Meet the Team
ABOUT
We’re here to bring you the down low about the screenings at Festival de Cannes— and a fresh perspective on the classics.
Heidi Atlas | she/her
Heidi Atlas is a junior at the University of Southern California, currently pursuing her degree in cinema and media studies, with a minor in intermedia arts. In addition to her academic pursuits, Heidi moderates Q&As for USC’s Outside the Box Office program, writes opinion pieces for the Daily Trojan, and has worked on programming for the Southeast European Film Festival. She is passionate about international, avant-garde, and arthouse cinema, and hopes to pursue a career in film programming, moderation, and criticism. This summer after Cannes she will be interning at the Academy Museum in the film programming department.
David Deiser | he/him
Austrian-American filmmaker David Deiser is a Film & Television Production major pursuing a B.F.A. at the University of Southern California. Deiser plans to direct at a professional & independent level, favoring avant-garde works as his primary form of artistic expression. As well as a passion for creation, Deiser has extensive technical experience in the post-production and visual effects world, working as both a freelancer and professional graphic designer when he is not wrapped up in his studies. He has recently taken an interest in composing the score to both his own and other films, and has scored two thus far. Deiser has also acted in numerous projects.
Jay Liu | he/him
Hailing from the embattled city of Hong Kong, Jay Liu is a writer, director, and editor currently pursuing an MFA in Film/TV Production at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His passion lies in telling stories of queer romance and domestic realism. An alumnus of Northwestern University, he has held main creative roles on films that are finalists or selections of festivals like Newport Beach, Flickers’ Rhode Island, and Los Angeles Asian Pacific. He is currently finishing his thesis film “Anywhere the Wind Blows”.
Min Kim | he/him
Min Kim is an aspiring writer/director and a student at the University of Southern California with a BA in Cinema & Media Studies, MFA candidate in Film & TV Production starting Fall 2023.
Raquel Chatfield-Taylor | she/her
Raquel Vargas Moniz Chatfield-Taylor is a Boston-born, LA-raised, Portuguese-American filmmaker, a personification of her Cinema and Media Studies major and Luso-Brazilian Studies minor. Her work, and overall approach to life, is playful and loose, but also passionately focused on themes of community, culturally-complicated relationships, and memory. Upon graduation in 2024, Raquel will move to Lisbon, Portugal to work as a camera assistant and photographer, and is excited to explore international film scholarship, production, and whatever else she discovers that makes her happy and keeps her curious. Outside of filmmaking, she is an English tutor, Duolingo addict, and avid doodler.
Elijah Davis | he/him
Elijah Davis is a writer/director currently working towards a degree in Cinema and Media Studies with a minor in screenwriting at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. His work attempts to bring a voice to the growing African diaspora and has been recognized by festivals such as Blow-Up Arthouse, Flickers Rhode Island and Green Jack International. He will be interning at StudioCanal upon the conclusion of the Cannes Film Festival.
Michael Saccone | he/him
Michael Saccone is senior at USC studying Communications and Cinematic Arts. Michael is a passionate storyteller and hopes to pursue a career in screenwriting and creative development. In addition to his work and studies, Michael participates in the Army ROTC program, where he will commission as an officer upon graduation.
Kayla Cunningham | she/her
Kayla Cunningham is an incoming junior pursuing a major in Cinema and Media studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She has several interests in the field of cinema, but especially enjoys writing and directing, specifically of comedy, coming of age, romance, and arthouse films. As a new creator of film, she released her writer and directorial-debut short in May 2023, fueling her love for exploring creativity through film. She currently works at Grey Matter Productions as a summer intern, and will continue to explore her passions for filmmaking in different facets and roles.
Benkei Golden | he/him
Benkei Golden is a junior cinema and media studies major at the School of Cinematic Arts at USC. Benkei is a film producer, interested in comedy and documentary production. Additionally, he works as an assistant to USC Outside the Box Office’s head programmer and moderates Q&As throughout the year. Benkei hopes to pursue a career in film criticism, programming, and producing more projects he feels passionately about.
Meet the Team
ABOUT
We’re here to bring you the down low about the screenings at Festival de Cannes— and a fresh perspective on the classics.
