meet the team

staff

Anisa Raoof | executive director

anisa@providencechildrensfilmfestival.org

Anisa has a passion for film, design, community, and education. She studied Psychology and Painting at the University of Rochester. After spending a few years researching what makes children stress resilient, she decided to explore her creative side by designing jewelry and metal home accessories and co-founding the Providence Craft Show. Blending her experience in design, an interest in working with others, a fascination with new technology and as a new mom wanting to find interesting things to do with her kids, she created and ran the online parenting resource Kidoinfo, 2007-2017, partnering with numerous local organizations such as AS220, Greater Kennedy Plaza, the Partnership for Providence Parks, and the Providence Children’s Museum to create and support local family programming and activities. Anisa brings her entrepreneurial experience, collaborative way of thinking, social media savvy, and love for storytelling and moving images to her job with Providence Children’s Film Festival.

Eric Bilodeau | director of programming

eric@providencechildrensfilmfestival.org

Raised in Rhode Island’s family theater business, Eric Bilodeau has programmed cinematic venues for over thirty years. His experience spans the film exhibition horizon, including advising and booking for multi-screen commercial cinemas, small art house theaters, a multitude of international film festivals and programming his own traveling pop-up, Cricket Cinema. Running Providence’s beloved Cable Car Cinema for 18 years also sharpened his skills in a broad range of film genres. After selling the Cable Car, Eric was the director of programming for the Newport International Film Festival until joining the Providence Children’s Film Festival in 2010. Eric is also the children’s film programmer for the The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival and a festival advisor for the International Kids Film Festival of India.

supporting cast

Mike and Beth Bell | video production

Where art and technology collide.
embee studio

Jake Camara | web development

Jake & Co.

John Barnett and Isolde Maher | festival branding (2010-2016)

4 eyes design

Morayo Sayles | photographer

piperbrownphotography.zenfolio.com

Morayo Sayles is a RI Based Photographer specializing in Portrait and Event photography. Born in Chicago, IL and raised in Lagos, Nigeria; Morayo brings professional experience and multifaceted knowledge to her photography, to showcase the most poignant moments of human interaction. Morayo’s diverse background serves as a rich filter through which she views and captures life’s fun moments. Her quick eye for detail and beauty allows her to create gorgeous, candid scenes of your special day.

Morayo works tirelessly on all shoots to make sure special moments never slip by. With an excellent sense of humor, she creates a comfortable experience for all clients in front of and behind the camera. Alongside private event photography, she also works in the art community in RI to cover speaking functions and local events.

board of directors

Tania Ralli

president

Tania Ralli is a journalist and radio producer. She produces shows for On Point, NPR’s only daily call-in news program, out of WBUR in Boston. Before switching to radio in 2006, Tania worked in print. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, ARTNews, and Boston Globe. She got her start reporting for the legendary City News Bureau in Chicago, where she covered cops and crime. Tania and her husband live in Providence with their three daughters.

Margot McIlwain Nishimura

vice-president

Margot McIlwain Nishimura was most recently the Director of Museums at the Newport Restoration Foundation, a historic preservation organization founded in 1968 by the philanthropist Doris Duke in Newport, Rhode Island. Trained as a historian of medieval art, Margot started her career as an academic, teaching at the University of Cape Town, Smith College, Mt. Holyoke, Brown University, and the Rhode Island School of Design, and working on exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Getty Museum. She has also worked in administration at RISD, where she helped with strategic planning and accreditation efforts. As Deputy Director from 2011 to 2014 of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, she oversaw their research fellowship program and worked with academic partners to develop lecture series, conferences, and other public events. Margot is a PCFF co-founder and lives in Providence with her husband, David Nishimura, and three daughters.

Matt Burriesci

treasurer

Matt is the Executive Director of the Providence Athenaeum. He is the author of Dead White Guys: A Father, his Daughter, and the Great Books of the Western World and Nonprofit, which won the AWP Award for the Novel. He began his career at the Tony Award Winning Chicago Shakespeare Theater, during the theater’s construction of its current home on Navy Pier, and he later served as Executive Director for both the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.

During his tenure at AWP, he helped build the largest literary conference in North America, and he served as a national advocate for literature and the humanities. From 2012-2015, he served as the Director of Advancement and Strategic Partnerships for the NACDS Foundation. In his work as a consultant, he has interviewed dozens of global leaders in healthcare, scientific research, and higher education. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife Erin, and their two children, Violet and Henry.

Andrea Mazie

secretary

Andrea Mazie is a consultant helping infuse diverse forms of research into the work of non-profit organizations, foundations and community-oriented initiatives. Prior to launching her consultancy, Andrea was a partner in a market research agency working with a wide array of media brands from magazines and sports leagues to TV networks all trying to understand and build a stronger connection with their audiences. As a long-time researcher she’s used just about every approach out there to get to know people, explore their worlds and tell their stories – online surveys, digital communities, immersive in-home interviews, group discussions, co-create sessions, etc.

Prior to moving into market research, Andrea earned a Masters in Public Policy and worked with foundations, community collaborations, government agencies, nonprofits and for-profits on understanding and addressing issues including early childhood education, juvenile mental health, home visitation programs, homeless services, financial literacy, youth development and cultural competency. Andrea is the mother of two Providence public school students.

Joanna Feinberg Miller

board director

Joanna Miller grew up in New York City, was an English major at Wesleyan University, and received her masters degree in English Literature from New York University. She has been an English and Language Arts teacher in various educational settings for the past 25 years in New York City, Denver, Providence and most recently in the Bay Area. She has particular interest and experience in teaching playwriting and film. Joanna is married to Dan Miller, also an educator, and they have two college-age children.

