Staff

Clint Bowie (he/him/his) is the Artistic Director of the New Orleans Film Society, where he manages the curation of the organization’s year-round programming. He has served on review committees for ITVS, Creative Capital, NEA, FilmNorth, and Latino Public Broadcasting, and has spoken on panels organized by Sundance Institute, Firelight Media, Center for Asian American Media, Palm Springs International ShortFest, ArtHouse Convergence, and others. He has served on the board of directors for the Film Festival Alliance and Advisory Board for the Overlook Film Festival. He previously worked as a print journalist at publications across the country. 

Zuri Obi is a Haitian-American artist raised with deep cultural roots in magical realism. As a Camerawomxn, she has collaborated with artists such as Solange and Lizzo, and as Creative Producer, her projects have screened at notable film festivals, including Sundance and won top awards at New Orleans Film Festival, AFI and BlackStar. Zuri also works as a Film Curator at New Orleans Film Society, where she champions community-centered cinematic experiences.

Tishon Pugh is a Georgia-born, South Carolina–raised screenwriter, filmmaker, and film programmer. She prefers to explore the themes of comically awkward youth, Southern heritage, queerness, and the unusual in her works. To complement her love of film, Tishon is acquiring a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of South Carolina with a specification in Cultural and Visual Anthropology. Hoping to combine the two, Tishon’s ultimate goal in life is not only to create great stories but help preserve them for the upcoming generations to experience. Tishon has taken up many opportunities to get involved with the film industry over the last few years and has been a cohort in two inaugural programming fellowships with the Athena Film Festival and the Outfest Fusion Film Festival. Outside of any creative endeavors, Tishon enjoys bar trivia, thrifting and occasional rewatches of her favorite tv show, New Girl. As an artist, Tishon’s mission is to make film more accessible to rural areas in the South, expose low-income children to the world of cinema, and play an active role in archiving the Black Southern experience.

Lynn Sylvan was raised in Northwest Florida and lived there until she moved to the New Orleans area in 2019. Lynn is also the Tech Manager for the New Orleans Film Society as well as a writer and filmmaker. She is currently working on her first novel.

Trent Farrington, an Atlanta-based arts organizer hailing from the US Virgin Islands, Farrington has worked in various roles now for 4+ years with service and curated programs all over the US. Farrington has been known for being dedicated to changing the conversations on Black and Queer voices in Independent Cinema. His advocacy efforts include destigmatizing AIDS/HIV, for which he was honored with the 2021 Project Innovator award from THRIVE SS. Notably, Farrington played a critical role in the 2023 Groundwork Regional Lab review committee with Firelight Media, selecting eight documentary filmmakers to receive $45,000 each for completing nonfiction stories from the US territories. Farrington’s impact extends beyond his roles in curating. He is one of the youngest members of the Georgia Film Critics Association and co-owner of a Prophouse/Art Studio in Woodstock, Georgia Proplifter. His preferred name is just Farrington, in honor of his heritage from the Antilles.

Kate Mason is a writer, performer, and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her artistic career blossomed in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she studied improv, sketch, acting, and drag performance. In addition to programming for the New Orleans Film Festival, she is a programming and events associate at Film Independent, where she produces film screenings, live reads, and panels. Her favorite movies are Three Women, Safe, Drop Dead Gorgeous, and Mommie Dearest.

Rashada Fortier is a New Orleans based producer and programmer. Her aim is to support work that focuses on narratives centered around women protagonists, particularly women of color. Rashada holds a B.A. in Communications specializing in film and television from Seton Hall University, and a MFA in film from the University of New Orleans. Rashada currently works as an assistant production coordinator in the film industry. She also serves as a narrative shorts programmer for both the New Orleans and Atlanta Film Festivals.

Zain Hashmat is a filmworker and filmmaker based in New Orleans, LA. He has spent the past 3 years working in different positions for the New Orleans Film Society as well as on various sets around the city as a Production Assistant. As a programmer and storyteller, he is deeply interested in contemporary Southern stories told through a tender, comedic lens that heightens the everyday. His personal work explores modern struggles seen through a nostalgic viewpoint rooted in film history, the machinations of the cinema, and Southern culture. Much like his favorite films, he’s short and sweet.

Amber Love is a festival programmer and filmmaker based in Chicago, IL whose work is deeply invested in community and the interpersonal relationships that support us. Her own films have explored Afrofuturism, alternative families, and Black heritage, and have been supported by PBS, IF/Then, Kartemquin Films, Short of the Week, and NeXt Doc, as well as screened at festivals including Doc 10 and the Camden International Film Festival. She was a 2022 Kartemquin DVID Fellow, a 2020 Sundance Art of Editing Fellow, and an inaugural recipient of the HBO and The Gotham Documentary Development fund in 2023. As a programmer, she has worked with the New Orleans Film Festival since 2016.

