Ariel Sinelnikoff fell in love with cinema at an early age after being introduced to Hitchcock's Psycho when she was 11 years old. Following her passion, she pursued a career in film directing at San Francisco State University, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Film Production. It was there that she began to explore socio-political issues ⏤ such as women's and LGBTQ+ rights ⏤ that were close to her through the lens of darker genres, particularly horror and psychological thrillers. Genre filmmaking allowed her the freedom to communicate the nuanced experiences endured by members of these communities to a larger audience through accessible metaphor. It was through this work that Ariel received the Ronald A. Jacobs Scholarship and a nomination for the Princess Grace Award for her feminist horror film, Enceinte, which went on to premiere at the 2014 Another Hole in the Head Film Festival.
Ariel currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, where she is continues to explore these subjects and genres. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts for Film Directing at Brooklyn College’s Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, a program that specifically celebrates diverse voices in the film industry. When not making films, Ariel enjoys expressing herself through painting and catching up on indie comic books. You can check out more of her work at arielsinelnikoff.com.
Sarah Mahan is an LA based screenwriter originally from Sacramento, CA. This Lady Bird flew the coop to study film at San Francisco State University where she received her Bachelor degree in Film Production. For there, she went south to get her Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting at California State University, Fullerton where she graduated in 2017. Her thesis from the program, a horror-Western feature screenplay entitled Tracker, has had success in the festival circuit and won Best Feature Screenplay at Nightmares Film Festival in October of 2017. Sarah loves exploring feminist stories through the genre-heavy lenses of horror, Western, fantasy, and science fiction. Occasionally, she'll close out Final Draft to patron a Santa Monica ramen joint, play Dungeons and Dragons with other creatives, or bop around at a punk show.
K. M. Glaess is a freelance producer, writer, and visual artist in Brooklyn, New York. She is drawn to producing and creating stories of science fiction, period pieces, and documentaries that explore the perspectives and experiences of underrepresented voices.
Glaess has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English Literature from the University of Mississippi. Prior to studying film production she taught English in the Mississippi Delta. Though she graduated high school in the Emerald Coast, she considers herself a nomad and not Southern. Glaess is a MFA candidate in Producing at Brooklyn College’s Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema where she is focused on developing her craft as a narrative, branded-content, and documentary producer and line producer.
In summer 2018, she was a producer for Half Life, a limited series that was a collaboration between the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and Brooklyn College's Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. Half Life is part of the initiative to promote women in the filmmaking industry. You can learn more about the project here and here.
Born and raised in New York City, Yujin is an MFA candidate for Cinematography at Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema with an academic background in Art History from Oberlin College and Cinema and Screen Studies at Pace University.
Yujin has worked on numerous narrative shorts including RWF, a selection for the short film program at New Filmmakers Los Angeles in February 2018. This year, he was nominated for the 2018 UFVF/KODAK Student Cinematography Scholarship Award.
Fay Gartenberg is a freelance picture editor and assistant editor in New York City. She is drawn to editing character-driven, genre-bending stories, and narratives that explore the perspectives and experiences of underrepresented voices.
Fay got her start in editing as a video therapist (by way of social work) serving pediatric patients and their families. She utilized animation, green screen and live-action video to help patients explore their experiences and circumstances.
Fay is now a candidate for the MFA in Post-Production at Brooklyn College’s Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema where she is focused on developing her craft as a narrative and documentary picture editor. She especially enjoys the process of collaborating closely with directors to bring their creative vision to fruition.