SOCAPA was founded by a small collective of New York artists in Greenwich Village in 1998. Many of the founding faculty are still with us today. Also included below are guest artists who have taught master classes at SOCAPA in the past.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Los Angeles Campus

With his B.A. from Harvard, a Master’s from Yale (Film Studies), and an MFA from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (Film Production), CHRIS REED is SOCAPA’s resident film scholar. Chris has directed many short films, both documentary and narrative, including the award-winning "All About George." Chris has taught at the high school level at Exeter, Choate, and LREI, and at the college level at Long Island University and the Art Institute of New York, and will start teaching, in September, 2006, at Villa Julie College, in Baltimore. Chris works as a freelance director, cinematographer and editor, and currently specializes in making short promotional films for non-profit organizations. He is also developing a narrative feature, to be shot in 2007. You can view samples of all of Chris's work at www.christopherllewellynreed.com. Chris is the Summer Program Director of SOCAPA Los Angeles.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR: New York City Campus

JAMIE YERKES has been the Summer Programs Director for SOCAPA since the program was founded in 1999. He has worked in the film industry as a cinematographer, an editor, and a writer/director since 1994 when he made his first short film, “Cowboy Jesus,” an official Sundance Selection which has won awards at festivals worldwide. His first feature, “Spin the Bottle” was released by TLA Releasing in 2001. TimeOut, New York called it “an accomplished piece of work”; Box Office Magazine wrote “lush-looking and nicely acted. . .an assured first feature”; and Variety found it “tautly directed, smartly written and keenly observed…a delectable character study…a fresh and at times shocking study of friendship, loyalty and sexual identity among the Gen-X set.” Jamie recently finished his latest feature, “Pagans” – another collaboration with writer Amy Sohn – which premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Jamie received his MFA in Film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He has also taught for over six years as a full-time Professor of Film Production and Film History at Webster University and, more recently, at Long Island University.

PROGRAM DIRECTORS: Burlington, Vermont Campus

ANDREW HULSE is a filmmaker from Kingston, Ohio.  He has worked in the film industry in Los Angeles and New York for over ten years as a writer/director, actor and cinematographer.  He received a B.A. from Denison University, an M.A. from Harvard University and his M.F.A. from the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television at New York University where he was an Alberto Vilar Global Fellow in the Performing Arts.  He has directed several award-winning short films, and his feature documentary, Gibson Girls, premiered on the Millennium Stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. in 2005.  Hulse was recently hired to adapt and direct a feature film based on a Pulitzer nominated novel.

ACTING INSTRUCTORS

ROGER MANIX is a graduate of The William Esper Studio where he studied with Suzanne Esper. Roger has most recently studied with Wynn Handman at Carnegie Hall. Roger has been teaching Acting for the past five years in New York and Los Angeles. He has appeared on television and all throughout New York City theatre. Roger's technique is grounded in the Meisner method. He is a Kundalini yoga teacher and combines movement training with his acting teaching. In the fall, Roger will be apprenticing at The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City.

MATTHEW MARSHALL's three narrative films, Lost Dog, Passage and Four Steps have each received the prestigious Academy Award nomination in the short film category. Other film honors include winning the Hampton International Film Festival, the Avignon Film Festival and being the recipient of the Martin Scorcesse, Warner Brothers and Lew Wasserman awards. As a documentary filmmaker, Matthew currently works for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. His work involves the video documentation of the culture and languages of indigenous peoples throughout North, Central and South America. Matthew has his MFA in Film from New York University and a BA in Film from University of North Texas

MICHELLE LUCHESE is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and holds a B.F.A. in Drama. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Michelle has several theatre credits and has done many short films. Her first feature, "212" competed at the Sundance Film Festival 2005 and is currently touring the festival circuit. Her most recent short films, "The Other Side of Maybe" and "He" are both in post production and due for completion at the end of the summer. You can also catch her in several episodes of Comedy Central's Strangers with Candy and upcoming episodes of Rosebay, a soapopera coming to public access cable. In addition to her acting credits, Michelle has stage managed, produced and scored film and theatre. She is also a singer/songwriter with band "Dollface." They are currently recording their first EP.

