Category: Media Production Guest (Page 1 of 2)

Day Al-Mohamed

April 3, 2026 / ravenchair

Day Al-Mohamed is a multi-sectoral policy executive, award-winning filmmaker, and fantasy author. She has a decades-long policy career with a focus on marginalized and underrepresented populations. A former White House Director of Disability Policy, Day also designed and led the Department of Labor’s “Add Us In” initiative to increase hiring in minority communities by partnering with local chambers of commerce. She had an active role in passage of the Affordable Care Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act; and before her time in Washington DC, worked at the United Nations. Currently a Senior Policy Advisor with the Federal government, Day has a proven ability to translate policy into public trust; aligning vision, systems, and culture to influence both political will and cultural narratives for positive impact.

As a creative, Day is a regular host on Idobi Radio’s pop-culture show Geek Girl Riot with an audience of 100,000 listeners, and creator of the American Masters/PBS series Renegades. The Invalid Corps, her PBS film about disabled Civil War veterans, was her first documentary as a blind filmmaker. She was a producer on 2024 Independent Spirit Award-winner unseen and is co-founder of FWD-Doc (Documentary Filmmakers with Disabilities). Day has written two novels, Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, and The Labyrinth’s Archivist as well as multiple short stories and essays. Most recently, her short story, “The Devil in the Belfry-Redux,” featured in the Nevermore anthology, was recognized on Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of 2024 Recommended Reading list. She lives in Washington DC with her wife, NR Brown, daughter “Baby Dragon”, and guide dog.

Visit her online at DayAlMohamed.com.

Paul Barrett

April 3, 2026 / ravenchair

Paul Barrett has had multiple careers, including rock and roll roadie, theater stage manager, mortgage banker, and support specialist for Microsoft Excel.

This eclectic mix allowed him to go into his true love: motion picture production. He has produced two feature films and two documentaries. When not producing films, he works as a script supervisor or props assistant. Amidst all this, Paul is also an author, with seven science fiction or fantasy novels in print. Paul is an avid board gamer, miniatures painter, movie enthusiast, and all-around nerd.

Paul lives in North Carolina with his graphic designer husband and four furry overlords.

Aaron K. Crocker

March 31, 2026 / ravenchair

Aaron K. Crocker is an award-winning author and director based out of Fredericksburg, VA. In 2021, he started 669 Productions, a creative house devoted to psychological horror and experimental nightmares on screen. That same year, he sparked Campfire Publishing, which aims to gather writers from every shadowed corner of the world—novices and well-seasoned alike—to stitch together anthologies that carve horror into hauntingly personal niches. Whether on the page or the screen, Crocker’s work aims to walk the thin veil between real-world horror and the monster in the closet.

John Dondero

March 30, 2026 / ravenchair

John Dondero is a certified Jack of all trades. He started out as a filmmaker and special effects editor building both digital and practical effects. He has won many awards for both filmmaking and editing. When COVID hit he switched gears and became an affiliated Twitch streamer and podcaster. He did several podcasts, including the podcast Dinks Wit Kinks, that discuss the psychology of kink. Being ever the neurodivergent he switched gears once again to become a makerspace librarian, teaching kids and adults how to code, 3d print and just, well, be a geek by building movie props and cosplays.

Nurse Feratu

March 29, 2026 / ravenchair

Nurse Feratu has been the assistant of Dr. Bob Tesla for many years and is in charge of Resources for Humans or as she prefers to call it Human Resources. You will likely see her identical duplicant walking around with her badge and her 7-year-old daughter.

Lew Fraga

March 29, 2026 / ravenchair

I am a low-budget filmmaker living in Central VA, leaning heavily into thrillers and sci-fi and fantasy, but love most other genres as well. I’m currently producing a second movie while my first is going through the film festival circuit.

A.M. Giddings

March 29, 2026 / ravenchair

A.M. Giddings is a writer, scientist, cellist, independent filmmaker, and aspiring swamp hag from North Carolina. She has a PhD in Microbiology and has authored multiple scientific articles in virology, cell line design, and gene therapy. She enjoys writing stories that live within the murky boundaries between genres. She is the author of the futuristic dark fantasy series Dance of Ages, which begins with Shadow into Light and has short stories in various anthologies. She recently wrote and directed her first short horror film with Sick Chick Flicks. She is also the co-director of the Sick Chick Flicks Film Festival.

Bill Mulligan

March 22, 2026 / ravenchair

A 25+ year high school science teacher, Bill Mulligan has parlayed his love of horror, science fiction, and fantasy films into podcasting, convention panels, indie filmmaking, and storytelling. With creative partners such as Christine Parker and Mark C. Lucas, he has worked on five feature films and numerous shorts, including the award-winning 400 Ways to Kill a Vampire, Belladonna, Cache Me If You Can, and Emotional Support Demon, based on his screenplays. His special effects and makeup work can be seen in Blood of the Mummy, Knob Goblins, and The Five Stages of…. When Covid put a temporary stop to indie films, he turned an unproduced screenplay into his first novel, Raum, published by Falstaff Books. He is looking forward to retirement and a life spent fishing, writing, and making movies. He lives in Sanford, NC, with his wife and seven cats, which is admittedly a lot of cats.

Hekla Petursson

March 22, 2026 / ravenchair

Hekla Petursson is the host of The 8-Bit Pop Culture Show as well as a filmmaker and performer working in Richmond, VA. Episodes of The 8-Bit Pop Culture Show are released weekly, where she interviews folks she admires in pop culture, geek scenes, and the arts. She is currently producing a feature film, Midnight Courier, and has two surrealist fantasy short films set to release in late 2026. Recently, you may have met her in-character at Richmond Renaissance Faire events, hosting Jeopardy at Galaxycon or as the voice of the Awesomecon Cosplay Competition.

Aurelio Voltaire

March 22, 2026 / ravenchair

At the age of ten, Aurelio Voltaire bought a Super 8 camera and taught himself the art of stop-motion animation. At 17, he ran away from home to New York City. There, he was hired by the production company making Pee Wee’s Playhouse to work as a stop-motion animator on national spots. By 18, he was an award-winning animator and director working on station IDs for MTV, SyFy Channel, Nickelodeon and other networks as well as on national spots, including a series of Budweiser spots for the Super Bowl.

While commercials paid the bills, a young Voltaire yearned to make “monster movies.” Through his “Chimerascope” series of short films Aurelio Voltaire was able to explore his more fantastic, monster-filled visions through short, experimental stop-motion films, each narrated by a singer. Narrators of his films include Danny Elfman, Gerard Way, Blondie front-woman Deborah Harry, Psychedelic Furs frontman, Richard Butler and new wave pioneer, Gary Numan. These five shorts earned Voltaire 35 film festival awards.

In the mid 90s, when CGI had practically replaced stop-motion animation, Voltaire ventured into other fields, achieving success as a comic book creator, toy designer and author, ultimately, becoming a world renowned recording artist. His mirthfully macabre music is a perennial favorite on many Halloween playlists and can be heard while walking through a Spirit Halloween. His greatest hits include songs written for the Cartoon Network show The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as well as his songs featured on the viral YouTube series, Vampair, which presently have a combined 70 million views. The Vampair series is now being developed into an animated show with Voltaire taking on an executive producer role.

Circling back around to his original passion, Aurelio Voltaire has finally made a feature-length “monster movie” in his feature directorial debut, The Demonatrix, which will be making its Richmond debut at RavenCon.