OUR STAFF
We are in the process of finalizing our mentors for our next round. Here is our fabulous staff that led our 2024 iteration, a number of whom are returning for 2026.
Jay Craven, Producer & Director
Jay established Semester Cinema in 2006 and has led each iteration through 2024. He has written, directed and produced eleven feature films, six documentaries, a regional Emmy-winning comedy series for public television, and four variety shows for public radio. His films have played Sundance, Lincoln Center, the Cinémathèque Française The Constitutional Court of Johannesburg, Cinemateca de Venezuela and others. He was selected as one of 6 U.S. filmmakers by the American Film Institute, Kennedy Center, National Endowment for the Arts, and the President’s Committee on the Arts - to representing in the first-ever AFI:20/20 international cultural exchange to China, France, Peru, Venezuela, Israel, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Turkey. Awards include the Golden Gate Award, Producers Guild of America NOVA Award, Vermont Governors Award for Excellence in the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts' American Masterpieces and finalist for Critics Week for the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
Confirmed for 2026.
Nicole Doerges, Producer
Nicole holds a B.A. in Cinema & Media Studies and Theater Studies from Wellesley College, where she concentrated in playwriting and was selected for the 2021 Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive. She joined the 2022 iteration of Semester Cinema as a student after participating in the FAMU abroad program in Prague, and she returned to program in 2024 as an emerging professional for Major Barbara - working as a writer, producer, script supervisor and senior residential life coordinator. Nicole is currently working to advance the 2026 iteration as a producer, assisting with recruitment, student relations, fundraising research and development, locations, budgeting, and pre-production coordination. She also participates in story and screenplay development.
Confirmed for 2026.
Julie Sexeny, Producer & Assistant Director
Julie is Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Department at Wofford College where she established a Film & Digital Media Studies program in 2016. She teaches courses in filmmaking, film studies, surveillance and sexuality. Her script, 20 minutes of action, a look at the impact of campus assault on a young woman and her family, was a finalist in the 2019 Creative World Awards Screenplay Competition, and her feature adaptation of a memoir by the renowned New York author and National Book Award finalist, Vivian Gornick, is currently in development. This past spring she worked as a Producer and Assistant Director on the Semester Cinema 2024 project, Major Barbara. She holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Film, Psychoanalytic Studies and Cultural History from Emory University, an M.F.A. in Screenwriting from Columbia University and a B.A. in English from Barnard College.
Confirmed for 2026.
Carl Fieler, Line Producer & Production Management Mentor
Carl has over 12 years of experience in the industry, working predominantly in high concept comedy film and television. He got his start as an art department coorindator for Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Check it Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, starring John C. Reilly, before moving into production management. His producing credits include The Eric Andre Show, W/ Bob and David, starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, Saturday Morning All Star Hits! starring SNL's Kyle Mooney, andThe Birthday Boys.
Mehula Singh, Production Designer & Production Design Mentor
After pursuing an undergraduate degree in product design at the MIT Institute of Design in India, Mehula found herself drawn to the world of film production while collaborating with friends from the film department. She started in the art department as a prop shopper for commericals before delving into set dressing, art direction and construction coordination for Bollywood films. She earned her MFA in Design for Stage and Film from NYU in 2023, and is a member of IATSE local 829.
Karen Boyer, Costume Designer & Costume Design Mentor
Karen holds a BFA in Fiber from the Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA in Costume Design from NYU Tisch. She designs and builds costumes in New York City, and has worked with Object Collection, harunalee, Pan Asian Repertory, Target Margin Theatre, Little Lord, Meta-Phys Ed, choreographers Catherine Galasso and Sarah Dahnke, and filmmakers Ben Finer and Aaron Schimberg.
David Dolnik, Cinematographer & Camera, Lights & Sound Mentor
.jpg)
David returned to Semester Cinema in 2024 after working as Cinematographer and Camera, Lights and Sound Mentor for our 2019 project, Martin Eden. He was born in Brno and has worked as the cinematographer on over 25 feature and short projects, in both the US and the Czech Republic. He is a member of ICG Local 600.
Sheri Bylander, Editing Mentor
Sheri got her start as an Assistant Editor, working with NYC icons Woody Allen, Sidney Lumet and Darren Starr, and has since edited for TV dramas The Americans (FX), Divorce (HBO), The Purge (USA/SYFY), Hap and Leonard (Sundance Channel) and comedies Alpha House (Amazon), Sirens (USA) and The Jim Gaffigan Show (TVLand), among others. She has also edited feature films (including a Cannes award-winner), feature documentaries, and documentary-style TV.
Sascha Stanton-Craven, Editing Mentor & Script Development Consultant
Sascha won Wesleyan University’s prestigious Frank Capra award for “outstanding comedy” and was co-writer on the recent Major Barbara screenplay. He is a consultant on story and script development as well as a faculty mentor in editing. Sascha is a Peabody Award-winning film editor whose credits include The Onion, HBO’s Emmy-nominated documentary comedy How To With John Wilson, the Orion Pictures/MGM comedy Bad Trip, Johnny Knoxville’s Paramount Pictures/MTV release Jackass Forever, and Adult Swim’s On Cinema and Decker.
Confirmed for 2026.
Patrick Kennedy, Documentary Director & Mentor
Patrick is a Vermont-based cinematographer and editor with over a decade of narrative and documentary experience. He has been with Semester Cinema since 2012, working as the 2nd Unit Director of Photography for our 2022 project Lost Nation, the editor of our 2019 project, Martin Eden, and a mentor in the camera and editing departments for prior iterations.
Jasper Craven, Documentary Mentor & Pre-Production Associate
Jasper has written for The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Harper’s, Politico and many others. He was a named finalist for the prestigious 2023 Livingston Award that honors journalists under the age of 35 for outstanding achievement in local, national and international reporting across all forms and media. His work with the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team included the multi-part series, The Shadow Campus, that exposed a poorly regulated profit-driven housing system that subjected Boston students to unsafe and even deadly conditions. It was a named finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Jasper leads the documentary program and assists with pre-production planning and researching and writing grants.
Confirmed for 2026.
.jpg)