NYFA
Faculty Directory

Faculty Directory

Silvi Naçi

MFA in Photography + Media, California Institute of the Arts; BFA in Fine Arts and Graphic Design, Suffolk University. Silvi Naçi works with performance, video, sculpture, photography, text, and installation. They studied at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca (Oaxaca, Mexico) and Studio Art Centers International and have exhibited works at Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art Project Space, NYC (2019); MAK Center, LA (2019); MoCA Geffen, LA (2019); Other Places Art Fair, LA (2019); and Greater LA MFA Exhibition, LA (2019); and is a recipient of the Tim Disney Excellence in Storytelling Prize (2019) and the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Travel Grant (2018). Naçi took part in Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art (Berlin, Germany) 2019, and Elsewhere Museum and Residency (Greensboro, NC) 2019, among other residencies. Born and raised in former communist Albania, Naçi‘s practice investigates gender and cultural identity, language and time, the body as subject/object, and the consequences of patriarchy. Working with traumatic memories from their childhood, Naçi investigate gender and cultural identity as it relates to exile, immigration, and citizenship.

Jackie Neale

Jackie Neale is a hybrid photographic artist creating storytelling installations in mediums ranging from alternative processes to low-fidelity recordings. Her process relies on community immersion to depict honest interactions in underrecognized communities and serving as personal testimonials as oral histories. She is the former Online Features Imaging Director at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, completing over 300 storytelling projects over 15-plus years. She is also a published author, and undergraduate Photography Professor at Saint Joseph’s University and the New York Film Academy. Neale has completed residencies in New York City, Philadelphia, Texas, Mexico, Calabria and Milan, Italy.

Eric Nelson

MFA in Screenwriting, American Film Institute.
Eric Nelson has developed film and television projects with Nickelodeon Original Movies, ABC/Disney Channel, 20th Century Fox, Smart Entertainment, and Underground Entertainment. He has written, developed, and produced for numerous branded content campaigns and video games. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, he teaches Thesis Workshops, Rewriting, Feature Workshops, TV Workshops, and Story Generation.

Till Neumann

Till N. Neumann was born and raised in Munich, Germany. He worked in Film Production before coming to New York City where he worked for hands on as a cinematographer. Till has compiled an impressive resume, shooting over thirty short films, numerous commercials, music videos, and over ten feature films as well as directing numerous commercials, shorts, and a feature film. He spent 3 years living and working in Los Angeles but decided his home and inspiration was and always has been New York.

Till Neumann’s work on El Camino received great reviews from Roger Ebert. He received awards for Best Cinematography for his film The Bakery at the Interpret film festival, as well as a special award for his cinematography at the CineVegas festival for his work on the movie 5up 2down along with best short film awards for The Strange Case Of Marie France at the Newport International Film Festival and the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

David Lewis Newman Associate Chair of Film Arts Department (Filmmaking)

Graduating from Boston University, David Lewis Newman moved to Los Angeles, where he was accepted into the highly competitive Assistant Directors Training Program, ultimately qualifying him for membership in the Directors Guild of America.

A partial list of Newman’s A.D. credits include features How I Got into College, Firebirds and Two Moon Junction; series The A-Team, The Flash and FBI: The Untold Stories; and TV movies Roe vs. Wade, Nothing But the Truth, and Bionic Ever After. In 1985, he wrote, directed and co-produced the dramatic short film, The Thin Line.

Throughout Newman’s A.D. career, he continued writing, making his first sale to the CBS/Warner Bros. series The Flash. Subsequent writing assignments led to producer/writer positions on UPN/Paramount’s The Sentinel, and for three seasons on Paramount’s syndicated series, Viper, where he also directed multiple episodes. Newman worked for two seasons as a writer/producer on the syndicated sci-fi/action series Mutant X, as well as writing episodes of 18 Wheels of Justice and Pensacola: Wings of Gold.

Theatrically, Newman developed and directed The Last Telethon, presented at The Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood. A staged reading of Newman’s Beautiful Dreamer, a musical featuring the life and songs of America’s first great songwriter, Stephen Foster, was presented at the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival in Auburn, NY. He was also invited to present the show at the New York Musical Festival. He directed a workshop production of his latest play, Friendly Valley, a dark family comedy, at the Santa Paula Theater Center in April, 2022.

Newman’s professional affiliations include membership in the aforementioned DGA, the Writers Guild of America and SAG/AFTRA. For a list of Newman’s film and TV credits, you can visit his IMDB entry: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0628057/?ref_=nv_sr_8

Matteo Nurizzo

Matteo was an industrial designer and graphic artist in Italy. He holds a Master of Science in Industrial Design and Fashion Management from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
Director and Editor of Style In Frames. Client: Comune di Milano, worked at “Lillisimone” as a graphic and video artist.
Clients: Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Tissot, Panerai, Opel.
As freelance videographer and editor, clients: BM Factory, Banque PSA Finance, Castiglioni.
After becoming an editor, moved to Los Angeles and ended up editing and shooting various shorts and features independent films and Documentaries. He has been an Avid Certified Instructor since 2013.
He has been Teaching Bachelor and Master classes in Editing and History of films since 2007 at the New York Film Academy in the Filmmaking, Liberal Arts and Science and Documentary Departments.

