About the Fest
About the Fest
Twenty-five years is 30,000 films submitted, or the 162 countries they came from. It’s 38 Oscar awards and nominations, and 47 states reached by our virtual Festival last year. It’s 42 filmmakers, actors, and industry leaders who have served on our jury. Or 170 unique, individually curated film programs.
But the most significant achievement of the past 25 years—the evidence of which can be found at each and every NYICFF event—is a little harder to pin down (and we're not talking about the number of ballots and pencils we’ve lost below theater seats). The true value of our work sometimes appears much smaller, but it lives in the immeasurable.
It’s in the conversations that start as credits roll and continue around the dinner table. You’ll find it in the look on a young person’s face the first time they see someone like them on the screen. You hear it in the voice of an audience member using their native language to ask a visiting filmmaker a question, or the stunned silence of the filmmaker who hadn’t expected such insight from a kid. It’s the surprise endings, the innovative animation, or discovering your new favorite movie at a Festival for kids. It’s collective laughter. It’s the teacher finding a way into complex topics by sharing films in class. It’s watching the rest of the industry start to catch on and move the needle, however slightly, toward inclusive storytelling for all ages, on all sides of the camera.
team
team
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Nina Guralnick
PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR
Maria-Christina Villaseñor
STAFF
Rebecca Linde, Communications Director
Martine McDonald, Education Director
Taylor Freimund, Development Manager
Gabrielle Gonzalez, Festival Assistant
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
K. Heather McRay, President
Guy Story, Vice President
Maureen Hayes, Treasurer
Kennedy Cogan, Secretary
Deepak Arya
Scott Cohen
Jeanine Conley Daves
Priya Giri Desai
Camilla Gale
Shruti Ganguly
Kate McClure
Elif Ongoren
Dorie Lederfajn Paparo
Jane Royal
Jo Anne Schlesinger
DIRECTORS EMERITUS
Eric Beckman
Emily Shapiro
OFFICE INTERNS
Leah Gross
Julia Gutterman
Franziska Winter Nace
SCREENING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
Ara Butler
Sara Echaniz
Corrine Ellingson
Drew Feldman
Delassie Gadzanku
Tristian Goik
Jada Henry
Stephen Kuster
Nic Marshall
Jessica Polaniecki
Emerald Wright-Collie
Tatiana Youpa
DESIGN
Kiss Me I'm Polish
Car of Tomorrow
Jury
Jury
Peilin Chou
Producer (Over the Moon, Abominable)
Melissa Cobb
Vice President, Kids and Family, Netflix
Geena Davis
Academy Award®-winning actor and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media
Madeline DiNonno
CEO, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; Chair, Board of Directors of the Television Academy Foundation
Amy Friedman
Head of Kids and Family Programming, Warner Bros.
Elizabeth Ito
NYICFF Award-winning director (Welcome to My Life), creator of Netflix's City of Ghosts
Kyle MacLahlan
Award-winning actor (Twin Peaks, Dune, Inside Out)
Guillermo Martinez
Head of Story, Sony Pictures Animation (The Mitchells vs The Machines), Story Artist, Laika Studios (Kubo and the Two Strings, Missing Link)
Matthew Modine
Award-winning actor and filmmaker (Stranger Things, Full Metal Jacket)
Ramsey Naito
President, Nickelodeon Animation; President, Paramount Animation; Academy Award®-nominated producer (The Boss Baby)
