Clayton Brown

Clayton Brown is a documentary and narrative filmmaker interested in exploring the hidden stories and compelling characters that emerge when people pursue their passions. He is particularly interested in how science and storytelling intersect, both in fiction and nonfiction. Brown’s fiction work includes supernatural, science fiction, and historical shorts, as well as the romantic dramedy Galileo’s Grave, a short about a man’s obsession with tracking and recording satellites.  Brown co-directed the award-winning documentaries The Atom Smashers, about the search for the Higgs boson (broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens), The Believers, about two Utah chemists’ 1989 “discovery” of cold fusion (Gravitas Ventures), and We Believe in Dinosaurs (1091, Independent Lens), about the Kentucky Creation Museum’s building of a life-sized Noah’s Ark theme park to disprove the theory of evolution.  We Believe in Dinosaurs has a 91% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Brown’s films have screened at national and international festivals and have won the Chicago IFP Production Fund, Best Short Film (Albany International Film Festival), Best Short Film (Great Lakes International Film Festival), Pariscience Audacity Award, the Chicago International Film Festival’s Gold Hugo for Best Documentary, The Maryland International Film Festival Best Documentary, and St. Louis International Film Festival Best Documentary.

Claudia Capria

Realizing they were too short to be a gaffer, Claudia went into post production after graduating. Now in their third year as an assistant editor, their most notable credits are Emmy-nominated docu-series “Surviving R. Kelly” and independent documentary “Rebel Hearts” (which made its premiere at Sundance this year! Releasing this summer! Rebellious nuns! Check it out!) Currently, they work as a publicity social media assistant editor for Netflix and as an assist on a Disney Channel baking show. Trying to balance corporate work and personal values, they also work part-time as a graphic designer for a local activist and director. Claudia is halfway through their master’s in public policy at Northeastern University because, to quote their mother, “Somehow everything else wasn’t enough”.

Tarique Qayumi

Tarique Qayumi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He escaped Afghanistan with his mother on the back of a truck as a refugee when he was a child. This perilous journey inspired him to be a storyteller.

He attended the school of creative writing at the University of British Columbia and his MFA at UCLA School of Film and TV. Judith Weston, who trained Alejandro Iñárritu, Ava DuVernay, and Taika Waititi, mentored Qayumi for two years in directing actors.

After film school, TOLO TV, the largest television station in Afghanistan, approached Qayumi, where he directed "Truth Unveiled", Afghanistan's first docudrama series; "The Defenders, drama miniseries; as well as the Afghan version of "Sesame Street", seasons two and three. He also wrote and directed his first feature film, "Targeting", in Los Angeles, which won Best Film at the Afghan Human Rights Festival in Kabul in 2015.

Upon returning to Canada, Qayumi was one of five chosen from across the country for the NSI Corus Diverse TV Directing Program in 2016. Tarique shadowed Daniel Grou on "The Vikings".

"Black Kite", a historical drama that intermixes animation, documentary, and live-action, was his second feature, which he wrote, directed, edited, and cinematographed. "Black Kite" premiered at TIFF in 2017 and screened at 20 festivals around the world. The film has won three Leo Awards: Best Writer, Best Direction, and Best Picture. The film was sold to Amazon Studios.

In 2018, he was the Phil Lind Multicultural Artist in Residence at UBC Film School. In 2019, he was chosen for the NSI Totally Television program to develop a TV series based on his experience as a refugee.

Dehanza Rodgers

Dehanza Rogers is a filmmaker and Assistant Professor in Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University. Her films focus on the intersections of race, gender, and identity. Her most recent work, From Land to Land, a video installation, explores the precarious nature of being undocumented in America. Rogers is currently working on a short form narrative #BlackGirlhood which focuses on the criminalization of Black girlhood in America.

Rogers’ research has been supported by The President Council’s of Cornell Women, Cornell Humanities Council, and the Cornell Council for the Arts. She is currently a Society for the Humanities Fellow and a member of the CIVIC Media Studies Collaborative. She received her BA in Anthropology at California State University, Northridge in Anthropology with a focus on folklore and refugee youth culture. She pursued her graduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles’ School of Theatre, Film and Television, receiving an MFA in Film Directing and an MFA in Cinematography.

Tom Sladek

Tom Sladek is the head of digital and ancillary sales at Oscilloscope Pictures. Founded by the late Adam Yauch (MCA of Beastie Boys), over the last 13 years O-scope has released more than 150 films across all platforms - including projects from award-winning film makers like Andrea Arnold, Kelly Reichardt, Marshall Curry, and more. Tom has represented the company at Sundance, Tribeca, South By Southwest, and TIFF, and is a lot of fun at parties (pre-COVID) due to his degree in English and Communications from Fairfield!