Diane Baker
Executive Director of Motion Pictures & Television and Acting

Diane Baker studied acting and ballet in New York with Charles Conrad and Nina Fonaroff. She also studied acting in Los Angeles with Estelle Harman and years later with Stella Adler. While under contract with Twentieth Century Fox, she was introduced to director George Stevens Sr., who cast her in The Diary of Anne Frank. Diane performed in films Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Best of Everything, 300 Spartans, The Wizard of Baghdad, Nine Hours to Rama, directed by Mark Robson, and on loan-out starred with Susan Hayward in Stolen Hours in England. At Universal, she starred in Mirage with Gregory Peck, Marnie for director Alfred Hitchcock and The Prize, starring Paul Newman. She also appeared in The Joy Luck Club, The Net with Sandra Bullock, and The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick and most recently, Harrison Montgomery with Martin Landau.

Diane has worked with Anthony Hopkins and director Jonathan Demme in Silence of the Lambs, and her most recent television credits include Law & Order: SVU, ER with Noah Wyle and five episodes of HBO’s Unscripted, directed by George Clooney. Other television credits include The Blue and the Grey, Inherit the Wind (for which she received an Emmy nomination), About Sarah, and CBS’ four-hour miniseries, Jackie O, in the role of Rose Kennedy.

Diane’s first effort as a producer came in the self-financed documentary, Ashiana, which dealt with the end of feudalism and the beginning of democracy in India. Several other award-winning documentaries followed, including HBO’s To Climb a Mountain and Emmy-nominated Miracles in the Making. She produced the film Never Never Land in London starring Petula Clark and Cathleen Nesbitt, which opened the door for a future project, the six-hour mini-series based on Barbara Taylor Bradford’s “A Woman of Substance,” which received an Emmy nomination for Best Mini-Series.

She has received numerous honors and awards, including multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Irvine in Southern California, and Cinecom Career Award in 2005 given at the legendary Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Ms. Baker has been a Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences voting member for forty years. Additionally, Diane studied Telecommunications and Political Science at the University of Southern California. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Documentary Channel as well as coordinating member of the Oakland Film Commission Arts Task Force.

In addition, Ms. Baker has been invited to serve on many film festival juries. In the late 70’s, she was the president of the jury for Northern Greece festival of Thessaloniki with Melina Mercouri, and subsequently on the jury at the International Film Festival in Bombay, India. In 1997, she was invited to the first International Film Festival in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. She was also on the Palm Springs Film Festival jury in 2005.

Diane Baker was invited to the Academy of Art University to build an acting program for graduate and undergraduate students. She inaugurated the first sound stage at the university and its first black box theater, both of which are used by students in the Acting and Film programs to create their portfolios. She has recently been promoted to Executive Director of the Motion Pictures & Television and Acting School. Her future dream is to build a film center for serious filmmakers who want to make meaningful films that will inspire, educate and entertain.

Michael Helmy
Director of Online and MFA Curriculum

Michael Helmy is trained as an architect and began his movie career at Warner Brothers in the changing studio system in Hollywood. Learning from great directors like John Cassavetes and Francis Ford Coppola, and stellar production designers like Richard “Dick” Sylbert and Richard MacDonald, he worked his way up to become a successful production designer. Michael is well known for his work on landmark television shows such as Miami Vice, Nash Bridges, Birds of Prey and the most successful show in television history, ER. His film credits include Prizzi's Honor, Back to the Beach, The Webbers, Sugar Hill and Traveller. Michael is a passionate educator and enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with his students, much like he once received guidance as a young apprentice. Currently, he is writing and developing family comedy movies.

Eduardo Rufeisen
Director, Motion Pictures &
Television

Eduardo Rufeisen has more than 17 years of international experience producing, directing, and managing creative teams and crews. He worked as the Senior Advisor of Advertising for Bosch-Blaupunkt group in Brazil, directing ad campaigns for print, TV and Radio. He became marketing manager of MTV-Brazil where he created television ad campaigns and managed the sales team. He also worked for a Brazilian Television Network producing more than 100 different shows.

During the last 12 years he has been producing and directing multi-camera TV shows for local San Francisco Bay Area cable channels and multinational companies including Hewlett Packard. He has also produced, directed and edited short films, documentaries and commercials seen nationally on ABC, MTV, Lifetime, WB and Fox. His short films and documentaries have won multiple awards around the world.

Since completing his Master of Fine Arts degree (MFA) in Motion Pictures and Television Studies at the Academy of Art University, Eduardo has also been working as a film and television instructor at various colleges in Northern California. During the last 8 years, he has taught classes in a wide variety of Motion Picture disciplines. In January 2004, he became the Coordinator of the MFA program in the School Motion Pictures and Television.  In October 2006 he became the Associate Director of Graduate Studies in Motion Pictures and Television at the Academy and in October of 2008, he became the Director of the School of Motion Pictures and Television, where he continues to teach and mentor students. As part of his responsibilities, Eduardo reviews all portfolios of students interested in the program and he also is a lead committee member in MFA Midpoint and Final reviews where he frequently chairs the committees.

