Core Team
Kristina Nikolova
FOUNDER
Director, cinematographer, and producer
Born in communist Bulgaria, Kristina Nikolova grew up in a family of cinematographers. She left home at 18 to study economics at the University of Chicago but ended up getting a BA in film theory instead. She shot her first feature film at age 20 and worked for several years as a cinematographer before going to NYU's Grad Film program where she directed five and shot 14 award-winning shorts. Kristina’s directorial feature debut Faith, Love and Whiskey premiered at Slamdance 2012, and went on to win many awards including the Main Jury Prize at the Dallas International Film Festival and Best Debut Feature at the 21st Annual St. Louis International Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Debut Feature by the Bulgarian Film Academy. Next, she shot and produced her husband and collaborator Paul's first feature Touched with Fire (starring Katie Holmes and Luke Kirby), which premiered at SXSW 2015.
Kristina is currently finalizing her feature documentary In Hell With Ivo and shooting another feature documentary, Project CETI, and is in development on her second directorial feature, Amphibia, which is a love story set in a climate-changed world. She currently resides in New York City with Paul and their two children.
Paul Dalio
FOUNDER
Director, writer, composer, and performer
Paul is a New York-based writer, director and composer. He received his BA in screenwriting at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and MFA at the NYU graduate filmmaking program where he met his wife and collaborator, Kristina, as well as his professor, Spike Lee who became a mentor and executive producer of his debut feature, Touched with Fire, inspired by Paul's struggle overcoming bipolar. Paul wrote, directed, scored and edited the film which premiered at SXSW 2015 and was released theatrically in February 2016. It was critically well received, a New York Times Critic's Pick. The film had a big impact on the mental health community, receiving 11 awards from a variety of mental health organizations. Paul is currently working on a multi-media project combining short form, film and TV, produced by Jon Avnet, dealing with the conflict in the Middle East. Paul does public speaking and advocacy work with mental health organizations and lives in New York with his wife and two children.
Mollye Asher
consultant
Mollye Asher is an Academy Award–winning producer based in New York City. She produced Nomadland for Searchlight Pictures, which won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, as well as top honors from the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Independent Spirit Awards. The film marked her third collaboration with filmmaker Chloé Zhao, following The Rider, winner of the Gotham Award for Best Feature, and Songs My Brothers Taught Me.
Her producing credits also include Catch the Fair One, winner of the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival; Swallow; SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner Fort Tilden; Faith, Love and Whiskey; and She's Lost Control. Most recently, she executive produced Bird, directed by Andrea Arnold, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was distributed by MUBI, and produced On Swift Horses for Sony Pictures Classics, starring Jacob Elordi and Daisy Edgar-Jones.
Asher is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was featured in Variety's 2021 New York Women's Impact Report, and is an alumna of NYU's Graduate Film Program.
Amelita Lijek Fitzback
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Amelita is the Director of Operations at LunaClipse Media. After graduating from NYU Steinhardt with a degree in Music Business in 2010, she built a varied background in film and television production, C-suite administration, freelance business, and customer service, all while building her own musical comedy career. Since joining the company as the first non-founder member in 2016, Amelita has helped to build the company’s infrastructure with a focus on scalability. If there are questions related to LunaClipse, Amelita has the answers. And if somehow she doesn’t, she knows where to get them.
