Cinema & TV Faculty and Staff
Full-Time Faculty
Dr. Krystle Klein
Cinema & Television Department Chair
Ed.D, Loyola Marymount University
BA, Western Michigan University
MA, DePaul University (Chicago)
Subjects: Directing, Film Genres, Business, Television Production
Office Phone: (323) 953-4000 ext. 2632
Krystle Klein, Professor of Cinema/TV, joined the department in 2019. She has a B.A. in Television and Film Production from Western Michigan University, and an M.A. in Cinema from DePaul University in Chicago. She has been teaching the art of storytelling through film and television since 2005.
A producer, writer, director, and editor, Krystle has produced shows for ABC, NBC, Bravo, The Oprah Network, Vh1, and more. She has directed and edited documentary films, and recently authored a book on a filmmaking adventure through India. She has been working creatively in the entertainment industry since 1999, when she first began as a radio DJ.
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Krystle lived in Chicago and Hawai’i before landing for good in Los Angeles. She loves to travel and explore, dabbles in stand-up comedy and yoga, plays the ukulele and the trumpet, and once went in front of the camera as RuPaul transformed her into a drag queen on DragU. But above all, she loves to teach, and is constantly in awe of her students’ talents and creativity.
Jen Vaughn
Associate Professor of Cinema and Television
BA, San Francisco State University
MA, San Francisco State University
Subject: Television Production
Office Phone: (323) 953-4000 ext. 2631
@email
Website: Jen Vaughn
Jen Vaughn joined the LACC Family as a full time Professor in the Cinema/TV Department in Fall 2013. She teaches multi-camera production courses, editing, television producing and performance techniques.
She holds BA and MA degrees from San Francisco State University; where she spent 10 years as Lecturer in the Broadcast and Electronic Communications Arts Department. There she has taught a variety of hands-on television production classes and was Technical Supervisor of a live webcast news program, live-to-tape weekly variety show and weekly sportscast.
Jen worked professionally in Live Broadcast Television as an Editor and Technical Director for Pac12 Networks. Jen enjoys producing live streams, directing live music shoots, and was recently hired to produce the four-day Live Stream of the Ojai Music Festival.
Christopher Rossiter
Professor of Cinematography
MFA, American Film Institute (AFI)
Subject: Cinematography
Office Phone: (323) 953-4000 ext. 2621
@email
Website: Christopher Rossiter
Christopher Rossiter is a cinematographer ranked member of the International Cinematographers Guild (I.C.G.) is also proud to be a member of Color Society International (C.S.I.)
Prior he worked as a Key Grip and Gaffer for union and non-union productions. Christopher has taught cinematography at many programs around the country such as California State University, American Film Institute, Los Angeles Film School and has also Led cinematography at National University’s MFA in Digital Cinema program and currently Leads the Los Angeles City College’s cinematography program.
Christopher is a graduate of the American Film Institute Conservatory where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Cinematography. He is also a Cinematography member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Dylan Shields
Professor of Cinema
BA, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
MFA, American Film Institute (AFI)
Subjects: Production, Editing, Directed Study
Office Phone: (323) 953-4000 ext. 2622
shielddf@lacc.edu
Dylan has been a cinema professor in the LACCD for over 14 years and has worked in the industry for nearly 30. He grew up as a non-Native on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Nevada/Idaho and attended UNLV where he earned a BA in Film Studies. He worked in production in Las Vegas before moving to Los Angeles to attend AFI where he earned an MFA in screenwriting. Dylan's industry experience includes several years as an executive assistant, manager, production manager, line producer, and producer with his first feature film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
Dylan has been actively acquiring and managing grants to support advanced level films from underrepresented voices in the entertainment industry and greater collaboration among the cinema and theater departments at LACC. Since 2017 he has produced and overseen production on over a dozen short films that have been accepted into 15+ festivals, won 7+ awards, earned hundreds of work credits for students, and assisted students in being accepted into the top film schools. His latest effort, Bag Boys, is a love letter to cinema and a call to amplify Latino voices. Additionally, Dylan is working with an LACC student to produce a feature length documentary on the Whitestone Hill Memorial Ride that takes place annually in North & South Dakota.
