Points North Staff
Zeshawn Ali
Artist Programs Manager
he/him
Zeshawn Ali
Artist Programs Manager – he/him
Zeshawn Ali is a filmmaker originally from Ohio. His feature film debut, “Two Gods,” was supported by ITVS, Ford Foundation and Sundance Institute and was selected in festivals across North America. It was also screened as a part of “Independent Lens” on PBS and was nominated for a Cinema Eye Spotlight Award. He was recently named a Pillars Artist Fellow as well as a recipient of the HBO/ Gotham Documentary Development Fund. He is a member of Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and Meerkat Media and currently based in New York City.
Clio Berta
Operations Coordinator
she/her
Clio Berta
Operations Coordinator – she/her
Clio Berta is an artist, composer and event producer currently living and working in midcoast Maine. She has directed and produced collaborative multimedia events in public parks, galleries, vacant storefronts and her own backyard, composed scores for a diverse range of short films and is currently fascinated by holograms. She is thrilled to be the Operations Coordinator at the Points North Institute! Clio graduated in 2017 from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a BFA in Interrelated Media, where she studied abroad at the Burren College of Art and participated in selected coursework at Berklee College of Music. She has been a Resident Artist at Studio Kura in Itoshima, Japan, the Stillness Project in Jefferson, Maine and Fish Factory in Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland.
Sean Flynn
Artistic Director
he/him
Sean Flynn
Artistic Director – he/him
Sean Flynn is the Program Director and Co-Founder of the Points North Institute, where he has spent the past 13 years leading the organization’s program development and expansion from a small-town film festival into a year-round media arts institute with global reach. He currently oversees the curation and design of the Camden International Film Festival, a growing suite of filmmaker grants and fellowships, a 2-day documentary conference, an immersive media exhibition, and year-round community engagement initiatives that use documentary screenings to build public discourse. Sean received a master’s degree from MIT’s Comparative Media Studies department, where he worked as a researcher at the MIT Open Documentary Lab. He began his filmmaking career as a producer and cinematographer on two feature-length documentaries, BEYOND BELIEF and THE LIST, which examine the consequences of America’s military interventions in the Muslim world since 9/11. Both films premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and aired on national television. In 2012, Sean was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow in Mumbai, India.
Meg Fournier
Operations Director
she/her
Meg Fournier
Operations Director – she/her
For over 15 years, Meg has been building and supporting multi-disciplinary arts programs around Maine with a particular interest in their effect on the communities they serve. Born and raised in Louisiana, the arts have been an integral part of her daily life since day one. She moved to Brooklyn to pursue a BFA at Pratt Institute and somehow landed in Waldo County, Maine – a place she loves with every fiber of her being. Prior to joining Points North Institute as Production Manager, Meg’s work included roles with the Maine Arts Commission, Waterfall Arts, the Maine International Film Festival, Shadow Distribution, and the Unity College Center for the Arts, as well as the Renzi Education & Art Center in Louisiana. She also co-founded and directed the Free Range Music Festival and Roots & Tendrils, a contemporary art and music venue in Belfast. Meg lives in Belfast with her family, a wild rescue pup, and four moody chickens.
Nicole Fowlie
Finance Manager
she/her
Nicole Fowlie
Finance Manager – she/her
Nicole Fowlie has been a dedicated supporter since the Camden International Film Festival's first year, and she has enjoyed working for Points North as an official member for several years. She lives in the midcoast area where she is raising her two sons. In addition to her work for Points North, Nicole is proud to work with youth at a local elementary school.
Cam Howard
Festival and Community Programs Manager
they/them
Cam Howard
Festival and Community Programs Manager – they/them
cam howard (a.k.a. a.c.) is a writer, astrologer, and multidisciplinary artist, and the program coordinator at the Points North Institute. Their work focuses on queer coming of age, community care, music, nature, and the future. Their writing has appeared in 68 to 05, The Lambda Literary Review of Books, The Stopgap, and in their newsletter The Deal. Cam grew up in DownEast Maine, studied film at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and are an alumni of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. They were a 2023 LEF Fellow at the Flaherty Film Seminar, a recipient of the 2021 Springboard Artist Grant from the Maine Arts Commission, and a semi-finalist for the 2019 Student Academy Awards.
