Tribeca Festival Programming Team

Casey Baltes is Vice President, Tribeca Games & Immersive. She is responsible for the integration of new media at the Tribeca Festival including overseeing the first game chosen as an official selection and laying the foundation for Tribeca’s transmedia and immersive initiatives. With her 20 years’ experience in live event producing focusing on the intersection of culture, technology and the arts, Casey has consulted for Games for Change, The Game Awards and previously held the positions of Managing Director for the Tribeca Festival and General Manager of Women in the World. Casey currently oversees all of Tribeca’s games and immersive activities, bringing new audiences, creators and media to the forefront of culture.

Casey is a Programmer focusing on US Narratives and Games at Tribeca Festival. With a decades’ worth of experience in the industry, further efforts supporting the filmmaking community includes stints as a Jury member for competitions across the country including at NewFest, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, and Houston Cinema Arts Borders | No Borders. Casey was also a co-lead curator of the inaugural Andscape House for The Walt Disney Co.
He has been an advisory board member on the American Documentary Artist Emergency Fund, Austin Film Society Grant for Short Films, The Rainin Fellowship from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and the NYU Game Center Incubator.
Born and raised in Dominica in the West Indies, Casey now resides in New York City, NY.

Matt Barone is a programmer for Tribeca specializing in genre films for the Midnight and Escape From Tribeca sections, with additional experience in several other departments, including Industry Manager, dating back to 2018. He’s also the Programming Director for the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, and before working in film festivals, he spent more than a decade in publishing as a writer/editor covering hip-hop and pop culture for outlets including Complex, XXL, and FANGORIA. In other words, he’ll happily wax poetic about George A. Romero as much as he would Gang Starr.

Frédéric Boyer is the Artistic Director of the Tribeca Film Festival since 2012, of the Les Arcs European Film Festival since 2009 and of the RIFF in Reykjavik since 2019. Prior to that, he was appointed as General Delegate for two years at the Cannes Director’s Fortnight and was senior programmer for it during six years.Boyer’s infatuation with cinema began when he frequented the Cinematheque Française in his youth. He attended the master classes of critics of French New Wave cinema at the Universities of La sorbonne and Censier. In order to experience the different aspects of film shooting and he was involved in music and film distribution companies. He was on the jury several film festivals: Sarajevo, Karlovy Vary, Thessalonique, Seattle, Busan, Copenhagen , Munich, San Paolo,,Cluj, Nyon, Guadalajara, Mumbai. He created Videosphere in 1994 in Paris, a well known video library of some 70,000 titles including a wide range of arthouse films.

Vincent Cassous is Tribeca’s Music programmer, he produces the music lounge, music documentaries and all live events for the festival. He also overlooks music programming for Tribeca’s Year round events including Art Basel Miami Beach. Vincent has 10 years experience working for agencies and record labels. He has been with Tribeca since 2021.

Cara Cusumano has been with Tribeca since 2008, during which time the festival has become a globally respected showcase for film and TV premieres, live music, talks, interdisciplinary events, and talent discovery. During her tenure as Festival Director, Tribeca has been called “an annual powerhouse” (Time Out), “reliably and inarguably excellent” (Village Voice), and “one of the most prestigious festivals of the new millennium” (Playlist). She has served on nominating committees for the Cinema Eye Honors, the International Documentary Association Awards, the Gotham Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the Irish Film and Television Academy Awards, and festival juries including CPH:DOX, Los Cabos Film Festival, DOC NYC, Nordisk Panorama, Bogota Audiovisual Market (BAM), and the Nantucket Film Festival. She holds a degree in Film from Columbia University’s Barnard College, and an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Liza Domnitz joined Tribeca Enterprises in 2007. She is a Senior Programmer, focusing on feature film, TV and the indie episodic section for the annual Tribeca Festival. She also co-spearheads the Tribeca Creators Market, a pitch market highlighting some of the most promising emerging artists and voices in the feature filmmaking, podcasting and episodic space. Previously, Liza was the Project Manager of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, a cultural partnership between Tribeca Enterprises and the Doha Film Institute, during its 2009-2012 run.

Born and raised in New York, Madison discovered a passion for film from a young age. She would go on to study Cinema History at SUNY Purchase College before obtaining her Masters in Film Theory at the University of Galway, Ireland. Madison’s foray into film festivals began at the Galway Film Fleadh and as a programming assistant for the first art house cinema on the West Coast of Ireland. Upon returning to the U.S. Madison held a variety of roles at some of the most prestigious festivals including Sundance, New York Film Festival and Tribeca Festival, where, in 2023 she was hired as the short film programmer, the youngest in the festival’s history.

Davy oversees all podcasting at Tribeca, including the festival’s audio storytelling program. The selections he’s premiered have gone on to win Pulitzers, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards, among many other accolades. Since launching Tribeca Audio, the program has become an international destination for the narrative audio community to grow and thrive. Davy is also an audio writer and creator whose work has won multiple awards and honors. Outside of podcasting, he is a director, screenwriter, playwright, and writes comedy for The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City.

