Katie Leigh Creeggan-Ríos
Executive Director:
Katie Leigh Creeggan-Ríos
Pronouns: She/ Her
Katie Leigh Creeggan-Ríos is the Executive Director of the Houston Cinema Arts Society. She is a native Houstonian and worked professionally as a Stage Manager for ten years before transitioning into the world of arts and community engagement through film. She received her B.F.A. in Stage Management from the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance, and her M.A. in Arts Leadership from the University of Houston College of the Arts. She is also a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association.
Contact:
katie@cinemahtx.org
713.489.8859
Rachael Valentine Acosta
Community Partnerships and Programs Manager:
Rachael Valentine Acosta
Pronouns: They/ Them
Rachael Valentine Acosta is the Community Partnerships and Programs Manager for the Houston Cinema Arts Society. They are committed to reshaping social norms and amplifying the voices and stories of the underrepresented by servicing and creating safe spaces in which art and artists thrive. After 5 years of freelancing in film production, Rachael transitioned into film festival and nonprofit work. They have since worked for SXSW, ATX Television Festival, Austin Film Festival, Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP), and SFFILM.
Contact:
rachael@cinemahtx.org
713.489.6146
Kell Jettson Bernardo
Marketing Social Media Coordinator:
Kell Jettson Bernardo
Pronouns: He/ Him
Kell Jettson Bernardo is the Marketing and Social Media Coordinator for the Houston Cinema Arts Society. He is a Filipino filmmaker and Creative Director of Art Syndicate 86LUCK. He’s written and directed short films for the syndicate including “Overcoat”, and the “Down 2 Earth” brand collaboration with clothing brand OK SUPER DAY. Most recently, he’s crafted the score for Mỹ Trinh’s “It is Now Tomorrow”. With deep ties to Houston, he’s done venue operation for Solange’s “When I Get Home” film release, and has been commissioned by the Houston Poet Laureate Aris Kian Brown as part of a cultural poetry project for the city, “Space For Us”. He cut his teeth in advertising classes taught by Yi Ma and Ryan Brown from Leo Burnett Chicago, and he received his B.A. in Communications from University of Houston. He’s determined to use this combination of skills to push the film industry and its communities in Houston forward.
Contact:
kell@cinemahtx.org
For inquiries regarding:
Box Office: boxoffice@cinemahtx.org, 713.429.0420
Volunteering: volunteer@cinemahtx.org
Press: publicrelations@cinemahtx.org
Houston Cinema Arts Festival 2025 Staff
Jazmyne Moreno
Lead Programmer: Jazmyne Moreno
Pronouns: She/Her
Jazmyne Moreno is the Lead Programmer for the 2023 Houston Cinema Arts Festival. Her work has been profiled in Sightlines Magazine, Glasstire, and The Austin Chronicle. Most recently, her program — Be Pretty and Shut Up: New Wave Muses Behind the Camera, was platformed by the Current, Criterion Collection’s own online magazine covering the best of film culture — past and present. In 2021, she pulled double duty as both a contributing writer and interviewee for Warped and Faded: Weird Wednesday and the Birth of the American Genre Film Archive. Past programming saw her collaborate with the Alamo Drafthouse. She is currently the Associate Film Programmer at Austin Film Society, where she can be found every weekend “draw[ing] in younger cinephiles curious to delve into cinema’s more obscure meanderings” as the programmer and host of LATES.
Contact:
jazmyne@cinemahtx.org
Michael Robinson
Borders | No Borders Programmer: Michael Robinson
Pronouns: He/Him
Michael Robinson is the programmer for the Borders | No Borders regional short film competition for Houston Cinema Arts Festival, which invites submissions from Texas and the neighboring regions. He has served on festival and panel juries for Austin Film Society, CineFestival, and HAAPI Film Festival, among others. He previously worked as the Associate Creative Director at Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) from 2018 to 2022, Co-Artistic Director and Shorts Programmer for Houston’s International LGBTQ+ Film Festival QFest from 2017-2021, and Education Coordinator at Society for the Performing Arts from 2017-2018. He currently works as the Marketing and Communications Manager at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), as freelance film programmer, and is co-founder of The Big Queer Picture Show, a nomadic monthly queer film series in Houston, where he programs new and repertory short and feature-length films. He received his BA in Anthropology and Film at Rice University.
Contact:
michael@cinemahtx.org
2024 Festival Operations
Autumn Johnson, Guest Programmer
Elizabeth Sosa Bailey, Public Relations Manager
Randee Ramsey, Education Partner / Field Trip Coordinator
Ren Beeson, Operations Coordinator
Grant Carr, Technical Director
Karla Villegas, Guest Artist Coordinator
Andrea Hoang, Volunteer and Community Outreach Coordinator
Ian Druke, Box Office Coordinator
Drew Ritch, HCAS Practicum Intern
Jill Chauvin, Festival Operations Intern