Jonathan Fung
Associate Director

Jonathan Fung is the Associate Director of the School of Motion Pictures and Television at the Academy of Art University. He founded the Epidemic Film Club in 2002 that unites artists on campus to network and collaborate on making films. Jonathan has earned both BFA and MFA degrees in photography and has earned a Ph.D. in philosophy. He has also completed post-doctoral studies at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Jonathan has traveled to Paris, Milan, New York and Los Angeles in his early career with fashion photography. His body of work also includes fine art photography and video installations, which have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world.

Jonathan's natural ability with photography led him to filmmaking. He has written and directed many short films, experimental films, and music videos that have been screened at various film festivals. Jonathan won best music video for Fly at the WYSIWYG Film Festival in San Francisco. His multitalented and multifaceted experiences have allowed him to create very tight, contemporary and critical art works. Jonathan was a participant at the Doek Festival, where his film Een Nauwe Poort (A Narrow Gate) was screened outside the canals of Amsterdam on 17th century ship sails. His work was also exhibited at the Venice Biennale in the Snow Show exhibition.

Jonathan has directed commercials that have aired on MTV, VH-1, FX, and E!. He also produced and directed The Soul Show television show, which was created to inspire and make a positive difference in the youth of our generation. He is currently overseeing the post-production for several short narrative projects. His next project is developing Down the Rabbit Hole, an installation piece that will be included in San Francisco’s Wonderland exhibition that Mayor Gavin Newsom is supporting.

In addition to his many roles, Jonathan leads a coffeehouse ministry called X-Factor and a campus club called Fight Club – a community of creative artists dedicated to bring spiritual awareness and positive change using the arts and justice. Jonathan regularly visits the homeless men at CityTeam Rescue Shelter. He is an activist fighting human trafficking and has partnered with Not for Sale and International Justice Mission. Jonathan is joined with his wife Allison and their beautiful 5 year-old daughter Ayla Rain.

Brad Hughes
Director, Audio/Sound

Originally from Sacramento, California, Brad Hughes comes to the Academy of Art University with over 12 years of experience in sound and audio for a wide variety of production environments. In that time, he has maintained a career as both an audio engineer and a professional saxophonist.

Prior to joining the Academy of Art University, Brad worked as a sound designer and engineer for Creativity Studios, where he was responsible for daily music production, voice recording, editing and mixing of music for children’s toys and games. He has also served as audio engineer for Ed Bogas Productions, where he engineered music, sound effects, and voice recording for radio and television broadcast. In addition, Brad has provided engineering services to a wide variety of clients, including The Hollywood Edge, Soundeluxe Audio Publishing, and Macromedia. He has extensive expertise in computer software applications for audio, including the industry standard Pro Tools.

As a professional saxophonist, Brad has brought his signature sound to a diverse group of musical settings, including The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, The Liberation Music Orchestra with Charlie Haden, and The Starlight Room Orchestra. He has recorded or played with Ravi Coltrane, Ernie Watts, The Tiger Club, James Carney, Wil Blades, and the Realistic Orchestra. As a studio musician, Brad has also recorded on the scoring stages at 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. in Los Angeles.

He holds a BFA in World Arts & Cultures from U.C.L.A., and an MFA in Music from The California Institute of the Arts.

Michael Bellew
Instructor

Mike Bellew has over 20 years of production experience in Film, Video, Radio and Television.   Bellew has worked on several Emmy Award winning productions for KRON (NBC) in San Francisco and KTVU (Fox) in Oakland. His experience  includes staff positions and freelance assignments for companies such as: Macy’s Department Store, Golden Gate University, California State University East Bay, Peralta College, Pacific Bell, SBC, Seren Innovations, Fuji Film, Kodak, Canon, Altec Lansing, Epson, and SanDisk.  He has been teaching graduate and undergraduate editing classes at the AAU since 2001.

Michael Braverman
Instructor

Michael Braverman is a two-time Emmy award nominee and a 30-year television veteran with hundreds of hours of produced primetime dramas and comedies to his credit. He was the creator and Executive Producer of the Emmy-winning ABC television series, Life Goes On. As a noted show-runner, executive producer, writer and director he has been instrumental in guiding shows such as Chicago Hope, Beverly Hills 90210, Quincy and Higher Ground. Michael was nominated twice for the prestigious Writers Guild of America Writer’s Award as well as the Humanitas Prize, the People’s Choice Award and more than 35 other distinguished professional awards. He has taught television writing at the extensions of Columbia College of Chicago, UCLA, and UC Santa Cruz and currently teaches screenwriting, directing, producing, and acting for camera at Academy of Art University, San Francisco. He is currently completing his second novel.

Rich Cascio
Instructor

Richard Cascio resides and works in San Francisco as a cinematographer. He began his career working on commercials and feature films in the Bay Area as a first camera assistant. He is an experienced Steadicam operator, and aerial cinematographer. Richard has been on the Academy of Art University faculty teaching cinematography since June 2005.

