Anthony Riddle /
Managing Director

For 30 years Anthony Riddle has worked in media to effect positive social change.

Anthony began this work as press secretary and speechwriter for Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson. Later, he served as national chair, executive director and led the legislative efforts of the Alliance for Community Media, one of the nation’s largest advocates for the public voice. Anthony directed Public Access facilities in Atlanta, Minneapolis and, while executive director of the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, he helped found the first nationwide Youth Video Channel. He later continued his major market community media work as the General Manager of Pacifica’s WBAI radio in New York.

Throughout his career, Anthony has been a strong advocate for free speech and community media in Eastern Europe, North Africa, The Caribbean and across North America. He was a contributing member of President Carter's Commission on Radio and Television Autonomy in the Former Soviet States.

Anthony Riddle also served as the original program consultant for the Media Justice Fund of the Funding Exchange.

anthony@mayslesinstitute.org
212-582-6050, ext 220

Jessica Green /
Cinema Director

Jessica Green is currently associate producing an adaptation of Henry James' The Beast In the Jungle and producing a documentary on Graffiti titled Anything You Can Get Away With. Green also serves as a consultant on various media and Internet projects, including a television pilot. She got her new media sea legs as the executive editor of BET.com from 2000-2006. She is also a former founder, owner and editor-In-chief of the New York based, independent Hip-Hop magazine Stress (1994-2001). Green has an undergraduate degree from Lang College at the New School for Social Research and was born and raised in New York City.

jessica@mayslesinstitute.org
212-582-6050, ext 221

Vee Bravo /
Education Programs Director

Vee Bravo is a New York-bred filmmaker and activist who has documented youth culture and politics over the past thirteen years. Most recently he completed his first feature length documentary, Estilo Hip Hop, for PBS. Bravo is also responsible for creating the Cell Block Project, a community media initiative that produced live hip hop events and film screenings at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility. Bravo's media and activist work has been recognized and supported by the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Union Square Awards.

veebravo@mayslesinstitute.org
212-582-6050, ext 208

Christine Peng /
Educator - Fall 2011

Christine Peng is a filmmaker, artist and educator who foregrounds urgent and untold stories of people, places, and history. Her recent film From Four Directions explores the intersections of personal and national narratives in the Taiwanese diaspora, and was supported by the Ford Foundation through the Future Aesthetics Artist Re-grant (FAAR) program. Christine was profiled in The 28th Asian American International Film Festival's Cinevue Journal and has presented her work at national and international venues including Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival, East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, B-Fest Conference (Athens, Greece), The World Social Forum (Caracas, Venezuela), The YES Summit (Veracruz, Mexico) and The Allied Media Conference (Detroit, MI). She is currently co-producing a feature-length documentary that looks at the history of racial violence in relation to the dynamics of immigration and urban planning in New York City. Christine received her BFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

Jessica Ann Peavy /
Educator - Summer 2010, Summer & Fall 2011

Jessica Ann Peavy was born in Columbus, Ohio and now currently lives and works in New York City. She received her BFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and completed a MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts. Peavy has exhibited in galleries, museums, and festivals across the country including Rush Arts Gallery, Brooklyn Arts Council, The Contemporary Art Museum Houston, as well as the International Black Media Festival in London. Peavy has spoken at the CUNY Graduate Center and Cinewomen NY on women and the moving image and Columbia University’s Conversations Across Cultures public art Conference. Peavy was recently granted Residencies at Smack Mellon and Harvestworks and has received grants from the Jerome Foundation and the New York State Council of the Arts.

Delmira Valladares /
Educator - Summer 2010, Summer & Fall 2011

Delmira Valladares is an artist and videomaker. Her work, which includes documentary, experimental video, multi-channel narrative, and performance, has included screenings and solo shows at the Center for Book Arts, Jersey City Museum, Vertexlist, Black Maria Film Festival, and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. She worked as assistant editor on 8 BIT: A Documentary about Art and Videogames and the award-winning War Against the Weak. She is currently editing a film about her parent's bodega, and a portrait of a Buddhist temple in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Delmira has a BA from NJCU and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sara Maysles /
New Media Director