Mark Osborne
Academy Award®-nominated director, writer, producer, and animator (Kung Fu Panda, The Little Prince)
Peter Ramsey
Academy Award®-winning director (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Rise of the Guardians)
Ira Sachs
Award-winning filmmaker (Little Men, Love is Strange); founder and Executive Director, Queer/Art
Uma Thurman
Academy Award®-nominated actor (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2); Board of Directors, Room to Grow
Nora Twomey
Academy Award®-nominated director (The Breadwinner, The Secret of Kells); co-founder, Cartoon Saloon
special thanks
special thanks
Jasmine Abghari
Vidya Alexander
Erin Amaty
ArtSmart
Jennifer Becker
Vincent Burich
Garth Burkhart
Francesca Campanella
Leslie Castañeda
Nathalie Charles
Alison Chavez
Carina Christmas
Christian Cole
Amy Davila
Andrea Davis
Davis, Polk, and Wardell
Paul DeSilva
Dave Jeastadt
Russ Gage
Agnieszka Gasparska
William Hohauser
Chance Husky
Ariana Inness-Brown
Amaris Jones
Karen Kelso
Anastasia Leahy
Frances Leahy
Adeline Monzier
Moxie Bookkeeping
Erik Mund
Adam Natale
Amanda Nguyen
Jessica Ortega
Gabriela Prado
Kyle Reinhart
Eric Rosset
Peter Russo
Arin Sang-urai
Melanie Scharler
Catherine Scheinman
Min Jin Shin
Brian Sierra
Marleen Slot
Christine Tasto
Aya Taveras
Julie Tustin
Rodney Uhler
Sharleen Valentin
Dennis Vermeulen
Joaquin Vermeulen
Wagner, Ferber, Fine & Ackerman
Jeremy Wine
press
press
IN THE NEWS
March 4, 2022 - At New York International Children's Film Festival, Films Come First, The New York Times
March 8, 2022 - Programming Director Maria-Christina Villaseñor talks to Alison Stewart on WNYC's "All of It."
PRESS RELEASES
February 10, 2022 — NYICFF to Launch 25th Anniversary Festival in Person
February 14, 2022 — NYICFF Announces 25th Anniversary Features Slate
PRESS ASSETS
For assets, click here
PRESS CONTACT
Jennifer Becker / nyicff@ctand.co
our supporters
our supporters
$5,000+
Deepak Arya & Uttara Choudhury
Bank of America Foundation
Baker & Dr. Nadine Chang
Kennedy Cogan
Jeanine Conley Daves
Camilla Gale & Zach Aarons
The Eloise Susanna Gale Foundation
Maureen Hayes
Julia & Declan Kelly
Dorie Lederfajn Paparo
Kate McClure
Heather McRay
Elif Ongoren
Jane Royal & John C. Lantis
Guy Story & Kerry Donahue
$1,000-$4,999
Viral Acharya & Manjiree Jog
Anonymous
Sarah Austrian
Yvonne Chan
Allison & Tim Coleman
Catherine & John Colton
Yafang Y.F. Deng
Karen Falk & Michael Steven Goldman
Shruti Ganguly
Michael Gibbons
Vasanta Giri
Priya Giri Desai
Michael & Jennifer Glassman
Susan Huang
Laura Krey
Amy & Frank Linde
Linda C Mischel Eisner
Jennifer Moses
Jo Anne Schlesinger
Stoddard Sennott
Kara Shulman
Carrie & Arthur Steinmetz
Keiko Tase
Jane Varkell
$500-$999
Anonymous
Will Bachman
Scott Cohen & Anastasia Traina
William Coughlin
Jasteka Foundation
Susana Gonzalez
Raj Goyle
Shannon Hales
Maira Kalman
Peggy Lefebvre
Renee Marton
Marsha Mason
Richard & Nancy McRay
Melanie Meyers
Norman Monhait
Robert G Morris
The Oglivie Family
Megha Samir Desai
Angela Solomon
Kurt & Ellen Vandenberg / BlackRock, Inc.
Melinda Weir
Melissa Wohlgemuth
Up to $499
Fatimah Abdulla
Elizabeth Abrams
Kamala Acero
Stacy Alexander
Karen Allen
Adam Ames
Anonymous
Laura & Nate Asker
Jayne Atkinson-Gill
Stephen Atwood
Zachary Auslander
Robert Avila
Jamie Axford
Karen Azoulay
Ashesh Badani
Vernon Ballard
Pamela Barr
Louisa Bayard
Courtney Bayko / Pfizer Inc.
