In March 2023, NYFA representatives Roger DelPozo, Miriam Estevam, and Larissa Korolkovas traveled to São Paulo, Brazil, to meet with NYFA alums living in Brazil. It was a great turnout, with over forty alums in attendance. Some alumni flew in from different cities for a special night of rehashing school memories and their current projects.
A night of old friends reconnecting with a chance for many others to develop new friendships and contacts, the reunion unraveled in sharing stories of life after NYFA and career successes.
Here’s what some of them had to say!
Kaique Alves (Filmmaking)
Film Director and Creative Executive at Brazil’s largest Youtube channel, Canal Kondzilla, Kaique is the Director and Creator of the feature film Escola de Quebrada for Paramount+, becoming one of the youngest directors in Brazil’s history to develop a feature film at only 23 years of age.
“I developed self-knowledge, life experiences, and friends from around the world, but most importantly, NYFA showed me that this mysterious and exclusive place called Hollywood is a door possible to cross! Two years after graduating, I made my first feature film deal with Paramount Studios. NYFA was a part of that!” says Kaique Alves.
Federico Devito (Producing)
Filmmaker and Content Creator with more than half a million followers on Instagram, Frederico said, “I loved NYFA’s Alumni Event because it was a moment that allowed us to meet people who have the same passion for creating videos, movies, scripts, and we could exchange ideas and contacts.”
Marina Bueno (Acting for Film)
Marina, actress, and screenwriter based in Rio de Janeiro, said, “NYFA was the best time of my life. It was almost four years of complete immersion into living my dream. I got to film something new every week, take risks as a performer in the safest spaces, and meet the people I now call family. NYFA prepared me for the life I’ve always wanted while connecting me with my favorite people. Seeing some of them again at this alum meetup was such a blast! It was fun, productive, and inspiring all at once. Thank you, NYFA! I’ll be forever grateful!”
Leo Mereu (Filmmaking)
Screenwriter, Director, and Executive Producer since 2015, Co-founder of The Lotus Yang Creative Group.
Leo said, “In 2019, I was searching for a new perspective, so I went to NYFA in Los Angeles to attend the filmmaking workshop, and it was one of the greatest experiences in my academic life. The program was amazing, just like all the exchanges I had there, and it improved my vision and technique in a very tangible way. I realized that watching my works before and after NYFA. It’s wonderful how all of this could expand for a longer time. The alumni meetup in São Paulo was an exciting opportunity to meet more people like me, sharing visions and experiences of living and working in Brazil with something we all love: cinema.”
Helena Horta (Acting for Film & Screenwriting)
An actress and writer based in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Helena said, “I received the invitation for the Alumni Event in São Paulo, and even though I live in a different city, Porto Alegre, I took the chance to go because I wanted to connect, and it was so worth it. The group there was amazing, and I met some incredible people. I also got to catch up with old friends, so that’s always nice!”
Larissa Korolkovas (Acting for Film)
NYFA’s very own Enrollment and Outreach Specialist in Brazil and alum said, “The alumni meetup in São Paulo was amazing; we could reunite old friends and meet new ones not only from São Paulo but from other places from Brazil. Seeing the power and capacity to grow this incredible network was great. I couldn’t be more proud of NYFA’s Alumni, who are doing a great job in the Brazilian Film Industry. The plan is to organize other Alumni Events to promote experiences, exchange, networking, and of course, have a good time with people with the same passion.”