Faculty Directory

Anne Alvergue

Arsenio Assin

Arsenio G. Assin received his BFA from City College of New York’s Picker Institute in Film and Media Studies. Afterward, he worked for several years in various genres in New York, including music videos, documentaries, commercials, industrials, ENG., and independent shorts and features in the different crew departments, such as a key grip, sound, electrician, AC, production design and eventually DOP. His work history has ranged from work for bigger productions, such as an AC for the New York second unit crew of Stanley Kubrick’s last film, Eyes Wide Shut, to smaller productions of independent companies such as cult favorite Troma Entertainment’s feature films Citizen Toxie and Poultrygeist. As a cinematographer, his work in indie films, The Viscous Circle and Sad Spanish Song has been accepted in several festivals as well as had a theatrical release. His longtime collaboration with director Preston Miller has seen his work in the micro-budget film Jones, reviewed by Amy Taubin in Film Comment as “a find.” He believes that it was these varied work experiences that gave him insight into the challenges that face new and upcoming filmmakers.

Piero Basso, AIC

Born in northern Italy and based in NYC, Piero Basso graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, Cinema, from the University of Turin. In a career spanning over 25 years, Basso has photographed 17 feature films, and TV series, along with numerous documentaries, short films, music videos and commercials.

His work has been honored at some of the most prestigious film festivals around the globe, including Venice (Una Famiglia, Competition), Locarno (Seven Acts of Mercy, Competition), Cannes (Darker than Midnight, Semaine de la Critique), Berlin (Dafne, Panorama, Fipresci Award as Best Feature Film and Canone Effimero at the Forum in 2025, Special Mention of the Documentary Award Jury), Turin (Santina, Competition), Oberhausen (Zakaria, Competition), Clermont-Ferrant, Busan, Huesca, Marrakech, Santa Barbara, and several others. He recently received a Best Cinematography Award at the 23rd Beverly Hills Film Festival. In 2009, he was invited to join the AIC, the exclusive Italian Association of Cinematographers and he is a member of the International Cinematographers Guild.

Amanda Brzezowski Associate Chair of Filmmaking

Amanda Brzezowski received her MA in Film Studies from Columbia University. She has presented papers at multidisciplinary conferences held at Emory University in Atlanta and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Previously Amanda worked at POV, the longest-running documentary series on PBS, screening documentaries in consideration for the series, and coordinating the annual Editorial Committee Meeting with programmers and independent filmmakers. Since 2013, she has screened documentary films in consideration for festivals including DOC NYC, Camden International Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival. Amanda has also directed short documentaries for local nonprofits to help raise money for community programs supporting children, seniors, cancer survivors, and musicians. Currently, she teaches in the Documentary Traditions & Aesthetics courses for the NYFA Documentary Conservatory programs and is the Associate Chair of Filmmaking.

Xiaoxiao Chen

Xiaoxiao Chen is a professional editor managing post production processes and storytelling techniques for feature films, TV, art exhibitions, installations, and commercials. Her clients include such giants as HBO, Paramount, Museum of Modern Art, Sony Pictures, Apple, New Balance. Career history of developing creative projects including works screened at Cannes Film Festival, DOC NYC, TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, and the United Nations.

Joseph Gordon Cleary

Joe Cleary is the owner of Ambitious Engine, a film production agency in NJ focused on the healthcare industry and is a Dean’s List graduate of the New York Film Academy Documentary Program. His film “Get it” was featured at the 2019 DOC NYC film festival.

Joe’s interests include shooting music videos, concerts and commercials with a focus on strong story telling, cinematography and sound design.

Kuldeep Gangola

Kuldeep Gangola is a filmmaker and post-production instructor based in New York. With over six years of teaching experience at the New York Film Academy and over 8 years of industry experience, he brings a deep understanding of nonfiction storytelling, editing craft, and industry-standard workflows. He has worked on films for platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime, PBS, and HBO. Kuldeep is passionate about mentoring young filmmakers and helping them find their unique voice through visual storytelling.

Lizzie Gottlieb

Lizzie Gottlieb has been directing film and theater in New York for the last 25 years. Lizzie’s most recent film, Turn Every Page, is a documentary about the prickly, funny, wildly productive half-century collaboration between Lizzie’s father, the editor Robert Gottlieb, and the author Robert Caro (The Power Broker, The Years of Lyndon Johnson). Caro, 87, and Bob Gottlieb, 91, are in a race against time to finish their life’s work. The film premiered in June 2022 at the Tribeca Film Festival and has since played at dozens of festivals, winning several audience awards, was named one of the best five documentaries of the year by the National Board of Review, and has received rave reviews. The film was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics and is currently playing in theaters across the country.

Her first film, Today’s Man, about her brother, who is on the Autistic Spectrum, aired on PBS (Independent Lens). Her film Romeo Romeo, about a young lesbian couple on a quest to have a baby, was also on PBS (America Reframed) and won the NLGJA award for excellence in Documentary.

She founded and ran an Off-Broadway theater company dedicated to producing new plays at accessible prices. With that company, Pure Orange Productions, she produced and directed plays, including Keith Bunin’s The Principality of Sorrows^[4] with Robert Sean Leonard, David Lansbury, and Joanna Going; Marking by Patrick Breen, starring Peter Dinklage, Amy Ryan, Adina Porter, and Maria Tucci. Other productions included Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Evolution with Josh Hamilton and Peter Dinklage, Noel Coward’s Private Lives with Sara Ramirez, and Fifth Planet by David Auburn with Christina Kirk and Michael Ian Black. Gottlieb directed plays for Naked Angels, New York Stage and Film, malaparte, and Julliard.

