Meet Our Talented Team
The Collective is proud to work with a diverse group of film professionals who are not only experts in their field but also deeply committed to using their skills for social good. Each filmmaker brings a unique blend of technical expertise, creativity, and compassion. Through their dedication and sincerity, our team members have crafted powerful narratives that resonate on both personal and societal levels.
Our film professionals are distinguished by their unwavering commitment to storytelling and their genuine desire to make a difference. Over the years, they have contributed their talents to a wide range of projects, each one reflecting their deep-rooted values of empathy and community.
DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER
NICH PEREZ is a Filipino-American filmmaker, educator, and collaborator. He creates film grain and pixels through personal human connections, carving narratives with the lens of empathy and community.
As the founder and director of the Nonprofit Film Collective, a grassroots group of storytellers, “Nick” transcends traditional boundaries by collaborating with nonprofits, communities, students, and institutions to tell meaningful stories with tangible, real-world, positive impacts. Nich’s latest feature-length film, letters to eleanore, offers a poignant exploration of disability and hope. This award-winning documentary, like most of his films, was produced jointly with his university students and is currently in film festivals. He has taught in various universities, including Grinnell College and St. Mary’s University as a Visiting Assistant Professor, where he worked on media projects that tackle complex subjects with sensitivity and insight, utilizing media arts and practice as a powerful tool for advocacy and storytelling.
HE IS CURRENTLY THE DELANEY-FILMMAKER-IN RESIDENCE AT WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY.
Nich has filmed in more than 50 countries: experiencing a breadth of humanity, interacting through multiple languages, connecting with people from varied cultures and economic backgrounds, and living these experiences with students. With multiple films in the pipeline, Nich continues to push boundaries and challenge perceptions through his work in an ever-evolving media landscape and in both fiction and nonfiction, producing media that captures beauty, inspiration, and authenticity.
DIRECTOR OF POSTPRODUCTION
JEFF KYLE is a seasoned Flame-based Finishing Artist, VFX Supervisor, Compositor, and Colorist currently working at Assembly (NYC). His portfolio spans a wide variety of high-profile commercial projects, working with brands like Meta + Ray-Ban, Hershey’s, Advil, and Morgan Stanley. In addition to his commercial work, Jeff has contributed to VFX work on popular episodic content, including The Last of Us (HBO), Mrs. Davis (Peacock), What We Do in the Shadows (FX), and The Gilded Age (HBO).
As an active participant in the Flame Beta program and a dedicated tutorial creator for the Autodesk Flame Learning Channel, Jeff is deeply committed to advancing the post-production community. His involvement as a co-host on the weekly YouTube show Logik Live and his contributions to the Logik Flame community underscore his passion for knowledge sharing and industry growth.
JEFF HAS ALSO DEVOTED his time and skills to several nonprofit media projects since graduating from college in 2013. Working as a colorist, editor, and motion graphics artist, he has developed his craft while helping to tell impactful stories. His commitment to using visual storytelling for social good continues to drive his work, both in commercial projects and nonprofit collaborations.
JEFF HAS ALSO DEVOTED his time and skills to several nonprofit media projects since graduating from college in 2013. Working as a colorist, editor, and motion graphics artist, he has developed his craft while helping to tell impactful stories. His commitment to using visual storytelling for social good continues to drive his work, both in commercial projects and nonprofit collaborations.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
KIEFER SZUMLAS is a cinematographer whose work cuts through the noise with visuals that tell stories in bold strokes.
From capturing powerful moments for clients like Google and The Art Institute of Chicago to crafting gritty, true-to-life imagery for Leeco Steel, or gorgeous cinematography for HairCuttery, Kiefer brings a fresh perspective to each project. He first cut his teeth as a camera operator on an independent documentary, where he learned the value of resourcefulness and storytelling in its rawest form.
At ABC News, He thrived in the fast-paced world of broadcast, turning real-life moments into visual narratives on the fly. An apprenticeship at Steppenwolf Theater followed, where he immersed himself in the art of storytelling through live performance and honed his eye for detail and emotion.
Today, Kiefer collaborates with clients, production companies, and agencies across the U.S., dedicated to telling stories that educate, enlighten, empower, and inspire. He believes in the power of cinematography to do more than just entertain—they should challenge perspectives and leave a lasting impact.
