Our Team

STAFF

INSTRUCTORS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

GAYLON EMERZIAN (She/Her)
Owner, Trillium Productions

A native Chicagoan, Gaylon has always believed the city, with its architecture and history, is a powerful place to make media. She engages in every aspect of the filmmaking process and utilizes her passion, inventiveness and resourcefulness to constantly challenge herself as a producer. An Emmy award-winning editor and multiple award-winning writer/director, she has done work for National Geographic, A&E, the History Channel, and the Field Museum of Natural History to name a few. She has melded her media-making career with organizing and social activism: co-founding Women in the Director's Chair Film Festival. She joined forces with producer Roger Brown in 1987 to become a partner at Trillium Productions, LLC, where she is now Chief Creative Officer.

Gaylon is constantly pushing the envelope, finding new ways to express her creativity. Early on, she recognized the potential in video for web programming. The leap of faith paid off when the webcast she created, Spatulatta.com, received the James Beard Award—the culinary equivalent of the Academy Awards.

FLOYD WEBB (He/Him)
Filmmaker, Producer, and Film Programmer

Born in the blues city of Clarksdale, in the Mississippi Delta and raised on Chicago's South and West side, Floyd Webb's background includes global work in cinema, photojournalism, publishing and advertising. His past work includes: associate producer of the award winning Julie Dash film, Daughters of the Dust (US 1992); local producer of the American Masters film, The World of Nat King Cole (2006); producer and director of music videos, short documentaries, and 3D animations project; Chicago production consultant on the 50th Anniversary of The March,  directed by John Akomfrah of U.K.-based Smoking Dogs Films and co-produced by Robert Redford's Sundance Productions, recounting the story behind the 1963 March on Washington.

Presently he is Creative Director and founder of e22.creative, a Chicago based multimedia company, working as producer/director of TV commercials, music videos and producing for foreign film crews in Chicago. Floyd is currently completing a film on the social history of martial arts in the USA entitled The Search for Count Dante and is developing a series entitled Space Race, the story of the first two black astronauts.

ADAM SALASEK (He/Him), Board President
Consultant and Senior Program Manager

From an early age Adam had a passion for filmmaking. He graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a film degree, directed two short films, worked for several production companies, taught film classes, and created television series through a local independent television production company.

Adam has a long history with Chicago Filmmakers, teaching post-production classes for several years and then becoming re-involved with the organization as a consultant for the Arts and Business Council in developing Chicago Filmmakers’ recent strategic plan.  

“Independent filmmakers today have unprecedented technology available at their fingertips as well as brand-new mediums to explore. As a board member, my goal is to help Chicago Filmmakers build on its past successes, while also exploring future opportunities, ensuring that our organization supports both the current and next generation of filmmakers as they bring their ideas to life.”

PETER KUTTNER (He/Him)
Filmmaker, Cinematographer, and Camera Technician

For over 50 years, Peter Kuttner has worked in mainstream and independent media. He began his career in 1965 working for WTTW, Chicago's Public Television station, where he was introduced to the cinema-verité style of documentary filmmaking by a visiting BBC crew. When he became politically active, he co-founded Rising Up Angry and joined Newsreel, a documentary collective working with the Peace, Black Power, and Women’s Movements. His work with films for social change led him to Kartemquin in 1972, where he became involved in several of their films championing the working class.

He collaborated on End of the Nightstick, a documentary about police brutality, shown on PBS’s P.O.V. , which won the Silver Hugo in the Chicago International Film Festival and was nominated for a Peabody Award. Kuttner also worked as a camera technician on feature films, including Ordinary People, Risky Business, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Groundhog Day, Barbershop and The Dark Knight.

His work as a camera technician led to his 30-year involvement in the trade union as a member of IATSE, where he has been an elected representative to the governing board of Local 600 representing camera technicians nationally. He now works Community TV Network as Director of Special Projects and Archivist and curates film screenings for South Side Projections, the [In]Justice for All Film Festival and HotHouse.

Chi-Jang Yin (She/Her), Board Secretary
Experimental Filmmaker, Educator, Administrator

An experimental filmmaker with expertise in media and cinema studies, Chi-Jang Yin's work investigates the missing gaps in history that are invisible to others. Yin is best known for her experimental documentary films that explore narrative memory, displacement, identities, history and power. In addition to creating award-winning films, Yin is an associate professor at The School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul University. Yin is a professionally trained diversity facilitator at The National SEED Project on Inclusive Leadership, and has received certifications in conflict resolution and negotiation from the executive programs at Harvard Law School and Northwestern University. She was named the 2020-2021 Presidential Faculty Fellow at DePaul University. Yin earned her MFA and BFA degrees at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

SARADA DUVVURI (She/Her)
President of Essdee Production and Executive in Charge / Line Producer in documentary television and film

Sarada Duvvuri is a seasoned and visionary line producer who has earned her reputation as an expert behind the scenes in the film and television industry. With a career spanning nearly two decades Sarada's passion and expertise have brought countless projects to life leaving an indelible mark on the entertainment world. Her ability to orchestrate complex shoots with precision and finesse has garnered the admiration of directors, networks, and crew members alike. Sarada has facilitated the production of over nearly 300 hours of television for an array of networks, including Netflix, Disney +, Discovery Networks, and HBO. Most recently, she worked as a line producer on A Compassionate Spy, documentary film that released in theaters nationwide in 2023 and is available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

Having worked on a diverse range of projects, from true crime documentaries to culinary reality shows, Sarada possesses a deep understanding of the intricacies involved in the creative process. Her dynamic leadership style instills confidence and motivation in every team she collaborates with, fostering an environment of camaraderie and innovation on set.

RIESE RUBIN (They/Them), Board Treasurer
Manager, Attendee Acquisition & Conference Marketing, Water Environment Federation

Riese Rubin got their marketing start as an intern at Chicago Filmmakers and then later was hired as the organization’s first Marketing Manager. With a myriad of experience in conference, association, and trade show marketing since then, Riese is now the Manager of Attendee Acquisition and Conference Marketing at the Water Environment Federation. Continuing their work for small businesses and non-profits, Riese’s R2 Marketing + Design company provides web design and development, branding, social media, and eNewsletter marketing for their clients.