Speaker Selection
Monday, April 14 @ 3:30 p.m.
Granoff Martinos Auditorium
Asia Kate Dillon is a performer, writer, producer, and director residing on occupied Lenape territory, also known as NYC. Cast in the role of Taylor, a non-binary gender identifying character in Showtime’s Billions, Dillon was the first non-binary gender identifying actor to ever be cast in a major television series, for which they were nominated for a Critics Choice Award in the supporting actor category in 2017 and 2018. Dillon will next be seen in the feature film Outerlands, which they star in and also produced through MIRROR/FIRE productions (co-founded by Dillon in 2016).
Outerlands will premiere at SXSW. Dillon is also known for their other television roles in Orange Is the New Black, The Simpsons, Master of None, Younger, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, gen:LOCK, and the feature films The Outside Story and John Wick 3: Parabellum.
Monday, April 14 @ 3:30 p.m.
Granoff Martinos Auditorium
Elena Oxman is a writer/director with a background in both documentary and narrative films. A two-time recipient of the SFFILM FilmHouse Residency, she wrote and directed the narrative short film LIT (2014), starring D-Lo, which premiered at the Palm Springs International Shortfest and went on to play at Frameline, Outfest, and other festivals in the USA and abroad before being picked up by the VOD distributor FilmDoo. A graduate of Yale University, Elena co-founded the documentary production company American Beat, whose films have been broadcast on public television and screened at festivals around the globe. Elena earned a PhD in English from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and has taught film studies and filmmaking at the College of San Mateo, Stanford University, Harvey Milk Center for the Arts, the University of North Carolina, and Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies. OUTERLANDS is her first feature film.
Tuesday, April 15 @ 5:00 p.m.
Granoff Martinos Auditorium
Kirsten Johnson is committed to explorations of cinematic form. Her next project is a hybrid feature film with Kristen Stewart based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Susan Sontag. Her previous film, "Dick Johnson is Dead" premiered at Sundance 2020, where it won the Jury Prize for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling. Listed by The New Yorker as one of the films that "Shaped the Art of Documentary Filmmaking", the movie won the Primetime Emmy for Directing, made the Oscar shortlist and is currently showing on Netflix. Her previous film, "Cameraperson", has been included on several Best Films of the 21st Century lists and was also shortlisted for the Academy Award. Her camerawork appears in Academy Award winner "Citizen Four", Academy nominated "The Invisible War", and Cannes Winner "Fahrenheit 9/11".
She is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (only 5% of members are female). She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Shorenstein Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School. She lectures around the globe, most recently at film festivals in Morocco, the Czech Republic, and Denmark, as well as giving the International Documentary Association keynote in 2024 and serving as President of the Cannes "L'Oeil D'or" jury in 2023.
Tuesday, April 15 @ 12:00 p.m.
Kassar House Foxboro Auditorium
Raphael Bob-Waksberg is the creator of BoJack Horseman. He co-created Undone with Kate Purdy and served as executive producer on Lisa Hanawalt's Tuca & Bertie. His book of short stories Someone Who Will Love You In All Your Damaged Glory can be found wherever books tend to congregate. His new show Long Story Short will be debuting on Netflix this summer.
Wednesday, April 16 @ 4:30 p.m.
Olivia Wong, a 2003 from the class of 2003 with a double concentration in Psychology and Modern Culture and Media, is a strategic communications leader with over two decades of experience working in corporate capacities in the non-profit and public media space. She most recently served as the Vice President, Marketing and Communications at American Public Television (APT), the leading syndicator of content to public television stations, responsible for brand, programming content marketing and communications strategies for distribution, national lifestyle channel Create TV, and new initiatives. Prior to joining APT, she worked in content and institutional promotion at public media flagship stations GBH Boston and WETA Washington, D.C. working on strategic brand and communications efforts for local television and radio, and numerous PBS national series including Masterpiece, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Asian Americans, NOVA, and American Experience. Olivia also launched social media initiatives for the Masterpiece brand and hallmark programs including Downton Abbey and Sherlock. She is the co-recipient of a 2012 PR News Digital PR Award for Downton Abbey's Digital PR Campaign, and has been featured on panels at PromaxBDA and SXSW Interactive.
