In 2017 Alex debuted their first feature documentary, Susanne Bartsch: On Top, which premiered at Hot Docs and went on to win the John Schlesinger award at the Provincetown International Film Festival. Alex has received multiple Webby Awards, Vimeo Staff Pick and featured on Netflix, Hulu, MTV, VH1, Vogue, Dazed, HuffPo, Rolling Stone, Paper Magazine, Bullett, Out, and Vice.
Alex co-produced the Topic Studios/Magnet Releasing film Wrinkles the Clown (2019), directed an episode of the documentary series Pride for FX (2021), field segments for Queer Sports on Vice (2023), and most recently finished filming a feature documentary about Tina Burner and Blake Allen staging their original musical, Farmyard Follies.

Blake Pruitt is an editor, filmmaker, film festival director and activist living in New York City. He's a proud Motion Picture Editors Guild Local 700 member. His feature editing debut, the documentary A House is Not a Disco, premiered at SXSW 2024.
Blake’s vision for MIX is to create a platform for artists to showcase their work and create art beyond the constraints of traditional film ‘industry’ or ‘market’ demands. He approaches MIX as a filmmaker first, aiming to foster a supportive environment where artists can freely express themselves.

Octavia Leona Kohner is an anarchist, transexual, lover, and artist. In that order. She believes in DIY and hates selling out. Director, DP, Technical Director, and Script Doctor. Allergic to melons. Contact: Octavia@MIXNYC.org

Kneaku is Director/Writer and DJ affectionally known as Sp3cialK. They have an expansive background in film production, live performance, project coordination and arts administration with experience in independent and institutional settings. They hold a Bachelors in Digital Media & Video Production and Theatre Arts and indefinites as storyteller of many mediums. With ten years of experience in the fast-paced environment of NYC, they have a wealth of knowledge and skills to offer the arts sector.

Damon Beirne is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, whose work amplifies the artistic practice of LGBTQ+ performers. His short film Lavender Outlaws, about LGBTQ americana music, screened at Americanafest, OUTSouth, Gaze International, and won the audience award at TRANSlations. He is a member of DCTV, The Gotham, Filmshop, and serves as the director of archival for MIX NYC. Look out for his upcoming feature, Notes On N.O.P.E.

Enzo Tronson is a French third-year political science student, aspiring to enter a Master’s program in Image Industry Management. Passionate about visual and performing arts, he has a particular interest in queer cinema and its political and activist depth. With experience in the musical event industry in France, he is undertaking this internship to deepen his knowledge of queer cinema and to refine his event production skills.

Tia Wong is an artist, designer, and community organizer residing in Ottawa, Canada (unceded territory of the Algonquin Nation). She was born and raised in Toronto, where she began practicing fine arts and filmmaking. Tia works as a graphic designer and communications professional for arts, climate science, and community solidarity organizations. Her love of parties and cinema led her to MIX in 2024.

Since moving from Venezuela to the U.S. in 2014, Diego Leon has been driven by a passion for his community and the film industry. With experience in marketing, production, and outreach, he brings a unique mix of creative and strategic expertise to MIX NYC. Believing in the power of film to amplify queer voices, he sees MIX NYC as the perfect platform to engage new audiences and celebrate LGBTQ+ artistry. His commitment to visibility and cultural impact drives him to build strategic partnerships and secure sponsorships, fostering collaborations that expand resources, elevate queer filmmakers, and keep the festival a vital space for groundbreaking storytelling.

LaTefy Dolley is originally from Memphis, Tennessee. He holds a BFA in painting with a minor in art history from the Memphis College of Art (2014) and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts (2019). A Brooklyn-based curator, archivist, and multidisciplinary artist, he explores Black queer histories through exhibitions, digital archives, and community-driven projects. He has curated for Visual AIDS, the High Line, and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center) and currently works at Sikkema Malloy Jenkins. As a chosen cohort member, he is a participant in the 2025 Curatorial Seminar at Independent Curators International (ICI). His archival work includes projects with Other Countries, a Black gay men's writing collective founded in 1986 in New York City, as well as the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Visual AIDS collaborative archival project Last Address. Through research, curation, and preservation, he utilizes innovative archival strategies to ensure alternative queer cultural histories remain visible and accessible.

