Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces Fellows & Mentor for NYFF53 Artist Academy

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the details for this year's NYFF Artist Academy, which offers an immersive and creative experience for 26 up-and-coming and established filmmakers from a variety of backgrounds and marks the fourth consecutive year that Film Society has hosted a private program supporting emerging artists.

Tapping into both the Lincoln Center and New York film community, the private two-day program features talks and case studies designed to inspire filmmakers' artistic instincts and encourage collaboration. Past mentors have included Paul Schrader, Fernando Eimbcke, Nico Muhly, Joe Brewster, Michele Stephenson, Ed Lachman, Ira Deutchman, Nicole Emmanuele, Sir Richard Eyre, David Tedeschi, the Safdie brothers, and more.

The two-day workshop will include a slate of screenings and panel discussions by esteemed veterans from a variety of disciplines for artists to meet in an intimate atmosphere of creative celebration. In addition to set workshops, the Artist Academy will include a social component for fellows to meet other Artist Academy members in addition to participants of similar initiatives taking place during NYFF. This year's mentors include theater, opera, and film director Julie Taymor; independent film producer and Killer Films co-founder Christine Vachon (Carol); producer, writer, and former Focus Features head James Schamus; director, producer and NYFF53 Filmmaker in Residence Athina Rachel Tsangari (Chevalier, Attenberg); producer Diana Williams (Lucasfilm Story Group); creators of Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things (NYFF53 Convergence), Lance Weiler and Nick Fortugno; producer and Chief Creative Officer of CAMPFIRE Mike Monello; artist Prune Nourry; Luis Castro (Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment); and more.

We are also proud to collaborate with the Princess Grace Foundation, who supported 10 of their emerging film artists from various disciplines for the Artist Academy.

The 26 filmmakers selected (and their latest projects) for the NYFF53 Artist Academy:
Omonike Akinyemi, Omo Shango
Jessica Bardsley, The Blazing World
Chinonye Chukwu, A Long Walk
Nia DaCosta, Little Woods
Sean Dunn, Making Eyes
John Fiege, Above All Else
Adam Ginsberg, Tired Moonlight
Sonya Goddy, Sundae
Rashaad Ernesto Green, Supernatural
Reinaldo Marcus Green, Stop
Stephen Gurewitz, Hernia
Jeremy Hersh, Actresses
Myna Joseph, The Mend
Ingrid Jungermann, Women Who Kill
John Magary, The Mend
Yael Melamede, (DIS)Honesty - The Truth About Lies
Kyle Molzan, For the Plasma
Nijla Mu'min, Dream
Charles Poekel, Christmas, Again
Keith Poulson, Bad at Dancing
Iva Radivojevic, Evaporating Borders
Ian Soroka, Dry Country
Ethan Spigland, The Archive
Gina Telaroli, Silk Tatters
Josh Weissbach, Model Fifty-One Fifty-Six
Iman Zawahry, Paperback

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Kent Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound.

ARTIST ACADEMY FELLOWS

Omonike Akinyemi
Omo Shango
Omonike Akinyemi is a writer/director/producer with a passion for daring stories. Her films have taken her to three continents-Africa, Europe, and the Americas. A two-time New York Foundation for the Arts fellow and Princess Grace Honorarium winner, Akinyemi is currently developing an epic feature film, Omo Shango (People Under the Influence of the God of Thunder).

Jessica Bardsley
The Blazing World
Jessica Bardsley's films have screened internationally at festivals such as RIDM, CPH:DOX, Visions du Réel, True/False, EMAF, Kasseler Dokfest, Flaherty NYC, and more. She is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award, a Grand Prix at 25 FPS, a Best Short Film award at Punto de Vista, and the Eileen Maitland Award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Bardsley is a PhD student in Film and Visual Studies at Harvard University.

Chinonye Chukwu
A Long Walk
Chinonye Chukwu is Assistant Professor of Motion Pictures at Wright State University. She is a recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Award and Princeton Hodder Fellowship. Her debut feature, AlaskaLand, and her most recent short, A Long Walk, have both screened globally at festivals and other venues. Currently, Chukwu is developing her next feature film.

Nia DaCosta
Little Woods
Nia DaCosta is a writer-director based in New York City. She has written and directed projects for the stage, screen, and new-media platforms, including the playlet Kingdom Come at the Leicester Square Theatre in London, the game show Sagmeister x Walsh for Adobe (Behance), and the documentary Shark Loves the Amazon.

