Nicolás Pacheco Writer/Director - Costa Rica / Singapore

Nicolas Pacheco is a Costa Rican filmmaker with more than fourteen years of
experimenting with film and web narratives. He is the founder of Bisonte 
Producciones, a collective based on the collaboration of young filmmakers that 
made a big impact in the development of the regional film scene. 

In 2007 he moved to Singapore where he got a Masters degree from New York 
University in the Tisch Asia campus, and where in 2012 he directed Rosado Furia: a low-budget feature and international collaboration, which won 6 awards 
including best film, best directing and best writing in the Costa Rica International 
Film Festival 2014. 

In 2013, he created and directed ”Generacion Z”, a mixed format TV show 
composed of three different web series to motivate young generations to go to college in Costa Rica, now playing in three different TV stations and Online. 

He is currently working on the development of his next feature film: The Passion of Nella Barrantes; a film about religion in the rural area of Costa Rica. The project is a multiplataform endeavorer to be shot 2016.  This project has 
participated in the Cinergia Lab 2013 and Panama Film Lab, and has also 
received  grants by Ibermedia Program and Proartes fund.

Alexa Caravia Writer/Director of Photography - Miami

Alexa Caravia is dedicated to revealing and understanding the human condition through narrative cinematography. She has shot over 15 films on location in 6 countries and has co-produced award-winning feature films and television series.

El Empantanado, the first feature film she co-produced, was selected for the 2012 IFP Narrative Film Labs & Rosado Furia, her first collaboration as shooter-producer with Nicolas Pacheco, went on to win six of the top prizes at The Costa-Rican International Film Festival, including Best Film and Best Cinematography.

She worked as the Associate Producer on the first & second seasons of Telemundo's record-breaking & highly rated reality competition show, La Voz Kids, and recently traveled to Africa as the shooter-producer for a documentary about mining in Tanzania. She also helped develop and shoot an original 8-episode scripted Web series for the language-learning program Open English 
with El Empantanado’s director, Felipe Echavarria.

Alexa’s feature-length documentary, Night Mothers, a film about Motherhood across three generations of high-risk sex workers, which she co-produced and shot in Cambodia with friend and filmmaker Shivani Khattar, was recently selected as a finalist in the Fusion Film Festival’s Docs-in-the-Works competition. The panel of judges included HBO, IFP, Chicken & Egg and POV 
industry executives.

Her first short film, In Limbo, received the Honorable Mention for Artistic Short Film at the Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archive Film and Video Awards. Her second short film, Shoo, received the Audience Choice Award at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Optic Nerve X Film Festival. She's garnered additional praise for her cinematography with the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival's award for Best Student Cinematography and NYU's First Run Film Festival's Nestor Almendros award for Excellence in Cinematography. 

She currently works as a shooter-producer in Miami, FL, where she develops and executes travel destination content for Onboard Media. Her upcoming projects include the feature film The Passion of Nella Barrantes, set to film in Costa Rica February 2016.

Hernán Jiménez Writer/Director - Costa Rica / Los Angeles

Hernan Jimenez is one of Costa Rica's most prominent filmmakers and stand-up comedians. Born and raised in Latin America, Hernan trained professionally as an actor at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the National Theatre School of Canada, the country's most prestigious acting conservatory. He studied film at the San Francisco Art Institute and screenwriting/directing at Columbia University's MFA program. 

In Costa Rica, he has written and directed two feature films. His second movie – 'El regreso' (The Return) – where he also starred, was theatrically released and soon became one of the highest grossing local films of all time. It also premiered at the HBO New York International Latino Film Festival where it was nominated for Best Director and won Best International Feature in 2011. It also screened at various film festivals in Latin America, including the Mar del Plata Int'l Film Festival in Argentina, and the Havana Int'l Film Festival to great critical acclaim.

Hernan has also written and performed three full stand-up comedy specials, which have been broadcast on Costa Rican national television, and sold over 20,000 tickets for live performances. Hernan usually tours in sold out venues all over the country, including San José's largest concert halls.

Hernan boasts numerous national awards, including Best Director and Best Film at the Costa Rica International Film Festival. He has been named “Person of the Year” by the country's leading newspaper 'La Nacion' on two different occasions. He is a major national celebrity with over 95,000 Facebook followers, 12,000 Twitter followers, and over 25,000 YouTube subscribers. His YouTube channel, which features his own work exclusively, has currently over 2 million views. 

Sarah Koteles Director/Designer/Animator - Los Angeles

Sarah Koteles is a freelance creative focusing on directing, designing, and animating.  She is one busy girl who is always growing and evolving as an artist.  After graduating from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in film & video, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in directing.  She decided to incorporate motion design after realizing the endless possibilities that the design/animation medium offers.  She has attended UCLA and The Art Center of Design for graphic design and motion graphic classes.  She has been lucky enough to work and collaborate with some amazing artists around Los Angeles as a freelance artist and collaborator. 

Catalina Acuña Production Designer 
Costa Rica / Los Angeles / Mexico

Catalina Acuña is a costa rican Production Designer and graphic artist. Her career in art directing started in early 2000 with Bisonte Producciones which made her realize she wanted to be in films and entertainment. For her design is a necessary asset to communicate effectively but also to express feelings, atmospheres and characters in a real and compelling way. For her everything that goes inside the frame helps tell a story and design itself is a necessary tool to make the audience believe what they are seeing on screen and most importantly be excited about it. It doesnt matter if she creates scenery design, animation or graphic design, it is all a way of expressing and narrating something. She has a masters in Fine Arts from Chapman University in California and has had experience working in TV series, Set design companies and Advertising Agencies in Costa Rica, Los Angeles and Mexico City.

www.catalinaacuna.com

Veronica Zabrocki Sound Designer 
Los Angeles

Veronica Zabrocki is an Independent Sound Designer and Mixer.  She has completed several Independent features as Supervising Sound Editor, Dialogue Editor, Foley Recordist and Editor, Mixer, Sound Effects Editor, and Music Editor.  Veronica has worked in sound for over ten years, starting working in music alongside grammy award winning artist Bruno Mars.
Veronica’s move into the feature world has allowed her to work on film featuring such stars as John Cusack, Al Pacino, Michael Masden, Jennifer Tilly, and Danny Trejo.  Currently Veronica, has been working with Michael Kowalski who is best known for his success in documentary Sound Design including the classic “Lost in La Mancha.”  Veronica and Michael are working on the feature documentary “The Hazda: Last of the First” from the team behind the documentary “Dirt” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.. 

www.VeronicaZabrocki.com

Production Coordination in Costa Rica

Alejandra Vargas Carballo                                           Mariel Schmidt