LARS ENGSTROM is a New York City-based actor, most recently in the upcoming independent films Trainwreck with Seann William Scott, and Stanley Cuba. Is also in
Paramount’s Winter Solstice, directed by Josh
Sternfeld, starred in Sternfeld’s film Colin’s Date, as well as in fellow faculty member Chris Reed’s All About George. Lead roles in many other independent films shown on Bravo, at the Montreal Int’l Film Festival and in festivals around the world. He is a veteran of over a dozen Downtown productions during the 1990s. Some companies he has worked with include Summoner’s Ensemble, Axis Theater and Inverse Theater. Training: Drama BFA Tisch School of the Arts at NYU; American Conservatory, Circle in the Square, classical training with Louis Scheeder of the RSC and NYU. Three years with John Osborne Hughes

As an actor, CATHERINE ZAMBRI RIGGS' feature film credits include Anthony Ng’s, “212” [Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2005]; Michael Canzoniero’s, “Hustlers and Strays”; Peter Hilton’s, “Tea Before Honour”; Marc Ardito’s “Tahoe”., and the recently completed "Firefly". Her TV credits include: "Law and Order", "Third Watch", "As the World Turns", and "How’s Your Sex Life?". Catherine has directed and/or produced or co-produced over 50 original theatrical events and nine full-length plays, four of which moved to commercial venues. She's also a founding member of manhattantheatresource. Along with her husband, Mitchell Riggs, she’s a producer for Camilla Films abd together they've produced two feature films and numerous shorts. Catherine is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Drama Department and has studied with the Moscow Art Theatre.

DAVID O'CONNOR is an actor, director, screenwriter, and teacher. He just completed a long run of a stage adaptation of Coppola's 'Rumblefish' in the UK. He has worked withvarious companies in NYC and internationally: PilotTheater Company, Circle Rep., Caravan Stagebarge,Mirvisch Productions. Some stage credits include: W;t, De la Guarda, Oleanna, American Buffalo, Macbeth, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet and The Runner Stumbles. TV/Film: He appeared for a TV season in PSI Factor, produced by Dan Ackroyd in and several featureand short films. He has had worked with such greats as David Mamet, Laurence Fishburne, and Austin Pendleton. Training includes: BA Philosophy, King's College, Diploma, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, MA Performance and Text, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

FILMMAKING INSTRUCTORS

JULIA SOLOMONOFF graduated from the Centro de Experimentación y Realización Cinematográfica in Buenos Aires, Argentina and received an M.F.A. in Film Production from Columbia University. She has worked as an assistant director, notably on Walter Salles's The Motorcycle Diaries (04). Her first feature as a writer/director, Sisters, premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has also written and directed the award-winning short films Octavo 51 (92), A Day with Angela (93), Siesta (98), Scratch (01) and Ahora (03).

CAROLINE ARAGON grew up in the cosmopolite suburbs of Paris and studied in Cape Town, South Africa before starting her film career in 1997. Beginning as film festival coordinator, she soon pursued a career as line producer and assistant director, in France, working on short films, commercials as well as feature film productions. She was also a development producer for two years at Orenok/Uqbar in Paris. In 2001, she moved to New York, to attend the Master Of Fine Arts program of the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. She directed several narrative short films. Among them is: “Some Sort of Love” (11 min, film, 2005), which was screened at the Berlinale Talent Campus (Germany), at Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival (France), at the Oval House (London UK), First Run & Fusion Festivals (in NYC). And Montreal World Film Festival. After the production of her graduate Thesis film, “Curfew”, she created a production company Rolling Moss Films, which is currently developing several projects with a focus on international collaborations.

MITCHELL RIGGS is the producer and star of the Camilla Films feature, "Tahoe", due in theaters next summer. He has had lead roles in three other features: "Kaaterskill Falls" (winner Critics Choice Award from the Los Angeles Film Festival) which he also co-wrote, "Ashpet": An American Cinderella, and "Spin The Bottle". He has produced or co-produced over 50 original theatrical events and 9 full length Plays, 4 of which went to commercial venues. His latest feature “FireFly” is an exploration of film techniques he developed while serving as filmmaker in residence at Manhattan Theatre Source. Mitchell is a classically trained actor with a degree from North Carolina School of the Arts.

