Michael Connors | Senior Affiliated Faculty & Creative Thesis Mentor
Michael Connors is an award-winning filmmaker whose films have played festivals worldwide, including Tribeca, London and Austin. He made his feature directing debut with ALLEGIANCE, starring Aidan Quinn and Pablo Schreiber. ALLEGIANCE was released theatrically and acquired by Netflix. He produced the award-winning feature film AMIRA AND SAM by director Sean Mullin, which was released theatrically by Drafthouse films.
Connors has directed and produced several commercial spots for ESPN and directed episodes for UNCABERET, an unscripted series for Amazon about the legendary Los Angeles-based alternative comedy show. He is currently in development on the television series OPERATOR for First Look Media and the feature film ASHLAND FALLS for Candleridge Entertainment.
Connors is a winner of the National Board of Motion Pictures Award and the IMAX Outstanding Achievement in Motion Pictures Award. He holds a BA from Harvard University concentrating in Political Science and his MFA in Directing from Columbia University’s Film Division. He has taught filmmaking at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and Columbia University. Before starting his career in film, Connors served four years as an infantry officer in the United States Army.
Laura Davis | Affiliated Faculty & Creative Thesis Mentor
As a writer/director, Laura Davis’ second feature, INHERITANCE, starring Mark Webber, premiered at SXSW and was released theatrically by Breaking Glass Pictures. It was nominated for the Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award and the SXSW Gamechanger Award. Her first feature was the award-winning film, THIN AIR, which played at festivals domestically and internationally.
Her other films include the short COUP DE GRACE, starring Sarita Choudhury (HOMELAND) and her undergraduate thesis, a 48-minute documentary about HIV/AIDS activism in Paris, which premiered at San Francisco’s Frameline Film Festival.
Her script, THE COMMONS, was featured as one of the top pilots of 2018 for Tracking Board’s Launch Pad Pilot competition. It was also selected for the inaugural series section of the 2017 IFP Film Week, where it was one of two pilots highlighted at the SAG Indie Reading Series.
Davis has been a frequent visiting professor in the film and media department of the Universidad de Francisco Marroquín (UFM) in Guatemala. An honors graduate of Brown University, Davis concentrated in Art-Semiotics and received her MFA from UT-Austin as a Michener Fellow in screenwriting and fiction writing.
A. Laura James | Senior Affiliated Faculty & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
A. Laura James (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker and television director and a proud member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA). She holds a BFA in Theater Arts and worked as an actor before transitioning into directing television. Her theater background, coupled with experience in improv, sketch comedy, and years as an on-set acting coach, has equipped her to work collaboratively with studio executives, producers, writers, and actors to shape compelling stories and craft a distinctive visual language for each project.
Alongside creating her own work, James teaches workshops and classes all over the world, helping emerging artists develop their unique stories. She is a frequent guest on craft panels, has taught directing at USC’s Graduate School of Cinematic Arts, and currently teaches and mentors first- and second-year Fellows at the AFI Conservatory.
James is an alumni of the CBS Director Program, the Disney Channel Multi-camera 360 Program, and the inaugural DGA Director Development Initiative. James is also an active member of the DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee.
Karen Janszen | Senior Affiliated Faculty & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Karen Janszen is a Los Angeles-based writer/producer with 25+ years of experience developing and writing for film studios, streamers, cable outlets and network television. While she has worked on thrillers, comedies, and historical epics – and done uncredited polishes on animated films – she is best known for family dramas. Janszen’s theatrical writing credits include Netflix’s RESCUED BY RUBY and Warner Bros. films DOLPHIN TALE, A WALK TO REMEMBER, and DUMA. Janszen also wrote the indies GRACIE, DIGGING TO CHINA, and THE MATCHMAKER. For television, Janszen developed the series MARS and wrote an episode of HBO’s FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. Other television work includes pilots for original series for ABC, CBS and Munich-based Tandem. Her most recent series, EARTH ABIDES, streams on Amazon in December 2024. Janszen is a double AFI alum: Screenwriting and AFI DWW.
Kevin Kennedy | Senior Affiliated Faculty & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Kevin Kennedy is a writer and producer with diverse experience in studio and independent film, as well as both cable and network television. His principal credits include THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON and the TV series THE DEFENDERS, which he co-created and executive produced.
In addition to his work as a writer and producer, Kennedy helped to educate and to develop the work of scores of novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters in his capacity as founder and workshop director of the Writer’s Film Project, a film writing fellowship program sponsored by Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures.
Kennedy is a graduate of the English/Creative Writing program at Stanford University, after which he attended the MFA screenwriting program at the UCLA School of Film and Television.
Rosita Lama Muvdi | Affiliated Faculty & Creative Thesis Mentor
Rosita Lama Muvdi is a Colombian born director/screenwriter whose visceral films explore the monster within all of us. After working in Colombia’s film industry for several years, Rosita attended the American Film Institute Conservatory where she graduated with an MFA. in Directing. Her films have been featured on platforms like CRYPT TV, DUST, and ALTER, including her short film LA SIRENA, a psychosexual fairy tale which won Best Horror at multiple festivals including the Grand Jury Award at Dances With Films and the Mary Shelley Award at Other Worlds Austin, given to a female filmmaker whose film furthers the representation of women in genre. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she’s a directing professor at the American Film Institute Conservatory.
