WIF Fellows

Adriana Ducassi

Episodic Lab

Adriana Ducassi is a Mexican/Italian writer, director and actor from Chicago. Her film “The Eternity of Grief” world premiered as a Best Comedy nominee at Palm Springs ShortFest 2025. She co-showran Netflix’s sketch comedy series “Go Off with Jess & Julissa,” as well as the pandemic-era sketch series “Guac Bottom.” She was selected for the WIF x Black List Episodic Lab and illustrious Showrunners’ Mentorship Matters program. As an actor, favorite roles include work on Snowfall, NCIS, FBI, Law & Order SVU and Grey’s Anatomy, in addition to work in indie films and award-winning plays. Adriana is an honors graduate of NYU through Tisch’s Kanbar Institute and the Atlantic Theater Company. She lives in LA with her husband and creative partner Nick, their dog-son Marlo, and an excessive number of plants.

PILOT: THE LEDGE

LOGLINE: The Ledge follows an electric and combustible reporting duo and the newsroom around them as they cover crime and corruption in the neon-soaked heat of ‘90s Miami.

Amanda Kohr

Episodic Lab

Amanda Kohr is an LGBTQ+ award-winning playwright and screenwriter hailing from Appalachia. Her plays have appeared throughout the country, including workshops and performances with the Last Frontier Theater Conference, the Fountain Theater, and others. Her work focuses on obsession, sexuality, desire, and the death of girlhood. In addition to writing scripts, Amanda is a sex and relationships journalist with bylines in Cosmopolitan, VICE, Refinery29, Elite Daily, and more. In 2022, her pilot TEXTS FROM YOUR EX was selected for the Outfest Screenwriting Lab. In 2025, she was selected for the Blacklist x WIF Episodic Lab. She currently works with filmmaker Jason Reitman.Amanda is the host of the podcast THIS FEELS BI, available on all podcasting platforms.

PILOT: CRICKETS

LOGLINE: After the disappearance of their first-place teammate, a group of competitive teen dancers and their stage moms begin to unravel, exposing the brutal cost of girlhood, ambition, and the need to be loved.

Briana Pozner

Episodic Lab

Briana is an Altadena-based writer and filmmaker originally from Denver, Colorado. Her personal essays have appeared in The New York Times and The Huffington Post, and her short films have been Vimeo Staff Picks, featured on Adult Swim, and screened at Oscar-qualifying festivals nationwide. Her scripts have placed in many competitions including Austin Film Festival, Launch Pad, Big Break and have gone on to be Black List recommended. Alongside her film work, Briana reads tarot and recently served as a tarot consultant on the upcoming Netflix series “Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen.” She is currently in development on a pilot with Olive Bridge and Tornante producing.

PILOT: VIGILANTES

LOGLINE: Shaken by the injustice of his mother’s death, 15-year-old Mikey joins a covert group of neurodivergent outsiders, donning shoddy superhero personas, in their mission to overthrow their local police department. But as the squad’s notoriety grows, they must contend with the same power struggles they’ve sought to dismantle.

Katie Waldron

Episodic Lab

Katie Waldron is a writer from Oregon and Santa Fe, New Mexico. She enjoys writing about eccentric, often obsessive women who discover purpose in the absurd. Katie finds inspiration in mythology and folklore, as well as the natural environment. She graduated from USC School of Cinematic Arts and has worked as a writers’ assistant on Outlander and God of War. Katie was one of the winners of the Hollywood Climate Pitchfest competition, sponsored by NBCUniversal, and a nominee for the Sundance Episodic Sloan Grant. Outside of writing, Katie enjoys wandering into the middle of a desert or a forest somewhere, and has volunteered on and filmed field studies with her mom, a wildlife biologist.

PILOT: CASCADIA

LOGLINE: In the world of sparring environmentalists and loggers in Coastal Oregon, a wildlife biologist, a timber worker, and a radical activist navigate a blossoming love triangle while uncovering an environmental conspiracy that threatens the entire Pacific Northwest.

Paige Wesley

Episodic Lab

Paige Wesley is a comedian, podcaster, and writer known for her unique ability to explore the intersection of the macabre and the mundane. As the co-creator and host of Cult Podcast and co-host of The Horror Virgin, and Romancing the Pod, she has mastered the art of “genre-bending.” Her work is characterized by sharp dialogue, complex female protagonists, and a lighthearted approach to dark subject matter. Paige Wesley is thrilled to join WIF as one of this year’s writing fellows. She hopes to continue to translate her digital and comedic success into bold, character-driven scripts for film and television.