ANGELA DEE: Originally from London, with a background in fine art, dance, photography and design, Angela came to the US to work as an actor with the New York Performance Alliance. Recent acting affiliations include: La Mama, ETC; The Rose Theatre, UK; Naked Angels; New Georges; Scholastic; Sony; The Discovery Channel; Cinemax. In film production Angela has worked as a DP, Director, Still Photographer and an Editor. Credits include: “The F Word” (Sam Rockwell, Josh Hamilton – Tribeca Film Festival 2005); The Hypnotist (Montreal 2003); The Third Date (Sandra Bernhard, Xander Berkeley, Sarah Clarke - Tribeca Film Festival 2003, London Film Festival 2003). She is also a professional photographer specializing in headshots, portraiture and film stills. 

JACOB OKADA graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 2002 witha BFA in Film and TV. His short Curtis received an honorable mention at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Jacob freelances as a film editor with credits for PBS and many emerging filmmakers. In addition Jacob teaches several filmmaking courses at Long Island University's Department of Theater, Film & Dance.

KELLY ATKINS’ award winning film, “Chatam County Superstar,” has been featured in The Shorts International Film Festival at Sony's Lincoln Square in New York, the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival market, East Hampton Summer Shorts, The Palm Beach International Film Festival, Houston-Worldfest, The Flagstaff International Film Festival and New York City's Firewater Film series. Kelly has completed three feature screenplays and recently completed a re-write for Open City Films ("Chuck and Buck"). She has her MFA from New York University's Graduate Film Program where she received the Excellence in Producing Award .

DOUG SCOTT's 30 minute short film, "Homeland," was the recipient of the Student Academy Award in 2000, screened at over twenty film festivals worldwide, and recently had its cable premiere on the Sundance Channel. Doug served as cinematographer on the short "Cowboy Jesus" (Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival) which has won awards as festivals worldwide. Doug has his MFA in Film Production from NYU and his BA in Film from UCLA. He is currently working on the feature version of "Homeland."

PHOTOGRAPHY INSTRUCTORS

Photographer TOM LEGOFF has captured some of the world's most illustirous film stars and in the process created a new iconography. Clients include Spike Lee, Robert Altman, Nick Nolte, Deborah Harry, John Waters, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jean-Luc Godard, Christina Ricci, Martin Short and Ang Lee. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Elle, Entertainment Weekly, Interview, and IFC/Rant magazines to name a few. Tom directs SOCAPA's New York City photography summer program for High School students. Samples of Tom's work can be viewed at www.tomlegoff.com.

JODY AKE is a New York based photographer who specializes in fashion, portrait, still life, and landscape photography using the wet collodion process, an historic photographic technique which involves using a large format camera and glass plates. Ake is one of a handful of contemporary artists who have revived this photographic method, hand-mixing all of the necessary chemicals for each and every exposure. Jody’s work has been featured in "Photography Antiquarian Avant-Garde" by Lyle Rexer and "The Book of Alternative Photographic Process" by Christopher James. He holds a BFA from the College of Santa Fe and an MFA from the University of Oregon. Samples of Jody's work can be viewed at www.jodyake.com.

DANCE INSTRUCTORS

Originally from Reykjavik, Iceland, and a graduate of UC Berkeley, AUSHI OSKARSDOTTIR started her professional dance career at the age of 15 with video and commercial work, and has gone on to teach jazz, hip hop and dance for stage at San Francisco Dance Center, Stanford University, Bally’s, Dance Fusion, and California Theatre Arts, to name a few. During a three-year stint in New York City, she studied and performed at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, as well as Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway, and also worked as a stylist for Nautica Jeans, a producer for Q-Tip’s interview show, “Artist to Artist,” and a managing editor for VivianLives.com. In addition to teaching, Aushi continues to pursue her professional career. She performs and travels with Ronnie Reddick’s City Slam and La Femme Panache, and has worked with Santana, Deborah Cox, MC Hammer, Macy’s, Bebe, Bloomingdale’s, Apple Computer, E*Trade, Microsoft, and Bill Graham Presents, among others.

