Team

Irina Chernikina is a producer, director, writer, editor, cinematographer,  as well as the founder of Circulus Initium Inc.

She was born in the communistic Soviet Union, grew up in the newly independent Russia, and finally came to the U.S. to follow her dream of becoming a filmmaker.

After earning a B.A. in Cinema Studies, she jumped into action working on personal projects such as  "Circulus Initium" and "(before) The Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam".

She also works as a "gun for hire", aka director, producer and editor on multiple commercials, infomercials, music videos and feature films. 

Since his early teens, Nivaldo Benedito learned that manipulating moving images would be part of his destiny. In Brazil, he studied the mechanism of media and its cultural influence in society while he worked in small school productions. After school it was natural that he became involved with video production. He also enrolled in an arts school and shortly after graduating, he came to America. New York City was his city of choice. There he began to work as a professional photographer capturing precious moments in this beautiful city. Today, he has gathered a body of work in both photography and film. He has written, directed & produced films such as “Quadrophobia”, “Mother’s Day”, & “Rose”. He has also worked on music videos, such as “Courage for a Rainy Day” and also commercials, such as “CleanButt BidetSpa”, which aired on ABC in the Extreme Makeover Home Edition Special.

Kris Opala Born in Krakow, Poland, Kris came to the US at the age of 6 and settled in Brooklyn, NY with his family. After attending public school and Brooklyn Technical High School, majoring in bio-chemistry, he found his passion in the world of film. Kris attended Hunter College in NYC and became involved in the student film community there. Studying a wide array of topics, from acting to film theory and film production, his interest in the field grew. He has worked in various film and video productions taking on multiple positions - such as cameraman (“Goodnight Sweetheart”, 16mm short), grip/dolley (Millet clothing line 35mm commercial & CleanButt BidetSpa commercial) , art director (“Rose”) & assistant director (“Oil City”). He enjoys giving talented editors and directors the pictures that they desire and love to work with.

Carlos del Rosario Jr. is an award winning filmmaker who has helmed many projects such as "World's End" (second week winner on Sci-Fi channel's "Exposure"), "Amazing Fantasy" and "Monochrome Blue". He also created special effects for the  "CleanButt BidetSpa" commercial which aired on ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and VH1's "Best Week Ever". Currently he is working on the "Professor K Show" where he's taken a role of cinematographer as well as the special effects wizard.

Carlos is mostly known for his bold editing and visual effects techniques.