Xavier Burgin
Assistant Professor of Cinema
BA, University of Alabama
MA, University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts
Subjects: Screenwriting, Directing, Film Genres, History
@email
Xavier Burgin is an Emmy-nominated writer/ director from USC Cinema. He's a staff writer on Starz’s wrestling drama, Heels. He's written for the WWE, CryptTV, Amazon Studios, The Discovery Channel, and Paramount. He directed AMC Network's Horror Noire, Adult Swim's Juneteenth Holiday Special, and the BET+ series, Giants. Xavier is the dubbing director for Netflix's sumo sports drama, Sanctuary.
Xavier directed Juneteenth With Open Mike Eagle, an Adult Swim Special about the national holiday's history. The project premiered between The Boondocks & Black Dynamite. Xavier's participated in numerous industry programs, including: Paramount's Viewfinder Program, Netflix's Dubbing Initiative, The Sundance Labs, HBO's Short Film Showcase, Berlinale Talents, The Commercial Directors Diversity Program, and Ryan Murphy's Director Shadow Program.
Joel Trudgeon
Assistant Professor of Cinema
BA California State University Northridge
MA California State University Northridge
Subject: Cinema Production, History, Genres
Office Phone: (323) 953-4000 ext. 2638
@email
Joel was born in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, and grew up on the central coast of California. He majored in film production at Allan Hancock Community College before transferring to CSUN where he earned a BA in Radio, Television, and Film and a MA in Mass Communication: Screenwriting. He also participated in the Groundlings improv workshop at the Groundlings school.
Joel was a writer and DJ for KBEAR 95.3 in Arroyo Grande. He wrote and performed sketches on the morning show. After earning his MA, he directed the independent feature Walden in 2011. He served as an editor for the Salvation Army Vision Network and was part of the live production crew for multiple events. He directed and edited multi-camera productions for Millennium Pro Wrestling. He was a content producer for gala events for LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
Joel’s first teaching experience was teaching Foundations of Media Writing at CSUN. He has been an adjunct faculty in the LACCD since 2014 and has been part of the Cinema department at LACC since 2017. Joel teaches Production, History, Genres, Aesthetics, and Diversity. He has a passion for the history of film and helping new filmmakers connect to the past while creating their unique films that reflect their stories.
Adjunct Faculty
Joni Varner
Professor of Cinema & Television Emeritus
Professor of Cinema & Television Emeritus
BA, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
MA, State University of New York, Buffalo
Subject: Introduction to Motion Picture Production; Beginning Digital Motion Picture Production
@email
Joni Varner has been a professional educator in the field of single- and multi-camera production and media studies for over 30 years at LACC, CSUN, and PCC and has served as the LACC Cinema/TV department chair. She has taught over one hundred sections of Cinema 1: Introduction to Motion Picture Production. Prior to that, she worked for a decade in broadcast television as a producer, director and writer of TV commercials, industrial videos, telethons and live TV shows.
Joni studied and exhibited experimental video art at SUNY/Buffalo. She was awarded a First Place (SE Region) in the AFI National Student Video Festival in the Experimental Category. Her work has been permanently curated into the Miami/Dade Library collection, and exhibited at the Mint Museum and North Carolina Museum of Art.
Dr. Jonathan Kuntz
Professor of Cinema
BA, University of California, Berkeley
MA, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Subjects: Cinema and Television History
@email
Film historian Jonathan Kuntz (Ph.D. '82), studied psychology at UC Berkeley (B.A. '72) and UCLA (M.A. '74) before earning a Ph.D. in Film and Television at the UCLA College of Fine Arts. A widely respected expert on Hollywood cinema and the development of the studio system, Kuntz has taught generations of students at LACC with the study of cinema production and his Cinema 3 History of the Motion Picture, offered every semester. Kuntz has appeared in numerous documentaries on American film history as an expert on film production and exhibition and has contributed to The New York Times.
Known for his encyclopedic knowledge, Kuntz has been quoted in the media on many topics from the careers of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe to the effects of the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm.
