Palmira Figueroa
Festival Judge
Moema Umann is a Brazilian filmmaker, and co-owner/founder of MoTif Productions. She holds a M.F.A. in directing from The Actors Studio in New York. Her work seeks to explore new ways of telling stories through a mix of film, drawing, animation, photography, and poetry. Through her projects she aims to create opportunities for other underrepresented artists to collaborate.
Faiyaz Jafri
Festival Judge
Rena Anakwe, is an interdisciplinary artist and performer, working primarily with sound, visuals, and scent. Exploring intersections between traditional healing practices, spirituality and performance she creates works focused on sensory-based, experiential interactions using technology. A member of the artistic collective NON Worldwide, she is based in Brooklyn, New York by way of Nigeria and Canada.
She has collaborated, produced and shown audio/visual work at: MAD Museum of Arts and Design (NYC), TCC Chicago (CHI), Knockdown Center (NYC), NY Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1(NYC), Les Nubians ‘Up Close & Personal’ Tour (VARIOUS), The Tank (NYC), CTM Festival (GER), the Museum of the Moving Image (NYC), Europe’s Capital of Culture in Turku (FI.)
Mark Raker
Festival Judge
MARK RAKER is a cinematographer who has been creating award-winning film and television programs, and national television spots since the 1980’s, including Peabody Award winning “A Letter to Elia” directed by Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones, Red Envelope’s “An Unreasonable Man”, Emmy Award winning “Moment of Impact”, and Rose d'Or winning “Michael Moore’s The Awful Truth”. His network clients include ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, IFC, TNT, ESPN, BBC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic TV, Bravo, Sesame Workshops, The Weather Channel, Sundance Channel, and GNT (Brazil). Mark currently has films exhibited in museums in New York, Chicago, Minnesota and Seattle. He has served as a judge for film festivals and for the Emmy Awards. He has been featured in the magazine InCamera, and has been a featured speaker for the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Since 1986 he has been leading cinematography workshops at the New York University School of Professional Studies where he received the NYU Award for Teaching Excellence and the NYU Award for Outstanding Service. Since 2006 he has also served on the faculty of the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport, Maine. And since 2016 has been on the faculty of the New York City College of Technology in New York, NY.
Aaluk Edwardson
Festival Judge
Aaluk Edwardson is an Iñupiaq artist working to empower students and support community resilience. She’s a playwright, a poet, an actor, a teacher and a collaborator on projects in art, performance, education and wellness. She’s worked in theaters, schools and communities across the Eastern Seaboard of America, in Alaska, California and in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Check out her website: www.aalukedwardson.com to learn more about her endeavors and inspirations.
Linda Nicholas-Figueroa
Festival Judge
Skye Morse-Hodgson is a producer, filmmaker, photographer, and award winning screenwriter. Originally from Los Angeles, she moved to New York in 2015 after graduating from Brooks Institute with a BFA in filmmaking. She has been involved in the creation, management, and shooting of productions at 3LD Art and Technology Center, The Tank, Dixon Place, Here Art Center, The Brick, The Performing Garage, Danspace, Judson Theater, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Deitch Projects, Collapsable Hole, Tisch NYU, and many others.
Shawn Lewis
Festival Judge
Laila Garroni is a Brazilian actress and producer based in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated from the 2-year professional conservatory at Stella Adler Studio of Acting, where besides getting a solid training in theater, she also had the opportunity of learning on-camera techniques. Her latest works include a production of the play Necessary Targets and the short-film Stand Clear of the Closing Doors. Laila also co-founded Evoé, an award-winning collective created to promote Brazilian culture abroad. Through the production of staged readings and the creation of original contents, the collective works to showcase the universality and beauty of Brazilian stories, styles, and voices.
Justina Wilhelm
Festival Judge
Eduardo Guerra is a biologist based at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at UCLA, where he studies human evolution, health, disease, and the environment.