PILOT: THIN PLACES

LOGLINE: Solar Springs, Nevada’s claim to fame is the alien abduction of 1987, but to Andie… it’s just home. When her mom is found wandering the desert confused, Andie returns to Solar Springs to find the skies may not be as empty as they seem.

Sessen Mengist

Episodic Lab

Sessen Mengist is an Eritrean-American writer still reeling from the culture and temperature shock of emigrating from East Africa to the suburbs of Minnesota. Inspired by the sci-fi and fantasy stories that helped her escape from reality during those early years in the US, her writing often explores morality and relationships in hypothetical, fantastical worlds. She typically includes African elements in her stories, taking inspiration from African cultures, folklore, and mythologies. She is a 2026 Participant of the Black List & WIF Episodic Lab, a 2024 Circle M+P x Anarchists United Writers Discovery Fellow and was featured on The Women’s List in 2025. Gratefully, she now resides in sunny LA.

PILOT: TRUE EYE

LOGLINE: In a post-apocalyptic Africa where people with supernatural abilities are hunted, a hardened ex-soldier must traverse through the dangerous remnants of civilization to deliver her gifted sister to sanctuary.

Bo Shim

Bo Shim is a Korean-American writer based in Los Angeles. She earned her BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, in the course of which she received the Alfred P. Sloan Writing Grant. Upon graduation, she received the Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship in Screenwriting from the Writers Guild Initiative. She participated in the Women In Film Production Program and The Black List x Women In Film Feature Residency. She started her career as an assistant at CAA and went on to work with renowned writers such as Craig Mazin (CHERNOBYL, THE LAST OF US), Neil Druckmann (THE LAST OF US), Charles Yu (INTERIOR CHINATOWN) and Julia Cho (TURNING RED, ELIO). Most recently she was a staff writer on Season 2 of THE LAST OF US for HBO.

FEATURE: THE REMNANT

LOGLINE: A mother-daughter trip to Korea descends into madness when long-buried family secrets claw their way to the surface.

Eva Reign

Eva Reign is a Peabody and GLAAD Award-winning actress, writer, and filmmaker from St. Louis, Missouri. She is the star of Billy Porter’s directorial debut “Anything’s Possible” from Amazon MGM and Killer Films. For her work as a correspondent, writer, and producer on Vice News’ “Transnational,” a docu-series following trans issues worldwide, Eva won a Peabody Award, GLAAD Award, and an NLGJA Award. She started her career as Assistant Editor at Condé Nast’s LGBTQ brand Them. Her writing has appeared in Vogue, The Cut, Byrdie, PAPER, and Highsnobiety. Eva is an alum of Netflix and the Transgender Film Center’s 2025 TFC Career Lab as well as Queer|Art’s Film Mentorship program. Eva writes ensemble-driven narratives across genres that explore the expansiveness of Black womanhood and queer people.

PILOT: MULTIPLAYER

LOGLINE: After getting dumped and fired by her boyfriend, an aspiring game developer channels her heartbreak into launching a hit indie studio where she discovers that love, like gaming, is more fun on multiplayer mode.

Julia Prescott

JULIA PRESCOTT is an Annie-nominated writer whose work crosses between TV/Film; animation and live-action; and genre laced with pitch black comedy. She’s the recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Scholarship in Filmmaking, named a “Voice to Watch” by Elizabeth Banks’s WhoHaHa, a Fellow for Soho House and an alumnus of the inaugural cohort of Dan Lin’s Rideback RISE. She has taught screenwriting at both Chapman University and the NY Film Academy. She is a sought-after lecturer at institutions like SVA and NYU. Her episode of The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XXXI,” was named one of the show’s “Top 30 Episodes” of all time by Variety. In 2025, she founded THE STUDIO VISIT, a nonprofit connecting public schools with entertainment professionals for classroom visits, assemblies and more.

FEATURE: ABROAD

LOGLINE: A lo-fi sci-fi comedy about a 60-something retiree (think Paula Pell) who finally takes her first trip overseas– only for the apocalypse to begin. It turns out her hyper-predictable life was secretly holding the universe together, and now she must team up with a chaotic time traveler (think Andy Samberg) to save the world by making sure she never sees it.