Simone Ling | Senior Affiliated Faculty, Senior Cycle Mentor & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Simone Ling is a creative producer and story consultant. Credits include executive producer of Aurora Guerrero’s Spirit Award-nominated MOSQUITA Y MARI and producer of Anahita Ghazvinizadeh’s THEY, which premiered at Cannes and continues to play on the international film festival circuit. Clients include Paramount Pictures and the Sundance Film Institute. Additionally, she spearheads outreach for Sundance’s Asian American Fellowship. Ling is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Motion Picture Editors Guild and BAFTA/LA. She also sits on the BAFTA New Talent and Scholarship Committee, Women in Film’s Finishing Fund jury and was a juror for Seattle International Film Festival’s 2019 New Directors Competition. A Fulbright Scholar with master’s degrees from the University of Oxford and Stanford University, she is a TAP/Transatlantic Partners, Film Independent Fast Track, Tribeca TFI Network and IFP/Independent Film Project No Borders Fellow.
Shana Lloyd | Affiliated Faculty & Creative Thesis Mentor
Shana Lloyd is a (recovering) actor, (sometimes) filmmaker and (mostly) writer hailing from suburban Maryland. She studied acting in New York at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. While in NYC, she worked off Broadway with many theaters, such as La Mama and NYTW. As an actor, she has shared the stage with such greats as Ed Asner and Isabella Hofmann.
Lloyd established Crisis Management Productions in May 2011, as a vehicle to produce more female-driven socially relevant content. Their debut film was the short, CRISIS. She also has a few TV projects of her own in development, as well as with longtime collaborator and writing partner, Alison McKenzie. Their film HEAVEN DOWN HEREpremiered in December 2023, starring HAMILTON’s Krystal Joy Brown and the legendary Phylicia Rashad, who was awarded an NAACP Image Award for her role in the film.
One of her latest collaborations was assisting the last class of NBC’s Writers on the Verge (now NBC Launch), working with one of her mentors, Jen Grisanti. Lloyd is currently an adjunct faculty member in the screenwriting departments of the AFI Conservatory and Emerson. She has also taught classes at SOCAPA Los Angeles.
Dana Lustig | Senior Cycle Mentor
Dana Lustig has directed five feature films and produced over twenty-five independent features and two TV series.
Among Dana’s many produced feature films is the true survival story JUNGLE, starring Daniel Radcliffe, filmed in Colombia and Australia. Lustig also produced LOOK AWAY with India Eisley, Jason Isaacs, and Oscar® winner Mira Sorvino and THE FRONTIER, which premiered at SXSW.
Upcoming, Lustig is an executive producer on READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN, based on the NYT bestseller. She recently produced BREAKWATER, starring Dermot Mulroney, Mena Suvari, and Darren Mann, which was released in December 2023. Dana is also an executive producer on SPIDER IN THE WEB with Ben Kingsley and Monica Bellucci.
Along with Ram Bergman, she was a partner at Bergman Lustig Productions for ten years. BLP produced the movies BRICK, directed by Rian Johnson, and DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA, directed by Oscar®-nominated Michael Radford, starring Emmy winner Sandra Oh.
Lustig directed the dark love story A THOUSAND KISSES DEEP starring Jodie Whittaker (Dr. Who) and Dougray Scott. The movie was nominated for the British Independent Film Award. Other directing credits include the comedy WILD CHERRY with Tania Raymonde and Rob Schneider and CONFESSIONS OF A SOCIOPATHIC SOCIAL CLIMBER starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, which became the highest-rated telecast for Oxygen’s original programming.
Lustig also directed and produced KILL ME LATER, starring Selma Blair and Max Beesly (The Gentleman) and Sarah Chalke (Scrubs), which was included in Leonard Maltin’s prestigious list of the “Fifty Films That Got Away, Movies You Really Ought to See.” Upon its release by Lionsgate, The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Lustig creates the kind of film the movie world could use more of.”
She directorial debut was WEDDING BELL BLUES, starring John Corbett, Paulina Porizkova, and Illeana Douglas. The Hollywood Reporter said of the film’s festival and theatrical run, “…You can practically hear the sighs of the women in the audience who relate to the problems of the three heroines…”
She created and is an Executive Producer on the upcoming ten episodes of Docu-Reality THE AMERICANS, which will premiere on Israeli-leading TV channel 13.
Lustig executive produced the second season of the mega-hit Israeli TV series VERY IMPORTANT PERSON, nominated for six Israeli Emmys.
She moved to Los Angeles to study at the American Film Institute. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA), SAG, DGC, and the Israeli Film Academy.
Lustig is the author of the upcoming book “Making a Movie, From Concept to Red Carpet”.
