festival jury
Stefon Bristol
Sekiya Dorsett
Stefon Bristol
Stefon Bristol hails from New York with a distinctive voice in independent cinema. Inspired by his Guyanese heritage, his work blends genre storytelling with humanistic social commentary and cultural specificity. Bristol co-wrote and directed the time-travel movie See You Yesterday, produced by Spike Lee, which premiered at Tribeca before
Stefon Bristol hails from New York with a distinctive voice in independent cinema. Inspired by his Guyanese heritage, his work blends genre storytelling with humanistic social commentary and cultural specificity. Bristol co-wrote and directed the time-travel movie See You Yesterday, produced by Spike Lee, which premiered at Tribeca before launching on Netflix to critical acclaim. The film earned Certified Fresh and won Best First Feature Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards. His latest dystopian thriller, Breathe, stars Jennifer Hudson, Milla Jovovich, Common, and Sam Worthington. Bristol graduated from Morehouse College and earned his MFA in Film from New York University. IG: @stefonbristol
Luliane Childs
Sekiya Dorsett
Stefon Bristol
Lulaine Childs is the Co-owner of Street Team Productions. As a New York City native, he along with his friends decided to create a company that would make content that appealed to their demographic. Street Team is a New York City based company that creates entertainment content for different platforms. Currently, the company produces the
Lulaine Childs is the Co-owner of Street Team Productions. As a New York City native, he along with his friends decided to create a company that would make content that appealed to their demographic. Street Team is a New York City based company that creates entertainment content for different platforms. Currently, the company produces the Behind The Boards Podcast, Weed Smokers Anonymous Podcast, THC x NYC Web Series. Street Team is also distributing the Madan Sara documentary and N'AP Boule short film.
They are currently working on a documentary about Haiti titled Haiti 1974. It is about the journey of the 1974 Haiti World Cup team. Childs also served as Co-Executive Producer of the Madan Sara Documentary.
IG: @StreetTeamProductions
Sekiya Dorsett
Sekiya Dorsett
Sekiya Dorsett
Sekiya Dorsett is a GLAAD Award-winning filmmaker, educator, and founder of Seabreeze Media Inc. Her films center Black queer life, migration, memory, and liberation, earning international recognition. She is an Assistant Professor of Film at Hofstra University and mentors filmmakers.
IG: @sekiyadorsett
Nambi kelly
Gillian Isabelle
Sekiya Dorsett
Nambi E. Kelley is an award-winning playwright and television writer/producer. Television credits include Bel-Air, The Chi, Our Kind of People, and Lady in the Lake. Her plays, including Native Son and Toni Morrison's JAZZ, have been produced nationally and internationally.
IG: @nambi.e.kelley
Gillian Isabelle
Gillian Isabelle
Gillian Isabelle
Gillian Isabelle is an engineer, an entrepreneur and the owner of Renderyard. a film and music distribution company in Boston. She has spent many years working in intellectual property and licensing, and now brings that knowledge to her work at Renderyard.
IG: @renderyard
Lamar Richardson
Gillian Isabelle
Gillian Isabelle
Lamar Richardson is a 2x Tony®-winning producer and award-winning actor. He is the founder of Ivy Lion Productions. Select Broadway credits: Ragtime, Gypsy, Merrily We Roll Along, Appropriate. Columbia ’15.
IG: @lamarrichardson_
order your fest pass
Experience all of CSIFF26 for just $99 through September 9—a $330+ value!
Regular price: $150 starting September 10.
Get Fest Pass early and save!
A CSIFF26 Pre-Fest Online Writing Workshop with Emmy®-Nominated Writer Susan-Sojourna Collier
About Susan-Sojourna Collier
Susan-Sojourna Collier received an Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series for All My Children. A veteran television writer, she has written for daytime dramas including All My Children and One Life to Live.
She partnered with the late Tommy Ford (Martin, Harlem Nights) to produce two feature films distributed by Lionsgate/Grindstone: Conflict of Interest and Switching Lanes. Her screenplay Get the Show on the Road was a semifinalist in the Tribeca Screenwriting Festival.
Susan-Sojourna has taught screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts, Syracuse University's Newhouse School, and Georgia State University, and previously served as a Creative Writing and Film Professor at Abu Dhabi Women's College.
She is co-founder of the Mamie and Jimmie Collier Writing Fellowship and founder of Story Lab – The Writers' Room Project, a mentorship and storytelling initiative connecting NYC high school students experiencing housing insecurity with NYU Tisch writing student mentors.
She currently serves as an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
FINDING YOUR AUTHENTIC VOICE
Your story. Your voice. Your power.
What makes your writing sound like you?
Join Conch Shell International Film Fest (CSIFF26) for Finding Your Authentic Voice, an interactive two-hour online writing workshop led by Emmy®-nominated television writer, playwright, filmmaker, and educator Susan-Sojourna Collier.
Through guided exercises and creative prompts, participants will explore how personal history, culture, language, memory, and lived experience can become powerful sources for storytelling.
Susan-Sojourna will encourage writers to move beyond imitation and outside expectations, trust their own perspectives, and create work that feels specific, honest, and uniquely their own.
What You'll Explore
During Finding Your Authentic Voice, you'll explore your experiences and influences as creative material; use culture, language, memory, and lived experience to strengthen your storytelling; participate in creative prompts and guided writing exercises; and discover ways to make your writing more personal, specific, and distinctly yours.
Writers at all levels are welcome. Screenwriters, playwrights, poets, fiction writers, filmmakers, content creators, and emerging writers are encouraged to participate.
Choose How You Participate
LIVE ZOOM WORKSHOP — $40
Thursday, September 17, 2026
7:00–9:00 PM ET
Live via Zoom
Only 20 live spots available
Your Live Workshop ticket includes the full two-hour interactive workshop with Susan-Sojourna PLUS access to the workshop recording through September 24, 2026.
The small live class size allows participants to write, engage, share, and connect during the workshop.
Can't Join Us Live? Watch On Demand!
ON-DEMAND ONLY — $30
Can't make the September 17 live workshop? You don't have to miss it.
Purchase the On-Demand Only option and watch the recorded workshop on your own schedule.
Full workshop recording
$30 On-Demand Only admission
Available after the live workshop (9/18/26)
⏳ Watch through September 24, 2026
♾️ No limit on On-Demand Only registrations
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