Ariel Ottey is a Black, queer, and non-binary artist, curator, and producer born and raised in New York. They are passionate about QTIBIPOC representation and building spaces where art and community converge to create social change. Ariel programmed and produced events for the Human Rights Watch Film Festival before stepping into their current role of Director of Operations for MIX NYC. Most recently they programmed for Frameline49, served on the narrative jury for Wicked Queer, and began programming for PrideFull Fest. When not reviewing films, Ariel can be caught being a proud cat dad and working on their film about identity and labor.

Sasha is a part-time writer, archivist, grad student, bartender, and filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY.

Jason Cyrano Brown is an experiential producer who has worked with companies such as Amazon Music, L'Oréal, and Aardman Animations. He is the former assistant director of public humanities and research at Bard Graduate Center, and holds degrees in comparative literature and arts administration. Notable projects include: producing the livestream for De La Soul’s D.A.I.S.Y. Experience at Webster Hall, producing a symposium at Brooklyn Museum on evolving display practices in African Art and the Diaspora, and being a producer on the livestream for Lizzo’s “Special” album release at Cipriani. 

J Triangular is a gender-expansive creator, experimental filmmaker, multimedia poet, curator, and spiritual artivist. Born in Colombia and based in Taiwan, their work explores the creation of avant-garde queer collectives, mental health, and the fight against HIV stigma—rooted in projects across Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Colombia, and South Africa. They conceive cinema as a sacred space for freedom and social practice. Their work has been exhibited across Asia, Europe, North and Latin America, with recent showcases at the New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum, Asian Art Museum, Cinemateca de Bogotá, State of Concept (Athens), and Documenta 15. J is currently developing their trans punk feature film, The First Kiss of the Night.

Kelly Filreis is a Brooklyn-based art historian and is currently the Operations and Programs Manager for non-profit video art distributor Electronic Arts Intermix. Her scholarly research explores the roles of enchantment, esotericism, and alternative spiritualities in visual art, focusing primarily on queer and feminist practices from the 1950s to the present. As an independent curator, she recently co-organized the exhibition, Sci-fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation, with ONE Archives in Los Angeles, and co-edited the accompanying catalogue, published in 2024 by Inventory Press. She has previously held roles at the Dallas Museum of Art and the New York Public Library, and received her Ph.D in Art History from Stanford University.

Payton McCarty-Simas is an author, programmer, and film critic based in New York City. They hold a Masters in film and media studies from Columbia University, where she focused her research on horror film, psychedelia, queerness, and the occult in particular. Her essays and film criticism have been featured in Film Daze, Rue Morgue, The Brooklyn Rail, and Horror Studies among others, while their short films and screenplays have been featured in several film festivals and shown at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Payton is also a member of the Online Association of Female Film Critics and the author of two nonfiction books, One Step Short of Crazy: National Treasure and the Landscape of American Conspiracy Culture and the forthcoming That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film.

Xavy Lang is a filmmaker and programmer from Northern Appalachia currently based in Chicago. They’ve worked with the Chicago Underground Film Festival, Le Cinéma Club, and guest programmed at Los Angeles Filmforum. As a filmmaker they make non-narrative reexaminations of familial and personal history using video and photochemical film. Place is very important to their work. They use foraged material in the development process to infuse the image with organic memory.

Aster Ryan is a DJ, producer, and designer based in Brooklyn.

Sadie Meadow is a filmmaker, game developer, and sound artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She is interested in ecological histories, futures, and the bounds of virtual cinema. She has worked as an educator, an engineer,  a contracted technician, and a commissioned artist.
Sadie has created experimental films, digital instruments,, sound effects, games, prototypes, live and pre-recorded musical scores, 3D&2D animations, title designs, interactive music videos, analog video art, live A/V systems, VJ performances, music events, film events, livestreams, and more.

Jessica Dunn Rovinelli is a film director, editor, colorist and critic based in New York. She is the director of two award-winning feature films and several shorts, which played at festivals including New Directors/New Films, Berlinale, FIDMarseille, and IndieLisboa. Rovinelli is also a recipient of grants from the Centre national des arts plastiques (Paris), New York Foundation for the Arts, and Film Independent. In 2019, she was selected as one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film.