Spotlight Short Film Awards

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Jay Goldenberg is an actor, director and teacher, and has coached actors on the sets of feature films, including: Say Anything; miniseries: Elvis and Me; sitcoms: Moonlighting; and daytime dramas: General Hospital. His private client roster has included Salma Hayek, Cybill Shepherd, Alicia Silverstone, Estelle Getty, Michael Chiklis, Charles Kimbrough, Beth Howland, Ione Skye, Mary Wilson, Eric Close, Allyce Beasley, and Nicollette Sheridan, to name a few. Jay holds an MFA from New York University School of the Arts.

Samy Chaffai, a 28-year-old Arab/Tunisian filmmaker from Bizerte, Tunisia, graduated from ISAMM in editing
and is pursuing a PhD in cinema and audiovisual science in ESAC.
He won Best Director awards in 2020(Jordan) and 2022 (Tunisia). Founder & producer at Teleported Production. 

 Donavan Richard, aka DonCartel, is a filmmaker fascinated by brutality in human relationships. Graduating in screenwriting from L'inis in 2015, he wrote two short films: Motel Paradise and Larry de la buanderie. Since then, he has founded his own digital content production company, "DonCartel inc.", where he puts his creativity to work on a variety of projects. Now equipped to tell stories, in 2023 he wrote, directed and produced his 1st independent short film, Le Chasseur, which was selected for 34 festivals around the world and won a few awards along the way. He is currently working on his 2nd short film, The Images Seller, which will have its world premiere at Fantasia in summer 2024, while preparing the production of his 3rd short film, Nightfall, which he will shoot in autumn 2024.

 Carlee was born and raised in Miami, FL, and moved up to Atlanta, The Hollywood of The South, to pursue her filmmaking career. She is an actress, director, and writer, and studied theatre & media/communications at Florida State University.
This is Carlee's third short film! She previously made Check Six, a short that made it into a couple of festivals, and Winter's Year, an experimental short film that made a lot of motion at many local Atlanta film festivals this past year. 

 Erika Totoro is a stop-motion filmmaker from Westchester, New York. This is the second stop-motion short film she has written, directed, and produced at SCAD, with the first being a collaborative 10-week project titled “Wash Cycle” which wrapped production in Spring 2023. Before coming to SCAD, Erika was crafting clay miniatures in her basement where she made her first stop-motion short titled “Lonely” at 15 years old. The idea for Le Charade was inspired by a live-action mockumentary short film, also about a mime struggling with his identity, which she wrote, directed, and produced as a film counselor in upstate New York. Outside of Le Charade, Erika shares a deep passion for the medium, co-founding SCAD’s stop-motion club in 2022. Currently home to 400 members, she hopes to have made an impact on the animation community at SCAD and help share the impressive achievements of the department and Professor Nathan Asquith. After SCAD she hopes to continue making films, creating original ideas and bringing them to life through stop-motion animation.

 Mira spent her childhood in Ethiopia and now calls Buffalo NY home. Before she even knew the alphabet she would tell stories to be written down and act out plays in the living room.
She started acting regionally and professionally at fourteen and wrote her first short film in a pocket notebook in line for a film festival and fell in love.
Mira has been producing and directing short films for four years. She is a third-year student at Ohio University's School of Film in the Honors Tutorial College.
As an actor, she has had the honor to work on stage and set with some of the most accomplished directors and actors in Western New York. As a filmmaker, she has directed several films that have won awards and grants at national and international festivals. 

Cate is an award winning filmmaker currently based in Sausalito, CA. She has worked several years in both live action and animation film production. She began writing, producing and directing short films in 2012 and continues to build her body of work as a director.

Aliyah Penelope Cruz and Isabella Moreno are the co-directors, amongst other roles, for the short film Scavengers. As first-time filmmakers and recent UCF Character Animation graduates, both Latin women put a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and joy into creating this film with their team. They enjoy the creative possibilities of animation and aim to continue pushing the boundaries to share inspiring stories in their professional careers.

Saniya Mirwani is a filmmaker and writer based between New York, Toronto and Mumbai. She is the Founder and Executive Producer of Sherni Studios, a media collective that is on a mission to amplify underrepresented female voices through content and social activism in India. She also worked as a Creative Producer at honto88, where she has produced content for brands like Netflix, Hulu, Women’s Philanthropy Institute, Commit2Change, and Conscious Kid.

Most recently, she wrote and directed Any Given Night, a short dark comedy about women's safety on college campuses, that premiered at Berlin Art International Film Festival.

Ian Wang is an emerging filmmaker from Taiwan. He graduated in the spring of 2024 from Asbury University with a BA in Media Communications: Film Production. Ian is a multitalented creative, using his eye for cinematography and mind for the edit to enhance his directing abilities. He loves telling stories that reflect a part of his own heartbeat, and Piece for Piece is no exception.

