NEMANJA BALA (writer/director/ producer) was born and raised in the former Yugoslavia. At the age of nineteen, he received a tennis scholarship to study in the United States at the University of Hartford, where he majored in film studies and began making short fiction and documentary films. His work has been shown on Serbian National Television and the festival circuit. While at Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division, he concentrated in screenwriting and received his MFA in the Fall of 2006. His screenplays have been finalists at Sundance Writers Lab and Tribeca All-Access program. He often collaborates with his brother Branislav Bala. Nemanja currently lives in New York City and works as a freelance filmmaker.

BRANE BALA (writer/director/ producer) holds an MFA in film directing from Columbia University. His short films have played worldwide. His short Shades of Gray was distributed by Doug Liman’s Hypnotic Releasing, and his commercial spot Magic was a Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker’s Award selection. Most recently, he co-produced two low-budget features: Across Dot Avenue and Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish. The latter was invited for a week-long run at New York’s prestigious Lincoln Center and opened to rave reviews. He has taught various film classes at the University of Hartford, The New School, Art Institute of Austin, and was the chair of the Film Department at Katharine Gibbs School.

BOGDAN GEORGE APETRI (cinematographer/producer) is a Romanian filmmaker based in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University in 2006 with a dual MFA degree in Film Directing and Cinematography. His short films have played at many prominent festivals across the world including Clermont-Ferrand, Rotterdam, Palm Springs, and have garnered numerous awards in the process, culminating in a Student Academy Award nomination. In 2010, Bogdan co-produced 3 Backyards which won a 2010 Directing Award at Sundance. His directorial debut Outbound (co-written with Palme d'Or winner Christian Mungiu) screened at the Toronto, Locarno, Warsaw, and New Directors / New Films film festivals among others, and was distributed by MK2.

BILJANA ILIC (producer) is a New York City based producer with 15 years of experience. Her career began as a production manager for the Serbian Broadcasting Company before moving on to produce commercials, documentaries and plays. She co-founded Theater Playground, an open-air theater that doubles as a children’s playground in her hometown of Belgrade, where it has been running continuously for a whole decade. Prior to receiving her MFA from Columbia University, she graduated from the Art Academy of BK University and received a law degree from Belgrade University. Most recently she won an Outstanding Achievement in Production award for her film Palace Living at Visonfest 2013. She has served as a Chair for Producers Guild of America (PGA) Student Committee in 2011/12.

FAY ANN LEE (producer) began her career as a Broadway actress inMiss Saigon, which led to roles in theaters across the country and internationally. Venturing into on-camera work, she landed recurring and guest starring roles on Law & Order, Third Watch and Criminal Intent - but was quickly confronted with the lack of good roles for Asian actors. Her proactive response was Falling For Grace, a romantic comedy she starred in, wrote and directed. Falling for Grace premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and subsequently opened in select theatres across the country. As a result of Lee’s success in the face of race and gender barriers, she has been asked to share her story with national media, women’s organizations as well as world’s finest learning institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and even as far as Tsinghua University in Beijing.

AMY DEVRA GOSSELS (casting director) has been a casting director for more than 75 film productions. Feature film credits include Something's Gotta Give, Godsend, and a Sundance hit Milk & Honey. Amy has also cast and produced dozens of award-winning short films including Academy Award winnerZen and the Art ofLandscaping. Her TV credits include NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, Comedy Central's Night of Too Many Stars, Discovery ID's The Bad Old Days and the upcoming series American Caravan. She has also cast hundreds of award-winning commercials and media campaigns. Her new feature film projects include Humdingerstarring David Moscow, Jeff Lipsky's Molly's Theory of Relativity andVisitors, the latest feature film collaboration from Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass.