Nina Fiore EdM (Founder/ED) is the Astoria-born and raised, first-gen, neurodivergent Founder and Executive Director of Astoria Film Festival in NYC. She has over 25 years experience as a senior leader in both media production and after school education.
With a media production and emerging tech background leading initiatives at MTV, Viacom, Sundance Film Festival, Merrill Lynch, Paramount, CBS, Noggin, Sesame Workshop, CBS, PBS, Wired, and Netflix, Nina calls upon her industry connections to offer real world experiences, mentorships, and jobs/internship opportunities to local youth. Nina also has an extensive after school education and youth development background through her studies at Harvard Graduate School of Education, including as a youth development researcher into afterschool programming and mental health of students at Harvard Medical School, a student co-leader of the Mission Hill After School Program, a program development consultant for the Children's Aid Society, and Director of Education for Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens. Nina began the Astoria Film Festival in order to combine all of her skills, passions and connections, to provide opportunities to her hometown community's youth.
Nina also serves on the Advisory Board for HS of Art & Design's Film Program, on the Advisory Board for ACTVF HS's Film Program, and was a Founding Industry Partner of Motion Picture Tech HS. She works to foster a supportive multi-generational creator community while providing invaluable filmmaking education, work experience, and essential industry connections in media/tv/film. Nina has a BA and EdM from Harvard University and resides in her hometown of Astoria Queens with her husband and son.

​Board Treasurer - Slavko Bogdanov PhD is an Astrophysicist at Columbia University where he conducts research on high-energy astrophysical phenomena utilizing space-based NASA observatories. Previously, he was a Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Global Fellow at McGill University in Montreal, QC, and a research fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA.   Slavko holds a PhD and MA from Harvard University and a BS with Honors and Distinction from Penn State University. He resides with his wife and son in Astoria, NY and is a member of our Finance and Executive committees.

Golda Calonge is a literary manager, producer, and executive at Sweater, a boutique management collective. Her work in literary management builds on her background in entertainment law. She has extensive experience drafting, negotiating, and finalizing rights acquisition, talent, production, and licensing agreements for television, film, podcasts, publishing, and consumer products, ensuring compliance with industry guild standards like SAG-AFTRA and WGA. Golda has managed deals across NYC, Dublin, and Toronto for Scholastic, 9 Story, and various law firms, such as Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard. Additionally, Golda also worked as a Social Worker in the Bronx, a curriculum developer for Earth Institute, and as a Middle School teacher in Virginia. Golda holds a BA from NYU, an MS in Social Work from Columbia University, and a JD from the Berkeley Law School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and children.

​​Yunah Chung MBA Yunah Chung is a Korean American creative executive. After graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts as a film & TV major, she cut her teeth at CAA, followed by MTV. Her lifelong love of Korean cinema naturally led her to blogging about it online over at Dramabeans.com where a global community of K-drama fans continue to engage in thoughtful and enthusiastic discourse.  Unable to shake her interest in global cinema, she also developed content and analyzed scripts at Infinite Studios (local producer of Crazy Rich Asians) while completing her dual international MBA degrees in Singapore and Tokyo. She was a Development Executive at 9 Story Media Group in New York where she developed kids & family animated and live action content. Currently, she lives in Tokyo and serves as the Vice President of Content for a SVOD platform called SAMANSA. She is a member of our Industry Outreach committee.

Board Secretary - Ruth Fernandez is a Brooklyn-born artist who is a member of IATSE Local 798 as an HMU (Hair and MakeUp Artist and Groomer) for the film/tv industry.  While working in a salon in Chelsea in the early 2000's, she was introduced to her future mentor, who took her to assist on an independent film. Soon after, she found herself working on "Making the Band" with Danity Kane on MTV and was then asked to work on the group’s first video shoot in Los Angeles, which paved the way to her current career. Today, Ruth is the go-to for many celebrities, both on and off the red carpet.  Among the stars Fernandez has worked with are Tramell Tillman, Selita Ebanks, Brian Tyree Henry, Kane Brown, Laila Ali, Sterling K. Brown, Marlee Matlin, Brooke Shields, Miriam Shor, Gaten Matarazzo and Niki Taylor among many more. Ruth has extensive experience with editorial, commercial work and high-profile advertising campaigns, including Ray-Ban, Bon Appétit, Interview Magazine Germany, Nylon, GQ, Weight Watchers, Welch's, and Verizon. She has been a member of IATSE Local 798 since 2017. Ruth resides in Queens with her husband and is a member of our Industry Outreach Committee.

