Faculty Directory

José Alberto Venutolo Chirinos

Born and raised in Venezuela, José Venutolo is a director, producer, editor, DIT, and educator. He came to New York in 2008 to pursue studies and a career in Filmmaking. Since then, he has worked on short and feature films, music videos, institutional videos, commercials, conceptual videos, documentaries, and TV shows for a varied arrange of clients including the City of New York. In the past 5 years, he’s taught numerous directing, editing, camera, field and studio production courses and workshops at the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, the New York Film Academy, and Avenues: The World School. His fluency in Spanish, English, and Italian coupled with his expertise in production and his people person’s attitude allows him to connect with a diverse range of international and national filmmakers, artists, and students allowing him to bring a fresher perspective and an element of harmony within the diversity he interacts and works with.

Kuldeep Sah Gangola

Kuldeep Sah Gangola is a distinguished editor/director with his debut film being featured in more than 15 film festivals in several countries and won three international awards. Mr. Gangola has also served as a judge and screener at the ‘International Documentary Association’ in 2019. His work and unique style of storytelling has been covered by the likes of Times of India, Thrive Global and GritDaily for the portrayal of the rooted problem of migration in rural India. He is an editing instructor and consultant at the New York Film Academy teaching across various departments. Kuldeep is a professionally certified Avid Media composer editor. He is also associated with teaching for the BAFTA workshops conducted in New York City.

Erik Paesel

Erik Paesel has worked in Hollywood primarily at Digital Editing Houses such as The Post Group, Laser Pacific and ADS. He has worked on shows such as Law & Order, CSI and The Voice and for clients such as Netflix, Showtime, HBO and iTunes. . He has also edited several independent Documentary Productions from his home studio. He also taught Film at The Academy Of Visual and Performing Arts at Culver City High School.

Lisa Shreve

Emmy Award winning and Oscar nominated filmmaker Lisa Shreve has edited and produced over one hundred television documentaries, narrative films, newsmagazine segments, music videos and corporate films.
Lisa’s work has appeared on PBS, HBO, MTV, ABC, NBC, CBS as well as many cable channels. She has worked with such figures as Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, John Stossel, Linda Ellerbee, Mike Wallace, Peter Jennings, Michael Bay, and Lisa Ling, among others.
A native of Philadelphia, Pa., Lisa moved to New York to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film from New York University School of the Arts (now Tisch School of the Arts) where Martin Scorcese was her professor. Prior to her career in television and films she acted in Off-Off Broadway theatre, worked as a still photographer and sang backup in The Stilettos, a seventies New York rock group.
In addition to teaching editing at the New York Film Academy, Lisa is a producer/editor on the independent documentary Miracle on 42nd Street, winner of the 2020 New York Regional Emmy® Award for Best Documentary. She is Associate Producer and Supervising Editor on the feature documentary Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words which premiered in theatres nationwide and aired on PBS in 2020.

Jonah Bleicher

Jonah Bleicher is a filmmaker and post-production specialist based in NYC. With over 15 years of experience in editing, animation, motion graphics, and color grading. Jonah holds a BFA in animation from RISD and an MFA in film production from Columbia University. He has worked extensively on narrative, experimental, music videos and commercial media projects. His films have screened in dozens of film festivals worldwide. He is the recipient of the Sloan Production grant for his film The King’s Pawn and was twice a semi-finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Award. He currently teaches video editing and animation at Wagner College.

Lindsey Phillips

Lindsey Phillips is a documentary filmmaker and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. In her work, she celebrates unique traditions and idiosyncrasies of place, culture, and communities, finding the humor and humanity in complex places. She is known for directing and editing The Exceptionally Extraordinary Emporium, a film about the significance of costuming in New Orleans, My Name Is Marc, And You Can Count On It, about Cleveland’s late-night commercial cult icon Marc Brown and, recently, Rhythm’s Gonna Get Ya, a city symphony of the challenges NYC subway commuters face.

Her award-winning films have screened at numerous festivals across the country, appeared on PBS’s Reel South and MailChimp, and her editing work has been featured on The New Yorker, Time Magazine, Vox, CNN’s Great Big Story, and The Washington Post. Phillips was part of the 2019 UnionDocs Collaborative Studio residency, holds a Certificate in Documentary Arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, and graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in Digital Media Production

Marina Catala

Marina Catala is a New York-based Producer and Editor who has developed, produced and edited hundreds of hours of television content for networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, Bravo, and The CW. She graduated with an MFA in Editing from the AFI Conservatory in 2003, just as reality TV was emerging as a major presence on broadcast and cable television. She was an Editor on shows like The Biggest Loser, The Amazing Race, and Big Brother, before a desire for more creative input took her out of the edit chair. For several years she oversaw the Post departments of shows like Ink Master and I Used to be Fat, and then took her command of Post Production and applied it to all aspects of Production – from development to pre-production to field producing – as an Executive Producer. Most recently, she was the EP of Impractical Jokers for seven seasons, and the Showrunner of its spin-off, After Party, for three seasons.

Fabrizio Famà

Born and raised in Catania, Sicily, after 14 years of experience in narrative film editing, Fabrizio Famà decided to leave Italy and move to New York City. Shortly after arriving in the U.S., Fabrizio was hired by Thin Edge Films to be the senior editor on Thirsty a musical feature film that has premiered all around the United States and Europe, getting nominations and winning different awards. Fabrizio worked with Italian Director Alessandro Di Robilant in his feature film, Mauro is Crazy. The films he has edited have won awards in
Canada and throughout Europe. He’s currently working on different projects and freelancing for top-notch companies such as the VIACOM group (MTV, VH1).
As an experienced film editor, Fabrizio has gained the trust and admiration of his colleagues through his creative, passionate, and collaborative style. Currently, living in NYC, Fabrizio continues to work as a Freelance Video Editor while also sharing his knowledge and expertise in teaching Film Editing at New York Film Academy for short and long-term programs.