Meet the 2026 'Fine Cut' Judges
Asia Vigil Ellington
Asia Vigil Ellington is a multicultural artist from the Bay Area, California, currently based in Los Angeles. She got her start in animation as a Creative/Production intern for Disney Television Animation in 2019, and is currently a Lead Character Designer at Disney TVA, having worked on "The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse," "Primos," and over a dozen projects in development as a Character Art Director. Other studio clients include Cartoon Network, Sony Animation, Netflix, Disney Yellow Shoes, Disneyland Resort, and Walt Disney World Resort. Asia has also contributed illustrative and concept works to The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Dapper Day, and Chronicle Books. She is also a two-time alumni of the Disney College Program, in entertainment costuming at Walt Disney World (Spring 2018) and Disneyland (Spring 2019).
Jesús Salvador Treviño
Jesús Salvador Treviño is writer/director whose television directing credits include "Criminal Minds," "Law & Order Criminal Intent," "Prison Break," "ER," "Bones," "Crossing Jordan," "Third Watch," "NYPD Blue," "Chicago Hope," "The Practice," "The O.C.", "Dawson’s Creek," "Nash Bridges," "Star Trek Voyager" and many others.
His national PBS documentaries about Latinos include "Yo Soy Chicano," "America Tropical," "La Raza Unida," "Chicano Moratorium." He was Co-Executive Producer of the PBS documentary series, "Chicano! History Of The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement" and many others.
He wrote and directed the Mexican feature film "Raices De Sangre (Roots Of Blood)" and "Seguin," an American Playhouse drama of the Alamo saga told from a Mexican American point of view.
Mr. Treviño’s awards include: the Imagenes Lifetime Achievement Award, the Mexican American Cultural Education Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, DGA Full Circle Lifetime Achievement Tribute, the Plaza de Culturas y Artes Pioneer Award, the American Book Award, the KCET/Union Bank “Local Hero” Award; the Occidental College Alumni Seal Award and many others.
Jonathan Furmanski
Jonathan Furmanski is a masterful cinematographer across both scripted and documentary storytelling. Most recently, Furmanski shot the entire Peacock series "The 'Burbs" (2026), an 8-episode mystery-comedy inspired by the 1989 cult classic starring Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall, with executive producers including Seth MacFarlane, Brian Grazer, and Celeste Hughey.
Prior to "The 'Burbs," Furmanski shot two episodes of the limited series "Clipped" (2023), about the LA Clippers/Donald Sterling scandal. His recent narrative work includes all episodes of Showtime’s "I Love That for You" (2022), season one of Hulu’s "Life & Beth" (2022), and two episodes of Hulu’s "The Dropout" (2022), chronicling the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes.
He also shot the critically acclaimed HBO Max series "Search Party" (2016–2022), contributing to Seasons 1-4 and filming the majority of episodes across those seasons.
Additional television credits include Apple TV+’s "Little America" (2020) ("The Son"), the TBS comedy series "The Detour "(2016–2019), Comedy Central’s "Inside Amy Schumer" (2013–2016), and the concert documentary "Bon Jovi: On a Night Like This" (2015), directed by Alex Horwitz.
Furmanski’s feature film credits include Universal Pictures’ "Good Boys" (2019), produced by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Lee Eisenberg and directed by Gene Stupnitsky,
A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Furmanski lives in Long Beach, California. He is grateful for the opportunity to have shot on massive glaciers, active volcanoes, rolling oceans, at the United Nations General Assembly, in international conflict zones, and on six of the seven continents.
Linda Mendoza
Linda Mendoza is an Emmy Award winning director. She started in the television multi-camera/variety genre as a Production Associate on hit shows like; "In Living Color" and "Saturday Night Live." She became an Associate Director on live high profile Stand-Up and Music Specials, such as "The MTV Video Music Awards," "Billboard Music Awards," "European Music Awards," "Robin Williams at the Met," Billy Crystal’s "Midnight Train to Moscow" and one of her all time favorite gigs, Martin Short’s "I Martin Short Goes Hollywood."
