Cinematography Showcase Cinematographers 2023
Meet the 2023 AFI Conservatory Cinematography Graduates
The AFI Conservatory presents a showcase of the extraordinary visual storytelling talent’s of this year’s Cinematography class. Click on a fellow headshot to see their bio and contact information.
www.leobehrens.art | dp.leobehrens@gmail.com | IG: @dp_leobehrens | 213.588.5591
Leo Behrens is a Norwegian cinematographer. Following his graduation from Westerdals Film and Television in 2010, with a specialization in Writing and Directing, he began his career as a camera operator. Over time, he worked his way up to become a cinematographer, working on various documentaries, music videos, short films, TV shows and reality TV in Norway. Behrens has brought home several festival awards in his home country, and some of his recent work has been featured at festivals such as Outfest, InsideOut Film Festival Toronto, NorthWestFest and Florida Film Festival.
Behrens has a deep love for stories that showcase unique angles and provide fresh perspectives. He enjoys exploring subjects outside of conventional topics and challenging audiences with thought-provoking narratives that encourage questioning current social norms. He holds a special fondness for drama, thrillers, magical realism and science fiction. As a transgender filmmaker, Behrens is also passionate about exploring LGBTQ themes across various genres.
Behrens was accepted into the Cinematography program at the AFI Conservatory in 2021, and was granted a scholarship from the Perenchio Foundation, which was awarded through AFI. He is currently a student member of the Society of Camera Operators.
Leo Behrens
www.audreybiche.com | audreybiche@gmail.com | IG: @audrey_biche | 213.705.8114
Audrey Biche is a French cinematographer, raised between China and the Caribbean, currently based in Los Angeles. She has worked on narrative shorts as well as indie documentaries throughout France, Italy, Kenya, Bulgaria and the U.S. She is a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship and a Georges Lurcy fellowship, as well as an ASC Vision Mentorship.
Audrey Biche
twodough.com | tu@twodough.com | IG: @twodough | 904.514.8453
Tu Do is a Vietnamese-American cinematographer with a focus on narrative and documentary filmmaking.
His films have played at notable film festivals such as SXSW, Palm Springs International SHORTFEST and Encounters Short Film Festival. His camerawork and lighting plays on the characteristics of classic American and Asian cinema, creating images that are intimate and real.
Tu Do
shihyoungjeon.com | shihyoungjeon@gmail.com | IG: @shihyoung_setlife | 626.528.7708
Shi-hyoung Jeon(전시형) is a cinematographer based in Los Angeles and South Korea. He majored in Filmmaking at the Korea National University of Arts and started his career as an electrician. He worked in the camera department on feature films, including PARASITE, and after working as an AC for four years, he made the decision to relocate to Los Angeles to broaden his professional horizons on a global scale. In pursuit of that goal, he attended the AFI Conservatory MFA Cinematography program, Class of 2023. He is also the member of the BAFTA LA Newcomers Program.
His current short film TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS, on which he served as the cinematographer, won the Best International Short Film at the 2022 Brisbane International Film Festival and was nominated at Busan Film Festival, Blue Dragon Film Awards, HIFF and the Cinegear Expo Film Series 2022.
He is a father of two sons who play like there is no tomorrow.
Shi-Hyoung Jeon
ncjonesfilm@gmail.com | IG: @nataliecheyenne | 714.833.4032
Natalie Jones is a Los Angeles-based cinematographer who received her MFA in Cinematography from the AFI Conservatory in 2023. She is a proud member of IATSE Local 600 and works as a film loader and digital camera utility. She has worked on TV series such as STAR WARS: THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT, STAR WARS: AHSOKA, Hulu’s PAM AND TOMMY and ABC’s HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER.
Jones started out working in the Warner Bros. Drapery department and then went on to work as a set production assistant. After a year, she achieved entry as a member of IATSE Local 600. Jones has now spent years working on productions with and learning from award-winning directors and cinematographers such as Robert Rodriguez, Peter Ramsey, Dean Cundey, A.S.C, Ellen Kuras and Paula Huidobro.
As a cinematographer, Jones’ mission is to create films that empower others to explore their creativity, hone their passions and become leaders of change. She aims to make art that inspires audience members to laugh and cry at the same time; all while embracing their inner silly sides. When Jones isn’t shooting you can find her rock climbing, surfing Southern California’s tasty waves and searching for the world’s best breakfast burrito.
