Jurors

Fatimah Abdullah is an award-winning executive producer with over 15 years’ experience in advertising and entertainment. Specializing in animation, immersive, and VFX, she’s led creative productions for Netflix, HBO, Cartoon Network, Mattel, and more. Her volunteer work for ASIFA-South earned her President Biden’s Gold Medal for Volunteer Service. After nearly two decades in media, Fatimah founded Block Party to help independent artists tell premium animated stories.

Pavida (Patty) Changkaew is a SCAD Animation graduate, DreamWorks LAUNCH fellow, and 2024 CFF Best Animated Short winner. Committed to uplifting diverse voices and impactful narratives, she’s excited to return to the Charlotte Film Festival as a juror.

Yoo Lee is a Korean-American writer/director/animator in Los Angeles. A Film Independent Laika Animation Fellow and Fox Fellow, her work streams on the New Yorker Screening Room and HBO Max and qualified for the Oscars in 2023. This year she finished her multimedia doc short A Man Who Takes Pictures of Flowers, produced with support from Dirty Films, Netflix, and USC Annenberg.

Austin Taylor loves poignant human stories and has spent a decade animating for films like The Suicide Squad and Tron: Ares. Now in Atlanta, he balances remote previs work with plenty of snack breaks—and can’t wait to see fresh animated talent at CFF.

Michelle Fenn is a Los Angeles–based Producer, Director, and Editor originally from New England. She champions character-driven work across genres, from award-winning Netflix and BBC docs to her pilot Psychic School. Her debut short Beyond the Herd won multiple “Best Short Documentary” awards in 2024–25.

Carly Jakins is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose docs have been featured by PBS, The Atlantic, LA Times, and Vimeo Staff Picks. She explores community and resilience in rural America and is passionate about the power of storytelling.

Scott Krahn produced award-winning TV commercials for 35+ years before turning to freelance photography and filmmaking. His 2023 doc Friday Night Blind—about visually impaired bowlers—screened at 36 festivals, winning 13 awards and streaming on The New Yorker. His latest short, It’s Time, is a poetic look at maple syrup making.

Em Shapiro is a queer non-fiction filmmaker and educator in Austin, TX, centering films on queerness, transness, and disability. Their films have screened at BFI Flare, Oak Cliff FF, and CFF; their doc Earth to KB won Best Documentary/Hybrid Short at Seattle Trans FF 2024.

Dillon Deaton is a North Carolina–based cinematographer for vérité docs and commercials, contributing to The New York Times and films on HBO Max, Discovery, Hulu, and PBS. His recent feature follows five women senators uniting to block an abortion ban in South Carolina. He’s a UNC Chapel Hill alum and Stuart Sechriest Award recipient.

Catherine Legault is an award-winning doc filmmaker and editor, founder of Concerto Films (Montreal). Her features Sisters: Dream & Variations (2019) and LARRY (they/them) (2024) won multiple IndieFEST awards and an Iris at Gala Québec Cinéma.

Sunny Liu is a New York–based filmmaker, pianist/composer, and animator amplifying marginalized voices. An Emerson, The New School, and SVA grad, her work has screened at Tribeca, Atlanta FF, and DOC NYC and streamed on Amazon Prime and PBS.

Sara Nimeh is a Lebanese writer/director in Dallas. Her short Jedo’s Dead played 20+ festivals and won best-of-category at SXSW 2024, Oak Cliff FF, Houston FF, Minnesota FF, and Palm Springs Int’l ShortFest. She explores cross-cultural themes of war, faith, and identity.

Eric Alan Rousseau splits time between Austin and Charlotte. His feature Lucky Doug played 13 U.S. fests (2021–23) and won awards. He’s Founder/Festival Director of the Comedy Film Festival and continues producing, writing, directing, and editing indie and commercial projects.

Jinsui Song is a Chinese filmmaker based in Los Angeles. An alumna of Berlinale Talents 2025, she holds an MFA in Directing from UCLA and a BFA from Beijing Film Academy. Her Oscar-contending short Something Blue won the Grand Jury Award at the Florida Film Festival and premiered at Torino Film Festival; other work has screened on AMC+ and at Cairo and FIRST festivals.

Cameron Tyler Carr is a Harlem-born director and creative producer driven to elevate Black-led stories. After producing and AD’ing seven films and seven years at Wieden+Kennedy and BBDO, he directed HARLEM FRAGMENTS, winning 22 awards across 100+ festivals and earning NAACP Image Awards and DGA New Director Spotlight selection.

Lovell Holder has produced films like The Surrender, Working Man, and directed/co-wrote Lavender Men. His works have screened at SXSW, Fantasia, Outfest, and more. His debut novel The Book of Luke publishes December 2025 via Grand Central Publishing.

Caroline Lindy won SXSW’s Audience Award (2022) for Aspirational Slut. A Women in Film grant turned her short Your Monster into a Sundance-premiering feature now streaming on HBO Max.

Jeff Man honed his craft with Jay Duplass and the Visual Communications Fellowship. His debut feature Paper Marriage (2024) played CFF and was produced by Duplass Brothers Productions.

Isaiah Forte-Rose is an NC filmmaker whose doc Forbidden Fruit won CFF’s Social Justice Film Award 2024. A UNC Wilmington Film Studies grad, he now works in Brooklyn to drive social change through art.

Tiffany Rhynard makes films and interactive media about injustice. Her doc Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America won a Television Academy Honor and CFF’s first SPLC Social Justice Award. Her dance films have earned Jury Prizes at ScreenDance Miami.

Benjamin Turner is a London filmmaker and youth worker, founder of Rap Club Productions. His award-winning docs (The Nudes, Help! I Think My Teacher is Racist) tackle race, power, trauma, and youth culture while centering Black voices and leadership.

Linda Verweyen studied Expressive Arts in Social Transformation and directs participatory docs in Germany. Awarded for shorts Jonna & Louis and LOVE AGE POWER, her 2025 graduation film Halima – How to Stay Strong gave voice to five women affected by FGM.

George Ellzey Jr. is a 2× Telly Award-winning Chicago writer/director. Through Cottage Grove Productions he creates socially driven films on KweliTV, AMC+, and NBC 5 Chicago, and is developing his debut feature.

Aidan Gomez is a Charlotte native and SCAD Film & Television graduate. A third-degree Taekwondo black belt, he aims to champion LGBTQ+ voices in action films throughout his career.

Jack Highberger is a two-time regional Emmy® Award–winning filmmaker and AFI Conservatory alum. His thesis film Caroline was BAFTA long–listed, and his doc Spina Americana premiered at DOC NYC 2024.

Kiersten Houser is an educator and multi-modal filmmaker with over a decade of experience producing, directing, and acting. Her work focuses on diverse, character-driven stories and has earned awards like Best Experimental Film, Best Suspense Film, and PBS NC’s Reel South Award. As an Assistant Director, her projects have screened at venues including the 81st Venice Film Festival. She’s been honored as Gaston County Schools’ Star Teacher and UNCW Teaching Assistant, and in 2023 produced the FEARS Anthology horror series for undergraduates. She continues to create socially engaged horror and documentary films addressing identity and injustice.

Rebecca Walters is a UNCSA-trained filmmaker, festival agent, and intimacy coordinator advocate. She’s worked with Sundance Institute, Kennedy Center, and Cucalorus, and her work has screened at festivals nationwide.