Public Speaking
Saelyx has hosted and hundreds of events including film premieres, awards ceremonies, galas, and panel discussions. She is available for speaking engagements and panel moderation on film exhibition, distribution, impact producing, community engagement, and other topics. Past speaking engagements (many under Saelyx’s former name, Courtney Sheehan): TEDx, Sundance Institute Artist Services Workshop, Film Independent, International Documentary Association, Interaction Design Association, FilmEx presented by Film Festival Alliance, Seattle Interactive Conference, Art House Convergence, Digipen Institute, The Riveter, Seattle Office of Film & Music, Seattle Art Fair, Seattle International Film Festival, Museum of Flight, University of Washington, Ashland Independent Film Festival Awards Ceremony.
Awards, Media Coverage & Select Publications
Filmmaker Magazine, “The Empathy Machine: The 2024 CPH: DOX Forum”
Deadline, “Watch Trailer for ‘Bad Press,’ One of the Best Reviewed Documentaries of the Year”
Author, Film Independent Blog: “Movies About Weird Dreams and Sleepless Nights”
Featured on cover of Seattle Met Magazine, February 2018 issue: “The 50 Most Influential Women in Seattle”
“Art-House America at Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum” subject of episode on the Criterion Channel on FilmStruck
The New York Times, “A New Film Series Will Shows Movies from Countries Affected by the Travel Ban”
Indiewire, “Movie Theaters and Filmmakers Team Up Against Islamophobia With The Seventh Stand Initiative”
Recipient, 2017 Mayor’s Arts Awards Winner: Arts & Innovation
Recipient, 2015 City Arts Magazine - Artists of the Year
Indiewire, “Sundance Isn’t the Only Answer: Inside the Fight to Diversify America’s Movie Theaters”
Contributing Author on Film, Frye Art Museum exhibition catalogue Genius / 21 Century / Seattle
Filmmaker Magazine, “How the Northwest Film Forum is Redefining the Role of the Regional Film Center”
Seattle Times, “This Isn’t Like a Regular Movie Theater”
City Arts Magazine, “Courtney Sheehan Leaving Northwest Film Forum”
2011-12 Watson Fellow: one of 40 national fellows awarded $35,000 research grant to pursue self-designed yearlong project on “The Politics of Film Festivals.” Investigated film festival organizational structures and programming strategies; performed a range of creative and administrative roles at 20 festivals and film centers in Spain, the Netherlands, India, Brazil, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia; covered festivals as a journalist; co-founded and produced 5-day migration-themed film festival in Santander, Spain
Writer, The Independent and Senses of Cinema. Articles include coverage of the state of distribution, American Film Market, filmmaker interviews, digital distribution, South East European film industry, Toronto International Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, and other festival reports.
Festival Juries
Newport Beach Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, BendFilm Festival, Ashland Independent Film Festival, Tacoma Film Festival, Sound Unseen
