NYFA
Faculty Directory

Faculty Directory

Francis J. Pezza

Francis J. Pezza has more than 40 years experience in Film, Television and Theater as a designer. Mr. Pezza is an MFA Degree graduate from the New York University School of the Arts (currently known as The NYU Tisch School of The Arts). He has been a Production Design Instructor for the last three years, teaching in the New York Film Academy MFA and BFA programs.
Among his many Television Credits as Production Designer are Miami Vice, The Flash, The Young Riders, Viper, Murder She Wrote. Mr. Pezza’s Major Motion Picture Credits include Outbreak, Dante’s Peak, Baby Geniuses, Born To Ride.

Ray Preziosi

Primarily a feature film director of photography, Ray Preziosi’s film credits include: “Topsy and Bunker” with Kathy Najimi; “Italian Movie” with James Gandolfini; “Frog and Wombat” featuring Ronny Cox and Lindsay Wagner; “Big Packages”; and the Victorian era period film “Family Secrets.” Working with Saul and Elaine Bass, Ray Preziosi shot title sequences for “A River Runs Through It,” directed by Robert Redford, and “Casino,” directed by Martin Scorsese. Besides feature film experience, Ray Preziosi has also photographed many short films.

Ray’s documentary credits include “NY TV by the People Who Made It,” for which he received an Emmy nomination. A few of Ray’s nationally airing documentaries include “The Music of Ireland” series; History Channel’s Mega-Movers “Intrepid: On the Move”; “Francis Scott Key and the Song that Built America”; and “FS Key, After the Song,” among others.

Jen Prince

Jen Prince is a producer/director/editor with an MFA in Film Production from USC and a BFA in Acting and BA in Plan II Liberal Arts from UT Austin (Phi Beta Kappa). Her recent feature credits include 7000 Miles, Miles Underwater, Quality Problems, and And Then There Was Eve. She has worked in reality post-production television as well on shows such as The Amazing Race and The Contender (Mark Burnett Productions). Jen also recently produced Virtual Reality content for the Beijing Olympic Games (NBC), which was nominated for a Sports Emmy in Digital Innovation. Jen is a member of the PGA and Alliance of Women Directors.

John Riddle

John is a former Marine Corps. Sergeant, film editor, and teacher with over 15 years of experience in editing, graphic design, and motion graphic effects. He holds multiple degrees in film and graphic design, and has been teaching for multiple film schools for almost a decade. When John is not in the classroom, he spends his time with his wife and two daughters, as well as reading and drawing. John is currently finishing his debut novel.

Christopher Rossiter, CSI

Christopher’s cinematography credits include the period war series “Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed” starring Peter O’Meara and Martin Sheen, the Arleen Sorkin series “How to Marry a Billionaire” and numerous commercials such as the “I Love New York” campaign. He has worked under many notable cinematographers such as Fred Goodich, ASC; Tom Houghton, ASC; Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC; to name a few.

In addition to being a cinematographer ranked member of the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG), Christopher was recently accepted into the Colorist Society International (CSI) for his work as a colorist. His most notable credits are “Iconic Vision: John Parkinson Architect of Los Angeles” that premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival and was EMMY nominated after airing on PBS in 2019, the documentary “The Art and Times of Frosty Myers” that also aired on PBS, a series for “La Palma Magazine: Niki Koss Fashion Story”, the feature film “Brahmin Bulls” starring Mary Steenburgen and “Hollyweird”.

For many years Christopher worked as a key grip and gaffer for union and non-union productions. Some highlights include Jon Favreau’s “Dinner for Five”, Ming Tsai’s series “East Meets West”, Yahoo Music video series, Dale Pon Advertising for Oxygen and Spike TV campaigns, Fedora Chocolate campaign, Apple Computers, and photographer Annie Leibovitz for Vogue Magazine.

Christopher is a graduate of the American Film Institute Conservatory where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Cinematography. He is also a Cinematography peer group member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Christopher has taught cinematography at many programs including New York Film Academy, and his alma mater, the American Film Institute.

In 2023, his work was nominated and selected for honorable mention at the International Color Award.