Colin Kelley
Tech Director
he/him
Colin Kelley
Tech Director – he/him
Colin has been with CIFF since 2010, where he started as a projectionist. In addition to his work here, Colin is the Technical Director for the Full Frame Documentary Festival in Durham, NC and a media production consultant at Bowdoin College. He is a graduate of Alfred University and the Maine Media Workshops four-week doc program.
Elise McCave
Executive Director
she/her
Elise McCave
Executive Director – she/her
Elise is the Executive Director of the Points North Institute. She has 15 years of leadership and field-building at the intersection of independent film and social impact. Previously, she was at the global fundraising platform, Kickstarter, where she served as the Head of Film, leading strategy for the company’s largest category. Prior to that, she was Deputy Director of Doc Society, where she was a member of one of the UK’s most innovative social impact funders. Over eight years she worked on pioneering models for community engagement through documentary film, notably via the international Good Pitch program and the free-to-access Impact Field Guide & Toolkit. Elise is from Cambridge in the UK, and has a BSc in Anthropology from the University of London. She’s lived in the US since 2015, and divides her time between New York and Midcoast Maine.
CIFF & Artist Programs Team
Zaina Bseiso
Senior Programmer
she/her
Zaina Bseiso
Senior Programmer – she/her
Zaina Bseiso is a filmmaker, educator, and curator whose work explores diasporic manifestations of return, cinematic acts of solidarity, and articulations of power in the moving image. She is a Senior Programmer at the Points North Institute and the co-founder of Bahia Collective, a community of filmmakers dedicated to collaborative practice and curation. Bseiso serves on the programming board of LA Film forum and independently organizes film events that foster community engagement. Currently in post-production, her first feature, Todo Lo Sólido, has received support from Sundance, Sandbox Films, Visions Sud Est, among others. In 2024, she served as a curatorial fellow at the Flaherty Seminar and filmmaker-in-residence at the Duke DocX Lab. She holds an MFA in Film and Video from CalArts.
Sarah Erwin
Associate Producer, Artist & Community Programs
she/her
Sarah Erwin
Associate Producer, Artist & Community Programs – she/her
Born & raised in Maine, Sarah is thrilled to be a part of the Points North Team as Associate Producer, Artist & Community Programs. She comes to Points North from Tribeca Film Institute and is excited to bring her love for independent film & community engagement to her home state. She loves talking about TV shows and also would be happy to help anyone source the perfect vintage quilt for their home.
Milton Guillen
Senior Programmer
they/him
Milton Guillen
Senior Programmer – they/him
Milton Guillén is a visual artist, filmmaker, and the senior programmer for the Camden International Film Festival/Points North Institute in Maine, USA. His work explores the cinematic intersections of radical collaborative non-fictions and political dreamscapes, focusing on themes around human rights and aesthetics. Milton’s films have screened globally at the Venice Biennale, CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Rooftop, DOK Leipzig, True/False, Dokufest, Camden, and several dozens of festivals and venues around the world. Milton recently received production grants from the Tribeca Film Institute and ITVS. He also was named fellow at the Points North Institute, the Bay Area Video Coalition, Kartemquin, the International Documentary Association, and is the recipient of several international artists’ residencies and grants. He holds an MFA from Northwestern University in Documentary Media and studied Visual Anthropology and Cinema Studies at Colby College. They are an Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont, an Associate Fellow at the Film Study Center at Harvard, Chicken & Egg, and Firelight.
Willoughby Lucas Hastings
Marketing Assistant
she/her
Willoughby Lucas Hastings
Marketing Assistant – she/her
Willoughby Lucas Hastings is a visual artist and educator originally from Huntsville, Alabama, but currently based in Rockland, Maine. Hastings's background is primarily in higher education teaching studio art and art history courses; she currently teaches at the University of Southern Maine. Since moving to the Midcoast she also taught at the Watershed School and with Leaps of Imagination. As a visual artist, Hastings works in textiles, photography, sculpture, and social practice. The production of site-specific community-engaged performances confirmed her occupational interests in public programming. She is eager to contribute to the vitality of the Midcoast's art community.