  Robert Short  is a husband & father  born in Indianapolis, raised in Columbus, GA but now rides for the "A"(Atlanta). He is a dancer, actor, rapper, songwriter and has now added director and editor to his list of titles. He was afforded the opportunity to be a director and editor when working on the webseries, “Blackwell”, in which he was the lead actor and he never looked back. He has directed and edited music videos, actor reels and short films, with feature films and television shows on his radar. He acknowledges that being an actor first definitely helps him when he has his director hat on and being an editor helps him when he has his actor hat on. Robert’s passion for all of his gifts continues to grow with each project he’s fortunate to be a part of. He continues to perfect his craft, crediting hard work and God for every opportunity he has to use his talents and skills.

Martin Perry Lutz is a multifaceted creative in the realms of directing and filmmaking, with a particularly strong presence in the commercial and advertisement sector. His dedication to film, however, signifies his true calling. Martin was born in Milan, Italy, to an Italian mother and an American father. At 18 years old, Martin moved to the US, where he has been living since 2006. Martin's work is characterized by a deep passion for storytelling, which he effectively channels through various mediums, capturing the essence of narrative through both traditional and innovative techniques. His accomplishments include directing and producing projects that not only captivate audiences but have also been recognized in festival circuits. Martin is currently in Los Angeles but works bicoastal and across the seas in Europe. 

While Danielle collaborated on numerous film projects for others, it wasn't until recently that she decided to step into the director's chair for her own creation. Drawing from her extensive archive of footage, she embarked on the ambitious project "Smile." Delving deep into her personal collection, Danielle meticulously curated moments of smiles and laughter, weaving them into a compelling narrative that explores the complexities of human emotion.

With "Smile," Danielle ventures into uncharted territory, blending her technical expertise with her innate artistic sensibilities to create a film that transcends boundaries and resonates with audiences on a profound level. As she continues to push the boundaries of filmmaking, Danielle remains dedicated to her vision of creating works that inspire, provoke, and above all, bring a smile to the faces of viewers worldwide.

Yves Levy is an author and a director who made three documentaries and about two hundred corporate films. He is now writing to prepare a great number of new projects.

As a photographer - he taught photography- he is particularly careful about image telling and operates most of his films himself.

After several screenwriting training sessions to fulfill his passion, he is keen on developing a world in which reality mingles with the unseen, letting emotion take the lead rather than worlds, within his films and projects.

Alyse Marie is a Georgia girl, born and raised, and a storyteller through and through. Her love of craft started with the theatre at the age of eleven, and has since grown to expand across mediums and genres. Hailing from the quarantined class of 2020, Alyse Marie is a graduate of the University of Southern California, and without God and the support of her parents and loved ones, none of this would be possible.

Leland Benford is an established director and editor with over ten years of experience in both narrative and commercial content. Through his years of experience, he has directed and edited several award-winning short films (The Novaks, Dear Sister, The Devil’s Room, Ice Pimp), a feature film (Empathy), and television episodes ( From Yard the Series, The Going Live Show Auditions). Leland leads by example as a communicative, collaborative, and focused director. Although his capabilities for direction and vision are vast, Leland passion lies in comedy. A little laugh, whether it be in commercial or narrative, breaks down barriers and makes messaging easier to digest.

David is a director, director of photography, and producer based in Charleston, SC. His background includes branded content, creative strategy, 360/VR, documentary, and narrative filmmaking.

He earned an MFA in Film & TV from Savannah College of Art and Design and a BA in Advertising from the University of South Carolina.

I am coming to writing and directing this project after 14 years of living the actor grind in NYC.

When you are solely in front of the camera you get a bit of a pass as a creative. As an actor you are only as good as the material, or you receive grace because the project was a commercial, the production was rushed or low-budget. But it's different here, where I am making my own content and wear the hats of writer / director / editor / actor and producer, it's my skin in the game. And I like that.

Yingdan Lai is an animation director, originally from China and now based in California, USA. Her expertise lies in making experimental narrative animated films, where she explores the intricacies of relationships and their stories. Central to her work is the portrayal of subtle emotions through unique and unexpected character performances. She recently graduated from CalArts MFA Experimental Animation Program.

Sergio Dapello (b. 1987, Lima, Perú) is an artist and animator currently residing in their hometown. Initially a college student of painting, they later embraced animation as a vibrant form of expression, creating colorful universes. As a co-founder of Tenis Studio, an animation studio with collaborations ranging from popular musicians to other media enterprises, Sergio's work can be found both within the studio's portfolio and independently. Notably, they have collaborated with Ironmouse and other renowned VTubers