Yuri Alves was born in 1983, and resides in Ironbound, Newark, NJ. A graduate of the Media Arts Department of NJ City University, 2006, he is an award-winning filmmaker and producer of more than fifteen films. He directed and produced his first feature film at the age of twenty. He has shot, directed, and edited commercials and other projects for production companies in New York and Europe. His works have been screened at the Anthology Film Archives and other venues in NYC. Yuri's films have twice been named as Official Selections at the NY International HBO Latino Film Festival. In 2007, Yuri was a semi-finalist in the Steven Spielberg produced television show, "On the Lot." One of Yuri's recent films, "High Hopes," was selected for the Cannes Film Festival's Short Film Corner in 2008.

Gisell Bejarano Figuerola was born in 1984 in Lima, Peru and moved to Paterson, NJ at the age of 17. Gisell's work includes music videos, experimental shorts, documentary, animation, photography, and graphic design. She studied Photography at the Charles Chaplin Institute for the Visual Arts in Lima while still in high school. In 2008, Gisell graduated from NJ City University with B. A. in Media Arts. Her work has been screened at the Media Arts Department Annual Showcase at the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater in Jersey City, NJ. She won second prize in the 2008 New Jersey Young Film and Videomakers' Festival for "El Clandestino," an experimental short documentary portraying immigrants in the U.S. Gisell is living in Peru and working as a freelance artist, and is in pre-production of her next short exploring the reality of Lima's culture. She is currently negotiating the distribution of a visual poem with a European publishing company.

Steven Dressler was born in Trenton, NJ in 1976. Mr. Dressler attended NJ City University from 1996 to his graduation in 2000 where he specialized in sound design and experimental film soundtracks. From 2001 to 2004 Mr. Dressler had a work-at-home job and lost contact with all friends. He resumed music, film and artistic work and moved to Newark, NJ and then Jersey City, NJ where he currently resides. He worked on the sound mix for the award-winning documentary about art and video games, "8 Bit," which premiered at MoMA, NYC in 2006, and has screened in many venues in the United States, Canada, and Europe. His light pop art has appeared in galleries in Newark, Jersey City and Brooklyn, including the Rutgers University Book Arts Symposium, Brunswick Windows Mural in Jersey City and Artwalking: Bedford Avenue's video screening.

Raul Garcia was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on September 29, 1979, and graduated from the Media Arts Department of NJ City University in 2004. Raul is an accomplished writer and poet and works as a writing tutor for the Opportunity Scholarship Program at NJ City University. His work has been screened at Millennium Film, NYC; the annual Media Arts Department Showcase at the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater in Jersey City, NJ; the Hoboken Historical Museum; and the Jersey City Museum. He studied in the Media Studies program at New School University, and has an active practice in experimental film/video production. He continues to immerse himself in the study of avant-garde film.

Tatiana Gonzalez was born in the Bronx, NY in 1985, and currently resides with her family in Bayonne, NJ. Ms. Gonzalez served for a number of years as a technical staff member and as an undergraduate teaching assistant in the Media Arts Department of NJ City University. She was a highly regarded video-editing tutor in the Department and was awarded the Dr. Joseph Drew Award for Excellence in Media Production in May 2009. Her work has been screened at the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater in Jersey City, and she won an Honorable Mention for her work in 2008 at the New Jersey Young Film and Videomakers' Festival. She is a founding member of Picture Start Productions, a media production company located in Jersey City, NJ. She specializes in video editing and videography.

Michael Krivicka was born in Slovakia in 1976 and was exposed to the film world from day one through his father's profession as an actor. In 1986, Michael's parents decided to escape the communist regime and moved to Germany to apply for asylum. In 1996, Michael graduated high school and moved to the United States. He received his Associates Degree in Arts and moved on to Jersey City, NJ. In 2000, Michael graduated summa cum laude from NJ City University with his BA in Media Arts and received the Celeste Holm Award for Excellence in Media Production, as well as the 2nd Prize at the New Jersey Young Film and Video Makers' Festival with his first animated short film Down. The same year, Michael began working as an in-house editor for a small production company in NYC and began producing and editing a series of film and video projects in collaboration with his former classmate and life-long friend, Juneyup Yi. Their countless projects gained immediate success at film festivals nationwide. In 2003, Michael spent the year directing, producing, and editing Subway Melodies, which premiered at the Black Point Film Festival and received publication in Filmmaker Magazine. He returned to shooting 16mm film and directed New York Talk, which has screened at numerous film festivals in the United States, Canada, Germany, and France – subsequently winning the prestigious "Reel 13" PBS competition on Channel Thirteen. Michael is currently living and working in NYC.