DEBRA EMERSON BOYD is the founder and director of the Dance Fusion Company in San Francisco. She started her professional career at the age of twelve performing at the worlds fair in Australia and in Fiji. Since then she has danced and/or choreographed for the Golden State Warrior Girls, the San Francisco 49er Gold Rush, the Orlando Magic Girls, the Sacramento Kings Fast Break, USC, UCLA, UC Davis and BYU. She is on the jazz staff with of the United Spirit Association (USA) and has participated in a number of industry and corporate venues such as Adidas, Microsoft, Reebok, E-Trade, Bloomingdale’s, FOX, and MTV. Debra’s students have gone on to some impressive accomplishments. One appeared in the Academy Award winning movie, “American Beauty,” another is touring with the Broadway show Aida, and yet another is dancing with Alvin Ailey. Others have been on Ally McBeal, The Drew Carey show, and on tour with the Beach Boys. Still others have done commercials for the GAP and Dr.Pepper. One former student holds the national title of Ms. Dance of America. Many of them win national awards, scholarships and are at prestigious colleges pursuing dance and academics. Most recently Nick Lazzarini appeared on Star Search and Anthony Lomuljo is New York City Dance Alliance and West Coast Dance Explosion national teen dancer of the year.

JAMILIA TANAI TRENDLOR HALL started her dance career at The Edwin Holland School of Dance in Miami, Fl. She graduated Salutatorian of the class of 2004 with a BFA in dance studies from Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus. She now teaches Hip Hop and African Dance and dances professionally in New York City. Her credits include Mase and Friends “Welcome Back” concert, recording artist Safire and recording artist Tan Tan, Vissi Dance Theater, and The Underground Dance Project, just to name a few.

RECENT GUEST ARTISTS

MORGAN FREEMAN's first feature film, "Hurricane Streets" was made as his thesis film for NYU and went on to play at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. It became the first film to win three awards at Sundance (Audience Award, Best Director, and Best Cinematography). Following the critical success of "Hurricane Streets," Morgan wrote the script and raised the money for Desert Blue (1998), his second feature. In it, he again teamed up with actor Brendan Sexton III. The film also stars Christina Ricci, and was Kate Hudson's debut film. Since Desert Blue, Morgan has been involved in a variety of shorter projects, including his first forays into the world of television. He has directed an episode of Dawson's Creek, as well as a short film for Showtime, starring Janeane Garofalo. Morgan wrote Flashpoint - an hour-long drama pilot - which was purchased by the Fox Network. He has also had a chance to direct two music videos, on charted #3 on M2 in 2000 (for the band Rilo Kiley), and several TV commercials. He recently completed his third feature, _American Psycho 2: All American Girl (2001)_ , starring Mila Kunis and William Shatner. Currently, he is adapting Jack London's "Martin Eden" for Propaganda Films, and is prepping his original screenplay, Just Like The Son, for Gill Holland (producer of Fox's _"Greg the Bunny" (2001)_ starring Seth Green and Eugene Levy).

GILL HOLLAND (Producer)
Nominated for the Spirit Award for producer of the year, Gill Holland’s producing credits include Morgan J. Freeman's triple Sundance award-winning "Hurricane Streets" (MGM); his follow-up "Desert Blue" (Samuel Goldwyn); John-Luke Montias’ “Bobby G. Can’t Swim” (winner AFI 1999); Tom Gilroy's “Spring Forward” (IFC FILMS); and Tim Kirkman's Spirit Award and Emmy Nominee "Dear Jesse" (Cowboy Booking); He is a professor at the NYU Graduate Film School. He was on the Jury at Sundance in 1999 and produces the “Greg the Bunny Show.”

PETER SOLLETT wrote and directed the Sundance and Cannes favorite, "Raising Victor Vargas," which premiered in theatres last summer. His short film, "Five Feet High and Rising," won best short film at both the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals.

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MARY CLAY BOLAND (casting director) has worked for Walken-Jaffe, Warner Brothers and HBO. Her team won and Emmy for casting "The Sopranos". She has cast roles for "ER," "West Wing," and "Friends." She currently casts "As the World Turns."

As an actor, DWIGHT EWELL is best known for his collaborations with filmmakers Kevin Smith and Hal Hartley. A graduate of the SUNY Purchase Actor’s Training Program (Parker Posey’s class), Dwight immediately caught the eye of Hal Hartley, another Purchase Alum), who cast him in alongside Parker Posey in Amateur, and then as the lead in his next film, Flirt. Dwight has had supporting roles in the last three Kevin Smith films, Chasing Amy, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Dwight’s most recent films include Universal Pictures’ The Guru, Dirk Hagen’s Wheel People, Bob Gosse’s Niagra, Niagra, Ken Liotta’s The Waiting Game, Christine Vachon’s Kiss Me, Guido, Michael Lang’s Intern (Sundance 2000), and Patrik Polk’s Punks (Sundance 2000). Dwight has been featured in dozens of music videos and commercials.