The American Corner highlights the best directors of the American produced movies programmed during the Festival du Film Merveilleux & Imaginaire. Directors are selected for the French & American quarter’s program for their outstanding visual and storytelling skills and hold the potential of tomorrow’s filmmaking.

HELEN ALEXIS YONOV

MEET HELEN ALEXIS YONOV.

Helen Alexis Yonov is a Latvian-American filmmaker. Although born and raised in Newport, Rhode Island, Alexis also grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Moscow, USSR/Russia. Her experiences living and traveling overseas created an appreciation for different cultures and foreign cinema, which influences her as a filmmaker. After moving to Los Angeles in 2002, Alexis began her career working as a Set Production Assistant on such feature films as Seabiscuit, Anchorman, War of the Worlds, and Elizabethtown.

Inspired by her overseas upbringing, Alexis moved to Paris, France in 2011 in order to return to her European roots. During her time in France, she attained her Latvian citizenship, which allows her to work within the European Union (E.U.)

After returning to Los Angeles in 2018, Alexis wrote and directed the short film “The Gesture and the Word” and the #metoo PSA – “We Stand Together.”

“The Gesture and The Word” is a heart-warming romance that has screened worldwide, including the Oscar-qualifying L.A. Shorts International Film Festival (2020,) HollyShorts (2020,) and Cleveland International Film Festival (2021.) The film has won 50+ awards, including several Best Director, Best Female Director, and Best Short Film awards.

“We Stand Together” is a #metoo PSA that blends fashion and beauty with the idea that we are more than what meets the eye and that our greatest strength is found in unity. It has screened worldwide and won a 2021 silver Telly Award, among others.

KEVIN MCTURK

MEET KEVIN MCTURK

A professional creature effects artist, cinematographer, model maker, and puppeteer, Kevin McTurk has been working in the effects industry for over 20 years. A graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production, Kevin moved to Los Angeles in 1992 and began his career in special make-up effects at Stan Winston Studios, working on Batman Returns, Interview with a Vampire, and the Jurassic Park films. He has worked for many effects companies over the years, including the Jim Henson Creature Shop, Amalgamated Dynamics, and Spectral Motion. Kevin also worked at New Deal Studios, where he was involved on the miniature effects shots for the Martin Scorcese films The Aviator, Shutter Island, and Hugo.

In 2004, Kevin was contacted by Weta Workshop in New Zealand and moved to Wellington to work on the films King Kong,The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and the gory comedy Black Sheep (in which he also played the Weresheep creature).

In 2011, Kevin received a Project Grant from The Jim Henson Foundation to make his first puppet short film “The Narrative of Victor Karloch.” The film played in over twenty international festivals, and won the 2012 Best Animated Film Award at the DragonCon Film Festival. His follow-up film, “The Mill at Calder’s End” was the result of a highly successful Kickstarter campaign and played in film festivals around the world. This film has won several awards including the Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short at Seattle International Film Festival, the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Short Film.

MELISSA MARS

MEET MELISSA MARS

Melissa Mars is an international actress and singer-songwriter. She received major notices in the United States and around the globe after appearing alongside John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in From Paris With Love, produced by Luc Besson (Nikita), having her song Beautiful be included in Coca-Cola’s 52 Songs of Happiness worldwide campaign, and her award-winning performance in the horror comedy The Cabining.

She is well-known in France for her pop music career, 3 albums released with Universal Music, and featurings among which 1980 reached number 5 in the charts and for her leading role in the successful musical Mozart the Rock Opera, a smash hit with more than 1,500,000 tickets sold.

MORGAN DAMERON

MEET MORGAN DAMERON

Morgan Dameron is a writer and director from Kansas City, Missouri. Her feature film, DIFFERENT FLOWERS, starring and produced by Emmy-Award-winner Shelley Long, won “BEST FEATURE” at the KC Film Festival, and received rave reviews during its national theatrical release with AMC Theatres.

Dameron’s screenplay MONKEY GIRL placed on the 2019 Bitch List, the film industry’s favorite scripts that pass the Bechdel Test, and was selected as a second rounder for the 2019 Austin Film Festival. Her pilot script UPBEAT! also advanced to the second round for the 2019 Austin Film Festival. Dameron participated in Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative, Paul Feig’s FUSE mentorship, and has been supported by prestigious programs such as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and The Caucus for Producers.