Thom MacFarlane completed his Ph.D. in Music Composition at New York University where he teaches courses in Music Theory and Composition. His doctoral dissertation, "The Abbey Road Medley: Extended Forms in Popular Music" focused on the impact of recording technology on the compositional style of the Beatles. He transformed his findings into a book, which was published by The Scarecrow Press in November 2007. In addition to a Ph.D., Thom also holds an M.A. in Film Scoring (NYU), and a B.A. in Media Arts (NJCU class of 1989). As a composer, Thom has had works performed at venues in Italy, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. His original score for the film "The Sweetest Sound," was premiered in May 2001 at Lincoln Center, and his orchestral composition, "Suite For Mingus" was performed and recorded at Merkin Hall on November 5th 2003. In 1997, he released a CD of original works entitled, "Longtime," which was structured as an essay on the development of recording technology. The production of this album employed a wide variety of formats, from 78rpm sources to analog and digital multi-track in an effort to raise pertinent questions regarding paradigmatic shifts in the process of music composition. He currently resides in Bayonne, NJ.

Joey Mosca was born in Bayonne, NJ in 1986, and has lived in Jersey City all his life. He wanted to make movies since he was a kid and declared his major in Media Arts when he entered NJ City University. Over the years he has produced an impressive and varied body of work, which garnered him the prestigious Dr. Joseph Drew Award for Excellence in Media Production upon his graduation from the Media Arts Department in 2008. His work has been screened at the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater in Jersey City, and he received an Honorable Mention in the 2008 New Jersey Young Film and Video Makers' Festival. Joey is a skilled director, editor, and technician, and is highly sought after for his expertise in location and post-production sound, film and video production. Joey is a founding member of Picture Start Productions, an up and coming media production company based in Jersey City consisting of talented Media Arts graduates from New Jersey City University.

Justin Strawhand is a filmmaker based in Jersey City. His debut film, "8 Bit" a feature documentary about art and videogames, premiered at the Museum of Modern Art, and was named as one of the best films of 2006 by Artforum Magazine. It has played around the world to international acclaim. His new film, "War Against the Weak," is a feature-length exploration of the American eugenics movement, which is currently playing the festival circuit, and was nominated for the Social Justice Award at the 2009 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Justin is the founder and director of mutationengine, a multi-media production company initially housed in New Jersey City University's Business Development Incubator. He graduated from NJ City University's Media Arts Department in 2001 and was a recipient of the Celeste Holm Award for Excellence in Media Production.

Delmira Valladares was born in 1979 in Hoboken, NJ and was raised in Union City, NJ. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in May 2005 and her B. A. in Media Arts from New Jersey City University in 2002. She has exhibited her work at the VertexList Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; at the Society for Photographic Education Mid-Atlantic Region Exhibition in Fairfax, VA; at the Icebox Gallery in Philadelphia, PA; at the Landmark Loew's Theater in Jersey City, NJ; The Newark Museum; the Maya Deren Theater at Anthology Film Archives; at the Robert Beck Memorial Cinema at Collective Unconscious, NYC; at the Fort Lee Film Commission in Fort Lee, NJ; and at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, NY; the Jersey City Museum; Gallery Aferro, Newark; The Center for Book Arts, NYC; and the Black Maria Film and Video Festival. She was chosen for participation in the Independent Feature Project's - Project Mentor, and received a Geraldine R. Dodge Fellowship to attend the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar in June 2003. Upon her graduation from NJ City University in 2002, she received the Dr. Joseph Drew Award for Excellence in Media Production. Delmira's work includes installation, single channel, and narrative video, combining performance, sculpture, and animation.