Curran Engel
Full-Time Instructor

Curran is a producer, production manager, first assistant director, and second assistant director, and has over 12 years of extensive industry experience. He was the Producer on several feature films, such as Skeleton Woman, This Space Between Us, Downfall and Cherish and First Assistant Director on Heartwood, Tweeker, and Chalk. Curran is an accomplished professional who has worked in a variety of roles.

He possesses a great deal of industry experience, which is a valuable asset to his teaching. In this graduate purse, he guides graduate students through the various elements of production, from breaking down a script to scheduling and budgeting. His first-hand experience of sales and marketing prepares students for the challenges of producing their own projects. Curran's extensive list of projects includes music videos, commercials, television and movies. Curran has worked at the Academy since 1999 and is a full-time instructor.

Sam Fisk
Instructor

Former Pixar Story Analyst Sam Fisk works as a screenwriter, coach, development executive and "gun for hire" story editor when not teaching about the facets of story and screenwriting at Academy of Art University.

Donna Laemmlen
Instructor

Donna Laemmlen is a screenwriter and screenplay consultant. Her screenplays have been recognized in several major competitions, including the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project, the Austin Heart of Film Screenplay Competition, Scriptapalooza and Creative Screenwriting Magazine's Screenwriting Expo. She is a Story Analyst for American Zoetrope, where she has read over 1,000 screenplays for their annual screenplay contest, as well as a reader for Zoetrope: All-Story, winner of the National Magazine Award for Fiction. She previously was a Producer for International Herald Tribune Television and the PBS series Great Leaders. She also was Associate Producer for the PBS Series Great Entrepreneurs and the Nightly Business Report segment Prime Movers. She is a member of the WGAw Independent Writers Caucus.

Matthew Levie
Instructor

Matthew Levie has been editing film for more than 15 years. His credits include the documentaries Curanderos de los Maya and 97 Orchard Street, and the feature films The Guatemala Incident and Sleep Furiously. He also does corporate work for America Online, BMW, Intel, and Wells Fargo. Currently, he is editing a cooking series to be aired on PBS.

Sabrina Nelson
Instructor

Sabrina Nelson is a professional editor and educator. She has been working in television since 1990 on everything from documentaries to narratives to sports. Her credits include work with Continental Cablevision, CSPAN, Sportschannel America, BattleBots and Meets The Eye Films. Sabrina has taught editing aesthetics at Bay Area Video Coalition, and production and editing at dvGarage. She holds a BA in Media Studies from New College of California, and a Masters in Multimedia from Cal State East Bay. Sabrina spent the summer of 2008 in Europe where she shot a documentary on puzzle makers, which is now in post production. Sabrina has been an editing instructor at AAU since 2000.

Julie Oxendale
Instructor

For the past 20 years, Julie Oxendale has worked as a writer for film and theatre, and has worked with Danny Boyle, Jim and Peter Sheridan, Jane Campion, Albert Finney and Ben Kingsley. After being awarded Best Feature Film Script by Film Arts Foundation, her scripts were optioned by Fox Searchlight and companies in England, Australia and India. She was selected for the prestigious Sundance writers labs and also the Equinoxe Award in France. God Only Knows, the short film she wrote with Academy of Art University alum won many awards on the International Film Festival circuit during 2008. Currently she is co-writing a short film with Mark Reyes, an award-winning Academy of Art University student.

Steve Romanko
Instructor

Steve Romanko is an award-winning filmmaker and sound Designer living and working in San Francisco. His screen credits include work on more than 100 features, including Saving Private Ryan, Fight Club and the award-winning documentary Into the Arms of Strangers. 13th Generation, Steve’s film company, has produced a number of short films, including the documentary N.E.P.A. He is currently in pre-production for the feature-length film Thrill Kill. Winner of the 2003 Dean Goodman Choice Award (Best Theater Sound Design for Kilt), Steve maintains a connection to the stage with his work at the acclaimed Magic and New Conservatory theaters.

Matt Volla
Instructor

Matt Volla graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA in Audio and Video Production. He received an MFA in Electronic Music from Mills College in 2004. Matt has edited for Goldman, Sachs and Co. and for Maxis, a division of Electronic Arts.  He has worked for Academy of Art University since 2000, starting as a valued Technician in our editing labs. He previously taught high school at S.R. Martin in San Francisco and college level at Mills college in Oakland.

Rick Wise
Instructor

Rick Wise has been shooting and making films for more than 30 years. After film school in Paris and a brief job as assistant director for American feature productions shooting in France, he became a news and documentary filmmaker, ending up at KQED San Francisco during its golden years. From 1968 to 1970 he covered the daily riots at San Francisco State and then UC Berkeley as a cameraman and editor, honing his skills at visual storyteller. The station bumped him up to produce, shoot and edit a series of long-form documentaries for PBS, including the well-received Private Lives of Americans. That documentary work then morphed into shooting commercials, dramatic episodes, and high-end corporate films. Wise continues to shoot in all film and video formats, and edits his own projects.