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Nao Abe
When It Reaches You
Loyola Marymount University
Nao Abe just finished her first year at Loyola Marymount University's MFA program in Film Production. Majoring in Linguistics at International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan, she also spent a year as an exchange student at University of California, Santa Cruz, where she studied film theory and decided to come back to the United States to pursue her interest in film-making. When It Reaches You is Nao's first film production where she is the writer, director, and editor. She is currently in preparation for her next short film that should begin production in fall 2005.
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J.R. Arinaga
The Sound of Football
USC
J.R. Arinaga is a recent 23-year-old alumnus from USC School of Cinema-Television where he graduated with one of highest undergraduate directing honors. While a student, he produced and directed eight shorts, including a 2004 Coca Cola Refreshing Film, and, The Sound of Football, which was miraculously completed with a modest $4,400 budget! J.R. is currently penning a feature screenplay to the musical short, The Sound of Football, and is also working as a director & editor at two commercial production houses in Los Angeles.
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Adam Finberg
On Alert
AFI
ADAM FINBERG is an award winning director in the Los Angeles area with directing credits in narrative, music video, and commercial
work. Originally from Phoenix, Adam completed the American Film
Institute's prestigious directing MFA degree in 2004. An
accomplished musician and professional editor to boot, Adam's writing
and directing ambitions have been a lifelong pursuit. His work
continues to have a unique voice that combines his musical talents
and editorial skills with compelling narratives that broach new
territory.
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Chris Gehl
El Ortodoncista
Art Center College
Director Chris Gehl, originally from Seattle, Washington, began directing when he was nineteen and has been at it for the last thirteen years. He loves to tell stories and is fascinated by the light and the darkness inside the human condition. He tries to apply that sensibility to his work.
In Seattle, he directed short films, music videos, and shot runway fashion. Tired of doing film as a hobby, and having to maintain a restaurant gig to survive, Chris went off to Los Angeles to pursue film as a full-time habit and occupation. As well as El Ortodoncista, Chris has directed several spec spots, and graduated with a B.F.A. in film, from Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he is developing and writing feature scripts and directing.
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Sasha Isaac-Young
Foster Stories
USC
Sasha Isaac-Young is dedicated to honing her craft as a writer and director. She graduated from USC School of Cinema-Television in May of 2004 with an MFA in film production. While at USC Sasha directed a second thesis project, a fiction short film titled “Little Valerie” about a young girl vying for the attention of the boy who lures her away from her institutional home. Sasha also directed several other short films including “Love Tours” and “Roger’s Wanderlust”. Sasha is currently working on film productions and she is writing a feature screenplay.
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Sean Jiminez
Asleep at the Wheel
CalArts
When Sean Jimenez was a boy, he drew lots of cartoons.
When he as a teenager, he saw "Walt Disney's Sleeping
Beauty" and dreamed of working on animated films for
Disney's. When Sean was a Senior in high school he got
accepted into Disney Feature Animation's training
program.
He was hired as an inbetweener on "Pocahontas". He
worked on Disney's next four animated features. He
then went to Warner Bros. to work on the "Iron Giant"
where he was exposed more intimately to the film
making process as a whole and was deeply inspired. He
then went to work at Disney Imagineering as an
Audio-Animatronic Animator and worked on several
lengthy attractions for California, and Tokyo
Disneylands. He now is attending California institute
of the Arts, where he is fully dedicated to his
education and the development of his own ideas as a
filmmaker in animation.
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Sarah Johnson
Hairless
USC
An accomplished Theatre Director, Sarah moved to Los Angeles to complete her MFA in Film Directing from the University of Southern California. While at USC, Sarah worked on projects for Discovery Channel, Bravo, Hyde Park Entertainment, Crusader Entertainment & Outlaw Productions. She also worked as a Teaching Assistant for the Head of USC’s Directing Program. She is now in the process of writing a feature screenplay. Sarah is a mean tap dancer and really wants to be a lounge singer. She created the film “Hairless” in order to educate (and entertain) viewers on the disease Alopecia Universalis. And yes, Sarah has hair.
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Eli Akira Kaufman
Winning the Peace
UCLA
Eli Akira Kaufman, San Francisco born, spent his first decade in Japan, Iran and Belgium where his parents taught in international schools. A graduate of Oberlin College, Kaufman is currently enrolled in the MFA directing program at The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. As an IFP/West Project: Involve Honoree, Kaufman worked as the personal assistant to the Polish brothers on their third film, "NORTHFORK." Kaufman has written and directed several short films including "Birthday Haiku," and the UCLA/Showtime Networks Inc. funded "Winning the Peace," one of a series of student films about images of war in the 21st century. Kaufman also directed live theatre for The UCLA Francis Ford Coppola One Act Play Festival. His films have screened at festivals around the world and he is a recipient of the Jim Morrison Prize for directing, the Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors Foundation Production Grant and the 2003 Alfred P. Sloan Film Production Award for his thesis film script, "The Laws of eMotion," currently in preproduction.
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Mark Landsman
Skylab
AFI
MARK LANDSMAN is an LA-based independent filmmaker with a background in documentary film and television productions. He was most recently a director on Morgan Spurlock's new documentary series, 30 Days, which aired on the FX Network this year; and on the upcoming A&E series, Holy Journey. For Evolution Film and Tape, he was a director on the first two seasons of the ABC Family series, Switched!.; and produced Crew Call, an interstitial series for AMC (American Movie Classics).
