Crafting Your Short Film (Jul. 2020)

Deb Shoval’s films have premiered at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals. Her lifelong interests in organic farming and food justice deeply inform the thriller she is currently developing. Shoval’s feature film AWOL, “a splendid and brooding meditation on the boundless possibilities of first love constricted by the trials of poverty,” starring Lola Kirke and Breeda Wool, is currently available on Hulu, Amazon, iTunes and GooglePlay in the US, and in 66 countries worldwide. Shoval has an MFA in Film from Columbia University and a BA is Sustainable Agriculture from Hampshire College. She is an alum of the Berlin Talent Campus, Film Independent Directing and Producing Labs, IFP Narrative Lab, Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory, and MacDowell; her film projects have received support from The Jerome Foundation, Frameline Completion Fund, Women in Film Finishing Fund, Tribeca Film Institute, Film Independent Fast Track, Adrienne Shelly Foundation, US Works in Progress Paris, and The Leeway Foundation. As a founding member of The Liberty Cabbage Theatre Revival, Shoval toured the US with several performances about agriculture and the environment in a bus powered by recycled vegetable oil, with grant support from The Sparkplug Foundation, The Fund for Wild Nature, and The Fund for New Technologies. Shoval has taught at universities including City College of New York, Brooklyn College, Hampshire College, and NYU, and for Sundance Collab.

Lydia “Sue-Ellen” Chitunya is a filmmaker who hails from Zimbabwe. She is a 2019 Georgia State University (BA’10) 40 under 40 honoree and a graduate of the UCLA professional producing program. She is a Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation Fellowship award recipient. Chitunya has participated in the following artist development programs: 2020 Women In Film INSIGHT, 2019 Industry Academy, Rotterdam Lab, Durban FilmMart, Film Independent’s Project Involve, Berlinale Talents, Cannes Film Festival Marchè Du Film Workshop, Caribbean Tales Incubator, Kyoto Filmmakers Lab, and Durban Talent Campus. Chitunya has produced several shorts that have screened at festivals around the world including BFI London Film Festival, Tribeca, Iris Prize, and Outfest. Her varied work experience includes marketing for Disney College Program, programming for Zimbabwe, Atlanta and Slamdance Film Festivals; She recently worked as a Post Production Coordinator on Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019) and BLACK PANTHER (2018).