Kristen Nutile, ACE

Kristen Nutile, ACE, is a documentary editor and filmmaker based in New York City.

Kristen recently co-edited the film TURN EVERY PAGE, directed by Lizzie Gottlieb and released by Sony Pictures Classics. Kristen holds editing credits on FATHOM (AppleTV +), ART & KRIMES BY KRIMES (MTV Documentary Films), LOVE, GILDA (Magnolia Pictures), ADRIENNE (HBO), DEEP RUN (Netflix), EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY (PBS). She edited UNFINISHED SPACES, which won an NY Independent Spirit Award and is part of the permanent collection at Museum of Modern Art. Kristen had the opportunity to work on WEED THE PEOPLE and BUSINESS OF BIRTH CONTROL, directed by Abby Epstein and Executive Produced by Ricki Lake. Kristen edited HEROIN(E) which was nominated for an Academy Award, a Peabody Award and went on to win an Emmy Award.

Kristen has directed eleven films. Her own work intersects experimental and non-fiction filmmaking. Kristen’s films have shown around the world, including the Sundance Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2006, Kristen collaborated with legendary filmmaker, Albert Maysles and Tanja Meding on SALLY GROSS – THE PLEASURE OF STILLNESS, about critically acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Sally Gross.

Kim Ogletree

Kimberly joined the BET family as Supervising Producer for Development and Special Projects where she produced several syndicated television shows and specials, BET’s 15th Anniversary and “The Walk of Fame” featuring Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Babyface among others. Her other producing credits include the BET Arabesque films, Rendevous, A Private Affair, Midnight Blue, and Rhapsody starring LisaRaye; Hair Show starring Oscar Recipient, Monique; Playas Ball starring Allen Payne of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne; CuJn’ Da Mustard starring Brandon T. Jackson which won the 2007 Pan African Film Festival. Choice Award; the MTV Original Movie, Love Song, directed by Julie Dash; Ashes which won the 2010 Best Horror Film at Shriekfest; and Hellraiser: Revelations for Dimension Films. Most recently, Kimberly produced the faith-based film A Beautiful Soul.

Lanre Olabisi

Lanre Olabisi is an award-winning writer/director whose films have aired on HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and Hulu. Most recently, he has directed episodes of ABC’s “The Rookie” and its spinoff “The Rookie: Feds.” His short film “A Storybook Ending” streamed on HBO, leading to his participation in the HBOAccess Directing Program and the Disney Entertainment Television Directing Program.

Lanre’s feature films include “August the First” and “Somewhere in the Middle,” both distributed worldwide by Film Movement. His films have played in over 125 film festivals worldwide, including SXSW and Karlovy Vary. He has been nominated for an IFP Gotham Award and a Black Reel Award.

Lanre has taught at NYFA since 2008.

David O’Leary

BA in Film and Cognitive Science, Vassar College
David is a film and TV writer/producer, whose recent credits include working as Consulting Producer/Writer on Season 3 of NBC’s “Law & Order: Organized Crime” in 2023. O’Leary also Created/Executive Produced the UFO drama series “Project Blue Book” starring Aidan Gillen (“Game of Thrones”), alongside Oscar-winning Robert Zemeckis, which ran on HISTORY for two seasons, aired in over 165 countries, and was the #1 new cable drama series of 2018/19. O’Leary has sold projects to TNT, Miramax, Universal TV, A+E Studios and others. As a film producer, he co-produced the reality-hopping sci-fi thriller feature “Parallel” (2020) released by Vertical Entertainment, and the Netflix supernatural hit film “Eli” (2019), both available on streaming now. David has worked as a Screenwriting and Producing Instructor at New York Film Academy (NYFA) in Los Angeles for over a decade. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, he teaches The Business of Screenwriting, Elements of Screenwriting, Genre Studies, Feature Workshops, and TV Pilot. For the Producing Department in LA, he teaches Marketing and Distribution.

Gerald Owens Acting for Film Instructor

BA in Speech Communication and Theatre Art, Wake Forest University; MFA in Acting and Directing, Florida Atlantic University. Gerald Owens is an actor, director, voiceover artist, and acting teacher who has been working in the entertainment industry since 1982. His work has included feature films, television series, TV and radio commercials, plays, and improvisational productions.

Professionally, Gerald has appeared on-screen and on-stage with such luminaries as John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Christopher Walken, Jeffrey Donovan, Alice Ghostley, Robert Hays, Sharon Gless, Tom Sellick, Robert Urich, Dennis Farina, Scott Caan, Michael McShane, Ann Crumb, John Schneider, Don Johnson, Keegan Michael Key, and Philip Michael Thomas, in addition to many other notable actors. He has also worked with such directors as Barry Sonnenfeld, Tim Matheson, Ted Kotcheff, Damian Harris, Allan Arkush, and many others and studied acting with Dom Deluise, Burt Reynolds, and Tony Sheperd, to name a few.

