Composer Filmmaker Accelerator

Nurturing Composers in Media

The Composer Filmmaker Accelerator (CFA) is an immersive program for composers who want to work in media. Curated by renowned composer Miriam Cutler, the CFA program is an intensive, practical experience and a unique opportunity to work alongside filmmakers while receiving mentorship and guidance from industry professionals.

The CFA is designed for professional composers who are already working in the media space and equip them with the experience needed to take the next step in their career.

The best way to unleash the power of music in film is through a successful creative collaboration between the filmmakers and the composer. Together, you set out to discover the sound and emotional tone of the world of the film and the characters that inhabit it.

Miriam Cutler, CFA Founder and Program Curator

Supported by

Program Faculty

Miriam Cutler

CFA Founder and Program Curator

The CFA program is curated by three-time Emmy-nominated, award-winning film and television composer Miriam Cutler, based on her vast experience mentoring and leading workshops for both filmmakers and composers with Sundance, the International Documentary Association, Film Independent, US State Department / USC School of Cinema American Film Showcase (international), and more. She is known for her scores for RBG, Love Gilda, Shari Lewis and Lambchop, Ethel, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, The Hunting Ground, Lost in La Mancha, and more. Her passion for documentaries has also led her to co-produce and score One Lucky Elephant, Dark Money, and, currently in production, The Untitled Laura Nyro Documentary.

Damon Tedesco

Recording Engineer and Scoring Mixer

Damon Tedesco is the Recording Engineer and Scoring Mixer for the Composer Filmmaker Accelerator. For the last 25 years, Damon has specialized in recording music for film and television. A member of the Television Academy, he has recorded and mixed music for hundreds of commercials, TV shows, films, and documentaries. He is currently the scoring mixer for Family Guy, American Dad, and Ted and recently worked on Zootopia 2 with Michael Giacchino.

Michelle Sudduth

Scoring Session Producer

Michelle Sudduth is the Scoring Session Producer for the Composer Filmmaker Accelerator. Michelle is a composer, songwriter and classically-trained pianist, and has worked in the booth on many film and TV recording sessions in Los Angeles. She called Vancouver home while in graduate school (UBC) and credits UCLA’s Film Scoring program with equipping her to create music for media. Michelle is the resident composer at Magic Dog Productions (NYC) and has most recently been working on a variety of projects including feature films and audio dramas, and writing/producing a record with the innovators of Good Story Guild (LA/NYC). Michelle’s first video game score for Cat Secretary releases Fall 2026.

Alex Clark

Copyist and Librarian

With a composition degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and over a decade as an orchestra librarian, Alex Clark has spent most of his professional career behind the scenes of large classical music productions preparing music for musicians or leading the digital video production teams. In recent years Alex has gained experience in sound design, cinematography, directing cameras for live orchestral concerts and recordings, arranging for orchestra and rock band as well as composing for chamber ensembles, full symphony orchestra and electronic music for a short film. Alex is always looking for projects that will help him learn new skills, collaborate with other creative individuals and grow his music creation studio and business. Most of Alex’s music publishing and production business is run through his company AseosA.

Composers

Aleksandra Vilcinska

Aleksandra (Sasha) Vilcinska is a Latvian-British award-winning composer based in London, UK, working across film and television. Her credits include the international feature film Meie Erika, with a score recorded live with the Riga Sinfonietta Orchestra; Hollywood Music in Media Awards-nominated Tapeworm; Guardian-featured Harvest; Student BAFTA-winning There Once Was a Home Game; Student Academy Awards finalist The Undertakers; RTS Student Award-winning Ministry of Enigmatic Affairs; and Al Jazeera short Where Roots Lie.

Alexandra Petkovski (aka FJØRA)

Called “a haunting artist to watch” by Rolling Stone, Alexandra Petkovski (aka FJØRA) is a composer, producer, artist, and songwriter known for creating genre-defying music across film, television, video games, and multimedia. Coining the genre “cinematronic,” (cinematic electronic), she was the winner of Best Composer Pitch at the 76th Berlinale Junior Executive Talent Slate and multiple Hollywood Music in Media and Music + Sound Awards, and was nominated for Artist/Songwriter of the Year at the 2026 Guild of Music Supervisors Awards Canada and won Best Original Song at the 20th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards.

Anya Lagman

Anya Lagman is a Filipina composer, producer, and songwriter from Manila whose work spans film and television, concert music, and collaborations with artists and global organizations. She is currently composing additional music for Common Side Effects, the Peabody Award-winning Adult Swim animated series created by Joseph Bennett and Steve Hely and executive-produced by Greg Daniels and Mike Judge. Her screen credits also include additional music for Scavengers Reign and original music for film and branded media.

Benjamin Westphalen

Benjamin Westphalen is a composer, music producer, and sound designer from Germany, working in New York, Los Angeles, and Hamburg. Films featuring his work have been showcased at numerous festivals and won awards at the Student Academy Awards, Independent Shorts, the Tasveer Film Festival, the College Television Awards/Emmys, and more. His Score for A Dream Called Khushi (Happiness) recently won the Hollywood Music in Media Award 2025 for Best Score in the Short Film (Documentary) category.

Claire Cowan

Claire Cowan is hailed as one of New Zealand’s most exciting composers with an impressive array of scoring and composition credits spanning concert, film, television, and theatre. Eight prime-time TV soundtracks, multiple “Best Original Score” national awards, several Composer Residencies, and two full-length ballets commissioned from the Royal New Zealand Ballet are just a few of the many accolades to her name. In 2021 Claire was awarded “Best Classical Artist” at the Aotearoa Music Awards, and in 2024 she became a New Zealand Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate.