Monisha Dadlani

Monisha Dadlani is a mixed South Asian-American writer, actress, and filmmaker from NYC, now based in LA. Drawn to magical realism, coming-of-age stories, and all things romance, her work includes THE BOY WHO DIED (2020 Black List) and THE MARIGOLD PARADOX (Tubi & The Black List’s “To Be Commissioned” initiative). Her short film CONDOMS & CHERRIES premiered at the Academy-qualifying CIFF before inspiring a series developed through Ron Howard & Brian Grazer’s Imagine Impact and sold to Sony Television. She’s currently developing her directorial feature debut, THE FIDDLER with support from Antigravity Academy and IFFLA. A CAPE writing fellow, Rideback Rise member, and USC alum, she’s written for Netflix Feature Animation, Amazon MGM, Apple TV+, MRC, and Sony Pictures.

FEATURE: THE MARIGOLD PARADOX

LOGLINE: A couple’s elaborate wedding weekend is jeopardized when their future selves travel back in time to stop the matrimony.

Tania Dominguez-Rangel

Tania was born in Mexico City, raised in Atlanta, and works as an independent writer and producer in Los Angeles. In 2021, she graduated from Harvard University with a joint degree in Romance Languages and Art, Film, and Visual Studies setting the stage for her career centered on identity-informed and impactful storytelling. She produced the award-winning short, “PUNKS” and was a 2024 Artist Disruptors Fellow developing the sci-fi series “DOGWOODS.” Her creative endeavors primarily explore BIPOC experiences in the South, migration, and counter cultures.

PILOT: DOGWOODS

LOGLINE: When a teenage alien crash-lands in their hometown on the night of their high school graduation, a group of immigrant friends take him in and gain superpowers.

Margaux Lee

Independent Producers

Margaux is a writer and producer, born in New Jersey and based in Los Angeles. They are nonbinary-transmasc and gravitate toward stories that platform underrepresented talent and perspectives. They especially love absurd comedy and character-driven drama. They’ve worked with PAGEBOY Productions, Square Peg Films, Radiance Pictures, AFI DWW+, BDG Media, Stowe Story Labs, and more. In the past two years, they’ve produced ten short films from a range of talented new and seasoned filmmakers.

Masora Fukuda

Independent Producers

Masora Fukuda is an award-winning producer from Nishinomiya, Japan, based in Los Angeles. A 2026 WIF Independent Producer Fellow and 2025 Film Independent Project Involve Producing Fellow, she works across films, series, and branded shorts films. Her credits include In Sickness and In Health (Portland Horror Film Festival 2026), Netflix’s Alice in Borderland (Season 3), and Mirai To Future (2023 Pramana Asian Film Festival), alongside collaborations with Quincy Jones, Shohei Ohtani, and Pharrell Williams. Navigating both the creative and logistical demands of global production, she centers her work on intercultural narratives and human experiences.

Nazanin Nematollahi

Independent Producers

Nazanin Nematollahi is an Iranian producer working across documentary and narrative film. She holds an MFA in Film & Television Producing from UCLA. Her producing credits include Larissa (2025), winner of the Platinum Remi Award for Best Foreign Theatrical Feature at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival; Dancing in Tomorrowland (2024), which screened at the Seattle International Film Festival and received awards from Cannes, Palm Springs ShortFest, and HollyShorts; and Soft Animal (2024), which premiered at the Brooklyn Film Festival. She is currently producing Spirit Bird, a feature documentary about the underground dance scene in Iran.

Sarah Ahmed

Independent Producers

Sarah Ahmed is a Sudanese-American filmmaker, storyteller and award-winning producer passionate about culture, history, psychology and the emotional worlds that shape us. With over eight years of experience, Sarah has produced multiple short films and music videos centered on identity, culture and belonging. Among her credits is an award-winning horror film recognized for Best Picture, Best Art Film, Best Cult Film and Best Video Art Film. Sarah is currently developing a slate of narrative and documentary projects exploring womanhood, generational trauma, religion, diasporic identity and spiritual traditions. Her goal is to champion international and underrepresented stories through film, television and book-to-screen adaptations that resonate across cultures.