Natalie Jones
mattkleppner.com | mattkleppner@gmail.com | IG: @mattkleppner | 781.530.7283
Matt Kleppner is a cinematographer based in Los Angeles. The grandson of Caribbean, Chinese and Jewish immigrants, Matt holds a special affinity for stories about cultural identity and memory in the U.S.
Last year, one of his short films RETURN TO SENDER (directed by Russell Goldman and produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and Jake Katofsky), played at over 20 festivals across the U.S. including Fantastic Fest, Portland Film Festival and opening night at Hollyshorts Film Festival. His most recent short, THE PERFECT PLACE TO CRY (directed by Shane Bannon and produced by Celina Bernstein), premiered at Dances with Films and is playing at festivals this summer including Fantasia Film Festival.
Kleppner holds an MFA in Cinematography from the AFI Conservatory and a BA in Film Studies and American Studies from Wesleyan University. He was recently selected as one of four cinematographers to join Color Creative’s inaugural Find Your People cohort. Sponsored through Issa Rae and Deniese Davis’ management company, this development program provides film funding and mentorship for 28 up-and-coming POC filmmakers.
Matt Kleppner
leavitt.jenny@gmail.com | IG: @jennydleavitt | 775.813.2140
Jenny Leavitt grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in the wild town of Reno, Nevada. She graduated from New York University and went on to her beginnings in the film industry, research assisting in documentary film. She wandered right back to her favorite place to be – working behind the camera. She camera assisted on many television shows and feature films in NYC. Leavitt moved to Los Angeles with impeccable timing at the beginning of 2020 and began her first few professional jobs as a commercial cinematographer. She now has her focus set in the visual storytelling of narrative short films. She is finishing her MFA in Cinematography at the AFI Conservatory.
Jenny Leavitt
www.mkomalkhasyan.com | mkomalkhasyan@gmail.com | IG: @miko_malkhasyan_dp | 747.202.5000
Miko Malkhasyan is an Armenian-born cinematographer who relocated to the United States. For the last 20 years, Malkhasyan has worked on features, documentaries, music videos and commercials in the U.S., Europe, Africa and Russia. Malkhasyan has been the cinematographer on various productions, from large-scale period feature films with massive battle scenes and special effects to arthouse, 3D and VR cinema. He is a member of ACG (Armenian Cinematographers Guild) and a graduate of the AFI Conservatory Cinematography program, Class of 2023.
Miko Malkhasyan
www.petermccollough.com | petermccollough@gmail.com | IG: @peterearlmccollough | 916.595.2448
Peter “Mack” McCollough grew up in Davis, California, and worked as a photographer in the Bay Area before transitioning into a career as a cinematographer.
Peter “Mack” McCollough
www.marynmcgaw.com | marynmcgawdp@gmail.com | IG: @marynmcgaw | 330.352.1906
Cinematographer Maryn McGaw loves to sculpt and share stories. Driven by how filmmaking can create complex visual language, constantly shifting with characters and emotions that actively draw the audience in, she fosters narratives that need telling right now, ones that support awareness, acceptance and empathy.
Growing up in Cleveland with architect parents, her background stretches from engineering to cinematography. Also a member of the Society of Camera Operators and lighting union Local 728, she loves the whole craft of cinematography and being a maker with the camera.
She is queer, transgender and an altruist at heart. She has also served as a crisis and suicide prevention counselor at The Trevor Project, sharing space with LGBTQ+ youth across the country. When not on set, McGaw can otherwise be found riding her bike to the best workout playlist or catching sun on the beach with any one of the five books she’s in the midst of reading.
She is proud to further queer storytelling and trans visibility.
Maryn McGaw
www.sarahmegyesy.com | megyesysarah@gmail.com | IG: @s.megyesy | 412.913.0945
Sarah Megyesy was born and spent her childhood years in the rusty city of Pittsburgh, PA. After finding her interest in film in high school, she went on to receive her BFA in Filmmaking from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She graduated in 2011 and shortly thereafter moved to Denver, CO, where she often worked with Colorado’s thriving music scene. She created the music video “Liars” for Grammy®-nominated artist Gregory Alan Isakov and has made multiple videos with award-winning poet Andrea Gibson. In April 2019, Megyesy finished her first documentary feature film, THE RIGHT TO REST, about Denver’s homeless rights movement, and her second documentary film, IN A DRY LAND, is currently streaming through PBS. Although Megyesy has experience in all aspects of filmmaking, cinematography is where she finds the most passion. She will graduate from the AFI Conservatory with an MFA in Cinematography in August 2023.