Ryan Craver is a filmmaker who draws from the deep well of his Southern upbringing and the irreverent, experimental legacy of queer cinema to inspire new notions of the American family. Ryan was a 2023 MacDowell Fellow, and his work has received support from the Sloan Foundation, the Davey Foundation, SFFILM, and the Tribeca Film Institute. He is currently developing a television series based on his first short film, Truck Slut.

Stephanie Tell is a film curator, researcher, and festival worker. She programs in the Narrative Features (lead) and Narrative Shorts areas of the New Orleans Film Festival, as well as the Narrative Features category at the Atlanta Film Festival. Stephanie is currently completing a PhD dissertation through the University of Melbourne, Australia, focusing on cultures of horror and masquerade on film. Her research interests broadly span liminal and ritual studies, genre cinema, and the possibilities of the cinematic carnivalesque. In another life, Stephanie lived on a warm, dry rock as a contented land iguana.

Amada Torruella is a Salvadoran artist, filmmaker, and film programmer raised in El Salvador and Canada, and based between El Salvador and California. Amada is passionate about exploring memory, grief, Central American landscapes and the relationship between people and home. Amada’s work has been featured in The New Yorker, BlackStar Film Festival, Philadelphia Latino Film Fest, amongst others. Since 2014, Amada has worked as a film programmer and has programmed for Indie Grits, New Orleans Film Festival, SFFILM Film Festival, Wildscreen Festival and Alharaca El Salvador (Feminist Newsroom).

Dani Leal is photographer, film programmer, and projectionist born and raised in Miami, Florida but based in New Orleans, Louisiana where she has lived for 11 years. Her personal work explores intergenerational narratives, and different manifestations of Love. Her photographs have been exhibited throughout Louisiana since 2018. She is currently a collective member of The Front, an artist-run space in Bywater, New Orleans, where she curates her own work, and those of others, throughout the year. In 2021, after having worked in New Orleans film production for several years in various capacities, Dani began working around the country for film festivals as a projectionist, which subsequently inspired her interest in film programming. Primarily working with Documentary Features, she programs for New Orleans Film Festival and Assistant Programs for Tribeca Film Festival. Her programming interests gravitate towards slower cinema and unconventional story telling.

Bo McGuire was born the queer son of a Waffle House cook and his third-shift waitress in Hokes Bluff, Alabama. The first movie he truly fell for was the music video for Reba McEntire’s “Fancy.” He was a Ryan Murphy + Half Initiative Mentee and one of FilmmakerMagazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” His feature debut, SOCKS ON FIRE, won the jury prize for best documentary feature at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. He belongs to the first church of Dolly Parton.

A December 2022 graduate from the University of Houston with a double major in Media Production and English Literature. Autumn possesses a strong passion for creative direction, narrative storytelling and empowering the creatives around her. She currently works at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston as a Communications Coordinator and at Houston Cinema Arts Society as a Marketing and Administrative Associate and is continually building her independent studies in Black film and the film industry.

Han-’Naeh Belser (she/her/hers) is an African American artist, screenwriter, film programmer, and producer born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama. Her Southern roots have inspired fantastical and romantic narratives that center Black women who often go unnoticed in modern mainstream narratives.

Jillian Desirée Oliveras is a Boricua artist, storyteller, and administrator. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Photography and minors in Social Work and Graphic Design, Jillian firmly believes in the power of art as an agent of change, and their professional experience has centered on trying to highlight the many ways art and community intersect. They received a Master’s Degree in Arts Administration at the University of New Orleans, with a thesis exploring performing arts organizations in the aftermath of disaster. Jillian is a board member for The NOLA Project, and has screened films for the New Orleans Film Festival, the Atlanta Film Festival, and Sundance Institute’s Documentary Fund.

Lizzie has ten years of experience producing narrative films, documentaries, shorts, and commercials as co-owner of indie production company Worklight Pictures. Films she’s produced have premiered at Sundance, Tribeca, and of course her hometown New Orleans Film Festival. She was a fellow in the inaugural Southern Producer’s Lab and a past recipient of the #CreateLouisiana French Culture Film Grant. Born and raised in South Louisiana, Lizzie values films deeply rooted in the American south and queer films that make her feel the unexpected. When she’s not watching movies, she’s blabbing about them on her queer film podcast Subtextual, learning to bind books, or daydreaming about next year’s Mardi Gras costume.