Valeria Lopez

Independent Producers

Valeria Lopez is a first-generation Mexican-American independent producer based in Los Angeles. With over a decade of producing experience across independent film, television and high-end commercials, she pivots seamlessly between the art of storytelling and the business of making it happen. Credits include producing NY Times Critic’s Pick “The 11th Green” (2020), multiple premieres at Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca, EP on the Terrence Howard and Dolph Lundgren dark comedy “Showdown at the Grand” (2023), and consulting on the two-time Emmy-winning “Black Barbie: A Documentary” (Netflix/Shondaland, 2024). She is actively developing an eclectic slate of films that celebrate the joy and richness of underrepresented communities, while staying committed to equity-centered production models.

Casey Naranjo

Physical Producers

Casey Naranjo is an Irish-Ecuadorian filmmaker in Los Angeles. Her producing career unofficially began as a curious 8-year-old with a video camera in her home state of New Jersey. She earned her BFA in Television Writing and Production from Chapman University. Naranjo has collaborated with A24, FX, MAX, The Montecito Picture Company, and Partizan. She currently works as Senior Production Manager for digital media companies Jubilee Media and Nectar, creating short-form content with over 3 billion views. She was a producing fellow in Film Independent’s 2025 Project Involve and her creative work aspires to tell authentic stories that are deeply human.

Kiri Kraatz

Physical Producers

Kiri Kraatz is a physical producer specializing in international production across Asia and Africa, and navigating the logistical and cultural nuances of filming abroad. Her recent work includes Mercenary: An Extraction Series Season 1 (Netflix), Pachinko Season 2 (Apple TV+), and The Recruit Season 2 (Netflix). Previously, Kiri served as Vice President of Production at Media Res Studio, where she oversaw premium television including several seasons of The Morning Show, Pachinko Season 1, Extrapolations, Life Undercover (Apple TV+), and Scenes from a Marriage (HBO). She has also consulted for Amazon and Media Res. Originally from Frankfurt, Germany, Kiri is a dual citizen, speaks fluent German and working French, and brings firsthand cross-cultural fluency to productions filming abroad.

Imani Davis

Imani Davis is a film programmer, producer and writer. Currently, she is a film programmer at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, a 501c3 nonprofit boasting over 1,600 film screenings a year. Imani has worked to put on events with A-list filmmakers and talent such as Timothée Chalamet, Sofia Coppola, Spike Lee, Sean Baker, Jordan Peele, Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Damien Chazelle, Christopher Nolan, and many more. Imani is also the founder and lead programmer of the American Cinematheque’s short film festival called PROOF, which is the only festival completely dedicated to proof-of-concept short films and has resulted in projects coming to fruition and premiering at festivals such as Sundance and Rotterdam.

Jiyeon Kim

Jiyeon Kim is a filmmaker, scholar, and colorist working across memory, migration, and fractured belonging. She earned her MFA in Film and Media Art from Emerson College and a dual BA in Film & Digital Media and Sociology from Dongguk University in Seoul. Her work explores marginalized voices through experimental and narrative forms, often blurring the line between personal memory and collective history. Her first short film, Suddenly, Home, was supported by the Korean Film Council, with later works screening internationally, including at the Museum of Science. Her latest short film, Me: JFK, You: ICN, premiered at Independent Film Festival Boston. In 2026, she was selected for the Women In Film Fellowship as part of the Scholars & Curators cohort.

Kathy Michelle Chacón

Kathy Michelle Chacón is an emerging film programmer and curator from California’s Inland Empire. In 2025, she received a Master of Philosophy in Film and Screen Studies from the University of Cambridge, King’s College as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Her graduate research explores how marginalized filmmakers—particulary women and diasporic artists—employ storytelling, genre, and folklore to challenge dominant cinematic narratives and fabulate alternative futures. Since 2022, she has been a freelance writer for outlets including A.V. Club and Paste Magazine. Through this Fellowship, she hopes to merge her passions for film and education, and lay the foundation for a career in which she can help shape programming strategies that center women filmmakers, filmmakers of color, and global voices.

Maddy Myer

Maddy Myer is a Los Angeles–based publicist, freelance writer, podcast host, and creative communications strategist specializing in entertainment, pop culture, and talent-driven storytelling. Alongside leading PR campaigns spanning red carpets, live events, brand partnerships, and high-profile press placements, she is also a freelance journalist for Teen Vogue and Sweety High, known for artist interviews, concert reviews, and culturally fluent commentary shaped by fandom and community-first storytelling. Maddy holds a master’s degree in Public Relations & Advertising from USC Annenberg and is currently launching her podcast, Maddy Mania, while writing her first pilot. Her work focuses on building authentic narratives that create impact without sacrificing well-being.

