The Colonie: The Colonie Expands Its Roster of Editorial + VFX Talent

The Colonie, Chicago's award-winning creative editorial, visual FX and postproduction boutique, continues to expand its roster of talent with the addition of assistant editors Emily Hayes and Stephania Dulowski to its creative team, and Ben Pokorny's move to the company's VFX/finishing department.

Ben Pokorny exited Red Car in 2012 and began working with The Colonie as editor Keith Kristinat's assistant, first as a freelancer and then joining the staff in 2013. A graduate of Columbia College, Chicago (2010) where he studied computer animation, Pokorny's new position as assistant to visual FX artist, Tom Dernulc, builds upon his training, while his editing experience brings a cutter's eye to his new role. His recent work includes a spot for Nintendo Super Smash Bros. 3DS for Leo Burnett.

Emily Hayes joined The Colonie's collaborative collective of talent as assistant to editor Tom Pastorelle. Hayes received her B.A. from The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and went on to study postproduction at Chicago's Tribeca Flashpoint College. She graduated in 2013 and came onboard at The Colonie after working at Beast/Chicago. Emily Hayes was
the winner of the Tent City division of AICE's Chicago Camp Kuleshov Editing Competition in 2014.

Stephania Dulowski signed with The Colonie as assistant editor, and works with partner and creative editor Brian Sepanik and editor Brian Salazar on a variety of projects. Dulowski's recent projects include the open for The London Business School's 2015 'TEDx' Conference and a spot for Google, both cut by Sepanik. Prior to coming onboard she freelanced as assistant editor on Kris Swanberg's feature-length indie film, 'Unexpected,' which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Stephania graduated in 2014 from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received a BFA in Photography and Film/Video/New Media.


"Part of The Colonie's philosophy is to handpick young, innovative assistant editors and visual FX artists - like Emily, Stephania and Ben - and pair them with accomplished
senior talent committed to helping them develop their skills, which has been key to the ongoing expansion of The Colonie's multi-disciplined collaborative team," says Sepanik, "It's also essential to continuing to create the caliber of work that has established The Colonie as a high-end turnkey creative resource for national and regional broadcast spots and digital commercials, as well as media content for a mix of platforms."