Alexandra Byer
Alexandra Byer is a producer and co-founder of RATHAUS, a production company based in Brooklyn, NY. She most recently produced Tim Sutton’s fifth feature FUNNY FACE (Berlinale International Film Festival 2020) and Cedric Cheung-Lau’s debut feature THE MOUNTAINS ARE A DREAM THAT CALL TO ME (Sundance Film Festival 2020).
Byer was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards for Tom Quinn’s COLEWELL (Gravitas Ventures). She also produced Diana Peralta’s DE LO MIO (HBO), Matt Porterfield’s SOLLERS POINT (Oscilloscope Laboratories), and Tim Sutton’s DARK NIGHT (Sundance Film Festival 2016; Arbelos Films). DARK NIGHT won the Lanterna Magica Prize at the 2016 Venice Film Festival where the movie had its international premiere.
Byer also participated in the 2016 Cannes Producer’s Workshop as well as the 2015 Berlinale Talents lab. She co-produced Sutton's MEMPHIS, which was showcased at the 2013 Venice Film Festival with the support of the Biennale-College of Cinema and Gucci, distributed by Kino Lorber, and also screened at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Byer co-produced STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS (dir. Sam Fleischner), which won the Special Jury Mention at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and was also distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Byer has produced many short films and frequently works in production on commercials and music videos. She previously worked as a program coordinator at the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP). Byer graduated from the Film & Media Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
Carlos Valdes-Lora
Carlos Valdes-Lora is a cinematographer based in Atlanta, Georgia. His most recent feature film SISTER AIMEE (2019) world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and screened as an official selection at SXSW. Carlos believes story comes first. He nurtures deep collaborations with filmmakers, often working with the same directors over and over again. He is as inspired by film history as he is by emerging technologies and techniques.
A Miami native, Carlos studied film at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2010. He then moved to New York City, where he developed skills as a lighting technician, camera assistant, and camera operator before taking on cinematography roles. Carlos has spent the last several years shooting narratives, documentaries, television, and branded content all over the country for clients that include A&E Networks, National Geographic, NowThis, TruTV, Conde Nast, and Google.
Jason Hoffmann
Jay Hoffmann studied History and Film at Johns Hopkins before receiving an M.A. in Cinema Studies from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. After collaborating and working on the sound design for several short films — and a short stint on the feature film I Used to Be Darker — Jay followed a new career path as a web developer. He has worked as a marketer and developer for NYU Wagner, Sesame Street, and Penguin Random House and is now lead developer at the web design agency Reaktiv Studios.
Matt Kaiser
Matthew Kaiser is a writer, illustrator, web designer and filmmaker from Long Island, NY who has returned to NYC by way of North Carolina. While his undergraduate experiences tend to the study of romanticism, contemporary American fiction and Journalism, he considers his education to have originally stemmed from a borderline-unhealthy childhood fascination with horror, grindhouse and fantasy.
As his tastes matured, he obsessed with broadening his experience with film and media, finding there a consistent escape from the apathy of mundane, day-to-day existence. The restlessness of his writing style is mirrored in the broad scope of interests he indulges in, as well as his general approach to the world.
Diana Peralta
Diana Peralta is an experimental filmmaker, film programmer, and digital strategist. In 2019, she was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Her work as producer on the short documentary LA FERIA CONCRETA was screened as part of the Dominican Republic's first pavilion installation at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. Her first feature entitled DE LO MIO premiered as the closing night film at BAMcinemaFest in 2019 and can now be streamed on HBO Max.
She graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2011 with a B.A. in Film & Media Studies and currently works as a digital strategist and creative content producer where she specializes in developing and producing web content with a focus on developing brand identity for startups.
Joshua Gleason
Joshua Gleason is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker whose work tackles alienation, anti-individualism, and American capitalist culture through the lenses of gesture, repetition, and time. His graduate thesis film for CalArts, A PLACE OF OUR OWN, premiered at the Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2014 and he was named Best Emerging Writer at the Oaxaca Film Festival in 2017. Josh was also a recipient of the inaugural Flies Collective Film Grant for his forthcoming debut feature WHERE THE BOYS ARE.
Aside from his directing work, Josh has worked in film production for over a decade on films like Andrew Ahn’s SPA NIGHT, Matt Porterfield’s I USED TO BE DARKER, and Amazon Studio’s docu-series LORENA. Most recently, he served as creative consultant and associate producer on Diana Peralta’s debut feature DE LO MIO.
Josh now teaches film history and production at CSU Channel Islands. He received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and holds his M.F.A. in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).
Clare Richardson
Clare Richardson is the Senior Scout for Film and TV at Maria B Campbell Associates, where she oversees all book-to-film/TV scouting for Netflix. Previously she was a development executive, and has experience in both features as well as TV. She worked in development at Big Beach (THE FAREWELL, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE), Oscar winner Tom McCarthy’s production company Slow Pony Pictures, and BBC America, where she was a part of the team that developed Phoebe Waller-Bridge's KILLING EVE. Originally from Los Angeles, Clare holds a Master's Degree in Film Studies from Columbia University, and received her undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Eric Cho
Eric Cho exists only in short doses. The originator of The Spirit Farm namesake, he is a shrouded clown, a methodical machine, and a musician at heart.
