Director and Chief Curator Dan Fine is an award-winning artist who lives and works in New York City. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts and has exhibited work in the United States, Germany and Israel. Fine founded Videoart.net in 2005 and currently serves as its director and chief curator. In 2010, he established the Video Art & Experimental Film Festival in New York City.
Mark Alpert
Board Member and Panel Moderator Mark Alpert is the author of the international bestselling novel Final Theory and its sequel, The Omega Theory. A longtime journalist who has worked for newspapers, magazines and television, he focuses his writing on the connections between science and art. He is a graduate of Princeton and Columbia and currently a contributing editor at Scientific American. His books have been published in more than twenty languages.
Guest Curator Niccolo Montanari was born in Italy and raised in the UK. He built his experience in fashion film as one of the founding members of the Berlin Fashion Film Festival. Since 2016 he has worked with film directors, production companies and agencies to support them in the distribution of video content across online media and international film festivals. Learn More
Senior Coordinator, Programs and Partnerships, Johnathan Ellis is based in Brooklyn, New York. He is an Alumni from Ohio Wesleyan University with Bachelors in Communications and Theatre (Literature & History). Johnathan joined the VAEFF team in 2023.
Senior Curator Carmela Del Vecchio is a TV/Film Professional based in New York. Her background is as a Production Manager having worked for MTV, among others. She received her Master’s Degree in Media Studies & Film Production Certificate from The New School. Her Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in Radio/TV/Film is from Marist College. She has a passion for film and currently has a short film in post production which she wrote, produced and directed. Carmela joined the VAEFF team in 2019.
Peri Halajian
Associate Curator/Coordinator & Web Editor-in-Chief Peri Halajian is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from Bard College in 2024 with a degree in Film History and has programmed for various film festivals in the Hudson Valley. She is interested in the intersection of archiving, film criticism, and public programming, and how these different modes can transform accessibility to the arts.
Maya Peters
Associate Curator Maya Peters an Irish–Indonesian director and production designer, based in NYC, whose work blends bold visual language with rich, textural worldbuilding. As a film school graduate of New York University, her work has screened internationally, with collaborations premiering at SXSW and Palm Springs International ShortFest. Recognized as a “rising star” by Berlin Fashion Film Festival and “emerging talent” by London Fashion Film Festival, she brings the same cinematic vision to her commercial and experiential work.
Gaspar Marquez
Associate Curator Gaspar Marquez was born in Mexico and is currently based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s a self-taught photographer and has studied at prestigious schools like the International Center of Photography and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, as well as receiving a BA in Business Administration in Mexico. Now he works as a freelance photographer/videographer, focusing on fine art, portraits, fashion, and lifestyle.
Robert Capria
Associate Curator Robert Capria, a New York–based filmmaker, has directed two feature films in Japan, Mayonaka and Mystery Song. He helped establish and run the Scorsese Media Center in the Bronx and spent four years producing documentaries around the world for the United Nations. He is currently developing his next feature in Japan, The Purple Emperor.
Emilia Carbajal
Associate Curator Emilia Carbajal is a filmmaker, writer, and visual artist based in Brooklyn. She has received awards from the Bucks County Playhouse and the International Thespians Society, and her work has screened at various festivals, including Mercer County Teen Arts Festival, Pratt Institute’s Foundation Expanded Exhibition, Wallabout Film Festival, Art All Night Trenton, and the Princeton Student Film Festival.
Jonathan Fine
Producer Assistant & Editor Jonathan Fine is a filmmaker, VFX artist, and musician based in Brooklyn. With a degree in film production from Bard College and a background in piano, he has won awards including “Best Music Video” at NYIFA, “Young Filmmaker” at LAFA, and Gold Medal at the National Young Maestro Competition.
Karla Mellett
Associate Curator Karla Mellett is an award winning artist specializing in filmmaking, performance art, and painting. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2D and stop-motion animation from Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She has exhibited work in New York, Minnesota, California, Maine, Georgia, Texas, Boston, Canada, Amsterdam, and Spain.
Jacob Carter
Associate Curator Jacob Carter is film scholar and writer based in New Jersey. He earned a BS in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas-Austin and is currently a PhD candidate in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester, with interests in queer cinema, film theory, and performance.
Gioia Geiler
Associate Curator Gioia Geiler grew up multilingual in Switzerland. She is currently working as an actress after finishing her degree at Drama Studio London in 2023. In 2023, she joined and co-founded the all female collective „tender fools“ which had its premiere with the theatre piece „TANKEN“ at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Films have always been a big part of her life which is why she studied Cinema Studies at the University of Zurich. Additionally, she worked as a Production Assistant for the feature film „Youth Topia“, which won the Audience Award at the Zurich Film Festival and the Crossing Europe Award in Linz.