Sara Maysles established the Maysles Films, Inc. photo and paper archives in 2004. Collaborating with Steidl Press in Germany and the Steven Kasher Gallery in NYC in 2008, she co-edited A Maysles Scrapbook: Photographs / Cinemagraphs / Documents, a visual history of Maysles Films and the photographic and cinematographic work of Albert Maysles. In 2009, she co-edited and co-designed Grey Gardens with her sister Rebekah - a book of edited conversations and stories culled from approximately 140 hours of audio outtakes of the groundbreaking Maysles Brother's documentary film as well as a variety of other materials from the paper archives. Sara has worked in Nepal's Tibetan community and studied Modern Tibetan language and culture at Tibet University in Lhasa, PRC. She is currently finishing her BA in Tibetan and Cinema studies at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Studies.

sara@mayslesinstitute.org

Rebekah Maysles /
Facilities Director

Rebekah Maysles was born in New York City and moved to Philadelphia to study painting and art history at The Tyler School of Art. She is a painter and photographer and now lives full time in New York. She has been working with Maysles Films for the past five years on archive preservation and redevelopment. In addition she has worked on a variety of print media projects including the Sourcebook of American Chatter and Megawords Magazine. Rebekah co-edited and co-designed Grey Gardens and created the multitude of silkscreened, watercolored, and hand-drawn images woven through the book.

rebekah@mayslesinstitute.org
212-582-6050, ext 207

Philip Maysles /
Technical and Creative Consultant

Philip Maysles earned his MFA in Art from the California Institute of Art (CalArts) in 2005 and his BA with honors from Brown University in 2002. He has taught documentary film and graffiti arts to youth and was an adjunct lecturer in Art at Rice University and the University of Houston (2005-2007). His work in painting and drawing has been exhibited at PS1 (NY), Artist Space (NY) and Monte Vista Projects (Los Angeles). Philip is a recipient of an Inner City Arts Council Purchase Prize, (Milwaukee, WI) and the Marie Helen Hicks Prize from Bell Gallery, Brown University (Providence, RI). He has contributed essays to Small Axe: A Journal of Caribbean Thought, Indiana University Press and the CORE Journal, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Press. Philip Maysles previously served as the Maysles Cinema director from May 2008 - August 2008 and co-director with Jessica Green from September 2008 - June 2011.

philip@mayslesinstitute.org

Ashley Farmer /
Education Intern

Ashley Farmer was born in Nashville, Tennessee and currently lives in New York City. She received her BA from Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia and a MA in History from Harvard University. She is currently process of completing a PhD in African American Studies at Harvard. Her research and work has appeared in several academic journals. Farmer's current research focuses on Black women's radical political activism in the late 20th century.

Jodi Powell /
Cinema Programming Intern

Born and raised in Clarendon Jamaica, Jodi Powell believes the society she grew up in influences her daily. A nation where heightened creativity, corruption and beauty exists Powell claims can be quite the burden, for her though its quite the opposite. Jodi took the college experience all in when she switched the island experience for the Adirondack mountains where she attended Plattsburgh state University and majored in Broadcast Journalism, all whilst developing her interests in Student Government, International Affairs and creative writing. She believes that the drive towards the art of documentary filmmaking comes from the desire to tell stories that are lost in our consciousness or are just not visible and mould real peoples thoughts through extensive processes which are sometimes able to brake countless barriers. Powell enjoys traveling, dancing, fashion the beach and watching films.

Anneliese Cooper /
Design Intern

Anneliese Cooper, formerly of Newton, MA, has had a passion for graphic design ever since she learned the fundamentals of Photoshop as a young attendee of the Mazemakers Day Camp—where she now works during the summer as an Assistant Director. When not dutifully chipping away at a Columbia University major in Film Studies, she enjoys attending concerts, amassing a daunting Netflix queue, and then writing about it all, either for the Columbia Spectator or her own online self-publishing.

Neil Huber /
Cinema Editing Intern

Neil is an editor and colorist. He received his BA in Dramatic Arts and Anthropology/Sociology from Centre College in Danville, KY, and is close to completing his MFA in Film and Television from the Savannah College of Art & Design. Feel free to check out his portfolio website here, as well as his reel. Danke schön!

Matthew Charof /
New Media and Cinema Programming Intern

Matthew Charof is an independent filmmaker from Boston, Massachusetts. His studies in New Media have given him a fresh perspective while directing and producing. He is currently directing a new web series call Welcome to the Neighborhood, written by Geoffrey Grasso and John Salzo.

Monique Karoliszyn /
Cinema Intern

Bio and Photo coming soon!

Ashley Farmer /
Education Intern

Ashley Farmer was born in Nashville, Tennessee and currently lives in New York City. She received her BA from Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia and a MA in History from Harvard University. She is currently process of completing a PhD in African American Studies at Harvard. Her research and work has appeared in several academic journals. Farmer’s current research focuses on Black women’s radical political activism in the late 20th century.