Wednesday, April 16 @ 4:30 p.m.
Sophie Morganstern '22 is the in-house producer at the Hartford Film Company, where she has produced dozens of mini-docs, branded films, and commercials. She graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Modern Culture and Media, and was an Events coordinator for Ivy Film Festival.
Thursday, April 17 @ 3:00 p.m.
Friedman Hall Room 202
Hyungjin Lee is an animator and storyteller from Seoul, now based in New York City. Inspired by her memories and family history, she creates animations characterized by hand-crafted textures and warmth. She is drawn to stories about belonging, connection, and the nuances of love.
Her autobiographical animation I Miss You [보고싶어요] was recognized worldwide at festivals such as the Asian American International Film Festival, Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival, and UNICA Korea International Film Festival. Recurring Dreams, an experimental animation, won the Original Design Award at Animation Block Party. Her most recent work, 빛 [Inheritance], won Best Experimental Animation at Korea International Short Film Festival.
Wednesday, April 16 @ 4:30 p.m.
Naomy Pedroza is a Mexican-American visual artist and creative producer. Currently, she works in the photo departments of both Billboard and the Hollywood Reporter. She graduated from Brown University with a dual degree in Political Science and French Studies
Friday, April 18 @ 2:30 p.m.
Friedman Hall Room 102
Yaya DaCosta was born and raised in New York City along with her sister and two brothers. She got her first acting gig at the age of eleven when her junior high school drama teacher, Ann Willis Ratray, encouraged her to audition for educational films. She continued to perform in school shows throughout high school and college and, in 2005, she was the runner-up in Cycle 3 of America's Next Top Model. In 2008, she made her off-Broadway debut in The First Breeze of Summer at The Signature Theater, for which she garnered rave reviews and won the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Award for Excellence in Black Theater. She has portrayed a range of characters, from Danny Glover's frail teenage daughter in John Sayles' Honeydripper, to Mark Ruffalo's voluptuous lover in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right. She has been tagged one of Hollywood's new "it girls" by many, including Lynn Hirschberg who featured her on the cover of W Magazine in September, 2010.
Thursday, April 17 @ 7:00 p.m.
Granoff Martinos Auditorium
Michael Townsend is known as “that guy that lived in a mall” and “that guy who invented Tape Art.” He has made over 500 temporary tape art murals on buildings all over the world, has taught collaborative drawing to over 60,000 students, and still sneaks in the time to make large secret artworks that no-one will ever see.
In 2003, eight Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment inside a busy mall and lived there for four years, filming everything along the way. Far more than a prank, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for all involved.
Saturday, April 19 @ 7:00 p.m.
Granoff Martinos Auditorium
Sean Baker is an American filmmaker. He is a director, writer, editor, and producer of independent feature films which are most often about the lives of marginalized people, especially immigrants and sex workers. He made his directorial film debut with Four Letter Words (2000) and co-created the television character Greg the Bunny. Baker has since directed seven feature films: Take Out (2004), Prince of Broadway (2008), Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017), Red Rocket (2021), and Anora (2024).
Saturday, April 19 @ 3:00 p.m.
Granoff Martinos Auditorium
Justin Kuritzkes is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Kuritzkes most recently wrote CHALLENGERS, directed by Luca Guadagnino, produced by Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor, and starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist. The film was released by Amazon MGM in 2024. Justin also wrote QUEER, adapted from the William S. Burroughs novel of the same name, which marks his second collaboration with director Guadagnino. The film, starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey, played at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, and was released by A24, also in 2024. Productions of Justin’s plays have been staged by The New Group, JACK, and Actors Theatre of Louisville, and he has been awarded residencies from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Edward F. Albee Foundation. His debut novel, FAMOUS PEOPLE, was published by Henry Holt in 2019.