Eduardo Rivera

Eduardo Rivera is a composer and music editor based in Los Angeles, CA, working across film, documentaries, and podcasts. Most recently, he assisted as a music editor on Resident Evil and composed the theme for a new daily news program from WAMC, an NPR affiliate. Previously, Eduardo served as a composer at WaitWhat, the media company founded by the creators of TED Talks, where he composed original music for acclaimed podcasts including Masters of Scale, Meditative Story, and Spark & Fire. His work on Spark & Fire earned a Signal Award for Best Original Score.

Jolene Khor

Jolene Khor is an award-winning composer of narrative-led orchestral music for fantasy storytelling, delivered with the clarity and modularity required for sync licensing across trailers, advertising, and experiential media. Her work spans whimsical, elegant writing through to large-scale orchestral cues, designed for clean delivery, licensing readiness, and strong thematic identity rather than generic “epic” textures. Recent credits include HighRollers DnD, Nomnivore Games, Theatre of the Unaligned, and Hatched Games, alongside conducting for Netflix’s promotional concert at Covent Garden and orchestration work for National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan. She is also a recipient of the PRS Foundation and Amazon MGM Prelude program 2026.

Karan Viegas

Karan Viegas is a Canadian Screen Music Award-nominated film composer, producer, and songwriter based in Toronto and New York City. His uniquely vivid musical voice weaves jazz and neo-classical traditions with contemporary and cross-cultural influences, ranging from orchestral to synthetic, playful to poignant. Karan has written music for film, TV, and theatre and produced records for notable artists. Past collaborators include members of Lion King on Broadway, Phillip Glass Ensemble, Canadian Opera Company, and Berklee Indian Ensemble.

Lina Breining

Lina Breining is an NYC-based composer and orchestrator for film, animation, theatre, and media. Her music has been featured at multiple Academy Award-qualifying film festivals, and her orchestral work has been performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Lina’s credits include composing Purple, a feature film which premiered in Los Angeles last year, and co-orchestrating an upcoming production music track for Bleeding Fingers Music. She has also collaborated with filmmakers from AFI, USC, and NYU Tisch, as well as an animator at Pixar Animation whose short Beyond the Journey won Best 3D Animation at the 2025 New York Short Animation Festival.

Nozomi Lyn

Nozomi Lyn is a composer, singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, creating across film, television, theatre, and recorded music. Shaped by an upbringing across Japan, China, Canada, and the US, her work moves between orchestral and electronic worlds, weaving voice, timbre, texture, and multicultural instruments into cinematic storytelling. Her music has been recorded with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. She was selected for the 2025 Society of Composers & Lyricists Mentorship Program and holds a Master of Music in Screen Scoring from New York University.

Or Kadishson

Or Kadishson is a composer, arranger, orchestrator, and pianist specializing in music for film, television, and contemporary concert composition. Born and raised in Tel Aviv, she is based in San Diego, California. Her screen work includes scores and orchestration for projects associated with Paramount, TeenNick, yes, HOT, KAN 11, Keshet 12, and Reshet 13. Her credits include Heaven and Earth, nominated for an Israeli Academy Award (Ophir Award), and Matcal, nominated for an Israeli Television Academy Award.

Rachel McFarlane

Rachel “Ray” McFarlane is a composer for concert, film, TV, and interactive media, known for blending orchestral tradition with bold experimentation. Named one of CBC’s 30 Best Classical Musicians Under 30 and 2025 Berklee Valedictorian, she made history as the first woman and person of color to complete the Screen Scoring double major. She works with Riot Games and Red Bull, scores award-winning projects, and champions access and representation through her music, mentorship, and social media partnerships.

Alex Bezeau

After completing a Master of Arts in International Relations and serving over a decade with the Canadian Armed Forces, Alex Bezeau embarked on a new chapter as a filmmaker. For the past five years, he has used documentary film to challenge society’s collective erasure of uncomfortable histories. His distinct background and rigorous investigative discipline have fueled a series of edgy historical projects — including the short Jacques Cartier’s Doctrine of Discovery (2023), the award-winning feature Vacation Plantation (2024), the short One Last River to Cross (2025), and the forthcoming feature documentary Mussolini’s Chicken.

Alex Caufield

Alex Caulfield is a director and writer with a background as a creative producer based in Vancouver, BC. Their debut feature film, What Comes Next, is an intergenerational coming-of-age story starring Mena Suvari, Alison Thornton, and Aaron Ashmore. It will be released theatrically in early 2027. Alex is an alum of the National Screen Institute and the Women in the Director’s Chair Story & Leadership Program, received a Creator Mentorship from the Geena Davis Institute, and has attended the Whistler Film Festival Talent Labs as both a producer and most recently as the writer/director of their upcoming feature film Ghosting.

Anatolii Osadchyi

Originally from Ukraine, Anatolii Osadchyi is a producer and director whose practice spans film, animation, sound design, and exhibitions. His childhood fascination with cinema, education in the arts, and experience as a theatre actor shaped his creative approach. Anatolii has further refined his craft through programs and workshops with Netflix, NYFA, Sony Imageworks, and VFS. He has also founded creative organizations that develop projects for the public good and promote environmentally responsible practices.

Luciano A. Muñoz Sessarego

Luciano is a character animator whose extensive career spans advertising, games, and short- and feature-animated film work. Some of his recent credits include Ice Age: Boiling Point, Leo, The Sea Beast, The Monkey King, and Ron’s Gone Wrong. He also teaches animation in Blender at iAnimate and runs a small YouTube channel with the same purpose. In addition to working full-time in feature animation, he makes short films, including Freelance, Catchy, and Balding, which is currently in development.