For five years, he was program chairman of Miami’s PAAF Actors’ Workshop, where he taught scene study, cold reading, monologue, and improvisation classes. He has also taught improvisation at the John Robert Powers School in West Palm Beach and directing for the Palm Beach State College Film Department. Gerald Owens served as the company’s producer, staff instructor, business manager, and artistic director of the Laughing Gas Comedy Improv Theatre Company.

Nick Ozeki

MFA in Filmmaking, Chapman University; BA in English, Amherst College. Wrote and directed an award-winning feature film out of graduate school that was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He is also a part of the prestigious Fox Writer’s Initiative, aimed at developing and writing original content for their networks.

Miguel Parga

Miguel started his career while still in college as a teacher’s assistant for the NYU Acting Program at Tisch before working the overnight shift for ABC News, building graphics for them at first and moving up the ranks during his eight years at ABC. He covered such dramatic stories as the impeachment of President Clinton, the millennium, the death of Lady Diana, JFK Jr., Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, the 2000 elections, and 9/11. Miguel won an Emmy and a DuPont Award for his work on the millennium Celebration and a Peabody Award for the first 100 hours of 9/11 coverage.

In 2003, Miguel moved to LA where he started translating commercials for NBC and Telmundo, moving up to producing and directing spots for Pepsi, Canon, Hechts, Fisher-Price, Bud Lite, and the People Choice Awards, amongst others. Miguel soon hooked up with Josh Oppenheimer (Sahara and A Sound of Thunder) who gave Miguel his first job as a feature screenwriter in LA, penning a romantic comedy optioned by Julia Pierrepont and Rodney Wilson.

Miguel moved back to New York in 2007 and began teaching acting, directing, writing, and editing at NYFA. He was also the director for the Summer Programs at Harvard University from 2010-2012 and Mumbai, India in 2011. He has directed 21 films, with many having been featured in festivals across the U.S. His first novel, Blood Laws, was published in 2013 by Anaphora Literary Press.

Edward Parks

Edward Parks is the co-founder and executive producer of Higher Content, a production company founded in 2015 with the goal of fostering bold new talent, character-driven stories, and collaborative filmmaking. He formerly founded RIVAL PICTURES, where he produced several award-winning films such as Special, Luv, Caucus and Space Station 76. In 2011, he won the Producers Guild Award for the documentary Beats Rhymes and Life, and was also nominated for a Grammy. In 2017, he produced indie thriller Super Dark Times, which was released by The Orchard in addition to a western, The Ballad of Lefty Brown, starring Bill Pullman, Jim Caveziel and Peter Fonda which A24 released in December 2019. In 2018, he produced, Darkness Visible, which was entirely shot in Kolkata, India with the support of the British Film Institute.

In April 2020, his latest film, Stray Dolls, was released by Samuel Goldwyn films which stars Bollywood star Geetanjali Thapa along with Olivia DeJonge and Cynthia Nixon.

He recently moved back to New York City after spending the past 20 years working in Los Angeles. He’s an adjunct professor at his alma mater, the University of Southern California and also teaches at the New York Film Academy in NYC where he teaches the next generation of creative producers.

Luisa Parnes

MFA in Dramatic Writing (Screenwriting), NYU/Tisch
A screenwriter from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After graduating Law School in Rio, she pivoted into a career in Film and TV and never looked back. Currently a Script Consultant for Amazon Studios Originals – Brazil. In this role, Luísa serves as a story editor, working closely with multiple showrunners and creators, providing creative feedback during the development process. She’s also writing Buena Vida, a fun and gritty coming-of-age feature for Academy-Award nominated director Carlos Saldanha (Ferdinand, Rio, Ice Age), and Fox International Productions (a Disney company). Luísa wrote and directed the short film Learning to Ride, which was entered into eight festivals, and won Best Screenplay Award at the São Paulo Film Festival. She wrote a feature adaptation. Luisa’s first feature-film as a screenwriter, the Brazilian production Before I Forget (Antes Que Eu Me Esqueça, 2018, dir. Tiago Arakilian, co-produced by Fox International), premiered in theaters across Brazil in the Spring of 2018, and ran in the international festival circuit in the USA, China, Portugal, and France. It has since won multiple Juri and Audience awards to date, including Best Movie at the Thai International Film Festival, and Best Movie at the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival, and was especially revered in the 2018 Santa Barbara Film Festival. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, she teaches Elements of Screenwriting, Storytelling with Purpose, Script To Screen, and Feature Workshops.

Franco Pejoves Acting for Film Instructor

Franco Pejoves was born and raised in the San Isidro district of Lima, Peru to a mixed Peruvian-Croatian Family. Following political turmoil, he migrated to the US and settled in Miami, Fl.

For the last 20 years he has moved from being an actor and stage fighter to choreographer in stage, opera, and film. In Miami he has worked in both local film as well as the Florida Grand Opera for the last 15 years. Internationally he has worked both in the UK and South America in choreography as well as documentary projects. His experience in movement stems from his fight experience as a black belt in the Buninkan as well as other martial arts, his 12 years with the SAFD (Society of American Fight Directors), and various artistic groups including Kabuki, Kyogen, and theater styles. Today he teaches movement and psychology as well as balancing workshops and local film projects.

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