Catherine Carr Kelly

board director

Executive Director of Central Square Theater. Catherine has worked in educational settings for over 18 years. She has been creating plays from oral histories for many years, both in the greater Boston area in schools and community settings as well as the co-founding director of the award-winning I Was There Project, an interdisciplinary, arts-based, oral history residency for elementary schools created in partnership with the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities at Brown University. As the founding managing director of the award-winning Women on Top Theater Festival of New Works, running from 2000 to 2007, she oversaw the creation of scores of world premieres and seven commissioned plays. She is Co-Chair of the Central Square Cultural District Commission, as designated by the City of Cambridge and has consulted for theaters and statewide arts councils in strategic planning. She speaks often on the power of collaboration for non-profits at conferences and public forums and is a guest lecturer at Northeastern University, Suffolk University and Boston University.

David Reville

board director

David Reville is an Investor at Grand Street Capital. He is a former Board Member, and Treasurer of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and was Founding Director of Storycorps, the nation-wide initiative to capture American stories and voices. Prior to Storycorps, David worked at the Brown University Scholarly Technology Group, and Multimedia Lab. He earned a BA from Hamilton College, and an MFA from The Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY.

Dave Feit

board director

Dave grew up in NYC, earning a BS in Applied Mathematics and an MBA before moving to Providence in 2002. “When I grow up, I want to be a Contracting Officer for the Federal Government,” said no child EVER. Nevertheless, it has turned out to be pretty interesting and challenging, working with client agencies such as NOAA and the Joint Special Operations Command (which he can’t talk about, so don’t ask).

Dave is a longtime fan and supporter of PCFF, and is so proud of how it has grown into a pillar of RI culture. He also serves on the boards of the Nathan Bishop PTO as treasurer, the Fox Point East Side Little League, and Temple Emanu-El. In his free time, he enjoys tactfully supporting his wife while she launches a new business, gently offering helpful suggestions to his son as he applies to college, struggling to keep up with his daughter while hiking the White Mountains, and hoping someday to break 80 on the golf course, when even breaking 90 is still a challenge for him.

Abbot Stranahan

board director

Abbot has served as trustee of many non-profit organizations. Working as board chairman of The Needmor Fund, The Peace Development Fund and other philanthropic foundations, public and private, she has worked to establish giving priorities, raise funds, oversee endowments and advocate publicly for the mission and program of these funds. She is also a trustee of The Wheeler School.

David Moscarelli

board director

David Moscarelli is a science teacher and digital portfolio coordinator at Ponaganset High School in Glocester, RI. David has taught science at the school for over twenty-five years. His teaching has covered a wide range of science courses, including AP environmental science, biomedical innovation, patient care and medical imaging, biology, alternative energy, animal behavior, microbiology, and physical science.

As the digital-portfolio coordinator for the past 15 years, David led the design and implementation of one of the first digital-portfolio graduation requirements in the country. He has held various technology leadership positions at the school over the last 20 years, working with his colleagues on the integration of technology in the classroom. He is currently working on integrating digital profiles of students that are driven by career and academic exploration.

David was named the 2015 Rhode Island Teacher of the Year and spent his year of service as the co-facilitator of the development of the 2020 Vision for Education: Rhode Island’s Strategic Plan for PK-12 & Adult Education.

David graduated with a bachelor’s in education from the University of Rhode Island and holds a master’s degree in biology education from Brown University. He lives in Providence with his wife and two daughters. His passions outside of education and family are exploring nature, growing and cooking great food, and travel.

Bethany Mascena Tracy

board director

As a professional marketer and lifelong entrepreneur, Bethany helps her clients start and grow businesses into successful and profitable enterprises. Bethany’s creativity, passion, work ethic and ability to collaborate with others on new and exciting projects, has proven to be the right combination to get the job done. Currently, Bethany is a Regional Coach and Area Director for N2 Publishing. She partners with business owners and neighborhoods to create private monthly newsletters that create community connections. She also coaches other Area Directors in how to run profitable, sustainable and successful N2 publications.

Bethany fell in love with the Providence Children’s Film Festival while attending screenings and talking about the films afterwards with her husband and two daughters. Since then, her girls have attended Youth Filmmaking Workshops, Reel Connections and even completed their Girl Scout Silver Award project to support the Festival. In addition to PCFF, Bethany has a strong commitment to training, supporting and empowering our next generation of female leaders in her volunteer positions with the Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England and her active involvement in the all-girls college preparatory school, Bay View Academy. Bethany lives in Warwick with her husband, Gareth, and two daughters, Olivia and Annabelle.

advisory board

Sara Archambault

Program Director, LEF Foundation

Renee Hobbs

Founder and Director of the Media Education Lab, URI

Annie LaVigne

Film/Animation/Video Department, RISD

Michaela O’Donnell

Educator, Providence Country Day School

Martin McCabe

Director, Feature Film Company Ltd

Lindsay Shaw

Youth Librarian, Providence Athenaeum

Sarah Ganz

Director of Education, RISD Museum

Marcin Gizycki

Artistic Director, Animator Int’l. Animation Festival, Poznan, Poland

Elizabeth Margulies

Family Programs Coordinator, MOMA, NY

Cheryl Space

Director, Providence Community Library

Pamela Steager

Media Literacy Consultant

meet the team

staff

Anisa Raoof | executive director

Eric Bilodeau | director of programming

supporting cast

Alyssa Biolchini | operations manager + development

Kristin Walcott | volunteer + special events coordinator

Jackie Hennessey | pr + marketing

Elizabeth “Zim” Zimmermann | art + design work

Mike and Beth Bell | video production

Jake Camara | web development

John Barnett and Isolde Maher | festival branding (2010-2016)

Morayo Sayles | photographer