Alex Moratto | Creative Thesis Mentor & Cycle Mentor
Keola Racela | Affiliated Faculty & Creative Thesis Mentor
Austin Reynolds | Senior Lecturer, Cycle Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor
Austin Reynolds is a graduate of the AFI screenwriting program where his thesis script landed on The Blacklist. After graduation he worked as a director’s assistant at Amblin & DreamWorks before spending several years as a feature staff writer for Walt Disney Studios, developing and rewriting theatrical features directly for the studio. Reynolds co-wrote an upcoming THE SANDLOT feature at Fox, as well as other projects in development at Hasbro, White Horse Pictures, Anonymous Content and more. Recently, he’s been staffed in several writers’ rooms to develop or rewrite studio projects. He has been an educator at the AFI for ten years. As a Senior Lecturer, Reynolds teaches screenwriting, producing, and is a cycle development mentor. He is a member of the WGA-W.
Barry Sabath | Senior Lecturer & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Barry Sabath is a seasoned film historian, film professor, film executive and film producer. He has worked with some of Hollywood’s most respected talent as well as an exciting new generation of award-winning filmmakers and writers. He has held posts as both a studio production executive and a studio-based producer at Tri-Star, Columbia, Fox, and Disney.
At the Graduate Program of the American Film Institute Conservatory, Mr. Sabath curates and teaches the all-discipline World Cinema class and the American Approaches to Film class, conducts Master Seminars with filmmakers, and mentors and oversees the feature screenplay development workshop for second year directors and producers. Mr. Sabath has also mentored over 50 thesis films which have played at key Film Festivals and have won many awards, including the Student Academy Award.
Mr. Sabath joined the AFI after running the feature film division of Robin Williams’ Blue Wolf Prods (MRS DOUBTFIRE, JAKOB THE LIAR), at The Walt Disney Co. Previously, he served as President of Family Channel Pictures, a co-venture between Sony and the Family Channel. He began his career at Tri-Star Pictures, assisted producer Laura Ziskin, and soon rose to the position of Vice President of Production at Columbia Pictures and supervised over thirty projects, including Joel Schumacher’s FLATLINERS (1990).
The Hainan Island International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Hawaii International Film Festival and AFI Fest are only a sampling of the many locations where Mr. Sabath has led conversations with major actors and filmmakers. He is a passionate Korean cinephile, worked as an international mentor for the Korean Film Council’s Filmmakers’ Development Labs and served as the Dean of the Fantastic Film School at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film School. He is also the recipient of the French Chevalier medal for his contribution to French culture.
Mr. Sabath holds both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from New York University. He was an Assistant Professor of Film in the School of Humanities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and in the Department of Theatre at Illinois State University. He is the co-author of Ernst Lubitsch: A Guide to References and Resources (Boston: G.K.Hall).
Terrie Samundra | Affiliated Faculty, Cycle Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor
Terrie Samundra is a director and screenwriter whose debut feature film, KAALI KHUHI, was released globally by Netflix Originals in October 2020. Her many short films have screened internationally, garnering numerous accolades, and she recently wrapped the writers’ room for an undisclosed Netflix series.
Samundra is an alum of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the Sundance WIF Finance Lab, and is a current directing fellow of ReFrame Rise; a partnership between the Sundance Institute and Women in Film. She is a SFFILM Rainin Grant fellow for screenwriting, a Princess Grace recipient and a member of the WGAW.
A multicultural artist, Samundra grew up between a rural village in India, a small farming town in Missouri and along the coast of California. She is represented by the Gersh Agency and Circle of Confusion.
Jennie Lew Tugend | Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Jennie Lew Tugend has produced and co-produced some of the industry’s most memorable franchises: THE FREE WILLY trilogy, LETHAL WEAPON 1,2,3, and HBO’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT.
As former Co-President of Kadokawa Pictures USA, Tugend was a producer on ONE MISSED CALL, a WB release and two episodes of Showtime’s MASTER OF HORROR.
Producing credits also include LOCAL BOYS starring Mark Harmon and Star Kid, which received an Award of Excellence by the Film Advisory Board; and for MGM, the romantic comedy, RETURN TO ME starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver; RADIO FLYER for Columbia Pictures and SCROOGED for Paramount Pictures starring Bill Murray, and was instrumental in the development and production of THE GOONIES and THE LOST BOYS.
Recently, Tugend Executive Produced the independent feature film ALBATROSS, directed by award-winning writer/director Myles Yaksich. Tugend and Yaksich previously collaborated on two award-winning short films, POPPIES and ERIN.
Currently, Tugend and her partners are developing the feature film adaptation of NY Times best-selling novel, “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” with Oscar®-winning directors Jimmy Chin & Chai Vasarhelyi.
Tugend is an active member of the Producer’s Branch of the Motion Picture Academy and the Producers Guild of America. Tugend taught a producing class at UCLA Extension, for 8 years and was a mentor in the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC. Today she is a Senior Creative Thesis Mentor at the American Film Institute Conservatory (AFIC) and a recent Advisor in Residence at the Sundance Collab Institute.