Whether on a commercial set, a narrative production, or capturing unscripted moments, Kiefer’s commitment is to find the shot that resonates and create work that is both meaningful and memorable.
.GUEST ARTISTS AND MEDIA PROFESSIONALS
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Becky Baihui Chen is a Chinese cinematographer based in Los Angeles and Shanghai. She believes that film can inspire social change and empower individuals, and her enthusiasm for intimate stories has led her to work on projects all over the world in China, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Japan, Sweden, and the United States. Chen's fiction work has covered a wide range of genres, from political drama to steampunk fantasy. Her lens has explored the plight of the LGBTQ+ community in China, the effects of diseases such as ALS and Alzheimer’s, and the dire political situation in Venezuela. I'm FINE, Thanks for Asking, an indie feature Chen lensed, won a Jury Award at SXSW in 2021 and is available on AppleTV, Amazon, and Bet+. On top of her fiction work, Chen has shot episodes for World's Ultimate Frontier, a Discovery x CGTN documentary show, and commercials for brands such as Mercedes Benz, Prada, Gucci, Adidas, Nike, Piaget, Mikimoto, Bobbi Brown and more.
in 2018, Becky's lens captured the stories of Three women, a wife, mother, and daughter, revealing the powerful transformations of grief into art through intimate cinematic meditations on creativity in the award-winning film, LETTERS THE ART OF GRIEVING.
COMPOSER SHAWN TALLET
It’s somewhat difficult to separate the artist from their work; in most cases, the delineation is nearly impossible to discern. The constant process of idea generation to physical manifestation happens sporadically, flowing like furious electrons in a vacuum tube at a break-neck pace...
Shawn Tallet’s approach to music is as earnest as it is holistic. With a career spanning nearly half of his life and inspiration drawn from all corners of the musical spectrum, the Austin-based artist doesn’t simply “write” so much as he creates. With proficiency in guitar, bass, keys, drums, and vocals — nearly all instruments employed within the confines of the rock umbrella, Tallet can tell stories and paint pictures in a sonic medium. He has a profound admiration for the analog sounds of yesteryear and tries to implement them into a unique, modern sound. Whether engineering, producing, songwriting, or performing, Tallet’s reverence for the art form is always front and center.
Shawn performs with Segundo Chino and Jack Greenwood while performing, engineering, and mixing his releases under the Shoreline Gold moniker. The eponymous EP was released in the summer of 2022 and is currently engineering an upcoming Jack Greenwood EP.
Shawn composed the soundtrack for the NP Film Collective's most recent documentary, "Letters to eleanore"
MEDIA ARTIST AND CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIST
CRYSTAL JOW CREATED THE ANIMATION FOR THE NP FILM COLLECTIVE'S LETTERS: THE ART OF GRIEVING.
She is a Brooklyn-based experiential media artist, creative technologist, and movement instructor who specializes in creating immersive installations and meditative experiences that engage audiences and explore the connections between motion, media, and the human experience. Internationally recognized, she has conducted workshops and developed installations for prestigious institutions such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, Museo Municipal de Tossa de Mar in Spain, 20th Century Fox Studios, and more.
Crystal's artistic practice emphasizes self-reflection and encourages viewers to examine the relationships within themselves, others, and their subconscious. She innovates immersive experiences by integrating her expertise in movement practices, wellness data, meditation, and interactive technology.
Crystal holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in experimental animation from the California Institute of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degree in animation and digital arts from the University of Southern California. Through her unique approach, she continues to push the boundaries of art and technology, inspiring audiences with her captivating creations.
Crystal holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in experimental animation from the California Institute of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degree in animation and digital arts from the University of Southern California. Through her unique approach, she continues to push the boundaries of art and technology, inspiring audiences with her captivating creations.
Christopher Ma is an American editor, director, and writer. He grew up in Taiwan and earned his M.F.A. in Film & Television Production at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
He combines political, social, AND historical elements into his work, and he is known to have a knack for depicting the darker side of human nature and the "grey area" of different subjects, especially in his work as an editor and postproduction supervisor.
Christopher has now edited over twenty films both fiction and documentary. They have been selected for various international film festivals, including the Florence and St. Louis Film Festivals. Chris edited the NP Film COllective documentary, LEtters: The Art of Grieving.