Rebecca ’Toyin Doherty

Rebecca ’Toyin Doherty’s work sits at the intersection of storytelling, business, and entertainment and tech transactions law. Her undergraduate experience at Howard University and graduate studies at George Washington University and Harvard University informed her interdisciplinary approach to building across legal, creative, and entrepreneurial spaces. Through Rutgers Law, she organized intellectual property and contract literacy workshops and legal clinics for entrepreneurs and creatives. She has also supported creatives through pro bono initiatives with Lawyers for the Arts and other entities. In addition to law and business, she is also a tech innovator, an actress, and a documentary filmmaker who explores global stories about Black migration.

Samantha Schoen

Samantha Schoen is a producer, consultant, and executive dedicated to championing filmmakers and the stories they need to tell. A Newhouse School alum, she has built her career across development, financing and acquisitions at Topic Studios, Groundswell Productions, and Gunpowder & Sky — working across film, television, theatre, and emerging formats. Now independently producing under her own banner while pursuing a JD through Syracuse’s JDi program, she is deepening her expertise on both sides of the table with one goal: to get projects made. Beyond the industry, she co-runs The Relational Nerd, a mental health resource hub for the “nerd” community, and serves on Hilarity for Charity’s Associates Board. She is based between LA and NY with her husband and two rescue dogs.

Yang Fei

Yang Fei is a literary manager at Entertainment 360 and a producer. Passionate about the power of storytelling to drive positive cultural change, Fei works with writers and filmmakers from diverse backgrounds and champions bold and emotionally resonant voices. Most recently, she produced the short film MAN IN MOTEL, which premiered at the Florida Film Festival. Previously, she was an EP on ANY SIGN AT ALL, which screened at the Florida Film Festival and the Palm Springs International ShortFest. Her additional producing credits include WINTER’S PASSING, LION’S HEAD, WHEN IT’S HARD, and JIN, which received the Sloan Grant. Originally from Shanghai, China, Fei holds a BA in Journalism from Fudan University, an MFA in Film and Media Art from Emerson College, and an MBA from Trine University.

Madeline Abiera

Assistant Director

Madeline Abiera is a Filipina-American 1st AD and director from Orange County, California. Her first experience in filmmaking began with the AT&T Hello Sunshine Filmmaker Lab, a program created by Reese Witherspoon’s production company that aimed at encouraging young women to enter the film industry. Emboldened by the program, she went on to receive her BFA in Film Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Since graduating, Abiera has worked with artists like BABYMETAL, Nickelback, Suzanna Son, and Lyn Lapid. Her narrative work as a first assistant director has been screened at NFFTY, CAAMFest, SBIFF, to name a few. As the eldest of four sisters, it has always been a priority for Madeline to champion projects that give a nuanced perspective on the female experience.

Naya Simone

Casting

Naya Simone is a casting professional, writer, and director from Kenosha, Wisconsin. She began her casting journey in Chicago, interning with Paskal Rudnicke and casting student projects at Northwestern. She recently interned with Blumhouse under Terri Taylor and participated in the Television Academy Foundation internship program at Betty Mae. As a filmmaker, her work explores morality and identity through genre-driven storytelling. She is currently based in Los Angeles.

Terese Classen

Casting

Terese Classen is an Artios Nominated casting professional with over a decade of experience across Studio & Network and Independent casting in television and film. She spent over 5 years as a Casting Executive at Hulu, where she oversaw the casting on Emmy nominated projects including THE GREAT, ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, NORMAL PEOPLE and PAM & TOMMY. Prior to Hulu she worked on series including 13 REASONS WHY and UNREAL, and the 2019 TIFF selection THE OBITUARY OF TUNDE JOHNSON. She began her career as an agency assistant on the east coast, where she helped clients with self-tape auditions, and learned that she loved working with actors.

Hannah Platzer

Cinematographer

Hannah studied visual arts in Germany, where her thesis film Postkids (dir. Julian Pawelzik) won the Michael Ballhaus Award. Supported by a DAAD scholarship, she went on to complete a second Master’s at the AFI Conservatory in 2023. Her short film Nico (dir. Max Olson) premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and was nominated for a British Short Film Award. That same year, her visual essay Im Finstern (dir. Mahyar Mandegar) won the ASC Heritage Award and later screened in the Talent Demo Showcase at Camerimage. Hannah has photographed the forthcoming feature documentary Cattle Kids (dir. Jamie Fehrnstrom), produced by Temple Hill Entertainment and is slated to shoot a narrative feature in Germany at the end of 2026.

