Parenthood & Filmmaking
Lauren Melinda (Simbelle Productions), Alexa Coblentz (cineCamp), Christine Haroutounian (Filmmaker, After Dreaming), Josh Locy (Filmmaker, “Potato, Potato”), moderated by Sarah Winshall (LAFM)
Sunday, April 12, 4:00 p.m. @ the Lounge in 2220 Arts + Archives
Presented by Simbelle Productions. Free for Pass-Holders, $10 donation for everyone else
Parenting and filmmaking are both all-encompassing pursuits. In this panel, a variety of film workers who are also parents come together to share and discuss the joys and challenges of containing these two demanding identities simultaneously.
Lauren Melinda is a filmmaker, mixed-media artist, and founder of Simbelle Productions. Her work explores feminine identity and the cultural forces that shape the roles assigned to women. She has written and directed three short films that screened at 72 festivals across nearly every continent, earning top prizes at six. Her narrative short, Before You, starring Tala Ashe and Adam Rodriguez, became Oscar-qualified and launched a national campus screening tour in partnership with Planned Parenthood Gen Action. As founder of the non-profit, Simbelle Productions, she has executive produced six feature films with premieres at SXSW, Venice, Locarno, and TIFF. Her debut feature Echoes, a psychological thriller, is currently in development.
Alexa Coblentz is the Co-Founder of Cinecamp, a new fiscally sponsored initiative bringing childcare to film festivals, markets and cultural events. Her career spans a fluency in both the creative and the operational: from managing productions at an LED volume for HBO, Netflix, and A24, to guiding nonprofits through organizational incubation, fundraising, and revenue diversification. As a writer and filmmaker fascinated by undercurrents and subcultures, she has screened at festivals both domestically and internationally. Parenthood has deepened her conviction that cultural experiences should be accessible to everyone, not limited by circumstance.
Born in Los Angeles, Christine Haroutounian is a director, writer, and producer working between Armenia and the diaspora. After Dreaming, her debut feature film, is having its world premiere at the 75th Berlinale. Haroutounian has been named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Her short film World (2020) was chosen for Official Selection at numerous festivals including International Film Festival Rotterdam and won the Golden Apricot Stone Prize at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan.
Josh Locy is a director, writer, and production designer whose work spans award-winning films, acclaimed television, and some of the most memorable campaigns in contemporary advertising. He was a writer on The Righteous Gemstones for HBO, part of his long-standing creative collaboration with director David Gordon Green and Danny McBride. Originally from central Virginia, Josh studied literature and played college basketball before moving to Los Angeles to build a career in film. He cut his teeth an an art director, where he helped shape the visual identity of iconic commercials, including Tom Kuntz’s Old Spice “Smell Like a Man” campaign. His work with David Gordon Green continued through features such as Prince Avalanche and Manglehorn, deepening his storytelling instincts and sensitivity to tone, atmosphere, and character. In 2016 he wrote and directed his debut feature Hunter Gatherer, which premiered at SxSW, won a Special Jury Prize, and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. He has also been a MacDowell fellow. Most recently, he co-wrote and directed the short film Potato Potato, which has screened internationally, making audiences groan, laugh, and guffaw.
Sarah Winshall is a creative producer and the founder of the independent production company, Smudge Films. She was awarded the 2025 Independent Spirit Producer's Award, launched the Los Angeles Festival of Movies in 2024, in 2023 received the Dear Producer Award, and was a 2022 Gotham/Cannes Producers Network Fellow. Her latest film, Joybubbles (dir. Rachael J Morrison), premiered at Sundance and SXSW in 2026. Other recent films include: By Design (dir. Amanda Kramer), I Saw the TV Glow (dir. Jane Schoenbrun, A24), Good One (dir. India Donaldson), and Dream Team (dirs. Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn). Previous work has played at Cannes, Sundance, Berlinale, SXSW, New Directors/New Films, CPH:DOX, Outfest, Rotterdam, at MoMA, and on the Criterion Channel.