Special Guest

Christopher Escobar

Serving since 2011, Christopher Escobar has become the longest-serving and first minority Executive Director of the 46-year-old Atlanta Film Society, the media arts organization which has been named “Best Nonprofit” by Creative Loafing and produces the Academy's Award­-qualifying Atlanta Film Festival. ATLFF has been named “Best Spring Festival in Atlanta” by the Atlanta Journal­ Constitution, one of the “Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker Magazine, and one of the “10 Best Film Festivals” by USA TODAY Reader’s Choice. Escobar has been named a “40 under 40” and “CFO of the Year” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, named “Best of Atlanta” by Atlanta Magazine, and given the “Creativity & Arts Award for Community Impact Arts Administrator” from the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts. Escobar has been featured in Vice, Variety, Slate Magazine, The New York Times, TIME, PBS, NBC, Fox News, NPR, The Wallstreet Journal, The Washington Post, CBS, and CNN.

Escobar has served on boards for Georgia Production Partnership, Plaza Theatre Foundation, Rialto Center for the Arts, and Georgia State University’s College of the Arts. In 2017, he purchased the historic Plaza Theatre — Atlanta’s oldest and only independent cinema. Now, under Escobar’s leadership, the Plaza is committed to philanthropically supporting the Atlanta Film Society. Escobar holds a B.A. in Film & Video as well as an M.A. in Moving Image Studies with a concentration in Production, both from Georgia State University. He is lucky to be  married to his lovely wife of over a decade, Nicole, and they have three amazing children.

James Mackenzie is a graduate of Loyola Marymount's School of Film & Television in Los Angeles. His MFA thesis, Audrey Makes a Mixtape, was recognized on the US BAFTA Student Awards shortlist, and as a member of the Film Independent Incubator Lab, he helmed his award-winning first feature, American Zealot. He brought his web series Tough Love to the Tribeca N.O.W. Creators Market, and premiered Three Men Named Mantas, an international co-production shot in Lithuania, at the Atlanta Film Festival. These and other projects have been featured by Variety, Revry, WABE, and the University of North Georgia, where he serves as the Associate Director of the Film & Digital Media program.

Yuki (Yi Meng), a filmmaker from Wuhan, China, is currently based in Los Angeles. A UCLA Art History graduate, she transitioned to filmmaking, initially focusing on stop-motion animation before expanding to narrative and documentary formats. Her films explore female relationships, synesthetic connections between memory and reality, and themes of displacement. They have been featured in numerous Oscar-qualifying festivals worldwide. 

In 2022, Yuki founded Salon de Paprika, a boutique production company inspired by "Salon de Paris" and the Japanese animation "Paprika," dedicated to tell stories that explore the gray-area beyond any rights or wrongs, to create characters that invites empathy beyond any villain/victim dynamics, to connect with the unheard and the unseen, and to support boundary-pushing artists and filmmakers through the formulation of a safe and inclusive space, both virtual and physical. Yuki is currently working on her first long-form documentary, "White Birds", which examines the intergenerational dynamics among women from a distance.

Aubrie Canfield is the cofounder and managing producer of Actuality Abroad, where she leads service-learning documentary expeditions that connect emerging filmmakers with global changemakers. Through immersive, on-location collaborations, she helps aspiring storytellers hone their craft while producing films that elevate social impact initiatives worldwide.

With a background in film production and international storytelling, Aubrie has spent over a decade designing hands-on experiences that blend documentary filmmaking, ethical storytelling, and global engagement. Prior to launching Actuality Abroad, she worked in feature film production, managing logistics for projects worldwide.

She is passionate about rethinking how documentary storytelling is taught—emphasizing collaboration, responsibility, and impact. Through Actuality Abroad, she has guided filmmakers across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, mentoring them in crafting stories that foster connection and change.