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.

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

Associate curator & head of special programming Zohar Baranovitch is an interdisciplinary artist, documentary filmmaker, and community organizer based in Brooklyn, New York. Currently a Fulbright Fellow in the MFA Design and Technology program at Parsons School of Design, her practice operates at the intersection of emerging technologies, socially engaged art, and civic action.

Associate Curator and Writer Isa Paley is based in Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies with a focus on film criticism. Her experience spans film programming, acquisitions, and development, with previous roles at Visit Films, Film Forum, Central Group, and the Wesleyan Film Series.

Outreach Lead Sydney Hugon Pace is a public relations and entertainment professional based in New York with experience as a publicist for multiple major media outlets. She earned her Master of Studies in Law with a concentration in Entertainment Law from the University of Southern California (USC) and has also served as an Associate Producer on a feature film. With a lifelong passion for film, television, and entertainment, Sydney joined the VAEFF team in 2026.

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.

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.