Linda directed "The Chris Rock Show" for HBO shooting 51 of the 56 episodes. It set a clear path. Linda has now worked with Wanda Sykes, Sam Jay, Nikki Glaser. She directed several of "The Mark Twain Prize," the first recipient was Richard Pryor. One of the highlights of her career was directing "The Gershwin Prize," "In Performance at the White House," Stevie Wonder, was the first honoree. Linda returned for several more including Paul McCartney, Ray Charles, and Carole King.
Bethany Rooney
Bethany Rooney began her directing career on the 1980’s iconic television show, "St. Elsewhere," where she served as Associate Producer. She has since directed nine TV movies and more than 250 episodes of prime-time narrative shows, most recently "Doc," "Criminal Minds: Evolution," "Chicago Med," and "Tracker."
Bethany also served as Producing Director on two series: "Bull" and "The Originals." She has directed Oscar winners and Emmy contenders Denzel Washington, Hilary Swank, Mariska Hargitay, Angela Bassett, George Clooney, Alfre Woodard, Felicity Huffman, Sally Field, and Robert Downey, Jr., among many others.
She has served the Directors Guild of America in numerous ways: as a member of the National Board, co-chair of the Women’s Steering Committee and member of the Western Directors Council. She co-created two of the industry’s leading diversity director training programs: Warner Bros. (2012) and the DGA’s Directors Development Initiative (DDI, 2015.) Teaching rising directors is one of the ways Bethany continues to learn about and love storytelling. She co-wrote (with Mary Lou Belli) the industry’s preeminent directing craft textbook, "Directors Tell the Story," which Rooney uses when she teaches the DGA DDI, WB Access Craft Intensive, the Disney-ABC Directors Workshop and the NBC-Universal Launch program. The third edition of the book was published in 2025.
Bethany is a wife and mother and lives in Los Angeles.
Sofia Alexander
Sofia Alexander is a Mexican artist based in LA. She is known for her work as the creator of the award-winning show, "Onyx Equinox." She has storyboarded and directed for major studios such as Marvel, Disney, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network. She has also helped lead pilots and developed internal pitches for Disney and Sony. Currently, Sofia is helping write and direct "Knights of Guinevere" at GLITCH Productions.
Victor Sampaio
Victor Sampaio is a Story Board Artist with over 14 years of experience in the animation industry. Born in Brazil, Victor’s career began unconventionally, with his first animations being made with stop motion photography in his back yard with his brother. He attended school in Sao Paulo, where he began his first professional work as a jack-of-all-trades, working on designs, story boards and even animation. And it was in this space that he found he had a passion for one specialty, Story. He has since accrued many credits on both series and feature films spanning across the globe from Brazil, to Canada, the United States, and even England.
Victor’s had some recent highs in his career having been part of Guillermo Del Toro’s Academy Award®-winning film "Pinocchio," and most recently working along side the great Brad Bird, director of "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles," on his highly anticipated feature film "Ray Gunn."
Now a days, he’s working for Skydance Animation in their feature film department, and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, and their dog Bean.
Yu Gu
Yu Gu is a multinational filmmaker exploring gender and migration through complex individuals contending with systems of power. She is currently in production on a hybrid documentary that casts community members to grapple with the legacy of a polarizing leader. 2023 feature documentary "East West Players" (PBS) brings together luminaries like Daniel Dae Kim, John Cho and James Hong to tell the 50-year history of the oldest theatre of color in the United States. Her feature documentary "A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem" (Tribeca, Oscar-qualified) was used as a union-organizing tool by NFL cheerleaders, and earned the highest viewership for documentaries on PBS. She directed episode three of AppleTV+’s Critics Choice-nominated series "Gutsy" featuring Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. She has directed content for CNN Films, HBO and CBC. Yu has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Film Independent, Hedgebrook, Firelight Media, Canada Council for the Arts and Points North Institute. Yu holds an MFA in film production from the University of Southern California and a BA in English literature from the University of British Columbia. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California and Chapman University.
