Lauren Wolkstein is a NY-based filmmaker whose short films include Social Butterfly (2013 Sundance), Cigarette Candy (2010 SXSW Grand Jury Prize) and The Strange Ones co-directed with Christopher Radcliff (2011 Sundance). Lauren and Christopher adapted The Strange Ones into their first feature film (2017 SXSW). Lauren also recently completed collective:unconscious, an omnibus feature spearheaded by Dan Schoenbrun (2016 SXSW). Filmmaker Magazine named Lauren one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” She received her MFA in film directing from Columbia University and is an assistant professor of Film and Media Arts at Temple University.
Shaka King is a writer, director and producer of movies and television.
Josephine Decker premiered her first two narrative features at the Berlinale Forum 2014 to critical acclaim. She also explores collaborative storytelling via TV directing, documentary making, performance art, accordion-playing, acting, teaching at CalArts and Princeton University, and leading artist residencies with the School of Making Thinking.
Leah Shore is a director and artist living in NYC. She was named one of Filmmaker Magazines “25 New Faces in Independent Film…”, and has been written about in publications such as VICE, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Indiewire, Filmmaker Magazine and Talkhouse Film, etc. She is a freelance director, writer, animator, artist and music-er. She is currently producing two live action films and has recently started to pitch comedic live action and animated TV shows.
Originally from Minnesota, Erin Vassilopoulos is a filmmaker currently based in New York. Vassilopoulos’s short film, Superior, which she wrote and directed, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The premiere was followed by a series of screenings including the Berlinale, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, and BFI London Film Festival, before being acquired by ARTE. Vassilopoulos graduated with an MFA from NYU’s graduate film program in 2016 with her thesis film, Valeria. She is currently writing her first feature film.
Danny Madden makes films with friends under the name ORNANA. Some of these films are animated, some are not. He was raised in the southeast and in 2012 was featured on Filmmaker Magiazine's "25 New Faces of Indie Film." You can watch movies he's made at vimeo.com/ornana.