Yasaman Baghban is an Iranian experimental and documentary filmmaker, educator, and film programmer based in the US. She earned her MA in Cinema Studies from Tehran University of Art and graduated with an MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University in 2023. Her short films have been showcased at international film festivals such as True/False, Atlanta Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival, and more.She has served on juries and screening committees for grants and festivals like Cucalorus, The Society for Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival and more. In 2023, she began programming a series called “Nonfiction Series: Essay, Experimental, and Documentary films.

Xuechun Lyu is a PhD student in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester. Before coming to U of R, Lyu earned her MA in Comparative Cultural Studies. Her research interests include East Asian film and literature; post-war cultural production; and representations of violence and disaster in art and moving images. 

Liam Kilby is a first-year PhD student in Visual and Cultural Studies with interests spanning from experimental film to the visual culture of tattoos (with ever-growing interests elsewhere!). Liam has prior experience programming a series called “Subversive Histories: A Snapshot of Queer Cinema” (showing films such as Nowhere [Gregg Araki] and Blue [Derek Jarman]), juried for the Cinema/Chicago CineYouth film festival, and has written on film for The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, California. 

Augustine Danso is a doctoral student in Visual and Cultural Studies. His research focuses on the intersections of representation, power, and politics in cinema.

Steven Kielich is pursuing a PhD in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester. His interests include Japanese and Korean cinema and culture, film theory and history, video games, critical theory, psychoanalysis, and popular culture.