Denise Hamilton

Denise Hamilton has over 30 years experience as a writer and producer for NBC, ABC and PBS network specials and syndicated programs. In the area of documentary film she most recently was co-producer of BEING MICHELLE, a feature which won the 2022 Audience Award as Best Documentary at the Florida Film Festival, and presented at fourteen other festivals. Ms. Hamilton was writer and field producer for four internationally-shot documentaries, including “NGONE’S STORY: A Tale of Africa’s Orphans”, which aired on NBC affiliate stations; as well as the feature “Hollywood Musicals: Singing and Dancing” which screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival and as a 4-part series for PBS. She served as series producer of “Where Cultures Collide”, a 5-part web series for KCETLink, and was coordinating producer on “For Peace Sake”, the Emmy award-winning 2-hour NBC-TV special, as well as the “Motown 40: The Music is Forever” documentary special for ABC-TV. She has served on the awards selection committee of the International Documentary Association, and has taught documentary film production for Spelman College. For eighteen years Ms. Hamilton also served as co-chairperson of the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers-West.

Ronald Kopp

Ron Kopp has been a regularly featured film commentator for NPR, the “Dr. Video” columnist for barnesandnoble.com, and the Film Programmer for the Paramount Center for the Arts. He is currently in post-production on a short fiction film, “The Resurrection Love Song.” His feature-length version of Jeff Cohen’s play “The Soap Myth” has been broadcast on PBS. Both “The Soap Myth” and his documentary “I Will Refuse to Bubble” are distributed by Digital Theatre. Ron joined the faculty of the New York Film Academy in 2010. He teaches Documentary Cinema Studies and hosts master classes with visiting filmmakers.

Hazel McKibbin

Kristen Nutile, ACE

Kristen Nutile, ACE, is a documentary editor and filmmaker based in New York City.

Kristen recently co-edited the film TURN EVERY PAGE, directed by Lizzie Gottlieb and released by Sony Pictures Classics. Kristen holds editing credits on FATHOM (AppleTV +), ART & KRIMES BY KRIMES (MTV Documentary Films), LOVE, GILDA (Magnolia Pictures), ADRIENNE (HBO), DEEP RUN (Netflix), EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY (PBS). She edited UNFINISHED SPACES, which won an NY Independent Spirit Award and is part of the permanent collection at Museum of Modern Art. Kristen had the opportunity to work on WEED THE PEOPLE and BUSINESS OF BIRTH CONTROL, directed by Abby Epstein and Executive Produced by Ricki Lake. Kristen edited HEROIN(E) which was nominated for an Academy Award, a Peabody Award and went on to win an Emmy Award.

Kristen has directed eleven films. Her own work intersects experimental and non-fiction filmmaking. Kristen’s films have shown around the world, including the Sundance Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2006, Kristen collaborated with legendary filmmaker, Albert Maysles and Tanja Meding on SALLY GROSS – THE PLEASURE OF STILLNESS, about critically acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Sally Gross.

Robert Pietri

BFA, Carnegie Mellon University; MFA, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Dean’s Fellow. Robert has worked in several mediums and genres, from live-action narrative to animation and documentary. His films have been in competition at festivals around the world, including AFI/DOCs, Animafest Zagreb, Annecy, BFI London Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival. Pietri served in the United States Marines Corps and worked for years as an art director before committing himself to filmmaking. His first feature, Semper Fidel, was shot in Havana, Cuba. Robert continues to work and develop projects internationally.

Huch Platt

Avid Pro Tools HD Certified Instructor, Owner Majestic Sound Studios, Foley Mixer, Dialog Editor Flags for Our Fathers, Dialog Editor Black Dawn and Stranger by Me. Huch has dedicated his life to teaching the art and craft of Film Sound and helping new filmmakers achieve amazing Sound Design.

Claudia Raschke, ASC

Cinematographer Claudia Raschke was born in one of the largest European ports near the Baltic Sea in Northern Germany. Throughout her childhood the chain of movie theaters owned by her mother brought Claudia into the world of film. After college Claudia’s studied of the art and technique of cinematography on the practical level while working with some of the most prominent and accomplished international filmmakers. She is a founding member of the NYC Kamera Kollektiv, a boutique agency for documentary cinematographers and a member of AMPAS.

Among her many notable award winning films are: Oscar-nominated and Emmy winning RBG (Magnolia/ Participant/ CNN Films), Oscar-nominated GOD IS THE BIGGER ELVIS (HBO), Oscar short-listed JULIA (CNN Films/ Imagine Entertainment/ Sony Classic) and MAD HOT BALLROOM (Paramount), Oscar short-listed and Emmy winning BOYS STATE (A24), Peabody Award-winning MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY (Amazon Studios/Participant Media), Critics Award nominated FAUCI (NAT GEO/ Magnolia/ Disney+), PARTICLE FEVER (Bond 360), THE FREEDOM TO MARRY (Argot Pictures) Her latest documentary series work includes The House of Hammer (Discovery +), Eleanor and Franklin (CNN), Pharma (Showtime) to be released in 2023.

Eddie Rosenstein

Eddie Rosenstein has produced and/or directed ten award winning documentary films including THE FREEDOM TO MARRY, BOATLIFT, SCHOOL PLAY, WAGING A LIVING, A TICKLE IN THE HEART and SANDHOGS. He has also created non-fiction programming for television networks including PBS, A&E, TruTV, History, Discovery ID, HBO and AMC. He has won dozens of awards at film festivals including Berlin, Full Frame, San Francisco, Chicago and Savannah. A TICKLE IN THE HEART was shortlisted for an Academy Award and CALLED TO ACTION (AMC) was nominated for an EMMY. Eddie has produced and/or directed more than 150 commercials and corporate films, and served as an executive producer at several production companies, including at Eyepop Productions which he co-founded. Eddie has lectured at many universities and corporations and has been teaching documentary filmmaking at NYFA since 2008. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons.