NYFA
Faculty Directory

Faculty Directory

Kevin DiNovis

For the past twenty-five years, Kevin DiNovis has worked as a screenwriter and film director. His debut feature, Surrender Dorothy (1998), won multiple awards, including the Grand Jury prize for Best Feature at the Slamdance, Chicago Underground, and New York Underground Film Festivals. His subsequent work includes the political satire Death & Texas (2004), which stars Academy Award nominees Charles Durning and Mary Kay Place.

As a writer, DiNovis adapted Mary Higgins Clark’s bestselling thriller Loves Music, Loves to Dance for USA Networks. He was the first writer selected to inaugurate Marvel Studio’s Writers Program. In addition to adapting two features and one short subject for the celebrated ‘MCU’, DiNovis participated in an uncredited dialogue polish of the script for Thor.

In 2019, DiNovis presented his paper entitled “‘The Other Fellow’: ‘Transference of Identity’ in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association’s Conference in Atlanta, GA. He followed that up at SAMLA’s 2022 Conference with a paper entitled, “A Little Help from His Friends: The Expanding Role of MI-6 in the New 007 Cinematic Universe.”

Randall Dottin Chair of Screenwriting

Randall Dottin is a writer/director who works both in documentary and narrative fiction. His Columbia University MFA thesis film, A-ALIKE, was licensed for a two-year broadcast run by HBO and has won numerous awards, including the DGA Award for Best African American Student Filmmaker and the 2004 Student Academy Award for Best Narrative Film. In 2009, Randall was named by IndieWire Magazine as one of the Top Ten New Voices in Black Cinema. From 2012 to 2015, Randall wrote and directed branded content for AOL.COM, Toyota, and Essence Magazine. Randall’s short film Lifted, was sponsored by Fox Searchlight’s program for emerging directors, the Fox Searchlab. Lifted premiered on CBS in 2015. His documentary series The House I Never Knew is currently in production and explores how six families in Chicago, Houston, and Boston fight against becoming casualties of a housing segregation policy. The House I Never Knew (nee The Chicago Franchise) was chosen to participate in IFP’s Spotlight on Documentaries Program in 2018. Last year, the series received a grant from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund.

Akil DuPont

Through the course of his career as a storyteller in theatre and film, Akil DuPont has earned 31 awards in 44 film festivals including 2 Student Emmys! His films have played in over 60 countries and in 2014, he was named #7 of the top 100 indie filmmaker in the
world.

Akil was born and raised in Tallahassee, FL. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Florida A&M University (FAMU) and a MFA in Film Production from Florida State University (FSU).

Akil has worked in the film/television industry in the Atlanta and New York area. He taught for 8 years with Clayton State University and the Georgia Film Academy and is currently a Professor with Pace University and an instructor at the New York Film Academy.

Bob Eisenhardt

Bob Eisenhardt edited the Academy Award winner, Free Solo, is an Academy Award-nominated director, a four-time Emmy Award winner and two time winner of the coveted ACE “Eddie” (American Cinema Editors Award.) He has edited over 60 films which have garnered a BAFTA, additional Academy Award nominations, multiple Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, three Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award nominations, and a Grammy Award nomination. Meru won the Audience Award at Sundance (2015) and was shortlisted for the 2016 Oscar. The Rescue was nominated for a BAFTA and won the National Board of Review Award and Cinema Eye Awards. HBO’s Everything is Copy premiered at the 2015 New York Film Festival and earned another two Emmy nominations. Additional editing credits include Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, Valentino: The Last Emperor, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing, Wagner’s Dream and Living Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, which was also shortlisted for the Oscar. Bob shares a director’s credit, and Emmy, IDA and DGA Awards with legendary documentarian Albert Maysles.

Josh Eiserike

MFA in Film Production, USC
Josh Eiserike is a writer/cartoonist who has written for television shows such as Legacies (CW), Warigami (CW SEED), and G.I. Joe: Renegades (HUB). Additionally, Josh has sold a show to POP TV and a couple of TV movies. He has also written and published several comic books, including The Very Final Last Girls from Darby Pop Publishing and Charm City from Scout Comics. Originally from Washington, D.C., Josh previously worked as a newspaper reporter, covering everything from Congress to the Warped Tour. Other writing credits include MAD Magazine. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, he teaches Sequential Art, Feature Workshops, TV Pilot, Elements of Screenwriting, Story Generation, as well as Online Screenwriting.

Herschel Faber

Herschel Faber has worked extensively in film and entertainment. He had a number of screenplays optioned and made, one being the cult hit Mac and Devin go to High School, (Anchor Bay) which stars Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, and Mike Epps. Faber wrote, directed, and produced Cavemen, a feature-length romantic comedy starring Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect), Camilla Belle (10,000 B.C.), Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill), and Jason Patric (The Lost Boys). The film was released theatrically by Well Go USA in 2014 and on VOD in partnership with Warner Brothers. Faber relocated to Miami to make Florida-centric films under his Fascination Films production banner.

Faber received his MFA in Film from Columbia University, where he won the “Zaki Gordon Award” for screenwriting and placed at the semi-finalist level in the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship and Austin Film Festival.

Richard Friedman

Richard Friedman is a director, writer, and producer of motion pictures, television movies, episodic TV, network specials, and music videos. He has over 30 years experience in directing and producing ﬁlm and TV, including 14 Independent Feature Films, Television movies, Episodic Television Series, Reality TV, and Music Videos.

