Writer/Director Clara Alcott is a filmmaker based in Chicago, IL. Clara has worked professionally in the film Industry in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Her personal projects reflect an interest in both the experimental and narrative style. She has screened her work at various festivals and galleries in the US and Europe.

Clara’s work has been recognized and received honors from the City of Chicago (CAAP Grant), The Illinois Arts Council, Nokia, The Independent Spirit Awards and the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.

Creative Producer Laurie Little made her first films in her native Québec and in Toronto, Canada and is currently a Chicago based filmmaker, artist and educator. As founder of Luminist Films, Laurie has been writing, directing and producing award winning films for over twenty years and has screened in festivals world wide.. She also works as a camera operator, production designer and colorist.

Little teaches Documenting Social Injustice at Columbia College Chicago and works as a digital artist at Color Image Inc. She holds a BFA in Visual Arts from York University in Toronto and an MFA in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago.

Director of Photography  Chicago native José Luis Rios began his creative endeavors in cinematography at the age of eleven. Using the Canon AE-1 he discovered in his parent’s closet, he ventured out and inconspicuously shot portraits of strangers. These impromptu photography sessions led to a passion with Rios as he studied photography in high school and continued onto Columbia College Chicago where he earned a degree in Cinematography and apprenticed with Phedon Papamichael.

Rios moved on to shoot several narrative films, socially conscious documentaries and TV shows. Many which have circulated the festival circuits around the world. His experiences of filming in Asia, South and Central America molded a unique perspective in his work. Rios’ personal projects are inspired by Surrealism, including the artwork of Bosch, Man Ray, and Bunuel.

Rios is captivated by natural beauty and the human condition and uses his art as a
medium in which to explore and raise awareness of these ideas. He currently resides
in Los Angeles where he continues to pursue cinematography and fine art.