San Francisco Stories: Pitch Forum

Jennifer Phang began her film career by writing and directing her first feature Half-Life—a magic-real family drama—which premiered at Sundance. Her sophomore feature Advantageous won a Sundance Dramatic Jury Prize and was acquired by Netflix for an exclusive worldwide streaming deal. The sci-fi mother-daughter drama became a cult hit while Phang ventured into television, eventually directing the Iceland episodes of HBO Max’s Emmy-nominated The Flight Attendant. Jennifer has directed a slew of high-end genre television including Apple TV’s adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, Resident Alien for Amblin/UCP, the pilot of Disney’s hit series The Secret of Sulphur Springs, Amazon’s The Boys, The Expanse, DC’s Stargirl, and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Most recently she returned to Disney as director and co-executive producer to relaunch Disney’s multi billion-dollar franchise through an expansive musical extravaganza Descendants: The Rise of Red. Set in the

Raúl Castillo recently starred in Paramount’s much anticipated sequel SMILE 2 and just wrapped The Hand That Rocks the Cradle alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Maika Monroe as well as The Casket Girls with Gabrielle Union and Mike Colter. He will be seen next in HBO’s upcoming series from Brad Ingelsby, TASK, and the feature Cold Wallet which premiered at SXSW. Other films include A24’s The Inspection, which earned him a Gotham Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performance, Barron’s Cove, which premiered at Hamptons International Film Festival, Prime Video’s Cassandro, Miguel Wants To Fight from Hulu, Netflix’s HUSTLE with Adam Sandler, CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH, and Mother/Android. He was a fan favorite on Looking, Class Of ’09, on Netflix’s original series Atypical and Seven Seconds.

Shelby Rachleff is Program Manager for the Westridge Foundation. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Creative Writing, Shelby has worked in entertainment (Grandview; WME) and technology (IMVU; Glassdoor). In 2018, she created the SFFILM Westridge Grant, which provided support for 30 narrative features including Miss Juneteenth (dir. Channing Godfrey Peoples) and Stay Awake (dir. Jamie Sisley). Shelby has served as a judge for the Seattle International Film Festival Screenplay Competition and the Austin Film Festival Script Competition. Through Westridge, she has supported documentaries including Jamila Wignot‘s 2021 Sundance standout Ailey. Shelby is interested in the short film space, and has independently provided development funding for narrative shorts from filmmakers with bold, creative visions. Shelby lives in San Francisco.

Manijeh Fata is the Executive Director of Film SF | San Francisco Film Commission where she has worked since 2015. In her role, she has led and collaborated on numerous high-profile film, TV and independent productions, including The Last Black Man in San Francisco, The Matrix Resurrections, Venom, Beautiful Boy, Fremont, Fairyland, Food Network’s Chef Dynasty: House of Fang, Hulu’s Chance, Amazon’s I’m a Virgo, Apple’s The Last Thing He Told Me and Surface, and Netflix’s The OA. Her work has involved extensive coordination, forging relationships with studios, local filmmakers, city departments, and neighborhood and merchant groups. With over 20 years of experience in arts and education program management, Manijeh has also developed impactful community outreach initiatives and built partnerships with non-profit organizations in Oakland and San Francisco. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University, where she created the award-winning short film Las Fruteras: A Fruitvale Tale.