Creating Your Own Work

Isidora Marras is a Chilean director and screenwriter. Her first feature I Am Not Lorena premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and traveled the festival circuit all over the world.  In 2014, she was one of twenty directors chosen for the first-ever Global Directors Initiative at FOX.  In addition to her writing & directing career, Isidora has worked in domestic and international productions as a film-TV editor and assistant director. Currently, she is coursing a MA Screenwriting in London and writing projects for Film and TV.

Marta Cunningham Nominated for two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, Marta Cunningham is an accomplished actor turned first time filmmaker. A native of Northern California, she was so moved by the story of Lawrence King’s murder that she became embedded in Oxnard and soon began filming those whose lives were touched by the tragedy. The result was Valentine Road, a feature length documentary that was selected to compete in the U.S. Documentary Competition in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and later premiered on HBO in October of 2013. Valentine Road has traveled to more than two hundred festivals, accruing thirteen awards. It is currently available on HBO GO.

Susan Youssef is the writer/director of two dramatic features, a documentary, and seven shorts that have been official selections of film festivals such as Venice, Toronto International, and Sundance, as well as have been programmed in museums including Tate Modern, New Museum, and Museum of Modern Art – New York. Her work has won international recognition including the FIPRESCI Prize and NETPAC Award. She is a Fulbright Fellow, Princess Grace Award Winner, Yale University Poynter Fellow in Media and Journalism, and 21st Century Fox Director Fellow. Susan has been a Guest Speaker at Harvard, Princeton, and many other institutions around the world. Prior to filmmaking, she was a schoolteacher and journalist in Beirut. She will be a Visiting Professor in Film Studies at Wesleyan University in the Fall and is in development for her third feature.

Vanessa Parise Named one of “Ten Female Directors Breaking Stereotypes” by SheKnows, Vanessa Parise draws from her ethnically-mixed background to bring a unique perspective to her work. Most recently, Parise was the Co-Executive Producer/Director on the CBS hit series Charmed, Firefly Lane (Katherine Heigl), Chicago Med, Marvel’s Runaways, Fox’s The Resident, and Tim Kring’s Beyond, receiving a Leo Nomination for Best Direction (2018). Parise directed the high-profile Simone Biles biopic, for which she was Nominated for Best Television Movie and Best Lead Actress by the NAACP Awards (2019) and Won a Leo Award for Best Direction (2019). She also directed the highly successful, award-winning film Perfect High (Bella Thorne). Parise turned down Harvard Medical School to jump into Hollywood as writer/director/producer/star of the MGM feature Kiss the Bride (with Alyssa Milano). Parise followed this as writer/director/producer/star of the indie feature Jack and Jill vs the World (Taryn Manning). Parise’s work has likewise won top awards at the Hamptons Film Festival (Best Feature), SXSW, Cinequest (Best Feature), Montecarlo (Best Feature, Actress, Score), Rome, Torino, New England, Rhode Island, Sarasota, and Newport. Parise is a graduate of Harvard College (Magna Cum Laude — Neurobiology), Circle in the Square Theater School, Second City Improv Conservatory, and Global Cinematography Institute. She’s a dual citizen of the US and Canada.  

Meera Menon’s Feature directorial debut, Farah Goes Bang, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was awarded the inaugural Nora Ephron Prize by Tribeca/Vogue. The film also won the best narrative feature at CAAMFest, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, and the Austin Asian American Film Festival. Menon was also showcased in Glamour magazine’s “35 women under 35 running Hollywood,” and she was selected as a fellow at 20th Century Fox’s Global Directors Initiative. Her second feature, Broad Street Pictures female driven Wall Street drama Equity, starring Anna Gunn and James Purefoy, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. She received her BA in English and Art History from Columbia University, and her MFA from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.