Calling the Shots

Ava Berkofsky, ASC (they/them) is an awarding-winning cinematographer and filmmaker, lensing films, television, documentaries and commercials. Ava was born in Wales and raised between London, and the mountains and cities of California. Ava has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography three times (2019, 2020, 2022), as well as for an ASC Award for Achievement in Cinematography (2020) for HBO’s INSECURE. Additionally, Ava’s directing debut on the show was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography in 2020. Other awards include a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography for FREE IN DEED (2017). Berkofsky’s award-winning feature credits include A24’s SHARE, directed by Pippa Bianco, which won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award at Sundance (2019) and was nominated for the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. FREE IN DEED, directed by Jake Mahaffy won the Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival, among many other accolades. Ava’s most recent feature film is THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE, directed by Josephine Decker and produced by A24 & Apple. In addition to creating and executing looks for A24, HBO,  Amazon, Netflix and Hulu, Ava has also lensed a number of film based art projects. Exhibitions include the MOMA, Brooklyn Museum and the Armenian National Gallery.  Ava has a BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in NYC, and an MFA in cinematography from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, and currently lives in Los Angeles with their partner and two daughters. When not shooting, they can usually be found lying in the grass, cloud gazing with a magical five pound chihuahua named “Tiny”.

Selected as one of American Cinematographer’s Rising Stars of 2018, Carolina Costa has traveled the world lensing critically-acclaimed feature films, documentaries, shorts, and commercials. Carolina is currently the Director of Photography on Ryan Murphy’s newest series GROTESQUERIE; and she is also lensing the upcoming feature OLMO directed by Fernando Eimbcke. She was also the DP for FANCY DANCE starring KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Oscar-nominee Lily Gladstone and directed by Erica Tremblay. FANCY DANCE premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023 and can now be watched on Apple TV. A Sundance darling, Carolina has served as the Director of Photography for five films that have premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. Her films have also premiered at Cannes, Tribeca, SXSW and more. She has been nominated for numerous awards and won the SXSW 2023 ZEISS Cinematography Award for her work on FANCY DANCE, Tribeca’s 2023 Best Cinematography Award for her work on THE GRADUATES, the 2022 Women in Media + ZEISS Altitude Award, and was on Variety’s list of “10 Latinxs To Watch in 2020”. Carolina’s first feature as a Director of Photography, THE CHOSEN ONES with director David Pablos, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film won five Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences’ Ariel Awards, including Carolina’s win for Best Cinematography. Her work was additionally praised by The Hollywood Reporter as “a handsomely shot feature.” In 2020, Carolina and Pablos reunited on the Netflix film, DANCE OF THE 41, which earned Carolina her second Ariel Award nomination for Best Cinematography (Mejor Fotografía).

Cybel Martin ASC is an award winning Director of Photography for feature films, commercials and television programs. She just finished filming the second season of Netflix’s XO KITTY, shot in and around Seoul, South Korea. Her other Cinematography credits include BEACON 23 for MGM+, KINDRED for FX, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN for Amazon and AMERICAN HORROR STORIES for FX on Hulu. She also worked on feature films, “Queen of Glory” winner at the TriBeCa Film Festival and “Black as Night” a vampire film for Blumhouse that premiered on Amazon Prime. Her films have premiered at Sundance, TriBeCa, Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals. She’s shot commercials for Timberland Apparel, Reebok, Sony and L’Oreal. She’s included in Variety’s “10 Cinematographers to Watch 2020” and American Cinematographer Magazine’s “Rising Stars of Cinematography, 2020”. Cybel received her MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and was recently welcomed as a new member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).

Nasreen Alkhateeb is an award winning cinematographer whose work illuminates historically excluded voices by normalizing intersectional storytelling. By centering racial injustice, disability inequity, marginalized genders, stigmatized sexual identities, the first woman VP, and the largest telescope NASA has ever constructed, Nasreen thrives as a leader in films that shift our culture. Her ability to motivate audiences is a direct result of approaching each story through intersectional identities: multi-heritage, Black, MENA, Disabled, Muslim, LGBTQIA+, and 1st Generation. Her lens has captured Kamala Harris during her Vice Presidential campaign, the Emmy award series Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, Netflix’s Unknown Cosmic Time Machine, Vogue’s Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion, and Apple+ Dear… episode with Billy Porter. In addition to lensing scripted films centering gay and disabled lead characters, her credits include NASA, National Geographic, UN Women, GitHub, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the Women’s March. Forbes described her as “breaking barriers.”