Dameron directs engaging, colorful, and dynamic branded content for clients including Nickelodeon, MTV, Fox’s Empire, RevryTV, and Canadamark Diamonds.

Recently, Kansas City Women in Film and Television awarded her with the “Spirit of Kansas City” award, and Duke University’s Talent Identification Program honored her with their Early Achievement Award.

She graduated summa cum laude from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a degree in Film and Television Production and a minor in English. She lives in Los Angeles and is represented by Lit Entertainment.

CARLOS ANDRE STEVENS

MEET CARLOS STEVENS

Carlos Stevens is a former Student Academy Awards nominee for his animated short film “Toumai.” This achievement kick-started Carlos’ career working on a variety of Cannes Gold Lion award-winning commercial campaigns, notably for Sprint and Sony. Additionally, he has directed and designed campaigns for X-Box, Netflix, Marvel, EA, Lexus, SyFy, UFC, Target and many others.

His short film titled “The Alchemist’s Letter” received critical acclaim and festival recognition worldwide. Carlos previously held directorships at Laika Animation Studios, design powerhouse Elastic, and animation studios Logan and Superfad. He recently directed an episode for season 3 of the acclaimed series Love Death + Robots on Netflix. He also has films in development at Warner Animation Group and is currently EP/showrunner on an animated series at Nickelodeon/Paramount.

CAMEO WOOD

MEET CAMEO WOOD – Director, Writer, Producer

Cameo Wood is an EMMY® winning filmmaker based in San Francisco, California. Her most recent film Real Artists is available on iTunes/Kanopy/Amazon right now. She is currently working on her first feature. In 2018 she was a co-winner at the AT&T Film Awards for ‘Best Emerging Artist’ awarded by Ava DuVernay. Real Artists has won 35 awards including a regional EMMY®, has been nominated for dozens more, and continues to enjoy screenings at over 200 film festivals, museums, and television stations throughout the world. Her work has been on PBS, Aspire, and was featured in the Wing Luke Museum’s exhibit “Worlds Beyond Here: The Expanding Universe of Asian Pacific American Science Fiction.

She produced and co-directed episodes of The Alternative Guide to Secret Beijing which was featured on Atlas Obscura. Her first film, Dukha in Summer, premiered at the St. Louis Film International Film Festival and was nominated for best short at five others. Cameo is a member of Cinefemme, Women in Film, Alliance of Women Directors, Film Independent, WomenNMedia, and the co-founder of the SF chapter of Dinner with Dames. She co-founded the Coven Film Festival, a showcase of films made by women. She is a regular speaker at the Camp Reel Stories’ Girls Day Workshop. Cameo has participated in the inaugural Sundance Co//ab Screenwriting, Episodic, and Fiction Directing programs.

Cameo has studied Medical Neuroscience at Duke University, Futurism at Stanford University, Witchcraft & Magic at Bennington College, Aerospace Engineering at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, Egyptology at University of Pennsylvania. She is currently studying Dramatic Arts at Harvard University. From 1995-2008 She was an engineer at GTE Labs, Sprint, Lucent, and Cisco. In 2008 She founded Her Majesty’s Secret Beekeeper; the first urban beekeeping store in America, and currently serves on the board of the beekeeping non-profit SF Bee-Cause.

FREDERICO HELLER

MEET FEDERICO HELLER

Federico Heller was born in 1983, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His interest in visual arts began at the age of seven when he started studying clay sculpture. At the age of fourteen he started filming and editing with his own equipment and a few years later he got a few jobs as editor. He joined film school already having a solid knowledge in montage and storytelling and continued to train in visual effects, animation and digital art. After working in studios and a year of freelancing, in 2003 Federico decided to join forces with his brother and co-founded 3DAR. There and for, the following years he worked as director, producer and visual effects supervisor to hundreds of different projects for TV, advertising and film. His interest in storytelling and character development led him to write original stories for TV series and in 2015 he wrote and directed his first short film Uncanny Valley

DAVID VICTORI

MEET DAVID VICTORI

World Winner of the YouTube’s Film Festival. Selected by Variety and ScreenDaily as one of the directors to watch in the coming years. Represented by CAA. Writer of the Spanish Films “Second Origin” (2015) and ” Son of Cain” (2013). Director and Writer of award-winning short films worldwide, including “Reaction” (2008) “The Guilt” (2010) and “Zero” (2015) produced by Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender. Director of a PrimeTime TVShow “Flatline” (2017).