Lisa Janae

Cinematographer

Lisa Janae is a Black queer filmmaker born and raised in South Central Los Angeles whose work blends visceral storytelling with emotionally grounded human narratives. She has worked with collaborators including Amazon, Hulu, and Sony across the commercial, documentary, and narrative space. After more than 10 years in the human rights sector with organizations such as the United Nations and Amnesty International, Lisa merged her passion for film with genre storytelling infused with social and emotional truth. Lisa is the founder of award winning production company TERRA Visuals LLC, a member of IATSE Local 600, SAG-AFTRA, a SONY Alpha Female+ Award recipient and holds an MFA in Cinematography from AFI and an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University.

Louise Yunju Chen

Cinematographer

“Louise” YunJu Chen is a Taiwanese cinematographer with 14 years of experience across narrative, experimental, and documentary filmmaking, as well as streaming TV shows such as Netflix. After years working as a 1st AC, she transitioned into Director of Photography in 2019, bringing with her a strong technical foundation. Her work has been screened and selected at festivals including the Golden Harvest Awards and the San Diego Independent Filmmaker’s Festival. Louise recently graduated with an MFA in Cinematography from AFI, where she worked across both digital and 35mm formats. Driven by a belief that cinematography should serve both story and social consciousness, Louise is passionate about crafting images that amplify underrepresented voices and resonate emotionally beyond the frame.

Quinn Thomashow

Cinematographer

Quinn Thomashow is a director of photography based in Los Angeles. Originally from rural Vermont, she holds an MFA in Cinematography from the American Film Institute and began her career in experimental filmmaking at Hampshire College. Working in both film and digital formats, Quinn enjoys crafting inventive visuals that reflect her characters’ emotional worlds and tell impactful, resonant stories. Drawing from her background in avant-garde film and her unique upbringing, she offers a unique visual language to each project—one that challenges convention and engages audiences emotionally. She continues to pursue meaningful, collaborative work in the film industry, seeking out stories that invite empathy and expand our understanding of one another.

Kayla McIntyre

Composer

Kayla McIntyre is a Los Angeles based composer. As a musician, she has played in several venues and festivals around the US, and recorded for artists. She studied composition at Georgia State University, and Screen Scoring at the University of Southern California. She has written for various ensembles, such as jazz band, symphonic winds, and orchestra. She has also scored for films, games, and various visual media. As a composer, she has had works premiered by the UN Orchestra, GSU Symphonic Winds, National Sawdust, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She also does audio engineering, mixing, and production with other artists. As a mixer, she has mixed pop songs to orchestral film scores. As a songwriter and producer, she has written and produced songs, collaborated with artists.

Madison Anglin

Composer

Isabell Chavez Vega is an LA-based editor and assistant editor working across scripted and documentary film. Her assistant editor credits include Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, No Time to Die, and Marvel’s Echo. She’s currently editing a feature documentary about Indigenous women, two-spirit, and queer-led resistance to oil pipelines. A third-culture kid—born to a Russian mother, a Peruvian father, and raised in Finland—Isabell embodies a rich cultural perspective. She studied Film and English Literature in Canada before moving to England to pursue film. Her diverse background and nomadic lifestyle enrich her storytelling, giving her a unique viewpoint and the ability to connect with a wide array of narratives and people. Her goal is to bring outsider stories to broader audiences.

Mandy Woo

Composer

Mandy Woo is a Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based composer, music producer, and performer. A classically trained musician with an M.Mus. in Scoring for Film, Television & Video Games from Berklee College of Music, she creates music for film, television, games, and immersive multimedia projects. Her composing credits include CBC Gem’s Gisele’s Mashup Adventures, the Dora-winning installation Benevolence Hall, and a music placement in a Hockey Canada Olympics campaign. She also served as music editor and featured vocalist on the video game Star Wars Outlaws. A Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize finalist, Mandy creates cinematic lofi soundscapes as postmoderndisco.

Mel Guérison

Composer

Mel is an award-winning composer, recent recipient of the Reel Change Grant, and has written music for film, TV, trailers & commercials spanning a wide range of genres, including work for Lionsgate, Oscilloscope, Warner Bros, Universal, Atlus Games, Independent Directors & more. Her work has premiered at SXSW, Tribeca, Slamdance, Fantasia, Series Fest & other notable festivals. Guérison grew up playing classical violin, guitar, piano & singing and toured with an orchestra at the age of fourteen. She toured throughout college while earning her degree in music performance, concentrating in theory, arranging, voice, classical guitar, piano & drums. She has toured globally, arranged parts for and recorded with bands like Sleater-Kinney, Other Lives, Alexandra Savior, Whitney, Joseph and more.

