Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York) is an acclaimed American film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his psychologically intense and often surreal films. He studied film and social anthropology at Harvard University and earned an MFA in directing from the American Film Institute Conservatory. His senior thesis film, Supermarket Sweep (1991), was a Student Academy Award finalist.

Aronofsky's feature film debut, the surrealistic sci-fi thriller Pi (1998), won him the Best Director award at the Sundance Film Festival and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. He gained further critical acclaim for Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Wrestler (2008), and Black Swan (2010), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Black Swan also received a Best Picture nomination. Other notable films include The Fountain (2006), Noah (2014), and Mother! (2017). His 2022 film, The Whale, earned Brendan Fraser an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Aronofsky often employs a distinctive "hip-hop montage" technique characterized by quick-cut editing, extreme close-ups, and split-screen effects. He has directed six actors in Oscar-nominated performances, with Natalie Portman (Black Swan) and Brendan Fraser (The Whale) winning. He founded the production company Protozoa Pictures in 1997.

Eliza McNitt

McNitt is a writer and director. She is an Emmy Awards Finalist and recipient of the VR Grand Prize at The Venice Film Festival. From astronauts to astrophysics, McNitt explores the cosmic collision of science and art. She is the creator of SPHERES, a VR journey through the hidden songs of the Universe, Executive Produced by Darren Aronofsky and starring Millie Bobby Brown, Jessica Chastain, and Patti Smith. SPHERES made history as the first VR acquisition out of Sundance. Her work has appeared at Sundance, SXSW, AFI Fest, Cannes, CPH:DOX, Tribeca, Telluride, and Venice.

Aaron Raff

Aaron Raff is a Visual Effects Supervisor whose credits include A Murder At The End of the World, Succession, and True Detective. His work has been nominated for multiple Creative Arts Emmys and Visual Effects Society Awards.

Ben Wiley

Ben Wiley is a creative director and AI-first writer at Google Creative Lab. With a background in storytelling and filmmaking, he’s worked on everything from music videos and album launches to TED Talks and documentaries to big brand commercials, weird experiments, and apps. Lately, he’s been dedicated to making a dent in the universe of AI — creatively hacking models and trying to shape them into tools for human imagination.