RAPHAEL ROGERS

MEET RAPHAEL ROGERS

You’ll often find HIM on the side of a cliff or deep in a book.

He has an insatiable love for reading, adventuring and imagining fantastical worlds. This crystallized over the years as he became a writer and creator always looking to better self. Her wife Kristin Rogers is a dynamic force and amazing filmmaker in her own right that he is lucky enough to team up with. He direct, write, shoot, edit, create visual effects and lately… develop crypto video games.

RON ALVARO

MICHELLE KWON

MEET MICHELLE KWON

Illustrator/animator/comic book artist who totes many different hats. Her skillsets include Illustration, Comics, Character Design, Environment Design, 3D Modeling, Rigging, Animating and Storyboarding. She has worked for various animation/advertising studios including Cartoon Network, The Mill, JibJab, Elastic, and Universal Creative. She is passionate about character-driven stories.

MICHAEL BIDINGER

MEET MICHAEL BIDINGER

Currently working at Pixar Animation Studios. Graduate of Ringling College of Art & Design, BFA: Computer Animation
2014 Film: “Jinxy Jenkins, Lucky Lou”. Michael Bidinger is known for Jinxy Jenkins, Lucky Lou (2014), Les Indestructibles 2 (2018) and Coco (2017).

PIERRE ZAH

YOURI DEKKER

MEET YOURI DEKKER

Youri Dekker is known for The Blue & the Beyond (2015), Les Incognitos (2019) and Les Indestructibles 2 (2018).

ORIANNA OPPICE

MEET ORIANNA OPPICE

Born in Sicily and raised in Chicago, Oriana is an award-winning independent film and commercial director, writer, producer, and actor based in Chicago. Her experience as an immigrant has influenced her work as she focuses on outsider characters and circumstances. She tells the stories of big things happening to little people, both in comedy and drama. She is committed to elevating the visibility of women in front of and behind the camera, and is the Director of Programming & Communications for Women in Film Chicago

GUY ROGERT DUVERT

MEET GUY ROGER DUVERT

Guy-Roger Duvert is a French composer, director and author of film music.

He was born and raised in Paris. After his studies at Sciences Po Strasbourg, from which he graduated in 1996, and then at ESSEC Business School, he began a career as a film composer. The first soundtrack he composed was for the film Les Yeux Secs by Narjiss Nejjar, which was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival, at the Directors’ Fortnight.

He is also a film director4. He is best known for his 2016 sci-fi feature film Virtual Revolution, starring Mike Dopud, Jane Badler, Jochen Hägele and Maximilien Poullein.

He made his debut as a novelist in 2019, publishing the book Outsphere, which won the Plumes Francophones award from Amazon France.

AYOUB QANIR

MEET AYOUB QANIR

Ayoub Qanir is an American film writer and director best known for his experimental film series Human After All featuring French music duo Daft Punk. His most recent film, Artificio Conceal, a psychological thriller starring David Bailie and Simon Armstrong, which he wrote and directed, has received numerous nominations at international film festivals, including at Cannes Film Festival. His debut feature, Le Monde Don’t on Reve N’existe Pas premiered at the 22nd edition of the International Film Festival in Kerala, India, where it was nominated to the Golden Crow Pheasant for Best Film.

STEPHAN ZLOTESCU

MEET STEPHAN ZLOTESCU

Stephan Zlotescu is known for AI Love You (2022), Zoners and Product Wars (2018).

