May 2024 in Arezzo
Janelle Rayner
Janelle Rayner works as a copywriter and producer at Ignition Films Australia. She is part of a team that has written, directed, and produced a number of documentaries, short films, and corporate videos including The Post Code Wars and The Tara Brown Story. Janelle co-produced Forever First Love, a feature film shot in the Philippines and Australia and the film is currently being distributed by Vertical Entertainment. Janelle has worked on diversity initiatives within the industry, partnering with organizations such as Equity Foundation, WIFT Queensland, Open Minds, and Screen Queensland and has over ten short film, feature, and documentary credits. She also worked as an associate producer on Australia’s Totally Wild TV series. Janelle holds a double major in journalism from the University of Queensland and has supplemented her academic background with practical training from the Queensland School of Film and Television. In her previous career, Janelle worked in the finance industry and is a Fellow of the MFAA.
Dana Cowden
Dana Cowden is a screenwriter/director best known for writing strong and complex female lead characters. With a former career as a surgical nurse and Air Force Major, Dana went on to complete her MFA in screenwriting. She’s won numerous awards in screenplay contests including Fade In Awards, The Page Awards, and Scriptapalooza. She has been nominated for several awards for her films including Best Director. Nova, the science fiction feature film she wrote and directed, has been an official selection for several film festivals and nominated for best film. Nova is now out on Amazon, Apple, and many other platforms. Dana currently has another Sci-Fi film, Ohryis Project, in post-production starring Eric Roberts that is due to be out this spring.
Noah Salzman
Noah Salzman is an award-winning screenwriter and director based in Florida, with over a decade of experience writing compelling thought provoking narratives. His passion for crafting original character-driven, socially-informed stories was nurtured by the relationship with his hometown city of Miami. Noah's feature film debut 'Clocked' is the winner of multiple awards in 2023 including "Best Humanitarian Feature - Sedona International Film Festival", "Best Narrative Feature Audience Award - Tallahassee Film Festival", and "Golden Conch Best Florida Feature - Key West Film Festival".
Jeni Bezuidenhout
Jeni Bezuidenhout is a HOH/deaf Screenwriter, Producer and Actor born in Pretoria, South Africa, who now resides in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. Jeni is an accomplished screenwriter, playwright and director. She has written half a dozen short films, plays, and worked as the lead writer and co-creator on a funded web series ‘Fleshbags’, an interconnected sci fi anthology, that is currently in post-production. Jeni wrote on the satirical comedy show ‘The Leak’ for 7 episodes, which broadcast on Channel 31 in 2021. Her sci-fi feature film ‘She Now Romeo’, was accepted into the Originate development and production program, a joint initiative by Film Victoria, SBS and Arenamedia. Jeni is a graduate of the Masters in Screenwriting at the VCA. Her independent feature ‘We Will Never Die’ completed production in March 2024 and is currently in post production. Jeni has worked in numerous writers rooms as a notetaker, starting in 2021 where she worked alongside Anna Francino on Season 2 of 'Under The Vines' created by Hardy White Pictures, Acorn and TVNZ. Jeni had the opportunity to watch and work with Australia’s accomplished television writer Kelly Lefever. Most recently Jeni worked in rooms with Northern Pictures, feature film 'Love is Not a Verb', Lingo Pictures 'Erotic Stories' , Deaf kids animation series 'Sammy & Shifter' and Fremantle/Nickelodeon's Season 3 of 'Rock Island Mysteries'. Jeni is also a script consultant/editor, most recently she script edited 'House of Whoreship', following a day in the life of a s*x worker that premiered at Inside out Film Festival in Toronto.
Kiara Bolade
Kiara Bolade is a screenwriter from Seattle, WA. She's been writing since the age of 14 and has recently obtained her Master of Arts degree in Filmmaking from the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. Her goal is to one day write YA films centering around BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) that inspire younger generations to seek adventure, reach for the stars, and to live with their heads in the clouds.
Gabriella Moses
Gabriella A. Moses is an award-winning Dominican-Guyanese American writer and director based in Brooklyn, NY. She is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
With her firm belief in sharing stories with underrepresented protagonists that test viewer’s perceptions of identity and their imaginations, Gabriella has received support from the Sundance Institute’s Creative Producing Lab, Tribeca Film Institute’s All Access Lab and Creators Market, IFP (The Gotham) No Border’s Film Market and the Los Cabos Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund programs. She has participated in numerous workshops including the Sundance Screenwriter's Intensive, the NYWIFT "From Script to Pre-Production" Workshop, Tribeca and Chanel Through Her Lens, AT&T Untold Stories program and the annual Blacklist Screenwriter’s Lab. She most recently was selected for the inaugural Scripted Cannes Screenplay List, LALIFF & Netflix Inclusion Fellowship and The Black List Latinx List. Her screenplay EL TIMBRE DE TU VOZ won Best Drama screenplay at Fresh Voices Screenplay competition, including recognition through their Diversity & Inclusion and our Culture & Heritage Spotlight Awards.
Her debut feature BOCA CHICA, set in the Dominican Republic, premiered in International Narrative Competition at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival where she won the prestigious 11th Annual Nora Ephron Award.
Francesco Segrè
I was born in Milan, Italy in 1984. Since 2004, during and after my degree in Philosophy, I have worked as a freelance cameraman and videographer in Europe, the United States, Africa and Latin America. I improved my filmmaking skills abroad, spending over a year in New York City in 2009. I directed a number of short films, and in 2011, I followed director David Warren on the set of the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. I graduated as a director from the Centro Sperimentale Di Cinematografia (National Film School) in Rome, in 2013, with my thesis film Non Sono Nessuno (They Are Nobody), nominated for best short film at the David Di Donatello competition (Italian Film Academy).My professional experiences include working as a second unit director on feature films and as a director on sports-related reality shows for SKY.I currently live and work in Rome.