Heidi Atlas | she/her
Heidi Atlas is a recent graduate from the University of Southern California, having just completed her degree in cinema and media studies, with a minor in intermedia arts. During her time at USC, she moderated Q&As for films screened at school, discussing a broad array of films with creatives, from indie international documentaries to big budget comedies. Last summer she interned at the Academy Museum in their film programming department, as part of the Academy Gold program and the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship program. She is an avid cinephile, curious and passionate about international, avant-garde, feminist, subversive, analog, and arthouse cinema, and hopes to pursue a career in film programming, moderation, and critique. In addition to Cannes, she will also be attending the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna Italy this summer.
Michelle Pugh | she/her
Michelle Pugh is a filmmaker, musician, and recent graduate from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She focuses on sound design, but has worked in a variety of roles across all departments on dozens of productions. In addition to her filmmaking, Michelle has been playing the trumpet for 13 years and regularly composes music. In her free time she enjoys chess, espresso, and playing with her kitten, Fallon.
Arjun Fischer | he/him
Arjun Fischer is a writer and filmmaker who is currently pursuing his masters in Film Production at the University of Southern California. Before moving to Los Angeles he was an Emmy-nominated documentary producer and editor for NFL Films and Warner Brothers. He loves writing about arthouse cinema, reading on his kindle, and drinking coffee.
Emma Fergusson | she/her
Emma Fergusson is a first year graduate student in Film and Television Production at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She graduated from Kalamazoo College in 2022 where she studied English, philosophy, and film and media studies. Her shorts have screened at the Kazoo 48 Hour Film Festival, The Vidlings & Tapeheads Film Festival, and the Straight 8 Film Competition, and her writing about film has been published at Bright Wall/Dark Room and Film Matters Magazine. She can play the cello or ride a unicycle if the occasion calls for it—just not both at the same time.
Leila Hilf | she/her
Leila’s bio
Matthew Chan | he/him
Matthew Chan is a Singapore-based writer and undergraduate Cinema and Media Studies major at the University of Southern California. He is a regular writer for the websites Talking Shorts and Sindie, focusing on covering Southeast Asian films and short films on the international festival circuit. He was part of the Youth Jury and Critics Programme of the 30th Edition of the Singapore International Film Festival and has also contributed pieces as a freelance film critic to several festivals: including the Encounters Film Festival and the Singapore International Film Festival as part of its New Waves Programme.
Michael Saccone | he/him
Michael Saccone graduated from USC in 2024 with a degree in Communications and 2 minors in Cinematic Arts and the Entertainment Industry. Michael is a passionate storyteller and hopes to pursue a career in screenwriting and creative development. In addition to his work and studies, Michael is a Second Lieutenant A.G. Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve
Fitz Cain | he/him
Fitz Cain is a recent graduate from the University of Southern California, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts in journalism with a minor in cinematic arts. During his time at USC, he produced written and audio content for multiple student-run publications, specializing in arts coverage and criticism. These included USC’s largest newspaper the Daily Trojan, and KXSC, USC’s independent radio station. He also served as the Programming Director at KXSC and directed The Merry Men, an auditioned improvisational comedy group. He has additional professional experience in film marketing and is interested in exploring multiple career paths in the world of entertainment, including arts journalism, documentary, publicity, and programming. Fitz is particularly passionate about LGBTQ stories onscreen, learning Italian, and experimental pop music. His favorite filmmakers include Alfonso Cuarón, Gregg Araki, and Hayao Miyazaki.
Benkei Golden | he/him
Benkei Golden is a senior cinema and media studies major at the School of Cinematic Arts from Brooklyn, NY. He is a film producer specifically interested in comedy and documentary production, as well as an avid cinephile interested in film criticism. This past spring he interned and programmed at the American Cinematheque to develop their digital archive. He is attending the festival for the second year in a row.
Tiger George | she/her
Tiger George is a filmmaker from London, based in Los Angeles. After graduating from the University of Cambridge with a BA in Education and the Arts, Tiger worked in the film industry in a variety of roles ranging from art and camera department, to short film post production and distribution. Tiger is currently pursuing an MFA in Film and Television production from the University of Southern California.
Gabriel Botello | he/him
Gabriel Botello is an aspiring filmmaker from Monterrey, Mexico currently pursuing a degree in Cinema and Media Studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. This spring, he interned at the American Cinematheque where he aided in the completion of the nonprofit’s first digital database. Beyond his love for film production, Gabriel is passionate about film criticism, still photography, and writing in his notes app at odd hours of the night.
Lyla Bhalla-Ladd | she/her
Lyla Bhalla-Ladd is a rising senior at the University of Southern California where she is majoring in journalism with a minor in cinema and media studies. Lyla is the Co-Executive Editor of Annenberg Media, USC’s student multimedia publication and newsroom, where she spends most of her time. Lyla is also the criticism editor at Capsule Magazine, where she writes and publishes arts criticism. This summer, following Cannes, she will be interning at Sotheby’s in the proposals department in Manhattan. Lyla hopes to pursue a career in arts criticism after graduating next year. In addition to writing, Lyla has acted in various USC student films and hopes to continue acting to gain a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the filmmaking process. She is an avid lover of avant-garde and French New Wave films, but her favorite comfort watches include the formulaic sports film. She is most excited to see what French she has remembered after living in Paris for her freshman year.
Meet the Team
ABOUT
We’re here to bring you the down low about the screenings at Festival de Cannes— and a fresh perspective on the classics.
Amaya Nakpodia | she/her
Amaya Nakpodia is a screenwriter and creative director who has always held a passion for cinema. Originally from Texas, she now resides in Los Angeles where she attends the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Amaya majors in Film & Television Production with a minor in Communication Design. She favors French New Wave and Surrealist cinema.
Favorite Movies: Everything Everywhere All at Once, 8½, The Lighthouse, Le Mépris
Favorite Directors: Hito Murai, Jordan Peele
Ben Parkhill | he/him
Ben just graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in English literature and minor in LGBTQ studies. He is originally from Wilmette, Illinois, and plans to pursue a career in creative writing.
Favorite movies: Andrei Rublev, Pink Flamingos, Brazil, First Cow
Favorite directors: Kelly Reichardt, Andrei Tarkovsky
Graham Bertoni | he/him
Graham Bertoni is an undergraduate student at USC pursuing a degree in film and television production. He is an avid movie lover who enjoys both film criticism and film production. He is a fan of all types of films, but most especially Golden Age Hollywood and 80s Slashers.
Favorite movies: Stalker, Holiday (1938), Naked, Fanny and Alexander
Favorite directors: Andrei Tarkovsky, Mike Leigh
Justin Chor Yu Liu (廖楚瑜) | he/him
Justin just finished his second year of Master of Fine Arts in Film and TV Production at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He graduated from Northwestern University in 2020, majoring in radio/television/film, minoring in gender and sexuality studies and Asian humanities. He was born and raised in Hong Kong.
Favorite movies: Yi Yi, Weekend (2011), Scenes from a Marriage (1975), Twin Peaks: The Return
Favorite director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Maria Isabel (Isa) Nieves Bosch | she/her
Isa loves international films and storytelling as a way to attain cross-cultural understanding. She majored in International Affairs and Religious Studies at Skidmore College, and went on a Fulbright program to Indonesia after her graduation. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Cinema & Media Studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Favorite movies: The Spirit of the Beehive, A Streetcar Named Desire, Persepolis
Favorite directors: Guillermo del Toro, Bong Joon-ho
Min Kim | he/him
Min is an undergraduate student in the USC School of Cinematic Arts, pursuing a B.A. in Cinema & Media Studies. He previously attended UC Santa Cruz as a Film & Digital Media major for two years. He loves contemplating and studying all aspects of cinema and wishes to orchestrate his own films in the future.
Favorite movies: Ordet, Blow-Up, A Man Escaped, Certain Women
Favorite directors: Michelangelo Antonioni, Paul Thomas Anderson
Natalie Chak | she/her
Natalie recently graduated from USC with a B.A. in Political Economy and a minor in Cinematic Arts. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she’s always been interested in international films and especially Asian and European cinema.
Favorite movies: In the Mood for Love, Cinema Paradiso
Favorite directors: Noah Baumbach, Agnès Varda