Jerry Beaver
Bonnie Berkowitz
Melissa Beyer
Raoul Bhavnani
William Bolls
Carolyn Boltin
Shirley Boutin
Kate Brady
Mari Brekkan
Ama Burnham
Jennifer Buzzelli
Melissa H. Byers
Peggy Cambier-Weinstein
Carl D. Cambria
David Caparelliotis
Nathalie Casthely
Art Chang
Nina Charnoff
Stephanie Cherry & Rob Hansen
Carol Choi
Kathleen Coleman
Dana Coleman
Vanessa Colombo
Marika Condos
Shannon & Brian Curry-Hartmann
Nicole Deller
Ariel Devine
Nosipho Dhladhla
Candida do Amaral
Chaya Doss
Mary English
Sara Ann Erichson
Joi Ernst
John Ervin
Susan Etra
Deborah Feldman
Amber Ferber
Gail Flesher
Joseph Foley
Julie F. Frank
Marybeth & Derrick Freimund
Loretta & David Freimund
Jennifer Friedman
Jay Fung
Lisa Garrison
Katie & William Geissinger
James Georgiades
Sharon Gerstein
Michel R. Gill
Gina Gionfriddo
Rohit Giri
Alan Gishlick
Patricia Glasgow
Geoffrey Glick
Tristian Goik
Thomas Goldstone
Nathan Gordon
Amelia Gray
Scott Green
Erin Greenhouse
Jessica Greif
Volkan Gulboy
Alexandra Guralnick
Debra Guthrie, MD
Sam Gutt
Sarah Hall
Kathleen Harkness
Nicole Harkness
Irene Harris
Phoebe C. Hawkins
Penelope Hays
Sue L. Henderson
Erica S. Hill
Stephen Hirsh
Ali Hoffman
Deidre Hoguet
Moria Holland
Christine Holmes
Tamara Hubinsky
Tracey Jackson
Mary Johnson
Carol Juhl
Devika Kapoor
Priyanka & Karthik
Christine Kattan
Lawrence Katz
Nabeela Khan
Lynette Koppel
Remy Kothe
Catherine Kunkemueller
Debbie T. Kuo
Amy Lackpour
Suzanne LaFleur
Stephen LaMarca
Wendi Lee
Caroline Lee
An Lewis
Melissa Liberty
Essence Liburd
Kayla Lindquist
Louise Litt
Stephanie Loeffel
Patricia Louie
Aidan Lucey
Nitasha Manchanda
Jennifer Mangels
Ali Marsh
Mallika Marshall
Jean Matoi
Jennifer McConnell
Margaret McGregor
Rhonda Joy McLean
Mary Jane McQuillen
Mandira Mehra
Rajan Menon
Doreen Mensah
Jody Miller
Akanksha Mittal
Vinay Seth Mohta
Joan Monk
Alexander Morris
Robin Morris
Vanessa Morris-Burke
Monica Neuman
Robert Nicotra
Nick Nyhan
Caroline Oberg
Natalia Ortiz
Daniel Parket
David Peth
Hope & Sumner Pingree
Joanne Purdy
Audra Robb
Dave Roman
Elizabeth Ross
Marcy Sacks
Robin Sampson
Anita Sands
Marta Schaaf
John Schobel
Katie Schuller
Dominique Schulte
Emily Shapiro
Barbara Simon
Mona Singh
Brenda Smith
Anagha Sreenivasan
Steven Stojanowski
Margaret Sullivan
Prashanthi Sylada Krishna
Linda & Rick Thomas
Liza Tripp
Katherine Tsan
Steven C. Vause
Pratima Abichandani & Vikrant Raina
Priscille Voekler
Valeska Von Schirmeister
Sarah R. Wallendjack
Terry Walters
Rick Whelan
Cynthia Wick Gibson
Ismee Williams
Ksenia Winnicki
Kira Wizner
Emily Wong
Jenny Wright
Michi Yanagishita
Anthony Yarborough
Christine Zanchi
Michaela Zanzani
Jonah Zimiles
as of February 16, 2022
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