​Maria Hantzopoulos PhD  is Professor of Education and Participating Faculty in International Studies, Media Studies, Urban Studies, and Women, Feminist and Queer Studies at Vassar College, where she is also the Coordinator of Secondary Certification and the former Faculty Director for Teaching Development.  Before Vassar, she supervised pre-service student teachers at Columbia University’s Barnard and Teachers Colleges and conducted staff development for middle and high school teachers throughout New York City and nationally. She also taught and worked in New York City public schools for 13 years, served on several public school planning teams, and worked with (and continues to work with) a variety of established youth organizations and professional educator organizations. She remains active in curriculum development for schools and NGOs and regularly conducts professional development for teachers. Maria’s work has appeared in a variety of peer-reviewed publications and she is the author of the books Educating for Peace and Human Rights (Bloomsbury, 2021) with Monisha Bajaj, Restoring Dignity in Public schools: Human Rights Education in Action (Teachers College Press, 2016). She is also co-editor, with Alia Tyner-Mullings, of the volume Critical Small Schools: Beyond Privatization in New York City Urban Educational Reform (Information Age, 2012) and Peace Education: International Perspectives (Bloomsbury, 2016) with Monisha Bajaj.  Her research and projects have been funded by the Spencer Foundation, and Social Science Research Council, the British Council and other sources. Maria earned her BA from Boston University in History, her MA in Social Studies Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and her doctorate at Teachers College in International Educational Development with a specialization in peace education.  She resides in Astoria, NY and is a member of our Executive  and Community Outreach committees.

​Board Vice Chairperson - Bryan Korn is an Emmy, BAFTA, and Annie award-winning Children's Media Writer/Producer of world-class children’s media programming focused on highly-imaginative, idiosyncratic, creator-driven worlds, characters, and brands.  Currently Executive Producer at an in-development children's series for SONY Pictures TV Kids featuring Lionel Messi called Messi and The Giants, Bryan also served as the Co-Executive Producer on the Netflix Original animated series Hilda. Season 1 was nominated for a Peabody Award and won 3x Annie, BAFTA, Emmy, Kidscreen, and TAAFI awards. Season 2 won an Emmy for best Animated program for kids.  Bryan has also written for Octonauts (Disney), Hilda (Netflix), and Monkey with a Toolbelt (Netflix).  Additionally, Bryan served for several years as the Vice President of Creative Content Development at SONY PICTURES TV - KIDS, formerly known as Silvergate Media, where he guided IP through every stage, from development, to series, to 2D/CG animation production, for Disney, Nickelodeon, Netflix, and CBeebies.  Bryan has a BFA in Dramatic Writing from the Conservatory of Theater Arts and Film at the School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase College.  He has also done Film Producing coursework at SVA and is a Certified Queens Public Television Producer.  Bryan resides with his family in Philadelphia and is a member of our Industry Outreach Committee.

Ed Kulzer is Senior Editor at Sesame Workshop and a Mentor for the Children’s Media Association. Ed received 3 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Multi-Camera Editing and 8 Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Multi-Camera Editing. He is an Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve editor and AfterEffects artist. Ed holds an MFA in Computer Art from SVA and a BFA in Studio Art from Northern Illinois University. Ed resides in Astoria with his wife and daughter. He is a member of our Industry Outreach Committee.

Peter Romano  is the Astoria-born and raised Vice President of Operations at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Astoria NY.  Pete grew up in Astoria as the youngest of five siblings, one block from the studio. By 14, he had been hired to pick weeds from the studio grounds, and then he joined the maintenance crew. He became a foreman and a stage manager, before becoming the Vice President of Operations, where he oversees use of all of the Studio stages, including the Backlot, as well as the Zukor Theater.  Pete is a veritable encyclopedia of Astoria Film History and one could happily spend hours listening to all of his stories about the films, tv series, actors, and musicians who have graced the halls of the Studios.  Pete still lives in his beloved Astoria, with his wife, children, and dog, who are all regularly seen visiting him at the Studios. Pete is a member of our Industry Outreach Committee.

Board Chairperson - Heidi M Thompson is a business executive who has worked as a VP for The Home Depot in Mexico and the United States and has prior international experience as a Strategic Business Consultant in London, Dublin, and Munich.   Ms. Thompson served for 7+ years on the Board of Trustees for The Home Depot Foundation and 2+ years on the Managing Board of The Home Depot Foundation. She currently serves on the Board of the Windy City Toolbank. She is a past Board President of Toolbank USA and Windy City Toolbank and was the 2020 recipient of the Toolbanker for Life award.  Ms. Thompson graduated from Harvard University and lives in North Carolina.

Committees:

Finance/Executive Committee: Nina Fiore, Slavko Bogdanov, Heidi Thompson, Maria Hantzopoulos

Festival/Industry Outreach Committee: Nina Fiore, Ruth Fernandez, Bryan Korn, Ed Kulzer, Yunah Chung, Peter Romano

Community Outreach and Education Committee: Nina Fiore, Maria Hantzopoulos, Pete Romano