Meet the 2024-2025 Programming Fellows
Top (l to r): Gabriel Gutierrez Morales, Gillian Coyne, Abby Wright, Gabriella Trevino
Bottom (l to r): Rebecca Wahls, Spencer Cohen, Aerrol Ampeloquio, Kateryna Sazonova, Kaleigh Miller
The Woods Hole Film Festival Programming Fellowship was created in 2020 in order to develop a new generation of Film Festival Programmers. The Fellowship is an opportunity to learn the basics of how to review and consider film festival submissions, develop a multi-faceted Festival program, create a lineup and schedule and learn about the film festival industry as a whole. We are excited to introduce you to this year’s class…
SHORTS
Gabriel Gutierrez Morales is a multidisciplinary queer Mexican artist and filmmaker from Tijuana. He is an advocate for social change with a great interest in exploring queerness, gender and sexuality in his work. His documentary work has taken him to film festivals across North America, where he has found a growing interest in film curation and programming. He is currently based in Shoreline, WA.
Passionate about bringing the work of first-time filmmakers to the screen, Gillian Coyne joins the Woods Hole Programming Fellowship cohort from a documentary festival background. Born and raised in New York City, she takes a global approach to festival work, with experiences living and working in Luxembourg, England, and Morocco. Since returning to the U.S., Gillian has worked with New York WILD Film Festival and recently accepted the role of Festival Manager at the Hamptons Doc Fest. Gillian serves on the Advisory Board of the Bates College Film Festival and spends her free time running, skiing, and seeking out ocean access.
Abby Wright is a filmmaker and programmer based in Los Angeles. In 2024, she founded Femme Filth Fest, a film festival that screens transgressive, independent cinema made by women. She also serves on the screening committee for NFFTY. She is a Cape Cod native.
Gabriella Trevino graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in FIlm & Media Studies in 2023. She currently works at Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia as their Social Media and Promotions Coordinator, and has most recently screened features and documentaries for the Telluride Film Festival. She is perpetually working on a feature length script about the perils of being 24.
NARRATIVE FEATURES
Rebecca Wahls (she/her) is a theatre and filmmaker living in Durham, NC. She is Artist in Residence at Duke University and holds an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University, where she was a John Wells Fellow. Her first feature film, Him, played at festivals around in country in 2024 – including the Woods Hole Film Festival, where it received the Director’s Choice Award for Best Performance – Ensemble.
Spencer Cohen, an award winning Boston-based filmmaker, is renowned for amplifying unheard voices through his storytelling. Throughout his career, Spencer has held diverse roles in the film industry. He’s been a cue card holder for actor Eric Roberts, worked in the art department as a gravedigger for a sci-fi zombie movie, and has significant experience as a feature film editor and producer. “The Compatriots”, his debut feature film, premiered at the Woods Hole Film Festival winning the Audience Award for best Narrative Feature as well as Emerging Filmmaker in New England. It has gone on to play at multiple festivals including Maui, Ojai, Chelsea, and Fort Lauderdale with many more coming in 2025.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Aerrol Ampeloquio (air-roll amp-el-oh-kyu) is a Los Angeles-based producer, writer, and film programmer. Aerrol was a recipient of the 2024 I See You Film Programming Fellowship and he co-programmed the “Dispatches: To and From The Diaspora” event at the Garel Fine Arts Gallery. Since 2020, Aerrol has amassed several skills and experiences on set as a videographer working with distinctive peoples and organizations like the American Health Association, Executive Producer Pookey Wiggington, comedian Russell Peters, and punk band The Tarrys. He also started producing during this time including projects for Korean-American pop group Coffeecats and the 6-episode web series “POST”. Aerrol aims to share diverse and inclusive stories from marginalized voices while providing a platform for their narratives. Through producing, storytelling, and film programming Aerrol hopes to make the world a kinder place.
Kateryna Sazonova is a Ukrainian filmmaker and environmentalist currently based in the USA. She is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago and earned her MFA in Film and TV Directing in 2023. Before coming to the USA for her studies she had worked at a public TV channel Offener Kanal Magdeburg in Germany in 2019-2020, covering cultural and educational events across Germany, Poland and France as well as working on studio broadcast programs. Prior to that she worked as a staff and freelance video producer in Ukraine and across Europe. Her first documentary short film Plastic (2018) on plastic pollution was screened at over 15 film festivals across the globe, and is now used for educational purposes. Kateryna has worked for a number of film festivals including the Ukrainian Odesa International Film Festival, Molodist and Docudays, as well as Chicago International Film Festival.
SCREENPLAY COMPETITION/NARRATIVE FEATURES
Kaleigh Miller fell in love with the world of filmmaking when she was a young girl. From making movies on her dad’s old Sony camera to being a finalist at the Virginia High School League Film Festival, she knew she wanted to push herself to have a career in this field. Having recently graduated from Virginia Tech with degrees in Creative Writing, Cinema, and Theatre Arts, Kaleigh is excited to continue her passion for the film industry with this fellowship. She is currently based in Bristol, Tennessee.
