Jamie Simiele is a queer writer and director based in Brooklyn, NY. Currently a senior at the Purchase Conservatory of Film and Media, he collaborates with other emerging filmmakers as a producer and assistant director, and has had past work presented at NFFTY and the Reeling Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival. Growing up in a small, conservative town in Upstate NY, Jamie’s filmmaking explores and amplifies the voices of the “American Mongrel”— queer individuals who have navigated the challenges of working-class rural Americana and redefined the American dream.