BENMIO MCCREA

AARON SIMS

MEET AARON SIMS

Founder and CEO, Aaron Sims, began his legendary career over three decades ago as a special effects artist working under industry giants Rick Baker and Stan Winston. As a critical voice in the making of some of the most memorable and iconic movie creatures of all time, his pioneering techniques in the world of visual effects helped influence the face of character and concept design for film and television early on in their application. From the early days of prosthetics and simple puppets in the 80’s, through the animatronics and emerging CG of the 90’s, to the latest advancements in VR and realtime VFX, Sims continues to inspire and propel the industry forward. In 2005, Aaron Sims Creative was formed with the sole purpose of bringing together the world’s most talented concept and visual effects artists to create and give life to unforgettable characters, creatures, and environments for all platforms of visual entertainment. Aaron’s unparalleled skill and dedication to creating consistently stunning content has made ASC the premier boutique studio for creature and franchise design & development.

RAPHAEL ROGERS

MEGHAD ASADI LARI

MEET MEGHDAD ASADI LARI

Born 1982 in Shiraz, Iran and currently living in Rochester, NY, award winning director, animator and Student Academy Awards nominee, Meghdad Asadi Lari started his higher education in 2000 by studying Electrical Engineering in Shiraz University and continued to M.Sc. in Communications Engineering.

During his graduate studies, he discovered his passion for graphic design and animation. Familiar with all aspects of aesthetics, his artistic and creative abilities have been recognized by professionals as fast and precise. Not long after completing his technical degrees did he decide to step into the art field as a creative professional.

He started his MFA in 3D Computer Animation in the School of Film and Animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology and directed and produced several animations which played at festivals worldwide and gained several national and international awards.

Meghdad finished his MFA degree in 2014 with faculty award for his thesis film, Simorgh. His film is still travelling around the world.

DENNIS LIU

MEET DENNIS LIU

Dennis Liu graduated from The Taft School and Tisch School of the Arts with a major in film.He is a screenwriter, film director, editor, and VFX artist.

He got his first break in 2008 with the “Apple Mac Music Video,” which got millions of hits online and landed him a spot on the @radical.media director roster. The video went on to win The People’s Choice Award in the Cannes New Director’s Showcase and was shown at Pixar.

From there, he spent 14 years directing commercials and music videos. His teams have won awards from AICP (MOMA), Adcolor, Cannes Lions, CLIOS and The One Show. he directed music videos for renowned artists such as David Guetta, Sia, Capital Cities, Sarah Bareilles, Justin Timberlake, and Mariah Carey.

In 2015, he wrote and directed RAISING DION as both a comic book and short film. In 2017, the project was greenlit straight to series with a 10 episode order at NETFLIX, starring Alisha Wainwright, Ja’Siah Young, Jason Ritter, and Michael B. Jordan. MACRO produces the 1 hr sci-fi drama with Michael’s Outlier Productions. The second season released in 2022, and hehas directed a bunch of episodes.

In addition to selling other original feature film scripts and tv pilots to various studios, he most recently directed an episode of the Disney+ family action comedy show AMERICAN BORN CHINESE, starring Michelle Yeoh.

He is Taiwanese and a dual American/Canadian citizen, and for the past 10 years, he has been an active member of the Director’s Guild of America diversity committees. As a speaker, he give occasional film lectures at Stanford University, UCONN, NYU, and SVA.

ANNA MASTRO

MEET ANNA MASTRO

Award winning director, writer, and producer Anna Mastro is a true creative force known for her versatility and signature touch across film and television that has made her one of Hollywood’s most sought after filmmakers.

Most recently, Anna directed the feature film SECRET SOCIETY OF SECOND BORN ROYALS, released worldwide on Disney+.

Anna has directed a number of television shows across a variety of genres, including The Rookie, Marvel’s Runaways, L.A.’s Finest, In The Dark, Shameless, UnREAL, The Bold Type, Gossip Girl and Jane the Virgin; in addition to the pilot, Guidance, for Hulu. Her feature film WALTER starred Andrew J. West alongside Academy Award Nominees William H. Macy and Virginia Madsen, Jim Gaffigan, Neve Campbell, Justin Kirk, Milo Ventimiglia and Leven Rambin. She also directed the original musical LOST GENERATION, written by Kyle Jarrow (Valor, Broadway’s Spongebob Squarepants) with music by Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening, American Psycho).