Brad Sample

Brad Sample is an award-winning writer/director for film, television and the web. He holds an M.F.A. in Film Directing from U.C.L.A.’s School of Theater, Film and Television. His film credits include Stuck, a dark comedy short, and the Iraq War film Attention, which aired on the Showtime Network. Brad’s television work includes pilots ¡YO! Television, including the hip-hop dance battle show, Crunkiao, and the celebrity profile show, Mi Barrio. The highlight of his online work is Stand Up, a promotional video for the United Nations Millennium Campaign. Brad currently teaches directing at the New York Film Academy and is working on his next screenplay.

Boris Schaarschmidt

Boris Schaarschmidt is a director, producer, and writer with 15 well-recognized short films under his belt. Each of his films has won numerous awards at film festivals around the world. Boris holds a BFA in cinematography from the University of Applied Sciences in Dortmund, Germany, and a MFA in directing from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He has been awarded several prestigious scholarships and awards, among them the German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship (DAAD), and the Pat Hitchcock O’Connell Scholarship Award.

Throughout his career, Boris has worked with well-accomplished and recognized professionals in the film industry, among them German director Romuald Karmaker and Quentin Tarantino, for whom Boris worked on the post-production of “Inglorious Bastards.” Following the success of his short film “Haleema,” Boris went to Iceland for a three-month artist residency and shot the experimental film “Eldur a Himni” about the Northern Lights.

Gilbert Shilton

GILBERT SHILTON

I have been working in the film and television industry for over forty years. In the course of my career I’ve worked on just about every discipline from crew technician to assistant director to cameraman to a three year stint as a television, film and theatre actor ultimately culminating in a multi decade writing and directing career in film and television.

In 1980, I began my freelance directing career shooting prime time network episodic television programs, pilots and mini series. In 1985 I sold my first network writing assignment. Since then I’ve has logged close to three hundred hours directing film and television, my directing assignments taking me all over the English speaking world.

In the process, I’ve garnered numerous award nominations sold both film and episodic screenplays to the major networks, production companies and studios.

In the last twelve years I’ve worked as a College lecturer/instructor with MFA film and television graduates. I’ve also worked international workshops and full semesters in Canada, France, Russia, Turkey, Qatar as well as throughout the United States.

Evan Stulc

Evan has worked as camera assistant on features, commercials and music videos, for clients clients including Toyota, Riot Games, and Yahoo! His credits include Bad Milo, As I Lay Dying, and Helio.

Stephen Tapert

Stephen Tapert earned his M.A. from The University of Chicago and his B.A. from The Evergreen State College. He worked for eight years at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where, as a museum researcher, he provided foundational work for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. He subsequently curated an exhibition on the Best Actress Oscar winners at the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, Italy, and at the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin, Germany. His illustrated coffee table book, “Best Actress: The History of Oscar-Winning Women” was published in 2020 by Rutgers University Press. Featuring a foreword by feminist critic Roxane Gay and endorsements from Andie MacDowell, Liza Minnelli, Susan Sarandon, and Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera, the book offers a historical, social, and political examination of the first 75 women – from Janet Gaynor to Emma Stone – to have won the Best Actress Oscar over the span of 90 years.

Jonathan Thomas

Jonathan Thomas is a two-time graduate of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program (Studio + Critical Studies) and has an MA in Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society from the University of Minnesota. He is the editor and designer of CALIGARI (caligaripress.com), a multimedia periodical of cinema, arts, and letters, and co-founded and was Editor in Chief The Third Rail, an international arts and cinema periodical archived by the Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, LACMA, Walker Art Center, and the Getty Research Institute. Here at NYFA he teaches courses on the history of cinema, the history of cinematography, screenplay analysis, and special topics seminars including Cinema Now and The Social Thriller.

Mike Williamson Associate Chair of Film Arts Department (Cinematography)

MFA in Cinematography, AFI. Award-winning cinematographer living in Los Angeles. Shot four independent feature films, including “Bilal’s Stand”, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Photographed TV & web series including “30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust” for Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures. Additional credits as gaffer on independent features, shorts and commercials.

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