Jing and part of the NYC Independent Film Festival 2025 Official Selection. He previously performed at the Théâtre de l’Odéon and trained at the Cours Florent. In parallel to acting, he writes fiction and is exploring screenwriting.
Vasilios Papaioannu
Vasilios Papaioannu is a filmmaker, photographer and mixed media artist currently based in Washington, DC. In his work Papaioannu explores the fleeting dreamscapes of reality using noise, movement and disturbance. His works have been shown at Crossroads at SFMOMA, Anthology Film Archives, Athens International Film + Video Festival, Cork International Film Festival, and many others. He holds an MA from the University of Siena and an MFA in Film and Cinematography from Syracuse University. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Howard University.
Yingtong Li
Yingtong Li is an active writer-director with a Master of Fine Art degree in Film and Media art. Believing in “The most personal is the most universal”, Yingtong’s work focuses on personal stories of people who live on the margins of society. In 2022, her latest narrative short film The Silent Whistle (FENG ZHENG) was premiered at the 75th Cannes Film Festival and selected for Oscar-Qualifying and Bafta-qualifying film festivals.
Brian Swaaley
Brian Swaaley is an editor living in Brooklyn, NY. He received training at the Manhattan Edit Workshop and has worked on documentary and narrative shorts. He previously wrote and performed music with The Bits, a NYC-based indie band.
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Sophie Worm
Sophie Worm has been telling stories to whoever will listen for a very long time. Her credits include Hulu’s Up Early Tonight, Netflix’s Homecoming and Amazon’s FreeMeek. She is the proud owner of ‘More Than 7 Productions’. Her latest short film “The Art Assistant” won best director at the Atlanta Comedy Film Festival and best super short at the New York City Indie Film Fest.
Sid Sirkia
Sid Sirkia is a multifaceted Finnish cultural professional with experience as a film director, author, cinematographer, producer, and diver. His work spans experimental short films, documentaries, narrative shorts, music videos, and video and interactive experiences. He is a published author; his nonfiction book explores Finland’s skateboarding culture and his novel “Hell’s Kitchen” is a fictionalized autobiographical story.
Gaetano Nino Campolongo
Gaetano (“Nino”) Campolongo is a 1st AC/Focus Puller and Camera Operator with over 10 years of worldwide experience, currently based between Frankfurt and New York. He has strong knowledge of industry-standard equipment and cameras like Arri, Sony, and Red, and has worked on a variety of TV shows, feature films and commercials.
Siti Lu
Siti Lu is an animation director, storyboard artist and animator from Los Angeles. After graduating from the character animation program at CalArts in 2021, she has been working as a storyboard artist at Cartoon Network and Netflix Animation. She is also part of the judge committee for the 48th Emmy award.
CHAN, Chitman (陳哲民)
CHAN, Chitman (aka Lester) is a seasoned actor and theatre director. His film directorial debut APART won Champion in the 2nd First Feature Film Initiative in Hong Kong and was selected for the 15th Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020 and the 12th New York City Independent Film Festival 2021. As actor, his performance in EVE AND THE FIRE HORSE won a Best Supporting Actor Nomination in the Genie Awards. He played Raymond in the Oscar-nominated EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN and served as its acting coach.
Esteban Celi
Ecuadorian filmmaker, designer, researcher, musician, and collector. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Television and has participated in independent film festivals since 2004. For a decade, he has contributed to the New York Independent Film Festival, evaluating films from around the world. An expert in film criticism, art direction, and film theory, his passion for iconography has led him to explore the technical and symbolic aspects of imagery across various media.
Katie Lemon
Mazen Haj Kassem
Mazen Haj Kassem, a Danish director, writer, and producer, is a member of the European Film Academy. With numerous successes as a director, he has won over a hundred awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay. He has initiated four film festivals in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway and served as a jury member in more than twenty film festivals.
Cléa van der Grijn
Cléa van der Grijn is an internationally recognised visual artist and filmmaker based in Sligo, Ireland. Her work investigates the transformative effects of trauma and loss on perception. Her filmography includes Reconstructing Memory, JUMP, and FLUX; JUMP was acquired by the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2021. Her feature-length experimental drama The Disembodied Adventures of Alice premiered at the Irish Film Institute in 2024. She launched CléaFILMPRODUCTIONS in 2022.
Vincent Veloso
Vincent Veloso is an Asian Filipino-American actor, model, multi-award winning writer/producer/director, entrepreneur, musician, martial artist and trained salsa ballroom dancer. He has acted alongside Sean Patrick Flannery, Michael Jai White & Mark Dacascos; is Officer Stevens in “Equal Standard” (Amazon Prime) with Ice-T & Treach; and wrote/produced/acted in & directed “Changelings” (Amazon Prime). “Half Broods” was the 2024 Page Turner Awards WINNER Best Screenplay: Paranormal & Supernatural genre.
Christopher Rakas
Christopher Rakas is an El Paso, Texas based award winning director, producer, writer, and composer. His short film Dada Noise 2 has had a successful film festival run all over the world, including an official selection in the 2022 New York City Independent Film Festival. He is currently co-writing and scoring several episodes for the tv series On Bloody Paths. He is also a member of the Liquid Sky Artist Collective in Portugal.
Esteban Garcia Vernaza
Esteban Garcia Vernaza is a Colombian Film Director with a strong interest in depicting the southwestern Colombian identity and its social issues through his films. Esteban’s Short Film “Silento” was an official selection at the 2020 Telluride Film Festival and was nominated for the “Macondo Awards” (Colombian Academy Awards). “Silento” received the Grand Prize Student Film Award from the Directors Guild of America. Esteban directed the Colombian-Unit of the Chinese blockbuster “The Wandering Earth II”.
Zilai Feng
Zilai Feng graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in Animation in 2020 and from the Character Animation program at CalArts in 2017. Based in NorCal, she is currently a story artist at Pixar. Her personal short films have been selected and received awards in multiple international animation festivals and received a Vimeo Staff Pick.
Alexia Melocchi
Alexia Melocchi is a highly accomplished entertainment industry professional. A vital force behind the Little Studio Films brand, she began her career in the 1990s as a sales agent and buyer’s representative. As a P.G.A. producer with 30 credits, Alexia has sold over 50 films and acquired more than 150 major studio and independent films. She played a pivotal role in the acquisition of films including PEPPERMINT, LA LA LAND, BEAUTIFUL BOY, and more. She is the author of “An Insider’s Secret: Mastering the Hollywood Path”.
Malcolm Green
Malcolm Green is an international award-winning writer and director. Passionate about creating content that challenges, entertains and surprises, Malcolm makes highly creative, emotional, impactful films, documentaries and commercials. Amongst his prizewinning films are ‘Finding Abraham’, ‘EDEK’, ‘Pearls’, ‘The Bee Queen’, ‘SEFA’ and ‘The Salmon Sisters’. Malcolm is currently developing a musical documentary in collaboration with young UK prisoners. Based in London UK.
Katia Patricia Bury Salier and Edward Salier
Patricia Bury Salier and Edward Salier are a wife/husband creative team who write, direct, and produce documentary shorts. Their short films have been screened at film festivals domestically and internationally and have won numerous awards: Platinum Remi Award, Award for Excellence, Grand Prize Best Narrative Short, Certificate of Merit, Jury Award, Independent Spirit Award, Best Documentary Short, Best Romance Short, and Best Video Art.
Mariana Zarpellon
Mariana Zarpellon is a Brazilian anthropologist and documentary filmmaker based in Berlin. She started her work as a photographer in 2008 and has contributed to The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Le Monde, and Liberation. Her last projects Hilary (2021) and Ranch (2021) have both been screened and awarded in international festivals. She holds an MA in Ethnographic and Documentary Film.
Hardeep Giani
Hardeep Giani is a renowned Director and Producer in Film and Television. He is currently an Executive Producer and Director at the BBC, and has also worked for Channel 4, Talkback, RDF and Silver River. His short films have won numerous awards at film festivals. His long form documentary won many awards and he directed the TV documentary ‘Megan and Harry: A Revolutionary Romance’. His new feature film ‘Eugene O’Neill’s – The First Man’ is to be released in 2025.
Wayne Yu
Wayne Yu is an award-winning director, writer, and DP based in Boston. He has worked extensively in the field of short films, many of which dealt with social issues and marginalized communities. His most recent short film, Breathless (2021), was a finalist at the USA Film Festival and received the Boston International Film Festival’s award for best cinematography.
Leann Barna
Leann Barna is an award-winning screenwriter, story analyst for Disney, film festival programmer, and instructor at Transformation Film Institute. She holds an M.A. in Cinema/Screenwriting and in Biblical Studies. Leann owns Mining Company Media, which helps screenwriters tell their best stories and takes on select production projects.