Moises Perez
Cinema Instructor
AA, Los Angeles City College (Cinema Production)
BA, California State University Northridge (CSUN) (Film Production)
MFA, Mount Saint Mary's University (Film and Television)
Subject: Film Production, Film Genres
perezm9@laccd.edu
Moy began teaching in the Spring of 2011 at CSUN when he volunteered to develop and teach seven film workshops. Each of these lasted eight weeks and catered to students who needed extra help understanding the technical aspects of the filmmaking process. From the Fall 2017 until Spring 2019, he taught different film workshops at LACC. These film workshops at both CSUN and LACC included the use of analogue film for the digital age, he showed students the process of working with Super 8mm and 16mm film stock. In his teachings, Moises likes to blend traditional classroom lectures with hands-on demonstrations to reinforce what is covered in class.
Moises has worked in the film industry since 2012. His film and television working experience comes from the field of advertising where he has worked behind as part of the production team in numerous television commercials and short films.
Kenneth Thomas
Cinema Instructor
BA, Boston University (Film Production)
MFA, San Francisco Art Institute (Film)
Subject: TV Production
@email
Since 1995, Kenneth Thomas has plied his trade in news and documentary production all over the world. He got his start in Northern California, as the Live News Director for the nightly newscasts at a local CBS TV station. During a five-year stint in Seattle, he helped start a dot-com that specialized in shooting multi-camera productions of rock concerts for the internet. He moved to LA in 2002 and became a busy freelancer, shooting red carpet events for Marvel, shooting and editing BTS videos for DVD’s, and becoming one of Yanni’s key cinematographers for his PBS specials in Florida, Mexico, and Egypt. Somewhere in there, he directed a music video that aired on MTV’s Headbangers Ball.
After receiving his MFA in 2012, Kenneth completed his first of three music documentaries — Blood, Sweat + Vinyl — about indie music culture. The final film in this trilogy is now in post-production. He joined the adjunct faculty of Los Angeles City College in 2018, both to teach Live TV Production and as an Avid Certified Instructor for Audio Post Production. In Fall 2019, he returned to his MFA alma mater to teach his dream class, on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. In his spare time, he stays active in live multi-camera internet broadcasting, and he’s studying to become a Certified Cicerone — which is a fancy way of saying “beer expert.]
Daniel Nyiri
Cinema Instructor
MA, Art and Technique of Film Making, London Film School
National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield, UK
BA, University of Bristol
Subject: Motion Picture Producing
nyirid@laccd.edu
Daniel J. Nyiri - I am an executive, writer and filmmaker. I have worked in the USA, Europe and the Middle East; including on the Board of Directors of BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts; as Vice Chair of the Directors Guild of Great Britain; and for the Governor of California's Office of Career and Technical Education, creating education and training partnerships for careers in live and recorded media arts and sciences, research, development, production and postproduction. I teach cinema, screenwriting and producing in high schools, colleges and universities. I am based at Los Angeles City College.
Jennifer Penton
Cinema Instructor
BA, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Creative Writing
MFA, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) Film and Animation
Subject: Film History
@email
Jennifer Penton - I have worked at Warner Brothers, Klaspy Csupo, and Yahoo!, and on special projects for Disney. I have also worked with many independent filmmakers as an editor and web developer. As an educator, I have formed liaisons with and led projects for The Getty Museum and SIGGRAPH. One of my greatest joys is to inspire students to explore their creativity and gain the technological tools to express themselves through live action and animated motion pictures, and through virtual reality platforms. I hold a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from UCLA and a master’s degree in film with an emphasis in experimental animation from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).
Dr. Mary Samuelson
Cinema Instructor
BA, USC School of Cinema-Television
MA, PhD University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Subject: Documentary Film
@email
Dr. Mary Samuelson received her PhD from UCLA and teaches film history, film theory, digital writing, English composition, and literature. Dr. Samuelson has taught courses at LACC for 10 years including Cinema 3—History of the Motion Picture, Cinema 4—History of Documentary Film, and Cinema 18—Introduction to Film Genres. Her areas of specialty and research include the Hollywood studio system, documentary film, French cinema, genre studies, history of radio, and film theory. Dr. Samuelson has published several articles and her book, The Patriotic Play, is forthcoming.
