Former AFI FEST Director Jacqueline Lyanga recently joined Film Independent, the org behind the Film Independent Spirit Awards, as its new Artistic Director. A press release confirmed the appointment. Not only is Lyanga overseeing and expanding Film Independent’s year-long programming, she is now part of a trio of women running creative divisions within the company. She serves alongside Maria Bozzi, Senior Director of Education & International Initiatives, and Jennifer Kushner, Director of Artist Development.

Lyanga’s other responsibilities as Artistic Director include curating VR/immersive storytelling exhibit The Portal and organizing this fall’s Global Inclusion Summit, a conference on the state of diversity and representation in U.S. film.

“Film Independent is a vital organization that serves Los Angeles and a global community of filmmakers,” Lyanga said. “I am elated at this opportunity to build out an innovative year-round programming strategy for Film Independent that will champion filmmakers and artists and provide a new platform for cultural experiences.”

As Senior Director of Education & International Initiatives, Bozzi develops and implements Film Independent’s education curriculum for filmmakers. She helps produce over 150 education events each year, bringing together more than 250 industry professionals as guest speakers.

Kushner has been part of Film Independent’s Artist Development department since 2007. In her Director post, she supervises Film Independent’s filmmaking Labs, diversity and mentorship program Project Involve, finance market Fast Track, and the Fiscal Sponsorship and Grants programs.

Full bios for Lyanga, Bozzi, and Kushner are below, courtesy of Film Independent.

Maria Bozzi, Senior Director of Education & International Initiatives

Maria Raquel Bozzi is the Senior Director of Education & International Initiatives at Film Independent. She is responsible for conceptualizing, planning, and implementing all of Film Independent’s education curriculum to serve the needs of filmmakers. Under her leadership, the Film Education Department produces over 150 events a year, bringing together over 250 guest speakers representing the best professionals in the industry. Bozzi has spearheaded several international initiatives for Film Independent (Australia, China, France, Korea, Mexico, UAE), and is currently leading Global Media Makers, a program serving 14 countries in the Middle East and South Asia.

Her filmography includes the documentary Palenque: Un Canto, acclaimed at numerous international film festivals; and The Colombia We Never Left, a television documentary sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, broadcast on HBO Latino. She has also worked as an associate producer for public television documentaries, and as a writer of educational films for Glencoe/Mc Graw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Publishing companies. Bozzi has taught film and video production in colleges and universities throughout the Los Angeles area including UCLA, UCI and Loyola Marymount University. She holds and MFA in Film and Television Production from UCLA.

Jennifer Kushner, Director of Artist Development

Jennifer Kushner is an impassioned champion for bold, emerging voices in the art of visual storytelling and inclusion in the film industry. She has been a key staff member with Film Independent Artist Development since 2007. As Director of Artist Development, she oversees Film Independent’s Labs for writers, directors, producers, and documentary filmmakers; the Fast Track film finance market; Project Involve, Film Independent’s signature diversity and mentorship program; and the Fiscal Sponsorship and Grants programs. In addition, she oversees programming in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey through Film Independent’s Global Media Makers program.

Award winning films developed with the support of Film Independent during her tenure include Afternoon Delight, C.O.G., Imperial Dreams, LUV, Mosquita y Mari, Nancy, Natural Selection, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Spa Night, Sheikh Jackson, Talullah and the documentaries Amal, Call Me Kuchu, Kusama-Infinity, Minding the Gap, Rich Hill, Sunshine Superman and United Skates.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Kushner received her MFA from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in Performance Studies. She serves on the Northwestern University MFA in Documentary Media Mentorship Board, and mentors with numerous schools and organizations including Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television, University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, BAFTA and the Tribeca Film Institute.

Jacqueline Lyanga, Artistic Director

While the Director of the AFI FEST for eight years, Jacqueline Lyanga created the festival’s Guest Artistic Director program that brought the curation of Agnès Varda, David Lynch, Pedro Almodóvar, Bernardo Bertolucci and Sophia Loren to the festival. She also launched a showcase of Immersive Storytelling (VR, AR and new technologies) and revived a section specifically for independent filmmaking (Young Americans/American Independents) and the Screen Education and Storytelling Bootcamp programs for middle and high school students. She has recently been made Chevalier dans l’ordre des arts et des lettres by the French government for her contributions to the art of cinema. Lyanga has been a guest and moderator of industry panels at the Berlinale, the Cannes Film Festival, the Forbes Women’s Summit and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and has been a member of the grants review committees for the Austin Film Society, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has served on international film festival juries at festivals such as the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the JIO MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival (U.S. Dramatic Features), SFFILM and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Prior to working for AFI FEST, she worked for a number of other film and entertainment organizations and companies including, ABC/Disney, BET, Lifetime Television, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Independent Film & Television Alliance’s American Film Market. In 2014 she was featured on Essence Magazine’s list of the 75 most powerful black women in Hollywood, and in Variety’s Women’s Impact Report as one of the female entertainment industry leaders in Hollywood deemed a game-changer and innovator.