SangJin Ko
SangJin Ko is an Award-winning film director, screenwriter, and producer from Seoul, Korea. His films have been selected for more than 130 Film Festivals over 23 countries. He majored in law and performed military service in South Korea, then moved to the United States to study filmmaking. Since 2014, SangJin has been participating in New York City Independent Film Festival as a Jury member.
Greg Babalas
Independent film director and cinematographer, based in Greece and UK. His short film ‘The Violin and its Shadow’ was shown in festivals worldwide, including New York City Independent Film Festival. It has been awarded in Vienna for Best Art Direction and in Montreal for Best Cinematography. He is a member of the Club for Unesco Art-Literature and Science of Greece and an award-winning photographer. He holds a BA in Photography, Video and Digital Imaging and an MA in Media Production (Film and Television), with Distinction.
Erin Babbin
Erin Babbin is a documentary filmmaker who believes in keeping it real. Her work centers around elevating true stories from real people who exist in the margins of the mainstream. In 2011, she co-founded the Chicago based film and photo production company On The Real Film. Babbin has sat on the pre-screening committee for the International Documentary Awards and is on the jury of Slamdance 2018-2020 and the NYC Indy Film Fest 2016-2020.
Bruno Brejt
Bruno Brejt – director, screenwriter, editor, born in Warsaw. Graduate of Warsaw University Department of Law and Administration and the Warsaw Film School. He has produced over a dozen of short films, for which he gained recognition during international film festivals in Europe and the United States. Creator of music videos and founder of a collective of film artists called The Film Ensemble. Currently he is wrapping up his feature film debut “Contract” and editing a documentary “Saints of the Nineveh Valley”.
Julian Olariu
Julian Olariu is a filmmaker, director and screenwriter living in Paris, France. His films have been selected and awarded in international festivals including 2019 New York City Independent Film Festival Winner for the Best Experimental/Art Film, 2021 Jane Austen International Film Festival Best Director Award, 2021 Toronto Independent Film Festival Finalist, and 2024 Busan New Wave Short Film Festival. He also presented two videos in an art installation at Paris White Night in 2015 and 2018.
Pedro Coutinho
Pedro Coutinho started his career as Assistant Director. In 2008, he directed his first short film “The Name of the Cat”, selected for Shanghai International Film Festival. Between 2009 and 2012 Pedro attended Columbia University for his MFA in film. “The Game”, his thesis short film, was selected for more than 50 festivals. In March of 2018, Pedro’s first feature “All the Reasons to Forget” was released in Brazil and is now available on Netflix worldwide, nominated to the Brazilian Cinema Grand Prize.
Néstor del Barco Rodrigo
Film director and screenwriter from Extremadura, based in León. His works use natural settings in Serradilla and León. He is a defender of the Extremaduran language. Director and editor of the feature film Territoriu de bandolerus, awarded at the 2014 Spanish Film Festival. His second feature “Santarrostru” was officially selected in twelve international festivals. In 2024 he made the short film “Amé”, which has won more than twenty-one awards and thirty official selections. He has participated as International Jury in several film festivals.
Leandro Goddinho
William Saunders
William Saunders is a New York City based Director, Editor and Filmmaker and CEO of production company Fourth.Media.
Prashant Naik
Prashant Naik is an award-winning photographer and Filmmaker based in Atlanta, Georgia. For more than two decades he has been documenting exotic locations and the natural world. His work has appeared in magazines and publications around the world. His creations have been prize winners in global photography contests including 2nd prize in International Photography awards 2022 and the Gold Award at the Moscow International Foto Awards in 2018. He has turned his focus on conservation photography volunteering for International Dark Sky Association and Trees Atlanta.
Eric P. Granger
“Top 50 up and coming screenwriters for 2018” – Roadmap Writers. A student of Robert McKee’s “Story” and Aaron Sorkin’s “Masterclass”. He has been a Judge for The Berlin International CineFest, the Lake Placid Film Festival and the NYC Independent Film Festival. He has written eleven features, three shorts, and has four other features in progress. Garnering 100 “Film Festival Screenplay Awards” in the past five years, including 18 “BEST SCREENPLAY” and 49 “Finalist” Awards. Including 3rd place at Cannes.
Marcos Magario Filho
Marcos Magario Filho is a Brazilian award-winning Creative Art Director with 18 years of experience working for advertising agencies. He’s also a filmmaker, director and screenwriter. His short film “Inflatable Sex Doll” was part of the NYC Indie Film Festival’s official selection in 2021.