Jay Stern has 17 years' experience directing and producing for stage, screen, and radio in New York City.  He is a founder, producer, and host of the Iron Mule Short Comedy Film Festival, screening monthly in NYC since April, 2002.  Stern has produced and directed more than 30 short films.  His work has won awards from the Montreal Film Festival and the National Educational Media Network, as well as screened in festivals across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.  His first feature film, The Changeling, opened in May, 2007, and his second feature, Spirit Cabinet, is in post production.

Stern recently produced two projects with writer/director/stand-up comic Victor Varnado: Roboto Supremo, (a short featuring a giant robot and Michel Gondry) and the feature The Awkward Comedy Show (which recently sold to Comedy Central and New Video).

In addition to his film work, Stern is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and has directed and produced more than 20 theatrical productions, from classical theater to world premieres by emerging American playwrights.  He is also the director of Quicksilver Radio Theater's award-winning radio dramas which have been syndicated internationally.

Stern was a producer of improv comedy with Chicago City Limits from 1996-2003.  He is a PhD candidate at the European Graduate School, where he studied with Peter Greenaway, John Waters, Siegfried Zielinski, Claude Lanzmann, Jacques Derrida, Agnes Varda and Volker Schlöndorff.

Jay Stern has been invited to lecture on ultra low budget filmmaking at Parsons School of Design in New York City and the Non Grata Arts Center in Tallinn, Estonia.  He has programmed short film screenings for Comedy Central, Mass MoCA, Non Grata in Tallinn, Estonia, and the Woods Hole Film Festival.

Graziano began his career working in the reality genre as Producer and Production Manager, for clients such as MTV, Travel Channel and A&E. Soon after, he started his work as Line Producer on the Festival favorite To Paint the Portrait of a Bird (based on a poem by Jaques Prevert) and worked on several features starring Willem Dafoe, Andie MacDowell, Brian Cox, Fisher Stevens and Robert Loggia. Two of his films (A Woman and 1937) premiered at the Venice Film Festival and others (iMurders and As Good As Dead) have gotten wide theatrical releases.

Graziano is passionate about going on the journey with the filmmaker from script to screen. Drawn to compelling stories, regardless of the genre, he enjoys the process of collaborating with a creative team to define how the story will be told. To complement his experience he has had the unique fortune to live in many parts of the world, which has helped him develop a sensitivity to the people and world around him. Collaboration is the driving force behind his management style, which translates into an organized, fun and efficient production.

Cindy Chin is the Founder and President of CLC Advisors, LLC, specializing in marketing, brand, and sales strategy. She is currently acting as an Ambassador and advisor in strategy and marketing for Windows for Widows, a non-profit organization providing microfinance funds for women in Egypt, the Dominican Republic, India and West Africa.

She is a former consultant for several leading international management consulting firms including McKinsey & Company, Coopers & Lybrand, LLC, and asset management firm Strategic Hotels & Resorts. She has worked with companies in a variety of industries ranging from Charles Schwab (finance/marketing), Ortho Diagnostics and Cordis, subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson (pharmaceuticals), The Gilt Groupe (fashion/retail), to Lincoln Center (arts).

Cindy sits on the Board of Directors of the Diller-Quaile School of Music as the Development Committee Chair, Co-Chair of the Annual Fund, and member of the Strategic Planning Committee. She is also actively involved as a member of The New York Philharmonic’s Young New Yorkers, the Young Patrons of Lincoln Center, where she sat on YPLC’s Strategic Taskforce on the Digital Landscape and Financial Strategic Plan Initiatives during their $2.1 billion redevelopment project, and The New York Junior League, as a Provisional Training Committee group leader in mentoring and developing new volunteers.

She is currently studying Advanced Piano at The Juilliard School’s Evening Division and is preparing for The Van Cliburn International Outstanding Amateur Competition in May 2014.

