Staff

Festival Staff

Executive Director - Harish Saluja

Harish Saluja is a filmmaker, artist and entrepreneur.  His film The Journey (www.newray.com) won several awards, was shown in over 30 film festivals and was distributed by IFC (the Independent Film Channel). He also has a strong business background as a 33-year veteran in the publishing industry. In addition, he is a nationally recognized painter and a co-host of Music From India on WDUQ-FM, the longest running radio program of its kind in the US.

Operations Manager - Katie Jones

Katie Jones is a project manager and PA certified Teacher.  She has been involved in the non-profit and education world for over 7 years.  Katieís experience includes planning/scoping projects, managing budgets, grant writing, coordinating events, building relationships with community educational and arts organizations.  Katie has a keen interest in Asian culture as well as the arts-media, performance, film and music, which she enthusiastically enjoys sharing with children and adults.  Katie joined Silk Screen in September of 2006.

Events & Operations Coordinator - Hallie Johnson

Hallie Johnson is a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh English Writing & Film departments. She spent time at Silk Screen working as a Programming Intern for the Silk Screen Film Festival. Hallie is responsible for film research & recruiting, administrative tasks, database management, volunteer recruitment, and event marketing.  

Web Director - Brian Honigman

Brian Honigman is a Social Media Account Manager who specializes in social media, online marketing, content management and search engine optimization. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Journalism, Political Science and Sociology in 2010. Brian continually updates our website with the latest content, events and more.

Social Media Director - Sarah Beauchamp

Sarah Beauchamp is a writer, editor and copywriter in Pittsburgh. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2010 with degrees in English Writing, Film Studies and Theater Arts. She specializes in online publishing and marketing, and continually updates the world on what’s going on with Silk Screen and film in Pittsburgh.

Technology Director - Nitin Badjatia                                                                                             Nitin Badjatia is a software and financial services consultant who has worked for Mellon, Bank of America, Oracle Corporation, and Siebel Systems. At present he is Director, Global Services for KNOVA Software, a leading knowledge management vendor. Nitin is also deeply involved in the 'blogosphere' and serves as an advisor to AOL's Netscape.com subsidiary. He also serves on the advisory board of Agilix Software, and Microsoft's Mobile Advisory Council.

Programming Manager (music) - Mimi Jong

Mimi Jong  is an architect and erhu musician. Mimi brings contacts with all sorts of music groups  from jazz, to folk  to classical and all stringed instruments around.  Silk Screen year round music programming will be a fantastic arena for Mimi to shine!

Program Book Editor - Christina Szejk

Christina Szejk is a Pittsburgh native.  She is a specifics writer for Perkins Eastman Architects.Chrissy enjoys Asian film, particulary horror flicks. Chrissy is lead programmer for "Silk Scream" and also the Catalog Manager for Silk Screen Film Festival.

Programming Director (films) – Aseem Chhabra

Aseem Chhabra is a freelance writer in New York City who writes on a variety of topics, including arts, entertainment, social and political issues stories. He has been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Courier-Journal, Time Out. Aseem has been interviewed on film and popular culture by several media outlets, including ABC’s Good Morning America and Nightline, NPR, Associated Press, Reuters, The Los Angeles Times and New York Daily News. Aseem is an elected member of the board of the South Asian Journalists Association where he often chairs panel discussions on social and political issues, hosts book reading events and other arts discussions. He holds an MS degree in Journalism from Columbia University and an MBA from Boston University.

Volunteer Coordinator - Ruby Jain

Ruby Jain is an Indian dance instructor and recent graduate of George Washinton University. Ruby has been involved with Silk Screen since 1st festival in 2006. She recruits, schedules and manages all the film festival volunteers as well as coordinating performers for the Opening Night Gala.