Sarah Megyesy
www.danielmiramontes.com | dmiramontes@afi.edu | IG: @daaahhhhhniel | 562.644.0807
Daniel Miramontes is currently a 2nd year Cinematography Fellow at the AFI Conservatory. He is a San Francisco State University graduate with BAs in Cinema and Fine Arts and an associate’s degree in Photography from Fullerton College. He is also an alum of the Jerusalem Film Workshop and SUROP program at Kansas State University, where he conducted research at the intersection of art and technology. Miramontes’ short film ICARUS was part of the 2020 San Francisco Dance Film Festival, and in 2020 his film TRANSITION 4 was exhibited at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco.
Daniel Miramontes
keithnixonjr.com | keith.l.nixon@gmail.com | IG: @keithnixonjr | 804.691.8525
Keith Nixon Jr. is a filmmaker interested in exploring narratives spanning the Black cultural spectrum, giving particular focus to familial dynamics. A lifelong exposure to visual media has inspired his commitment to visual storytelling.
Nixon is a graduate of Old Dominion University. He attended Howard University as a Film MFA student. He is exploring the intersection of storytelling, design thinking and cultural specificity as a soon-to-be graduate of the Cinematography MFA program at the AFI Conservatory.
Keith Nixon Jr
www.hannahplatzer.com | hannah.platzer@gmail.com | IG: @nah_ppp | 213.693.0331
Born in Northern Italy and raised in Vienna, Hannah Platzer graduated with her first master’s degree from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in 2019. During her studies, she worked at a German rental house and subsequently, in G&E on television shows and feature films. Her collaborations, both documentary and fictional, have been screened at international film festivals and networks. In 2021, she received the Michael-Ballhaus Cinematography Award for her work on POSTKIDS (dir: Julian Pawelzik), which led to her becoming a member of the German Film Academy (Deutsche Filmakademie eV). This was the same year she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her MFA in Cinematography at the AFI Conservatory.
Hannah Platzer
www.sharonpulwer.com | Sharonpulwer@gmail.com | IG: @sharonpulwer | 917.208.9846
Sharon Pulwer is a cinematographer and photojournalist based in Los Angeles and originally from Tel Aviv. In 2023, she graduated from the cinematography program at the AFI Conservatory, where she shot two thesis films, THE BULLFIGHTER and SOME KIND OF PARADISE. Her photojournalism work that focused on religion, conflict and women rights was published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Rolling Stone and others. In 2018, she graduated from the documentary program at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in NYC, where she started her three-year documentary project GOD FEARING WOMEN that followed the lives of Jewish ultra-orthodox women in Brooklyn. Between 2015–2017, she was the legal affairs correspondent of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Prior to that she served for three years as a military journalist.
Sharon Pulwer
isueshin.com | isueshin@gmail.com | IG: @isue | 607.321.5735
Isue Shin was born in Seoul, Korea, and grew up in Upstate New York climbing trees and swimming in watering holes. After receiving a BA in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University, she was a part of the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium and Visual Communications Armed With a Camera Fellowship. Her narrative work has been shown at various film festivals around the country.
Isue Shin
www.luisadale.com | luisa.dale@gmail.com | IG: @luisadale | 323.806.6382
Luísa Dalé Silva (she/her) is a Brazilian-born cinematographer with a passion for storytelling. She holds a degree in History from the Universidade de Brasília and studied Cinematography at the Escuela Superior de Cinema y Audiovisual de la Cataluña (ESCAC) in Barcelona, where she honed her craft. Silva has recently graduated from the AFI Conservatory with an MFA in Cinematography and is a mentee in the ASC Vision Mentorship Program. She was one of the 12 selected cinematographers for the Terre di Cinema 2023 program, sponsored by the Autori Italiani Cinema (AIC) and the German Society of Cinematography (BVK).
Silva is drawn to projects that delve into the complexity of characters through simple stories.