Faridah is a pop culture-lover of film, working towards making the space more inclusive in whose stories get told and who gets to author those stories. She has extensive experience as a film programmer, working at organizations like Frameline, the California Film Institute, Athena Film Festival, SIFF, and many more. In addition to her curation work, Faridah has provided consultations to several film/TV projects and non-profit organizations, published articles on different media topics, taught film courses, and even worked as Director of Distribution, handling the virtual theatrical release of the Pulitzer prize-winning film MR. SOUL! She is serving as the Chair of the Board of the Anarchist United Foundation, an organization founded by Lily Wachowski that provides grants and development opportunities for filmmakers from historically excluded communities. She is also on the community board for The Gathering Spot. She currently works at Tribeca Enterprises as a Senior Programmer.

Jason Gutierrez has been at Tribeca in one capacity or another since 2012. As a Programmer he focuses on the festival’s international narrative features. As the festival’s Programming Manager he oversees the Creator and Industry hospitality teams. He has degrees in Film and Media Studies from Middlebury College and Emory University. His corner of the office he shares with Liza and Jose is full of New York Mets bobbleheads, books of film criticism and theory, and too many records to fit on his shelves. He appreciates their patience with this overflow.

In her role as Executive Vice President of Artist Relations and Special Events, Nancy Lefkowitz curates the festival jury across all verticles and collaborates with artists and partners. Nancy functions across multiple departments to ensure a rewarding and seamless festival experience for festival attendees and VIPs. A majority of Nancy’s three-decades long career in the media and entertainment industry has been working with Tribeca entities in some capacity, including several years working on set in film and TV production for Tribeca Productions. Nancy is an avid movie-watching, book-loving, story-telling, scrabble-playing, puzzle-addicted, ice-cream obsessed, planner, doer, organizer, convener, community building, problem solver.

Meredith Mohr is Vice President of Artist Relations, collaborating with talent across all year-round and festival programs. She curates and produces the Tribeca Talks (Directors and Storytellers Series), in addition to the Anniversary/Reunion film events. A graduate of the University of Southern California, Meredith has spent her enitre 25 year career in the entertainment business, both in Los Angeles and in New York, working with renowned actors and directors. She has been with Tribeca since 2019.

Jarod Neece, a Senior Programmer at the Tribeca Festival, has extensive experience in film programming and curation. Formerly the Chief Creative Officer at CURIA and a 20-year Partner, Senior Programmer, and Producer at SXSW, Neece has helped shape these renowned festivals’ strategic direction and programming. He has served as a juror or panelist at several prestigious events, including the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Neece is also an accomplished author and television host. He co-authored the bestselling books Austin Breakfast Tacos and The Tacos of Texas, published by UT Press. Additionally, Neece co-hosted and produced the PBS documentary series The Tacos of Texas and United Tacos of America on Univision's El Rey Network.

Anwulika Oputa is a programmer and live event producer for Tribeca X, where she curates and produces the program spotlighting bold storytelling at the intersection of advertising and entertainment. A multidisciplinary storyteller, Anwulika brings over a decade of experience in branded content, live events, and talent partnerships, having worked with brands like Unilever, TikTok, Complex, and the Obama Foundation. She sees storytelling as a bridge—connecting talent, brands, and audiences through stories that foster empathy, invite reflection, and create shared experiences. Whether behind the scenes or shaping the stage, Anwulika approaches programming with both an editorial eye and a producer’s instinct, always championing stories that spark new ways of seeing and evoke cultural conversations.

Jonathan Penner has worked as an actor, director, writer qnd producer. Co-author of Taschen's HORROR CINEMA and a 3 time contestant on Survivor, he is an Oscar Nominee, the Founding Film Editor at The Los Angeles Review of Books, and the proud father of two wonderful people.

José F Rodriguez is a Senior Film Programmer at the Tribeca Festival, overseeing the festival’s Documentary Screening Committee and helping to determine the feature documentaries and fiction features that are pre-screened, shortlisted and invited for the festival. He also leads outreach and programmatic curation for Latine/Latin American features that are submitted to – and considered for - the festival. He was formerly a senior staffer at Tribeca Film Institute, where – for over 10 years - he oversaw the growth, funding & overall strategic vision for all their documentary funds & programs as well as their filmmaker / industry market, TFI NETWORK. Since 2017 he has directed several short films, including the documentary short ADOLESCENCIA and the experimental shorts Mama,mama (2018) and JUNGLA X (2022).

A graduate from Aberystwyth University, Ben swapped Wales for New York. Shortly after arriving he joined the Tribeca Film Festival. There he discovered a passion for short form storytelling and worked with the programming team watching film submissions. In 2010 he became the Shorts Programmer for the festival. Ben is fascinated by the influence film has on our world and culture and travels searching out new stories from around the globe. He has watched over 12,000 short films for Tribeca alone.

Shayna Maci Warner makes sure everyone's submissions to Tribeca get watched. In addition to running Programming Operations, they are an Associate Shorts Programmer for Tribeca, and have curated for NewFest, Outfest, and Nitehawk Cinemas. In their own programming and writing work, they focus on platforming excellent queer film, and are the author of the forthcoming pop culture history, The Rainbow Age of Television (Abrams 2024). They hold a bachelor's degree in World Arts and Cultures/Dance from UCLA and a master's degree in Cinema Studies from NYU.