Elissa “E” Alcala’

Costume Designer

Raised outside Austin, Texas, Elissa grew up on the sets of television shows directed by her father, Felix Enriquez Alcala. Early visits to costume departments sparked her fascination with storytelling through clothing. She later studied fashion design at Parsons School of Design in New York City before moving to Los Angeles to pursue costume design full time. Over the past 12 years, Elissa has worked across nearly every facet of the costume department, from shopper to Costume Designer, building worlds through clothing and character. She even had the opportunity to work in a galaxy far, far away, earning an Emmy for her work as Assistant Costume Designer on “Ahsoka”.

Aneesa Meador

Editor

Aneesa Meador is a Los Angeles-based Editor and Union Assistant Editor that has worked on projects such as I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Marvel’s Echo, Miniature Wife, and Nemesis. Her editing career has mainly been made up of short films ranging from Dramas to Comedies and Documentaries. Her biggest goal is to make weird, artistic, and impactful films no matter what the genre. When she’s not sitting at a computer with Avid open, she’s usually sitting at a computer playing Dungeons and Dragons online or, occasionally, outside with her dog.

Elika Rezaee

Editor

Elika Rezaee is an award-winning Iranian-American film editor and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, with over two decades of experience across narrative and documentary features, promos, and experimental storytelling. After immigrating in 2012, she earned her MFA in Editing from the American Film Institute in 2015 and became a Karen Schmeer Fellow in 2022–2023. Her credits include Shayda, winner of the Sundance Audience Award and distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, ¡Las Sandinistas!, and Conducting a Revolution. Recent work includes co-editing Peaches alongside William Chang, produced by Dirty Films, and serving as consulting editor and post-production supervisor on The Last Witch. She also works with AI-assisted creative workflows and emerging post-production technologies.

Gracie Simonett

Editor

Gracie is a filmmaker, editor, and collaborator splitting her time between Los Angeles and Minneapolis. She cuts to the heart of a story and enjoys working on projects that allow viewers to experience another person’s essence. She is an editor on the feature documentary Love, Joy & Power: Tools for Liberation, which screened at Doc NYC in 2025. She is currently directing a feature documentary in development called Retopia and expanding it into an interactive website. Gracie is also creating a YouTube series called Period Chronicles, which shares stories about menstrual health. She loves collaboration and creating a warm creative space as an editor for both documentary and scripted projects, helping filmmakers navigate the final stages of their films.

Maureen Marchetti

Editor

Maureen Marchetti is a Los Angeles–based editor and assistant editor working in episodic television drama. Her recent credits include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Magnum P.I., and The Equalizer, and she is currently slated to return for the upcoming season of Law & Order: SVU. She studied Film and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where she cultivated a strong appreciation for classic cinema and visual storytelling. Maureen is passionate about shaping character-driven narratives through editing and aspires to bring thoughtful, impactful storytelling to the screen.

Alaysia Sierra

Music Supervisor

Alaysia Sierra, a 32-year-old Los Angeles native, is a defining force in modern R&B. They began their career in college radio, where a passion for music discovery and programming shaped their creative perspective. They later rose to Global Head of Hip-Hop/R&B at Apple Music, championing artists like Summer Walker, GIVĒON, and Victoria Monét. Now at Spotify, they advocate for marginalized voices and contribute to initiatives including R&B First Nights, RNB X Magazine, and Fresh Finds, and the ongoing evolution of Spotify’s R&B identity. Originally drawn to music supervision, Alaysia’s passion for music’s emotional power continues to guide their work and remains a goal they are actively pursuing alongside their contributions to the music industry. Outside music, they enjoy reading, traveling, and time with loved ones.

Kesha Brooks

Music Supervisor

Kesha Brooks is a Los Angeles native and Music Supervisor who has contributed her supervision expertise to a range of high-profile trailers and video game campaigns, including promotional spots for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, FX Networks, Disney, MAX, Discovery, FOX, STARZ, Epic Games, Microsoft, Activision, Peacock, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. She is currently a member of The Guild of Music Supervisors and has a strong passion for the intersectionality of music and film.

