The 2019-20 Finalists

From Los Alamitos, California, Brenna graduated from the University of San Francisco after earning a BA in Media Studies with a minor in theater. She went on to earn an MFA in Film Production with an emphasis in directing from Chapman University. She was closely mentored by directors David Ward and Martha Coolidge, and shadowed Martha on episode 103 of Angie Tribecca. Brenna participated in the competitive Filmmaker-In-Residence program with Gary Foster p.g.a. while developing her master’s thesis film Rocket, which throws the audience into the world of 1950’s dirt track racing, a world Brenna’s family history is steeped in. The short earned a Student Academy Award®, an Individual Merit Award for Best Director at the Richmond International Film Festival, awards in China, the UK, and has screened in over forty festivals in eight countries— including a screening at the Director’s Guild of America in Los Angeles.

Brenna’s experimental short Candy Apple Red world premiered at The Bentonville Film Festival. Her horror short The Birthday screened at genre festivals all over the U.S. Brenna shadowed executive producer and director Brad Buecker on episode 210 of Fox’s hit show 9-1-1 as a participant of Ryan Murphy’s Half Initiative. In the spring of 2019, Brenna directed a feature documentary about activist Manal Al-Sharif’s Freedom Drive across America.

Brenna prides herself on her leadership and management skills, her focus on performance, her dynamic coverage of scenes, and the passion she bears for bringing female characters with depth to the silver screen. She is represented by The Radmin Company.

Kim Nguyen is a comedy director who creates award-winning commercial work with high profile actors and comedians, including Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jason Alexander, Anna Kendrick, Bill Hader, Reese Witherspoon, Chelsea Handler, Rebel Wilson, Sarah Silverman, and Emma Stone. She was shortlisted for her documentary Santa Land at the Academy-qualifying Full Frame Documentary Film Festival for Best Filmmaker. She is a member of the 2017 Directors Guild of America’s TV Mentorship Program with Gail Mancuso as her mentor. In 2018, she was awarded a fellowship to the Fox Directors Lab, where she was the sole comedy director selected from over 300 participants. She was also selected to the 2018 Sony Pictures Television Diverse Directors Program. She is excited to bring her fresh perspective and storytelling talents to the episodic world.

Kris Lefcoe is an award-winning director-writer based in NYC. Her work has screened at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), South by Southwest (SXSW), Art Basel, Rotterdam Film Festival, IFC and the Sundance Channel, among many others.

Lefcoe’s half-hour pilot Giving Up, executive produced by David Wain, won Best Comedy and Best Director at 2017 Seriesfest, and Overall Best of the Fest and Best Writing at the 2017 New York Television Festival. The series is currently in development with Imagine Television.

Public Domain, Kris’ audacious feature debut, was a wry, sophisticated satire about a surveillance-based game show that awards cash to the contestant with the saddest list. Her acclaimed Twilight-Zone-esque short, Can I Get a Witness? starring Scott Speedman, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and was later programmed at the British Film Institute and Anthology Film Archives.
Kris is currently developing future projects and writing her next feature film, while raising her daughter Sophie in Manhattan.

Sara Zandieh is an Iranian-American filmmaker whose 2010 short film, The Pool Party, won a Jury prize at the Tribeca Film Festival and screened at festivals worldwide. Her next short, Reza Hasssani Goes to the Mall starring Maz Jobrani, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and won the Focus Features Best Film Award at the Columbia University Film Festival. Sara then directed an episode of MTV’s critically-acclaimed documentary series, Rebel Music.

She holds an MFA in film directing from Columbia University’s School of Arts, is a recipient of the Fulbright Grant for filmmaking, the La Femis director’s workshop, and a MacDowell Colony fellowship. Her feature film, Simple Wedding, a romantic comedy starring Rita Wilson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Tara Grammy, and Christopher O’Shea, recently premiered to rave reviews in the US Fiction Competition at Film Independent’s 2018 LA Film Festival.

SJ Main Munoz is an award-winning filmmaker whose path to directing began when she became the first female intern at DreamWorks’ Feature Development division at Amblin. She graduated with honors in Theatre Directing and Acting from UCLA, where she was the recipient of the James Bridges Award for Acting. She completed her MFA in Film Directing at Columbia University, once again graduating with Honors. She went on to acquire a PhD in Media and Communications from EGS Switzerland, where she studied under Atom Egoyan, Claire Denis, among others.

SJ has spent over 20 years working in production, notably as a freelance Post Supervisor for commercials and Director of Development at Merchant Ivory Productions.

SJ’s short films have screened worldwide and garnered dozens of awards. As a second-generation Latino-American with a passion for increasing Latino representation in film and TV, SJ was the founder of the former Latino Film Fund and Latino Screenplay Competition. SJ is Costa Rican-American and holds dual-residency in both the US and Costa Rica.