He is the producer and director of several documentaries on youth at risk, including the award-winning, Peace of Mind, the first documentary to be jointly produced with a group of Palestinian and Israeli teenagers. Broadcast on the ABC News program, "Nightline with Ted Koppel", the film was shown on PBS and major networks internationally; won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 1999 Hampton's International Film Festival; and was featured at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. For Peter Gabriel's human rights media organization, WITNESS, he produced and directed, Books Not Bars, on minority youth and the prison system, which premiered at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, and was awarded the 2004 Open Society's Criminal Justice Award. Also for WITNESS, he produced and directed, Video for Change, designed to encourage human rights activists worldwide to use video and internet strategies in their advocacy work. Other projects have included Speak Up Young Africa!, on youth mobilizing around the HIV pandemic in five sub-Saharan African countries; and Postcard from Peje, on ethnic Albanian teenagers in post-war Kosovo. For PBS, he was a producer/director for the Emmy-award winning art series, EGG-the art show, produced by WNET, New York.
As a Teaching Artist, Mark has facilitated film and video workshops for youth in New York City public and private schools, the Jewish Museum of New York, Seeds of Peace Camp, and the Balkan Sunflowers Youth Video Program in Peje, Kosovo.
Mark was a 2002-2004 Directing Fellow at The American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles. His first fiction film, Skylab, which he wrote and directed, premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and was a Finalist for the 2004 Angelus Awards. The film screened at 2005 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and the AFI Conservatory Showcase at LA's ArcLight Cinemas in January.
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Evelin Longo
Stopover
USC
Evelin has an MA in Foreign Literatures at the University of Udine (Italy) and an MFA in Film Production at the University of Southern California of Los Angeles.
She served as Assistant in Acquisitions for a film distribution company in Rome, a Visiting Lecturer in five Hong Kong Universities: seminars on European cinema and screenwriting, and as a Teaching Assistant for Film Directing and Editing at USC. She was also a Producer/Writer for a 20-episode series, “Hollywood Style”, for Fox Italia and has experience as a Subtitling Editor.
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Wenchung Lu
The Shoes
CalArts
Wenchung Lu, the youngest of his family, was born and reared in the rural area of North Taiwan known as “Ko-lin” or “fruit valley.” As one might suspect, his childhood memories include playing with friends, chickens, ducks, and frogs on the family rice and vegetable farm. But, ever since his father taught him to illustrate a bird, using a single stroke, Wenchung has been inspired to draw.
Upon completing compulsory service in the Taiwan Air Force, he worked for several entertainment companies and enjoyed success as an art director. In August 1999, he relocated to the United States to learn English, to begin an animation career, and to continue employing his abilities to answer life’s important questions and give him a new perspective.
According to Wenchung, “animation was good choices because they potentially entertain, appeal universally, and transcend differences in the human condition. They meld my ability to draw, design, sculpt, and direct art production with new skills. As art, they allow me to explore subjects in new ways and embody symbolism. More important, a story or animation piece may bring happiness and comfort to anyone who views them. Art allows me to transcend; perhaps it can help others live better? I want to create beauty and opportunity where the human spirit can be explored; happiness, sadness, or anger can be meditated upon or simply enjoyed. To know someone felt, thought and acted upon my work, in their unique way, is a profound reward.”
Currently, Wenchung is studying at CalArts, where he created The Shoes, his first year film.
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Andre Mallette Jr.
Closer
UCLA
Born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, Andre Mallette Jr. is the son of Mary (a retired kindergarten teacher) and Andre Sr. (a county human resources director). He attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (most recently known as The University of National Champions) where he received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Communications and Political Science. He entered the graduate film program at UCLA only 9 months after graduating from UNC.
Andre writes and edits his films as well. He occasionally tries to make music. Andre currently works and kicks it in Van Nuys, CA. CLOSER is his advanced graduate film. He is presently working on his thesis film, CHAMPION SOUND
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Gentry Smith
Unwelcome
USC
Texas-born Gentry Smith has devoted his life as an artist, musician, writer, and now film director. Part of the founding class of Arizona State University’s Film Program, Gentry has just graduated from USC with his Master’s thesis “Unwelcome.” He is currently working to bring his latest screenplay, “Surrogate,” to the screen.
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Nate Wragg
Cat Food
CalArts
Growing up in the small town of Davis, in Northern California, Nate discovered that he loved to draw at a very young age. From the moment he could hold a pencil he never put it down. Beginning with “Draw 50” books, a series that taught you how to draw everything from cars to zoo animals out of simple shapes, to then drawing dinosaurs in the margins of his elementary school papers, Nate drew all the time. When he wasn’t drawing Nate grew up watching Disney’s animated movies, his favorite was “Robin Hood.” Seeing these animated movies Nate knew that he wanted to take his drawing ability to another level. He wanted to make his drawings move, and he wanted them to be on the big screen. But he didn’t just want to make the usual happy, feel good cartoon, he wanted to make people laugh and creep them out at the same time. Heavily interested in character design, he wanted to push the boundaries of animation and create a cartoon that would support his desire to draw strange monsters and weird characters in a way no one had seen before. And as a student in the Character Animation department at CAL ARTS, Nate has that opportunity. To draw and animate exactly what he wants.
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Yeo, Lee Nah
Crocodile Journals
CalArts
Yeo Lee Nah is a performer at heart, whose love for performance found its channel in filmmaking, animation and design.
Following her set design career in the Singapore Television of Singapore (now Mediacorp), she decides to expand her horizons at the California Institute of the Arts where she received a Bachelor’s in Scene Design (Theatre School) and a Master’s in Experimental Animation (Film and Video School).
Crocodile Journals is a culmination of these further studies and is her foray into animation and direction.
Upon her return to Singapore, she was an Art Director in Mediacorp Raintree Pictures’ feature film, “One Last Dance”, starring Harvey Keitel.
Now she is directing and developing animation at an established media company, Lights and Shadows, Singapore.
Basically, she just wants to have fun making work that people can relate to.
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