Rajarajeshwari “RJ” Ragampudi

Production Designer

Rajarajeshwari “RJ” Ragampudi is a Los Angeles–based production designer with a background in architecture, trained in India and holding an MFA in Production Design from the American Film Institute. She served as production designer on the AFI thesis film Killer of Men set to premiere at the American Black Film Festival, and has since designed narrative projects, exploring various genres and shooting formats. Rj was an AFI exhibitor at the UCLA Design Showcase West 2025, a 2025 Telluride Filmlab participant, and recently completed the Find Your People Program under Issa Rae’s ColorCreative Company. Her recent work includes the award-winning short Egg-secution, which was nominated for Best Production Design at the Days of the Dead Film Festival and her first independent feature, set to release in 2026.

Tiana Ni

Production Designer

Tiana Ni is a Chinese production designer and producer working across Beijing, Hongkong and U.S. She graduated from Emerson College holding an MFA degree in Film and Media Art. Her works ranges from feature films, TV series, music video and commercials. Some of her recent works include All Tomorrow’s Parties, which was selected for the 73rd Berlin International film festival and screened in Hong Kong International Film Festival. My Old Pal, which awarded by Golden Rooster film festival. She is a member of ADG (Art Directors Guild) and BAFA (Busan Asian Film Academy). She also got selected for ‘Berlinale Talents’ 2024. Her visual approaches extend to VFX and AI, embraces multiple techniques to explore visual design.

Murphy Li

Production Sound Mixer

Murphy (Yameng) Li is a Production Sound Mixer and the founder of Harmonyflicks Sound Studios Inc. Based in Los Angeles, Murphy has built a reputation for delivering high-fidelity audio for a diverse range of features and commercial projects, including Better Life and The Cryonicist. With a deep-rooted passion for sonic storytelling that began with classical piano at the age of three, Murphy combines a musician’s ear with a technician’s precision. She holds an undergraduate degree in film sound from Beijing Film Academy, providing her with a holistic understanding of the visual and auditory synergy required for impactful storytelling. As a member of the 2026 WIF Fellowship in the Production Sound cohort, Murphy is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of on-set audio management.

Jenn Hoang

Script Supervisor

Born and raised in Hanoi, Vietnam, Jenn Hoang moved to New York to study film and Los Angeles to work in entertainment. She first came into the industry through internships at NBCUniversal, Big Beach Films, Janet Yang Productions, and Jenn’s role as Scheduling & Programming Coordinator at The CW Network helped develop her eye for detail, which ultimately led to her career as a freelance script supervisor. Jenn has worked on festival-selected short films, indie features, and fast-growing vertical series. In her free time, she writes comedy, attempts new recipes, and utilizes her AMC A-List membership. She graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Film & Media Studies.

Judybelle “JB” Camangyan

Sound Designer

Judybelle “JB” Camangyan is a sound engineer based in Los Angeles, CA who specializes in location sound recording, mixing, & sound design. They have worked in the film and commercial industry for 10+ years collaborating on creative projects to utilize sound as a world-building and storytelling tool.

Molly Bolten

Sound Editor

Molly Bolten is a film sound editor from the San Francisco Bay Area, now based in Los Angeles. Holding a B.A. in Music Composition from Princeton University, she brings to her audio work a musician’s ear for detail and artistry. She is particularly attuned to sound as a tool for worldbuilding, both objective and subjective. She spent the first decade of her career producing music and narrative audio—podcasts, audiobooks and audio advertising—and has spent the last two years transitioning into post-production sound for film. Her credits include a documentary feature and several short films that have screened at festivals like Femme Filth Fest and the LA Indie Film Festival. Her work spans genres, but she has a special affinity for horror and comedy (sometimes together, if done right).

Ava Porter

Title Designer

Ava Porter is a Los Angeles–based title designer, experimental filmmaker, and visual artist whose work is grounded in editorial rigor, photographic experimentation, and art history. She has designed, shot, and/or edited main title sequences for film and television, including multiple seasons of American Horror Story, The Institute, FROM, Atlas, and the Academy Award–nominated film The Creator, while her film and video work has been screened internationally at institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Museum, the Palace Museum in Beijing, Dom Aktera in Moscow, and SOAS University of London. Porter holds an MFA in Visual Arts from UC San Diego, a BA in Studio Art from UCLA, and is a former Fulbright Fellow.