Fall 2019 Writers
Bat-Sheva Guez
Bat-Sheva Guez pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling, weaving dance, magic, and experimental techniques into character-driven stories with lovely production design. She has directed more than a dozen short films and has screened in festivals worldwide including the Hamptons International Film Festival, the Rhode Island International Film Festival (where her film won the Grand Prize for Best Cinematography and a $10k Panavision Grant), the Hollyshorts Festival, The New York Television Festival, and more.
Bat-Sheva is the recipient of the JT3 Artist Award for Screenwriting & Directing and was selected New York Stage and Film Filmmaking Lab. She has also worked as an editor and producer for commercial clients such as Cosmopolitan.com, Mercedes Benz, Travel Channel.com, American Express, Procter & Gamble, Esquire.com, Merkley + Partners, Momentum Worldwide, Pereira & O’Dell and more.
Connie Barr
A friend recently likened Connie’s life to an air traffic controller with multiple powerful jets taxiing on separate runways. Her current endeavors include: Word Wizard Services, a versatile freelance copywriting service, Kiko Designs, an Etsy jewelry shop, offering her unique creations, a trilogy of middle grade novels due to be published this year, and a blossoming screenwriting career, complete with professional representation and more than a dozen screenplays under her belt.
Connie has been happily married to her soul mate and biggest supporter for 4 decades. She is the proud mom of 3 terrific grownups and Nana to 6 amazing grandchildren. Connie has been a Buddhist for nearly 5 decades. She was born and raised in Oregon, but in addition to life in the beautiful Pacific NW, has had the opportunity to live in the deep south and southern California. She loves to travel and has relished visits to Australia, Canada, Japan, Hawaii, Ireland, Mexico, Tasmania, France, Italy and more than half the states in the US, with several destinations still on her bucket list. Connie has been an avid swimmer and dedicated Yogini for many years, finding both water and yoga to be soothing for the body, mind and soul. She is also a devoted Dog Mom to Buddy Barr, the family’s fur baby.
Emma Quigley
Emma Quigley is a writer who lives in Dublin. By day, she works as a freelance writer in the IT world, and at night she writes stories for children and scripts for television. Emma holds a degree in Communications from Dublin City University. She is a member of CBI, SCWBI and the Writers’ Guild of Ireland. Her children’s book “BANK” is published by Little Island.
Alessandra Cardoso
Alessandra Cardoso was born in Brazil and raised in the world. A diplomat’s brat, she has traveled extensively, acquiring first hand knowledge of cultural diversity and traditions. Fluent in 3 languages, and babbling another 2, she graduated in Business and Finance to then realize her passion is in writing. She became an editor to B&S (Beauty & Style) magazine, after a stint as a columnist to Attitude magazine. Today, Alessandra runs a Public Relations and Communication business and focuses all her spare time on her writing. Her first screenplay landed as Finalist at the Barnstorm Film Festival, USA; Semi-Finalist at Big Apple Film Festival, USA; Semi-Finalist at Evolution! Mallorca International Film Festival, Spain; Semi-Finalist at Burning Love Screenplay Contest, USA; Official Selection at the American Screenwriting Conference, USA; and Quarter-Finalist at the NYI Screenplay Awards, USA.
Marco Baratta
Marco Baratta is a New York City based writer/director/producer/editor. For his checks, he works in production in the world of NYC film and television, having worked primarily in the location department or as a director’s assistant (Joker, The Irishman, Hustlers). In his free time however, he writes, directs, produces, and edits independent projects. He has written and directed two of his own short films, which have screened in various festivals, and one of his feature length scripts was selected as a semi-finalist in the Rhode Island International Film Festival. He studied film and played baseball at Wesleyan University.
Bobby Peretti
Bobby Peretti is a screenwriter based in New York City. He studied Writing and Film at Johns Hopkins University, where he wrote and directed a short film – “The Cyclist” – with funding won from a student grant. He has co-written an independent feature film currently in preproduction and a short – “The Reading” – currently in postproduction. He has written episodic web series content, contributed post-production writing for The Bend Creative, and worked as a script doctor for Alphabet City Films. He has given script workshops to student filmmakers, read and reviewed scripts for Big Beach Films and Nostos Films, and he coordinates directing workshops for The Directors’ Collective NYC.
Davide Gentile
Davide Gentile went to Cannes in 2016 and won a Gold Young Director Award for his short film ‘Food For Thought’ and Best Young Italian Author 2016 at the Venice Film Festival. With his short film he also won 4 awards at the Roma Creative Contest BEST FILM / BEST SCREENPLAY /BEST PHOTOGRAPHY /BEST SOUND DESIGN and 2 awards at the 30UNDER30 NEW YORK 2017: BEST PHOTOGRAPHY / AUDIENCE CHOICE. The film is a slow burning thriller that nods to the work of Tarantino and the Coen Brothers while commenting on the pervasive influence of junk food on modern society. He also won Silver Young Director Award at Cannes Lions in 2015 for his film for BOSE ‘Music is My Language’, Davide likes to craft stories that capture life with both wit and honesty and is always looking to find magic by combining great performances and beautiful visuals. His short film OMAR got selected at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. He continues shooting commercials around the world, writing and producing his own personal projects while preparing his first feature film.
Faye Yuan
Born in Shanghai, China, Faye is a Brooklyn-based bilingual director, producer, and editor. Her mobile documentary launched at POV Hackathon 9 and was a finalist at Sundance New Frontier. Her last documentary was a Made in New York selection at DOCNYC, after appearing in Food & Wine, Gothamist, and the New York Times. She is currently editing and producing a feature-length documentary about a 70-year-old Chinese animal rights activist – an official selection at the Tribeca N.O.W. Creators Marketplace.