Kena Dorsey
Cinema & Television Instructor
BA, Carnegie-Mellon University - Drama
MFA, New York Film Academy (NYFA) - Filmmaking
@email
Kena Dorsey is an adjunct professor who has been teaching film and multi-camera for 7 years. When not at LACC, she is the director of the television production program at a K-12 Independent School where she also teaches film and television production. She is also the Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator at the high school, and has developed a number of partnership programs that teaches television and filmmaking to underserved students from public schools in and around Los Angeles. Prior to moving to LA, Kena was a Broadway stage actress that performed in a long list of musicals and plays on and off Broadway. She is an award winning director for two of her original films that she wrote, produced, and directed. She continues to work on independent film and editing projects outside of her teaching schedule.
Additional Adjunct Faculty
Television Instructor
BA, University of California, Irvine
MFA, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
JD, Hastings College of Law
Subject: Introduction to Television
@email
An original Angelino, I’ve been teaching TV and cinema history classes at LACC for nearly 10 years. Before discovering my passion for the entertainment industry, I received a B.A. in Art History from U.C. Irvine, and Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from Hastings College of Law. I practiced law in Atlanta, Ga, before moving back to Los Angeles to pursue an M.F.A. from UCLA’s Producer’s Program in Film and Television. I worked as a TV producer on several talk shows that were hosted by such comedic actors as Whoopi Goldberg, Roseanne Barr, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Greg Kinnear. My background in law, entertainment & education has created a perfect blend of my interest in people, penchant for problem solving, love of comedy and proud banner as a lifelong learner.
Cinema Instructor
BA, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
MFA, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
Subject: Motion Picture Production
@email
An editor and writer, Mr. Mazak has extensive teaching experience in all areas of filmmaking and also has written about Lucasfilm in the book George Lucas's Blockbusting.
Cinema & TV Staff
Our Cinema & TV Staff are the driving force behind the upkeep and maintenance of facilities and technology that our faculty and students are able to take advantage of every day.
Juan Carlos "JC" Astoquillca
Supervising Video Engineer
Office — CC 119
Email — @email
Phone — (323) 953-4000 ext. 2635
Juan "Stu" Suarez
Audio Engineer
Office — CC 252C
Email — @email
Phone — (323) 953-4000 ext. 2624
Stu is the moniker for Juan Suarez, sound engineer at L.A. City College. He brings decades of music, broadcast, and production engineering experience to both the Cinema/Television and Music departments.
A passion for recording began early, when he bought his first 4-track cassette machine at age 12. He was also an early adopter of computer-based recording and mixing, a curiosity that has fueled a lifelong career in sound. His work has spanned writing and producing cues for blockbuster film trailers to collaborations with hip-hop legend KRS-One.
As a freelancer, Stu has covered the full spectrum of audio work: radio, live television, film production, sound design, and post-production. His technical expertise includes designing and building recording studios across Los Angeles, with clients ranging from SiriusXM to private studio DAW integration. He has also explored guitar amplifier circuit design.
At the college, Stu manages an impressive array of technology for the Cinema/Television department: 32 Pro Tools systems, audio post-production bays, a podcast suite, two 7.1 screening rooms, and two television studios. As a Pro Tools Certified Instructor, he also teaches music technology courses as an adjunct professor.
Outside of work, Stu values hard work balanced with friendship, long hikes, cooking, playing guitar, and reading.
Jason Chang
Performing Arts Technician
Office — CC 260
Email — @email
Phone — (323) 953-4000 ext. 2623
Amos Rothbaum
Motion Picture Projectionist
Office — CC 174
Email — @email
Phone — (323) 953-4000 ext. 2633
Brian Lovelace
Instructional Media Technician // Equipment Room Manager
Office — CC 102
Email — @email
Phone — (323) 953-4000 ext. 2626
Brian takes pride in making sure students in the LACC Cinema & Television Department have the tools they need for success. With more than a decade of experience in the film industry, his work includes short films, commercials, and large-scale productions such as Euphoria and The Idol.
Brian credits his time at Santa Barbara City College as one of the most valuable experiences of his life and believes strongly in the opportunities that City Colleges provide. He feels they foster creativity, access, and community in ways that universities often cannot, and he is proud to contribute to that environment at LACC.
Outside of work, Brian enjoys spending time with his wife, Steffi, and their two dogs, Penny and Ollie. He also experiments with new technology on his home server, where he continues to explore creative and technical possibilities.