After working in London as a puppeteer, Sarah attended Falmouth School of art, in Cornwall, where she received a BA degree in Fine Art. After graduating, taking advantage of dual nationality, she moved to San Francisco. There she got involved in theater; designing, assisting and scenic painting. She also worked as a mural artist and to make ends meet, she was a  house-painter and short order cook. She came to New York to attend Tish school of the Arts, where she obtained a masters degree in Theater arts. In 1991 she was awarded an NEA TCG designers fellowship grant. Since graduating, she has worked consistently with those engaged in experimental theater. She has frequently been invited to participate in the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, where she has enjoyed collaborating with and meeting many of our more adventurous directors, including Jay Stern. Last year one of these collaborations took her to Athens, Greece to continue development of an original work staged there, with Ioli Andreadi. In the New York area she has worked in the less traditional theater spaces such as La Mama, The Ohio, The Kitchen and HERE. Sarah also works as a teaching artist at various schools around  NYC. She has ongoing work as an event designer and installation Artist. 

Films include Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Jingle Hell, I'm No Stud, Crime of Passion, and Spirit Cabinet. TV credits include Law & Order, Wall Street and Third Watch. Floyd has also appeared in numerous web videos, including MoveOn.org’s 10 Weeks (directed by John Sayles) and two videos for The Onion News Network. Ramona’s off-Broadway credits include the title role of Medea, and Pygmalion and The Maids (Jean Cocteau Repertory), The Monument (Clockwork Theatre) and Shaw’s Arms And The Man. Regional Theater includes Candida, In Chains, La Ronde, Blue Window, Rhinoceros, and The Balcony. Floyd has also appeared in over 50 regional/national commercials and voice-overs.

Recent projects include What You Can Do, a series for PBS letting Americans know what they can do to help change the world in only a minute’s time.  She can also be seen in the web series The Sexually as a psychic turned therapist.  She has appeared in the independent films Belly, The Changeling, Aesops’ Diner, and Spirit Cabinet. She has performed in most black box theaters and comedy rooms in the New York City in projects ranging from Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Classic Stage Company to sketch comedy at Caroline’s.  She has been heard on NPR as part of the award-winning Union Signal radio theater company.  Mary has also performed in numerous pharmaceutical industrials almost entirely in Orlando.

Lorna began her career as a dancer after graduating the acclaimed High School of Performing Arts in New York City. She received full scholarships and the opportunity to study and perform with companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ballet Hispanico. On Broadway, she’s worked as an Associate Choreographer alongside George C. Wolfe and Kenny Roberson in Harlem Song and Christopher Ashley in All Shook Up! The 2010-11 NY Musical Theater Festival gave Lorna a nomination and an honorable mention for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for ”Frog Kiss A Musical.” Broadway credits as a performer include: Joe Mantello and Mark Platt’s Wicked (Midwife), Des McAnuff’s How to Succeed in Business (Miss. Krumholtz), and Tommy Tune’s Grease (Rizzzo). Lorna has had the pleasure of sharing the Broadway stage with Ben Vereen, Chita Rivera, Jennifer Holiday and Joel Grey to name a few. On the big screen as well as television, she has had the opportunity to hone her craft working alongside impressive directors, such as James Mangold in Kate and Leopold and Fred Scheppisi in It Runs in the Family. Lorna has also choreographed several episodes for seasons one, two and three for Gossip Girl , including: Valley Girls, In the Realm of Basses, It's a Wonderful Lie, Hi Society and Disco Stick.

Costume Designer and Fashion Stylist Polina Roytman started her education at the esteemed Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and the Polimoda International Institute in Florence, Italy. This allowed her to hone her skills and get a solid understanding of Fashion, giving a unique perspective to be able to create characters through fashion choices. She started her career working for companies such as Myth and Ritual and Donna Karan. This led her to designing costumes for Roboto Supremo, a short starring Michel Gondry and written and directed by Victor Varnado. She was head costume designer for the Off-Off-Broadway hit, Viva Patshiva, written by David Jenness and directed by Lincoln Center’s Paul Smithyman. She has worked with Emmy Award winning Sally Lesser on costumes for Lincoln on Hester Street, written by Lu Hauser and directed by George Ferencz.  Along with Emmy Award winning David Zyla on costumes for POPart, written by Daryl Lisa Fazio and directed by Chad Larabee. As well as having the pleasure of working with esteemed photographers such as Andres Serrano, Melanie Acevedo, and Asha Fuller.

Other works include costumes for the reality series, The World of LARP; for Aaron Bollinger’s documentary, Clothes Minded; costumes for features, Laser Gun and Spirit Cabinet; Costumes for music videos, shorts, and web pilots for Comedy Central and NBC. As well as assisting with productions for Lincoln Center, Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, Washington Square Production, Theater for the New City, and the New York Musical Theatre Festival.