Whatever it is, the way you tell your story can make all the difference.
Billy Kent, Director
Billy is a writer, director, educator, and producer living in Saugerties, New York. His first feature film, THE OH IN OHIO (2006), starred Parker Posey, Danny DeVito, Paul Rudd, Heather Graham, and Liza Minnelli. The film premiered at SXSW and internationally at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Critic Wesley Morris called the film "one of the sweetest, smartest sex comedies I've ever seen." Billy's second feature, HAIRBRAINED (2013), starred Brendan Fraser, Alex Wolff, Parker Posey, and Julia Garner.
Billy has worked with artists worldwide, including Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson, and Cristina Iglesias, to share their creative processes on screen. He began his career producing political satire for MTV, and continues making funny commercials all over the globe for the world's top ad agencies.
Billy’s love of storytelling began with his father, who escaped from Austria to New York City as a child, just ahead of Nazi Germany’s invasion. Billy's dad died when he was 17, and he’s since pursued work that brings joy and laughter as a way to remember him.
Billy teaches directing at NYU Tisch and the CUNY Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, where his greatest joy is witnessing students bring their own stories to life.
Alexandra Leinweber, Director
Alley is a multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker living between her two favorite places, Brooklyn and the North Fork of Long Island. Her work explores our relationship to a changing environment and the peculiarities of modern femininity. She is a driven and resourceful producer, whose projects include the Making Modern series for Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
An investigator at heart, she holds a BA in Journalism from Temple University and an MFA in directing from CUNY’s Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. Alley also has a background in theater, with a keen eye for casting and a passion for talking with strangers.
As a Ford Foundation fellow, Alley created IRL, a video series for the 2017 Women's March. She interned for Martin Scorsese, and has been nominated for a National Board of Review Award for her thesis film, BLUEPOINT. The film won the audience choice award at Adirondack Film Festival, and will screen at International Oceans Film Festival in spring 2021. Alley credits her grandma, a painter and life-long teacher of the arts in New York City, as her greatest influence. She taught Alley to follow her bliss and approach storytelling with empathy.