FOUNDER/FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

Maayan Laufer is the founding partner of Palms for Life Fund and creator of the Ceres Food Film Festival. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Biology and Sociology. Thanks to her mother's work with the UN, she was able to travel to many developing countries throughout her life. She witnessed first-hand the impact of international aid in improving the livelihood of individuals and communities. She most enjoys producing Ceres because of her background in acting and filmmaking and for the opportunity to help empower people in the realities of the world.  She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

Sandra Ciccone is a film, television and digital media Producer who has spent the past 15 years working on culinary-based shows such as Top Chef & MasterChef and has been lucky enough to eat her way around the globe! She is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has been involved with Palms for Life Fund for over a decade. Growing up in a large Italian immigrant family, food has always been a central part of her life and she continues to be a firm advocate for food access and safety for all. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and 3 year old son.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Jesse R. Tendler is an artist, filmmaker, curator, and educator. Jesse directs and produces a diverse range of projects, including short & feature length narrative fiction films, episodic projects, music videos, commercials, documentaries, theatre, and educational content. Past films (Frankie, Deadbeat, Leaving Circadia, Family On Board, 16mins) have won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Audience Choice awards at various film festivals, including being selected for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for the 2016 Oscars. A graduate of UPenn’s Management & Technology Program, Jesse earned dual B.S.E. degrees in Entrepreneurial Management & Marketing (Wharton) and Materials Science & Engineering (research focus: renewable clean energy technology). He is passionate about filmmaking, clean energy tech, artistic expression, education, the environment, social justice, and human rights. 

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Sarah Bex Rice is a footage manager, film programmer and experimental filmmaker with an MSc in Film, Exhibition and Curation from the University of Edinburgh. She has worked in various capacities within festivals both local and worldwide, including most recently with Brooklyn Film Festival. Passionate about the preservation of media, she has also worked hands-on within several archives, including the Moving Image Research Collections, Ralph Lauren, NBC News and Bridgeman Images. She is excited to expand her work in festival coordination with Ceres Film Festival and their mission to bring awareness to food-related issues through the power of storytelling. 

PROGRAMMER

Yashnoor (Noor) Kaur is a Global Business major at the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University. She has been involved with local community service projects and social justice work at her home in New Jersey. She plans to continue her service and social justice related work in her New York community. Noor joined the Palms for Life Fund to continue to make positive change and to get more involved with the global community.

PROGRAMMER/COMMUNICATIONS

Camila Yanzaguano-Bravo is a recent graduate from the M.A. in International Affairs with a concentration in Cities and Social Justice at The New School, New York. Her passion for urban development and rights lead her to travel to Barcelona, Spain and Cape Town, South Africa, where she contributed within the nonprofit sector in areas such as employment and housing policy, respectively. Today, she expects to continue developing her knowledge within the nonprofit sector and help fundamental human rights as part of everyone's lives.