Hatuey Rodriguez /
Cinema Programming Intern

15 years old and hailing from Fort Lee, New Jersey, Hatuey has been a part of the Maysles family for three years as a student, intern, and peer facilitator, and has made four short films during his time at the institute. He enjoys interacting with young kids who show a passion for filmmaking.

Nora Lovotti /
Cinema Programming Intern

Nora Lovotti is from New Preston, Connecticut and currently lives in New York City. A recent graduate from Vassar College, Nora received her BA with a double major in Film and History. A pop culture aficionado, Nora's work at Vassar spanned from how the Eiffel Tower became a cultural icon for her History Thesis to how Clueless exemplifies a postmodern utopia for her Film Thesis. At the Maysles Institute, Nora works primarily as the Internship Coordinator by recruiting interns from area colleges and writes press releases for the cinema's programming.

Peter Cooper /
Cinema Programming Intern

Peter Cooper was born in Providence, Rhode Island and is now a native New Yorker by love. Residing in Harlem and 2011 graduate from Pace University. At Maysles, Peter mainly constructed the weekly e-mail newsletters and enjoyed countless movies from the projectionist booth, ticket booth, and neighborhood Parks while helping out at various screenings. Passionate in many arenas, including words, visuals, music, and catching dreams among the stars. Peter also works with a newspaper in Harlem titled 'The Harlem News' and looks forward to vibin' with life for many lifetimes to come.

Jodi Powell /
Cinema Programming Intern

Born and raised in Clarendon Jamaica, Jodi Powell believes the society she grew up in influences her daily. A nation where heightened creativity, corruption and beauty exists Powell claims can be quite the burden, for her though its quite the opposite. Jodi took the college experience all in when she switched the island experience for the Adirondack mountains where she attended Plattsburgh state University and majored in Broadcast Journalism, all whilst developing her interests in Student Government, International Affairs and creative writing. She believes that the drive towards the art of documentary filmmaking comes from the desire to tell stories that are lost in our consciousness or are just not visible and mould real peoples thoughts through extensive processes which are sometimes able to brake countless barriers. Powell enjoys traveling, dancing, fashion the beach and watching films.

Michelle Charles /
New Media Intern

Michelle is excited to spend her summer doing what she does best-- nerding out behind a computer screen-- but for a great cause! She is a New Media major at Suny Purchase College and will be embarking upon her senior year journey this fall. Past work includes internships with Purchase College Television as well as ClearChannel Digital (IHeartRadio: Production), and Atlas Media Corp (Production and Development). She enjoys lurking the realms of the internet, activism, and watching copious amounts of Roller Derby.

Gil Jonathan Raitses /
Design Intern

Gil, born in queens, raised in Long Island, educated at Syracuse University and the School Of Visual Art in New York City, very recently graduated from school and currently residing in South Harlem. He loves watching movies and making documentaries, attending concerts and visiting foreign countries with movie equipment.

Valerie Grijalv /
Design Intern

Bio coming soon!

Marquis Greggs /
Institute Intern

Marquis Greggs is form Brooklyn, New York and currently a senior at Arts Media Prep high school. For college he wants to attend either Pratt University or the Art Institute. He is aspiring to become editor and has worked of several short films for the cinema. He has created one short film called Ask the Question, and hopes to continue working within the film industry.

Samantha Ramos is 16 years old and is from the Bronx, New York. This is her second summer as a member of the Maysles family and educational programming. In addition to being a peer facilitator, Samantha Ramos is also a young filmmaker. She believes that working with the Maysles Summer Documentary Film Program is an enjoyable learning experience.

Hatuey Rodriguez is 15 years old and from Fort Lee, New Jersey. He has been a part of the Maysles family for three years as a student, intern, and peer facilitator, and has made four short films during his time at the institute. He enjoys interacting with young kids who show a passion for filmmaking.

Alejandro Rosano is 17 years old and is from the Bronx, New York. This is his second summer attending the Maysles Film Institute and his first summer as a peer facilitator. He enjoys teaching new students and helping them create their films. Alejandro believes that being a peer facilitator gives him a chance to see what teachers face in their everyday life.

Nataja Flood is 16 years old and is from the Bronx, New York. She has been a part of the Maysles Institute for two years. During her time at Maysles she has made short films about the issues teens face in her community. She enjoys working with the new students in the summer program and meeting new young filmmakers.