Claudia Cifuentes is a New York-based writer, director and producer of Guatemalan descent. A graduate of NYU's prestigious film program, she began her career in Los Angeles as an apprentice to acclaimed director Michael Mann, the creator behind such hits as Miami Vice and Heat. Inspired by his auteur-style of filmmaking, she eventually moved back to New York to hone her own personal writing and directing style. She has since created numerous music videos, commercials and short-format films including Rivington Kids, a series of shorts developed through the IFP and recognized for accurately capturing the zeitgeist of twenty-somethings in New York. Determined to continue her quest of making personal, high-integrity films for the masses, she recently completed production on her first feature film, After the Wedding (2013).