Alexandra Ozeri
Alexandra Ozeri is a writer and satirist currently residing in Los Angeles. She grew up in New York City and is of mixed Yemenite heritage on her father’s side and Ashkenazi Holocaust survivors on her mother’s side. She has written for Redcutress, The Belladonna, The Foreigner, Flexx, Robot Butt, Disney, Dreamworks, as well as the Jewish Journal, and has had her writing reported on by Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, The Miami Herald, Yahoo, Teen Vogue, Bustle, Metro UK and more. She received her education at the University of Maryland, Tel Aviv University, and UCLA. She is also an educator and has over fifteen years of diverse teaching experience.
Jake Emanuel and Willie Block
Jake Emanuel and Willie Block are writing partners originally from the east coast. They’re most known for writing the film “Reunion” and the horror podcast “The Edge Of Sleep,” which was adapted into a TV series.
Aaron Vaccaro
Grandson to one of the original child actors in the “Our Gang” comedies of the 1930s, Aaron got the bug to work in the entertainment business from an early age. After college, Aaron chose to disappoint his Jewish mother who wanted him to go to law school by instead pursuing a career as a screenwriter. He has since written for shows on Netflix, CBS, Disney, Nickelodeon, and sold several TV and feature projects. When he’s not busy disappointing his mother, Aaron enjoys hiking with his wife, playing street hockey with his sons, and obsessing over his fantasy football team.
Ted Nusbaum
Ted Nusbaum is a playwright, screenwriter, and theater educator who holds an MFA in Playwriting from the Actors Studio Drama School. His first play, Pischer, won the Samuel French Off-Broadway Play Festival and was subsequently published. Ted has optioned several screenplays and television pilots, and teaches theater full-time at a performing arts high school in Manhattan. Ted lives in Brooklyn with his wife, three children, and a forever hungry hound dog named Bubba.
Dikla Sachs
Born in Jerusalem in 1991, Dikla studied film at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. She has worked as an actress and screenwriter on various Israeli film and television projects, and directed several short films that were screened at film festivals around the world.
Mattan Harel-Fisch
Mattan Harel‑Fisch is an Israeli filmmaker and product designer, known for his work on commercials and film, as well as for creating the 47-minute IDF film on October 7th, “Bearing Witness,” which gained global attention and was presented to world leaders. He has co-founded two startups and a design studio, and serves as Director of UX at the software company Lightico. His work blends narrative, design, and innovation to drive meaningful impact.
Lola Petitbon
Lola Petitbon is a Franco-American screenwriter and director who trained at UCLA after beginning her career as an actress. A finalist and winner of several international screenwriting competitions, she is currently developing a TV series in Los Angeles, backed by an Oscar-winning producer, and a short film produced in France, where she will make her official directorial debut. Her work blends intimate, character-driven storytelling with music, humor, and a touch of burlesque.
Dan Abramovici
Dan is a writer and director whose work often explores questions of identity through a surrealist lens. His films use unconventional storytelling to navigate complex human moments with honesty and imagination. His credits include: PLAY IT AGAIN (acquired by Prideflix)and SEARCHING FOR MARCEAU (Semifinalist Academy Nicholls Fellowship).
Lily Henley
Lily is a singer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist working at the intersection of Sephardi Ladino and American folk music. Her album Oras Dezaoradas (2022, Lior Editions Paris) was named Album of the Year by Hey Alma and featured in The Guardian and Songlines Magazine. A Fulbright award winner and Carnegie Hall Musical Explorers artist, she has received support from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the New Jewish Culture Fellowship, the New York Foundation of Arts, and held residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, JArts Boston, and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. Lily tours regularly across the US and abroad, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Ethnomusicology at Harvard University.
Janice (Jan) Fernheimer
Janice W. Fernheimer is a Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies; Zantker Professor of Jewish Studies; and James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits Faculty Fellow at the University of Kentucky where she co-directs the University of Kentucky-Jewish Heritage Fund Kentucky Holocaust Education Initiative and teaches courses in “Bourbon Writing” and “Bourbon Oral History” in the Certificate for Distillation, Wine, and Brewing. She is also a Stave and Thief Certified Executive Bourbon Steward. In 2024 the Bourbon Women Foundation recognized her as a Woman of Whiskey with the Mike Keyes Ally of the Year Award honoring the trailblazing work of the Women in Bourbon Oral History Project, which she founded in 2021. She currently resides in Lexington, KY with her family and when she’s not writing or teaching, you can usually find her shimmying across the dance floor or cycling across the Bluegrass.