Anna was born and raised in Seattle and began her career in commercials and music videos, working with some of the most popular names in music including The Pussycat Dolls, Train, and Victoria Justice. In 2011, her short film BENCH SEAT, written by Neil LaBute with music and lyrics by Teddy Geiger, was an official selection in over 30 film festivals worldwide. The short earned a Short Grand Prix nomination at the Warsaw International Film Festival and won the Best Short Film Award at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

In television, Anna has developed as a writer, producer, and/or director at UCP, Fox 21, HBOMax, eOne and Alcon. Anna also has features set up with Fortitude, Playstation, and Scott Free. She’s currently adapting the stage musical Independents, which chronicles nine friends living on a Revolutionary War ship. Using historical reenactment as a cover, the eclectic crew of twenty-somethings smuggle marijuana from Canada to the US as a way to preserve their ship and way of life. Stuck in the transition between growing up, falling in an out of love, and facing questions about their future they don’t want to answer, these young adults will make the ultimate choice: to continue their life as the crew of The Lady Grey, or to grow up on shore.

KEVIN MCTURK

PATRICK CUNNINGHAM

MEET PATRICK CUNNINGHAM

Originally from New York, Patrick Cunningham is an American Producer and global entertainment consultant living in Japan. Starting as a Casting Director he worked his way up the ladder quickly as a producer. His films have won awards at Cannes, Sundance, and many other prestigious festivals. Patrick is working several new and exciting projects on an international scale.

HEIKO VAN DER SCHERM

MEET HEIKO VAN DER SCHERM

Heiko van der Scherm is a 42 times internationally awarded animation and live action director. He worked with Hollywood stars such as Whoopi Goldberg and Juliette Lewis. Born in 1978 in Nuremberg and grown up in Einsteins Hometown Ulm he now lives in Stuttgart in the south of Germany where he studied animation at the Animation Institute of the Filmakademie Baden Württemberg. Heiko van der Scherm has excessive writing and pre-visualization skills together with an unique approach to content creation. You want to communicate something in an exciting way? Heiko can tell you how to do it in an effective and cost efficient manner. Heiko is on the open market since 2009 with finishing his 15 minute long animation short “Descendants” which made him famous in the animation industry. Since then he worked in Germany, the U.S., China, Ukraine and Cuba for clients like Daimler, Bosch, various Chinese Movie productions or the NATO.

SAM BOZZO

MEET SAM BOZZO

Bozzo wrote, directed, and edited three short films. For Which It Stands (1990) was screened in the Sundance Film Festival. The Shadowed Cry (1992) was created as a Top 10 Director assignment for Project Greenlight, run by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Holiday on the Moon (1994) won the TriggerStreet.com Short Film competition held at the Toronto International Film Festival, has been screened on the Sundance Channel. Bozzo won a 1994 CINE award for the film.

Bozzo has finished two feature documentaries, one on hackers (Hackers Wanted) and the other Blue Gold: World Water Wars, inspired by the book by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke.

TAL S SHAMIR

MEET TAL S. SHAMIR

Tal S. Shamir (PhD) has directed, produced, written, and edited dozens of short films that have been presented at a wide range of film festivals, galleries, and museums; he has won many awards, including a Gold Medal in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ 2011 Student Oscars, for his film The Vermeers.

While serving in the Israeli Navy for six years, Tal created and commanded the Special-Ops combat Video Team, demonstrating the possibility of analyzing the navy’s special forces training through video.

As part of his MA in film studies, Tal also created and produced the RUFF CUTS and FINE CUTS film showcases, which allowed film students to share, discuss, and improve their films. This platform has become the central ongoing film-screening event of The New School’s media studies department.

Tal holds a PhD in philosophy, film, and media from the European Graduate School, and his first book on cinema, titled Cinematic Philosophy, published by Palgrave Macmillan/Springer, came out in 2016 to rave reviews.

Parallel to his work and studies in film, Tal served for 10.5 years in the JDC, the largest American Jewish humanitarian aid organization, and created and directed its NY Security Team.  

Tal directed, produced, and edited XPOSURE BEGINS (2016), a 12-minute film that serves as proof of concept for a feature-length psychological thriller. 

Tal has completed three feature-length screenplays, currently in development: XPOSURE (2015), DEUS X MACHINA (2017), and CONTROL (2019); he has also written a TV series bible entitled THE EYE (2018).

Tal is currently in pre-production for a short film titled SWIM LION, about a rejected swimmer who begs for a second chance and is pushed beyond her breaking point.