Luísa Dalé Silva
www.sikastanton.com | sikastanton.dp@gmail.com | IG: @sikaafi | 503.833.2311
Sika Stanton is an African-American cinematographer based in Los Angeles. Equally happy wandering the forests of the Pacific Northwest, riding mototaxis along the equator or finding camaraderie on a film set – she values curiosity, adaptability and discovery in the filmmaking process. Stanton enjoys creating immersive, purposeful and inclusive experiences both in front of and behind the lens.
As an IATSE Local 600 Digital Utility, Stanton worked her way onto a number of episodic, commercial and feature film projects including SHRILL, PIG and DOCUMENTARY NOW!. Her creative background spans narrative and documentary film, commercials, music videos and art photography. She earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her MFA in Cinematography at the AFI Conservatory. She has worked in Canada, the United States and West Africa.
Sika Stanton
www.joewiverhoeven.com | joewiverhoeven@hotmail.com | IG: @joewiverhoeven | 909.655.8137
Joewi Verhoeven is an award-winning Dutch-Chinese cinematographer based in Los Angeles. He has worked on a wide range of feature films, commercials, shorts and documentaries in China, Europe and – more recently – the U.S.
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Verhoeven moved to Beijing when he was 18. Becoming fluent in Mandarin Chinese, he was the first foreigner to graduate with a BFA in Cinematography at the Beijing Film Academy in 2013. Starting as a cinematographer in the Chinese film industry, he developed a visual sensitivity and perspective that is uniquely his own. Verhoeven will be graduating in 2023 with an MFA in Cinematography from the AFI Conservatory.
Joewi Verhoeven
www.jenisewhitehead.com | jenise.whitehead@gmail.com | IG: @jenise.whitehead.dp | 310.562.7946
Born in Nashville and raised in South Los Angeles, Jenise Whitehead has always found comfort in the arts for self-expression. Learning oil painting and jazz in Leimert Park was pivotal to planting the seed that would later bloom into a passion for still photography and travel; and soon after, cinematography.
Whitehead earned a BA Spanish from San Francisco State University after studying abroad in la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Upon her graduation, she co-directed GIDEON’S CROSS in Outfest Los Angeles’ OutSet program. The film screened at Outfest Fusion, Outfest LA, Outfest Santo Domingo, Outfest LA Online by DirecTV and Models of Pride, as well as private screenings at APA Agency and Pacific Theatres at The Grove.
She then trained in Panavision Hollywood’s two-year program and joined IATSE International Cinematographers Guild Local 600. After spending the past few years furthering her craft while crewing on award-winning shows such as INSECURE, UNBELIEVABLE, GENTEFIED, DIARY OF A FUTURE PRESIDENT, WAFFLES + MOCHI and YOUNG SHELDON, in addition to many other productions, she was invited to participate in the AFI Conservatory’s inaugural Cinematography Intensive for Women. Recently, Whitehead earned her MFA in Cinematography at the AFI Conservatory where she was awarded the Perenchio Family Endowed Scholarship as well as the Tom Yoda Scholarship in recognition of her potential as a storyteller.
As a director and cinematographer, Whitehead intends to lens stories that examine the intersection of identities often marginalized in society; to humanize experiences that have yet to be fully explored in cinema.
Jenise Whitehead
www.arty-miss.com | pascaler.w98@gmail.com | IG: @arty_miss98 | 310.963.7252
Pascale Williams’ passion for storytelling grew out of her multicultural experiences and background. Born in London and growing up between the city and Los Angeles, these experiences have helped her understand both the intersectionality of culture as well as a variety of modes of communication.
Williams thrives when given the opportunity to meet and embrace others while discovering not only what makes each person tick but also what may assist them in reaching their fullest potential. As somebody who sees themself as a citizen of the world, Williams sees it as a responsibility to represent previously unheard voices while telling new and interesting stories with the utmost intention and care.
Pascale R. Williams
serranosantiago.com | santiago.serrano.y@gmail.com | IG: @ese.serrano | 347.821.7883
Santiago Serrano Yánez is an Ecuadorian-American cinematographer with a passion for visual storytelling that promotes understanding among people. Yánez’s journey started with documenting social issues related to poverty and violence in different countries around Latin America.
As an immigrant, his curiosity about human mobility has led him to explore themes of culture, community, national identity and belonging. He has participated as a cinematographer in various short films and documentaries. Currently based in Los Angeles, he is open to working anywhere in the world.
Santiago Serrano Yánez
