The Premiere Short Film Festival
of Ditmas Park, Brooklyn Returns!
Join us ~ Sept. 24th, 2026
Meet our 2026 Screening Committee
Meet our 2026 Screening Committee
MEGAN TEFFT
Festival Director
Megan is a writer, actor, director, activist, producer and secret pop star based in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Her short film collaborations include The Garden Party (2024), The Hatching (2024), Freeze Response (2025), and Man on the Beach (post-production, 2025), all created with her film partner, G.G. McKay.
Megan founded Ditmas Shorts Fest because she’s most interested in bringing people together and creating cushy, safe spaces for folks to share their work and to inspire others to make weird things.
ANIMA ANWAR
Committee Member
Anima is the Press Manager for Brooklyn’s historic Kent Theater. She graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and entered the independent movie theater industry to deepen her understanding of film exhibition and the broader entertainment business. Her work at Kent Theater has allowed her to combine her interests in film, media, and business as she builds a career in entertainment and business law.
As a longtime supporter of independent storytelling and local cinema, Anima is excited to serve as a judge for the Ditmas Shorts Film Festival.
MICHAEL CAPODIFERRO
Committee Member
Michael is a writer, director, and storyteller committed to creating bitingly vulnerable art and worlds that are strange, sweet, and absurdly darkly humorous. As a playwright and filmmaker, his work has been performed off-Broadway and featured on-screen at various film festivals. Having been raised by two Deaf parents on the East Coast, Michael is a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA). He grew up fluent in English and American Sign Language (ASL), with ASL being his first language before he could even speak. His unique experience as a CODA and seeing limited portrayals of the Deaf world in media inspired Michael to be passionate about stories that need to be heard.
Against the pressures of bootstrap mythology, his mission is to tell accessible stories so everyone knows they deserve to be loved. Just as the taste of his Nonna’s sauce lingers in your mouth long after the meal, he wants the stories he tells to be held close by those who experience them so that they become their own.
Read more here.
STEPHANIE DAWSON
Committee Member
Stephanie is a filmmaker and educator who is currently a Producer for the national PBS series Great Performances with The WNET Group/Thirteen in New York City. Recent projects include Shakespeare in the Park "Hamlet," "Richard III," and “Twelfth Night;” and Broadway shows "Purlie Victorious" and “SUFFS.” Her narrative feature film credits include "Down with the King" which premiered at Cannes and won the Grand Prize at the Deauville American Film Festival in 2021, among others.
Stephanie has taught film budgeting and production management, and hosted seminars for Full Sail University, Film Independent, the St. James International Film Festival, and International Women in Film. She is a founding member of Women Independent Producers and a principal organizer for the Flatbush Film Collective, and is active in many Boards. She is a Climate Reality Leader and is passionate about helping solve the climate crisis through efforts with the Brooklyn Solid Waste Advisory Board and Master Composter program.
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CHANTAL HOUSE
Committee Member
​Chantal is a brand consultant, poet, and screenwriter, who writes from her perspective as a mother, creative, and second generation immigrant. Representation on- and off-screen is her life's work.
Her second chapbook 'My Hope Is Not A Wish' is published by Bottlecap Press, and her poems have been featured by Silver Birch Press and WNYC radio. Her screenplay 'A Creative Life' is a quarterfinalist of The Writers Lab 2025 program, a program supported by Meryl Streep. Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey and Natalie Portman.
CHRISTOPHER MCLINDEN
Committee Member
Christopher is an actor and producer based in Brooklyn, working across film, television, theater, and commercial production. As an actor, some film and television highlights include Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, Boardwalk Empire, The Night Agent, Alpha House, and, of course, the quintessential New York actor credit, Law & Order. He has appeared Off-Broadway and at theaters across the country, including La MaMa, Steppenwolf, Seattle Rep, and The Shakespeare Theatre.
As a producer, Christopher has worked in television, short film, theater, advertising, and branded content. And you may have heard him yapping at you from your TV screen as a voice artist on numerous brand campaigns.
JENNIFER NELSON
Festival Creative Producer
Jennifer Nelson is a multifaceted creative based in Los Angeles, where she works as a writer
and editor, food stylist, and freelance branding consultant for small businesses. She has contributed nonfiction writing to Brooklyn Magazine and Gothamist, among others. She is a longtime student of the Writers Studio in New York City, and she is working on her first novel.
REBECCA PALEY
Committee Member
Rebecca Paley is a New York Times number one best-selling author of more than a dozen memoirs and other books. Her work has also appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Mother Jones, and ARTnews. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and children.
SASKIA RIFKIN
Committee Member
Saskia is a director and producer, with over 20 years of experience working in independent film, television, and contemporary art. For the past decade, she has partnered with the internationally renowned artist Gregory Crewdson to produce his critically and commercially successful, major photography projects. She has also supervised production of numerous films and TV shows for prominent producers and directors, such as Mark Burnett and Abel Ferrara.
A native New Yorker, Saskia began her career by pursuing a degree in Film and Culture Studies at Barnard College; during that time she worked in the studio with seminal visual artist Robert Longo. Can Hitler Happen Here (2017) was her feature film directorial debut.
MICHAEL SLADEK
Committee Member
Michael is a writer, director, producer, editor, cameraperson and actor based in Brooklyn. His feature length credits include CON ARTIST, BAM150, and DEVILS ARE DREAMING.
Michael has made numerous shorts, videos, and branded content series as well as live theater productions.
He is the NY Consultant for SAGindie, and he teaches in the film department at Wagner College.
Michael is a member
of SAG-AFTRA.
