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.
Annie Brown
Chief of Staff
she/her
Annie Brown
Chief of Staff – she/her
Annie Brown is a longtime member of the Maine non-profit community. Her professional experience ranges from event production (think parades, pop-up events, fundraising galas) to donor relations to conference management. She grew up in Portland, ME, and is a graduate of Bennington College, where her studies focused on performing arts, costume and production design, and administration. She’s been on the Points North team since 2018, joining the organization from the Farnsworth Art Museum. She’s passionate about doing powerful work in the midcoast community and fostering surprising opportunities here on the Coast of Maine. She likes Earl Grey tea, peonies, and to move.
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
From October 2024, Elise McCave is the Executive Director of the Points North Institute. Elise 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 part of the leadership of one of the UK’s most innovative social impact funders. Over eight years she developed 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 will be dividing her time between New York and Midcoast Maine.
CIFF & Artist Programs Team
Zaina Bseiso
Programmer, CIFF and Artist Programs
she/her
Zaina Bseiso
Programmer, CIFF and Artist Programs – she/her
Zaina Bseiso is a filmmaker and curator, primarily focused on documentary and experimental cinema. In 2021, she joined the Points North Institute as a programmer for The Camden International Film Festival and artist programs. As a co-founder of Bahia Colectiva, she is dedicated to collaborative filmmaking and curatorial practices. Zaina is currently in post-production for Todo Lo Sólido, a co-directed hybrid feature film set in Cuba. Based in Los Angeles, she was raised in Egypt by Palestinian parents and earned her master’s degree in film and video from the California Institute of the Arts.
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 at CIFF/PNI. His work explores the cinematic intersections of radically collaborative non-fictions and political dreamscapes, focusing on themes around human rights and aesthetics. Milton’s films have screened at the Venice Biennale, CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Rooftop, Dokufest, DOK Leipzig, True/False, and several dozens of festivals and venues around the world. He is currently a FSC-LEF Harvard Fellow, and teaches at the University of Vermont. His MFA from Northwestern University is equally important and his love for cycling around the hills of Camden.
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 most recently at Lesley University and MassArt. Since moving to Rockland she has also been teaching 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. Hastings holds a BFA from the University of Georgia and an MFA from the School Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She is eager to contribute to the vitality of the Midcoast's art community.
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 in 2022 as “unquestionably the most beautiful” Irish literary journal. She is also a founding member and designer of Culch Magazine: Maine’s art and culture anthology which will debut in 2024.
Kate Lemberg
Associate Manager, Industry & Artist Programs
she/her
Kate Lemberg
Associate Manager, Industry & Artist Programs – she/her
Kate Lemberg is the Associate Manager, Industry & Artist Programs at Points North. In addition to her work at PNI, Kate is a staff programmer at RiverRun and Nashville; the Creators Market producer at Tribeca and Industry Roundtables producer for DOC NYC; an assistant programmer for Tribeca; and a screener for Rooftop. She has served as a juror for IDA. Having begun her work in festivals in venue and ticketing operations—having previously done so at Sundance, Tribeca, DOC NYC, True/False, Hamptons, 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 consultant to documentary filmmakers and media organizations in the US and internationally, and programmer with international festivals. Her work with independent filmmakers focuses on story, craft and creative authorship, and consults with media organizations in program design and program implementation, and as facilitator of story workshops. Currently she is Senior Consultant of Artist Programs at Points North Institute, and other consulting organizations include the Sundance Documentary Film Program, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, and Multitude Films, and story workshops with the Bronx Documentary Center and BAVC. She is Associate International Programmer for Hot Docs in Canada, and a member of the documentary programming committee at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico. Previously, she held senior positions at high-profile organizations such as Chicken & Egg Pictures, UnionDocs, Women Make Movies, the Media Arts Fellowships for The Rockefeller Foundation, and founded the TFI Latin America Fund for Tribeca Film Institute. She sits on the Executive Board of Cine Qua Non Lab and was Vice-President of the Board of Trustees of The Flaherty. She is Producer of the feature-length documentary, She Wrestles (in development, by award-winning director and wrestling state champion, Charles Fairbanks). Based in Brooklyn, NY, Lucila is from Mexico City and is a frequent guest participant at film forums, panels and juries in the US and internationally. In 2021 she became a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Deborah Rudolph
Partnerships Officer
she/her
Deborah Rudolph
Partnerships Officer – she/her
Deborah has been with Points North since 2019, serving as Partnerships officer. She is also an Associate Programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Industry Programs Manager for Chicago International Film Festival. She was previously Director of Development and Industry Programs for DOCNYC, Producer of the Points North Forum at CIFF, and for many years Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility at HBO. Other roles included Impact Producer at Looky Looky Pictures, and Film Evaluator for POV, Catapult Film Fund, and Chicken & Egg Pictures. She holds a BFA in Film and Photography from NYU, and a Masters in Communication from Columbia University.