Kate Lemberg
Associate Manager, Industry & Artist Programs
she/her
Kate Lemberg
Associate Manager, Industry & Artist Programs – she/her
Kate Lemberg is the Associate Manager of Industry Relations & Artist Programs at Points North, where, in addition to supporting the programming and operations of PNI’s Artist Programs and maintaining PNI’s industry relationships, her primary focus is producing the 1:1 Meetings program. In addition to her work at PNI, Kate is a staff programmer at RiverRun in North Carolina; the Creators Market producer at Tribeca; the Operations Director for Middlebury New Filmmakers; and the Film Nominations Associate at the Independent Spirit Awards. She currently is an Assistant Programmer at Tribeca and a shorts screener for Rooftop Films. She has served as a juror for the IDA Awards. Having begun her work in festivals in venue and ticketing operations—having previously done so at Sundance, DOC NYC, True/False, SIFF, PSIFF, and more—she still works in those arenas on occasion. Kate is a proud BA & MA alum of Cinema Studies at NYU Tisch.
Lucila Moctezuma
Senior Consultant, Artist Programs
she/her
Lucila Moctezuma
Senior Consultant, Artist Programs – she/her
Lucila Moctezuma is a producer and consultant to documentary filmmakers and media organizations in the US and internationally, and programmer with international festivals. She is producer of the documentaries in-progress She Wrestles (by Charles Fairbanks), Women Like Us (Nausheen Dadabhoy), and Regreso/Return (by David Barba). Her consulting work with filmmakers focuses on story and creative authorship, and consults with media organizations in program design, program implementation, and as facilitator of story workshops. Currently she is Senior Consultant of Artist Programs at Points North Institute where she co-leads the Diane Weyermann Fellowship; Senior International Programmer for Hot Docs in Canada, and a member of the documentary programming committee at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico. Other consulting organizations have included Close Up Initiative, the Sundance Documentary Film Program, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Multitude Films, and story workshops with the Bronx Documentary Center and BAVC. Previously, she held senior positions at high-profile organizations such as Chicken & Egg Films, UnionDocs, Women Make Movies, the Media Arts Fellowships for The Rockefeller Foundation, and founded the TFI Latin America Fund for Tribeca Film Institute. Lucila is based in Brooklyn, NY, and is originally from Mexico City. She is a frequent guest participant at film forums, panels and juries in the US and internationally. Lucila is a 2025 EAVE Producers Workshop Fellow, 2019 JustFilms Ford Foundation / Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow, and a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences since 2021.
Shannon Pelletier
Graphic Designer
she/her
Shannon Pelletier
Graphic Designer – she/her
Shannon comes from a diverse background in performing, arts management and production. Originally from Maine, Shannon received her BFA from the New School University in NYC and her Master’s in Arts Policy and Practice at the Huston School for Film and Digital Media in Galway, Ireland. She has worked throughout the US and Europe under several scopes within the arts non-profit sector and within the commercial sector in Australia. Upon returning the US, Shannon was Operations Manager at Points North from 2016-2017 before transitioning to focused work in graphic design with a specialty in publication design—including design of the CIFF program since 2017. She is a founding member and designer of Holy Show, a magazine of contemporary life and culture in Ireland; described by the Irish Times as “unquestionably the most beautiful” Irish literary journal and celebrated in a 2024/2025 retrospective exhibition of the first 6 issues at the Museum of Literature Ireland.
Deborah Rudolph
Partnerships Officer
she/her
Deborah Rudolph
Partnerships Officer – she/her
Deborah Rudolph is Partnerships Officer for Points North Institute, and Associate Programmer at Tribeca Festival. She was previously Industry Programs Manager for Chicago International Film Festival, Impact Campaign Manager at Looky Looky Pictures, Director of Sponsorship and DOCNYC PRO for DOCNYC, and has served as Producer of the Points North Forum at CIFF, Programming Coordinator at Montclair Film, and for many years as Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility at HBO. She has been film evaluator for POV, Catapult Film Fund, and Chicken & Egg Pictures. She is dedicated to filmmaker development and education, and building partnerships to increase sustainability for documentary makers. She holds a BFA in Film and Photography from NYU, and a Masters in Communication from Columbia University.
Board of Directors
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Rick Rector, Chair
Richard Aroneau, Vice Chair
Miguel Gómez-Ibáñez, Treasurer
Monika Navarro, Secretary
George Cooke
Alexandra Jiga
Andrea Meditch
Julia Metcalfe
Caroline von Kuhn