NFFTY matters to me more than ever because it provides an arena for young filmmaker networking, appreciation of each other's work, and avenues for feedback and advice. As a young filmmaker and consistently "the video guy" wherever I went, I desperately wanted a collaborative and energetic environment like NFFTY provides.

NFFTY puts worldwide stories from every stripe of life into the limelight. From the filmmakers and their work to the subjects and inspirations of the films, this is a peek into the future of our culture and understanding of each other. The empathy machine of cinema is constantly revving under NFFTY's hood, and every new festival is a chance to see where filmmaking is headed and what story you're going to fall in love with next.

The mission of NFFTY is important to me because with content coming at us from all directions, a film festival that feels can't miss like NFFTY does is a treasure to share with everyone! Having served the festival at every level and had my work in NFFTY once upon a time, I see the effects and the excitement around the festival year after year. Filmmakers meeting at one NFFTY, creating a film together, and returning the next year is common for NFFTY now - broadening the horizons of young film creatives is exactly what's still needed in the industry today, just as much as it was 15 years ago when NFFTY was founded.