Sean Dunn
Making Eyes
Sean Dunn wrote and directed his first feature, The Confabulators, in 2013. Recently, he made a short film called Making Eyes. In addition to working on his own films, Dunn has recorded sound for many productions, including the films of Ted Fendt (Going Out), Dustin Guy Defa (Person to Person), and Matías Piñeiro (Hermia & Helena).

John Fiege
Above All Else
John Fiege is a director, cinematographer, and photographer whose latest feature documentary, Above All Else, premiered at SXSW in 2014, and had its international premiere at Hot Docs. His first feature documentary, Mississippi Chicken, was nominated for a Gotham Award. He recently shot the 2014 Sundance and SXSW selection, No No: A Documentary.

Adam Ginsberg
Tired Moonlight
Adam Ginsberg is a sometime director of photography and editor. Among his most recent credits are the films 7 Chinese Brothers, Stinking Heaven, Hernia, Person to Person, and Tired Moonlight.

Sonya Goddy
Sundae
Born and based in NYC, Sonya Goddy is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA film program. She was the recipient of the Adrienne Shelly Best Female Director Award for her short Sundae and received the Zaki Gordon Award for Excellence in Screenwriting. Previous shorts have played at BAMcinemaFest, Woodstock Film Festival, and Palm Springs Shortfest-and have been distributed by Shorts International. She also wrote and co-produced The Young Housefly starring Alex Karpovsky, which was made for under $1,000 and nominated for a Student Academy Award. She is currently in pre-production on her first feature, Holy New York.

Rashaad Ernesto Green
Supernatural
A graduate of NYU's Film Program, New York native Rashaad Ernesto Green's thesis and first feature film, Gun Hill Road, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and opened theatrically in 26 cities nationwide. Most recently, Green wrote a pilot for a spec HBO series and directed episodes of NBC's Grimm and CW's Supernatural for Warner Bros. TV.

Reinaldo Marcus Green
Stop
Reinaldo Marcus Green is a writer, director, and producer based in New York City. His films have premiered at prestigious film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Sundance, Telluride, Tribeca, and LAFF. Most recently, Green joined the producing faculty at NYU's Tisch Graduate Film School and was recognized this year as one of Filmmaker magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film."

Stephen Gurewitz
Hernia
Stephen Gurewitz is an American filmmaker. The New Yorker praised his directorial debut, Marvin Seth and Stanley, as being "extraordinarily touching and quietly hilarious." Most recently, he edited the film Stinking Heaven and was the lead in the short Hernia.

Jeremy Hersh
Actresses
Jeremy Hersh is a filmmaker and playwright based in New York. His short film Actresses premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and went on to play SXSW, BAMcinemaFest, and many more. His undergraduate thesis film, NATIVES, premiered at SXSW in 2013.

Myna Joseph
The Mend
Myna Joseph co-developed and produced the critically acclaimed comic drama The Mend, directed by John Magary and starring Josh Lucas. She is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA film program. Her short film Man was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Directors' Fortnight, and New Directors/New Films. She attended the Sundance Institute Screenwriters and Directors Labs with her script Charlotte XVI. Other projects being developed with collaborator John Magary include Breezin' and Shebang.

Ingrid Jungermann
Women Who Kill
Ingrid Jungermann created the Web series F TO 7TH, starring Amy Sedaris, Michael Showalter, and Gaby Hoffmann. She is one of Out magazine's "100 People of the Year" and Filmmaker magazine's "25 Faces of Independent Film." Her work has been selected for the Tribeca All Access Program and IFP's Emerging Narratives Lab. Ingrid is an alumnus of NYU Graduate Film.

John Magary
The Mend
John grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended Columbia University's graduate film program. His critically acclaimed first feature, The Mend, premiered at SXSW and is now in release. He is currently developing a slate of projects with collaborator Myna Joseph, including Breezin', a comedy set on a cruise ship, and Shebang, a psychological thriller with actress Mickey Sumner. John has written and directed several short films, most notably The Second Line (Sundance 2008). His related feature script, Go Down, Antoinette, went through the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs.

Yael Melamede
(DIS)Honesty - The Truth About Lies
Yael Melamede has been producing films for over a decade. (DIS)Honesty - The Truth About Lies marks his directorial debut. Melamede's producing credits include the recently Emmy-nominated film When I Walk; the 2013 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Short, Inocente; Desert Runners (2013); Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009); and the Oscar-nominated film My Architect (2003).