Kuldeep Sah Gangola

Kuldeep Sah Gangola is a distinguished editor/director with his debut film being featured in more than 15 film festivals in several countries and won three international awards. Mr. Gangola has also served as a judge and screener at the ‘International Documentary Association’ in 2019. His work and unique style of storytelling has been covered by the likes of Times of India, Thrive Global and GritDaily for the portrayal of the rooted problem of migration in rural India. He is an editing instructor and consultant at the New York Film Academy teaching across various departments. Kuldeep is a professionally certified Avid Media composer editor. He is also associated with teaching for the BAFTA workshops conducted in New York City.

Éva Gardos

Éva is an award-winning film director and editor born in Hungary. Éva’s screenwriting and feature film directorial debut, An American Rhapsody, starred a young Scarlett Johansson. The film is based on the true life events of Éva’s family escaping from Hungary in the 1950s and being forced to leave their infant child (Éva) behind.

Lee Gordon Associate Chair of Film Arts Department (Filmmaking)

MFA in Screenwriting, AFI. With over a decade of industry experience, companies such as Disney and Warner Brothers have trusted Lee Gordon for his writing expertise. Having worked as a screenwriter and story consultant, Lee’s talents have taken him into adventurous corners of Hollywood. He was field producer for the scrappy indie documentary, Undefeated, which won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; writer for the Jean Claude Carriere Lifetime Achievement Award production for the Oscars narrated by Jeremy Irons; and has helped write several award-winning trailers.

Ben Granoff

Ben Granoff has worked in New York City for twenty years as a visual storyteller with production houses, animation studios, advertising agencies, publishers and museums. Since his teenage years, he has been teaching cartooning for after-school programs, summer camps, charter schools, and social service agencies. He has been helping NYFA students bring their imaginations to life since 2017.

Scott Hartmann

Scott Aaron Hartmann (Eastern Shawnee) is a filmmaker and storyteller, and proudly holds an MFA in film production with an emphasis on directing from Chapman University. Scott has written and directed a long list of short films, commercials and music videos. His independent short films have screened at festivals all over the world, garnering a number of awards. He has been fortunate enough to be able to direct many great performers, including Joseph Runningfox (“Geronimo,” “Ravenous”) and the late Misty Upham (“Frozen River,” “August: Osage County”). As a Los Angeles-based director, Scott continues to develop his own projects while also teaching directing and screenwriting to future filmmakers. Scott has also worked as a screenwriting consultant, with some student work accepted in the Oscars Library. Most recently, Scott he has served as the Academic Chair for the New York Film Academy campus in Abu Dhabi, teaching both filmmaking and screenwriting.

Arthur Helterbran, Jr.

Arthur has been with NYFA since 2011, holding many leadership positions within the Academy. Currently he is a full time senior faculty member focusing on film directing, while creating and producing his own projects within the greater Los Angeles area.

Liz Hinlein

Liz Hinlein is an accomplished DGA director, creative director and visual artist with a vast portfolio of critically acclaimed work across film, commercials, and immersive media. Her debut narrative feature, Other People’s Children, premiered at the Director’s Guild of America and garnered high praise from Variety as “an intriguing debut.” The film received multiple film festival honors, including the prestigious Panavision New Filmmakers Grant, and is currently available for viewing on Apple Tv+ and Amazon Prime.

Liz’s short films have been screened globally at renowned festivals such as the Berlin Film Festival, Slamdance, and The Hamptons Film Festival. In the immersive space, her documentary VR experience, OSAGE ’85, is currently supported by the Venice Biennale. Liz’s work in the VR/AR space has earned recognition from clients such as the NFL, Walmart, Accenture, and Byton Auto, with her Accenture project winning Best VR Branded Content at CES.

As a sought-after director for high-profile commercials, branding videos, and music videos, Liz has worked with a diverse range of brands and artists, including Castrol Oil, Dove, Lifetime, Revlon, Gillette, Maybelline, A&E, Wella, NARS Cosmetics, Bare Minerals, Clairol, and MAC Cosmetics. She has also creatively directed and photographed projects for renowned artists such as Mary J. Blige, Britney Spears, Quincy Jones, Incubus, and Fishbone. She was selected for the DGA Directors Initiative, The Sony Initiative and the Viacom Initiative.

Liz is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and holds an MFA in Cinematography from The American Film Institute. She is also the Creative Director of Film and Cinematography at the New York Film Academy, where she created and hosts the popular Zoom talk show series The 20/20 Online Series, which amassed over 1.5 million followers. Currently, Liz is in pre-production on OSAGE ’85, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Amanda Hood

Amanda Hood is an Australian comedy writer and director based in New York City. She began her career making documentaries for the BBC. After a stint at Working Title Films in London, Amanda moved into script development and freelanced on everything from commercials to TV shows to feature films. She has written and directed ten short films which have screened at major film festivals and aired around the world. In 2023, Amanda completed a director’s attachment with director Erin White on Paramount Plus’ TV show, Paper Dolls. Prior to that, she completed a director’s attachment with Oscar-nominated director Bruce Beresford on the Sony Pictures feature film, Ladies in Black. Amanda has received the Australian Directors Guild Metroscreen Fellowship and her feature script Baby Boomers was a finalist in the Page International Screenwriting Awards, placing in the top ten out of more than 6000 scripts from around the world. Amanda is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and loves mentoring the world’s next generation of storytellers.

Kenneth Johnson

Writer, Director, Producer. Creator of V, The Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation, The Bionic Woman, and other Emmy Award-winning shows. Director of numerous TV movies and feature films, including Short Circuit 2 and Steel. Winner of the prestigious Viewers for Quality Television Award, multiple Saturn Awards, and The Sci-Fi Universe Life Achievement Award.

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