Kyle Molzan
For the Plasma
Kyle is the co-director of one feature, For the Plasma, that has shown in several film festivals. He lives in Brooklyn and is currently working on his second feature inspired by the life of Georges Simenon.

Nijla Mu'min
Dream
Nijla Mu'min is a writer and filmmaker from the East Bay Area. Her short films have screened at festivals across the country. She is the recipient of the 2012 Princess Grace Award for her film, Deluge and was one of 10 writers selected for the 2014 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive. She was the winner of Best Screenplay at the 2014 Urbanworld Film Festival for her feature script Noor.

Charles Poekel
Christmas, Again
Charles Poekel is a NY-based filmmaker who has produced and photographed theatrical documentaries including Hey Bartender (SXSW), Making the Boys (Berlinale), Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead (Sundance), and Fake It So Real. He wrote, produced, and directed his first narrative feature, Christmas, Again, which played at the Sundance Film Festival, Locarno, and New Directors/New Films.

Keith Poulson
Bad at Dancing
Keith Poulson is a Brooklyn-based actor, filmmaker, and musician. His acting credits include Somebody Up There Likes Me, Listen Up Philip, Queen of Earth, Hellaware, Stinking Heaven, and Bad at Dancing (NYFF 2015). He has also worked once or twice as a DIT, Casting Associate, PA, Sound Mixer (Hernia, NYFF 2015), Key Grip, Best Boy Electric, Songwriter, and Extra.

Iva Radivojevic
Evaporating Borders
Iva Radivojevic spent her early years in Yugoslavia and Cyprus before settling in NYC. Her films have screened at Rotterdam, SXSW, MoMA, and The New York Times' Op-Docs. She is the recipient of the 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and was named one of Filmmaker magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film." Radivojevic's debut documentary, Evaporating Borders, has received numerous awards worldwide.

Ian Soroka
Dry Country
Ian Soroka is an artist and filmmaker based in New York and is originally from Colorado. He is primarily interested in expanded forms of documentary cinema. His films have screened internationally in festivals and at museums such as Doc Lisboa, Curtas Vila do Conde, Rencontres Internationales: Paris/Berlin/Madrid, and the Slovenian Cinematheque. Soroka received an MS in Art, Culture and Technology at MIT, a BFA/BA in film studies from the University of Colorado, and studied nonfiction cinema at FAMU, Prague. In 2009, he was awarded a Princess Grace fellowship, and in 2012 he was a Fulbright Research Fellow in Slovenia.

Ethan Spigland
The Archive
Ethan Spigland is an award-winning filmmaker and visual artist. He has written and directed numerous films, including The Archive. His short, The Strange Case of Balthazar Hyppolite, won the Gold Medal in the Student Academy Awards. He is currently shooting a documentary on the writer Lafcadio Hearn. Spigland is also Professor in the Media Studies Department at Pratt Institute.

Gina Telaroli
Silk Tatters
Gina Telaroli is a Cleveland-raised, NYC-based filmmaker, visual essayist, critic, and video archivist at Sikelia Productions. She is the director of the feature films Traveling Light (2011) and Here's to the Future! (2014), and in the past year opened a new video installation for her piece Silk Tatters (2015). Alongside that, she has edited comprehensive anthologies on William A. Wellman, Allan Dwan, and Tony Scott.

Josh Weissbach
Model Fifty-One Fifty-Six
Josh Weissbach is an experimental filmmaker. He lives in a house next to an abandoned village with his wife, daughter, and three cats. He is the recipient of a Cary Grant Film Award from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for Emerging Artists from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and a LEF Fellowship from the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. His 16mm films and digital videos have shown in film festivals, micro-cinemas, and galleries worldwide.

Iman Zawahry
Paperback
Iman Zawahry's films have shown in over 100 venues worldwide and have won numerous awards, including a Student Emmy Award and a Princess Grace. Zawahry also collaborated with the nonprofit organization Islamic Scholarship Fund to create the first-ever American Muslim grant launched in 2014. Paperback, a film she produced with Sundance alum Adam Bowers, will premiere at the 2015 Austin Film Festival.

ABOUT FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year's most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, the Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award, whose 2015 recipient was Robert Redford. The Film Society's state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from American Airlines, The New York Times, HBO, Stella Artois, The Kobal Collection, Variety, Trump International Hotel and Tower, RowNYC, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.

Support for the New York Film Festival is also generously provided by Jaeger-LeCoultre, FIJI Water, KIND Bars, Portage World Wide Inc., WABC-7, and WNET New York Public Media.