Saelyx Finna, previously known as Courtney Sheehan, is principal and founder of Context Moves. Saelyx brings over a decade of experience working as a nonprofit executive director, film programmer, organizational change strategist, impact producer, film consultant, researcher, writer, and festival organizer. Saelyx is a communicative “doer” who is adept at strategic planning, engaging diverse stakeholder groups, cultivating partnerships, and implementing new business strategies.

Saelyx served for five years as the artistic and executive director for Northwest Film Forum (NWFF), the most comprehensive nonprofit film center in the Pacific Northwest. NWFF serves 60,000+ people each year with programs in independent film exhibition, education, and artist services. While at the Forum, Saelyx led the 23-year-old organization to an unprecedented state of financial health and public engagement. This entailed increasing attendance from 2014-2018 by over 80% through a reinvigorated screening and event calendar of 300 annual film premieres, filmmaker visits, and community-driven events; and spearheading a complete communications overhaul, resulting in a new mission statement and website.

Saelyx increased NWFF's visibility both regionally and nationally through savvy partnerships and business collaborations. NWFF’s national visibility was elevated by a film series Saelyx curated for the Criterion Channel. The partnership included a feature episode of “Art House America” profiling NWFF and her work. In an effort to enhance the Forum’s status as an open community space, Saelyx cultivated dozens of partnerships with fellow nonprofits, film companies, universities, cultural and arts institutions, community groups, festivals, government agencies, and corporate sponsors.

In leading fundraising efforts for NWFF, Saelyx produced record-setting fundraising campaigns and events (increasing revenue by 25% from 2016 to 2017). She managed a funding portfolio that included supporters like the National Endowment for the Arts, the Warhol Foundation, Vulcan Productions, Microsoft, and family foundations.

Committed to building coalitions, Saelyx co-founded the Seventh Art Stand, a national series of films from the countries and people affected by Trump administration travel bans; the Alliance for Action, a national working group for equity in art house theaters; and a migration-themed film festival in Santander, Spain. NWFF served as the fiscal sponsor for the 50th Anniversary of the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party, for which she was an organizing committee member.

Saelyx was named one of the “50 Most Influential Women in Seattle” by Seattle Met Magazine in 2018, recognized with the City of Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award for Arts & Innovation in 2017, and selected as one of ten “Artists of the Year” by City Arts Magazine in 2015.

Prior to joining Northwest Film Forum, Saelyx curated and produced film programs for theaters and festivals on three continents. On a grant-funded year of international research, she worked at twenty film festivals and media centers in India, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. As a journalist for publications like The Independent, Senses of Cinema, and Bitch Magazine, she has covered events ranging from the world's largest documentary festival to South America's largest animation festival. Saelyx holds a BA in Visual Culture from Grinnell College.

When she’s not making Context Moves, Saelyx maps the the emerging industry of dream tech by presenting her research and developing the first film about dream neurotechnologies.

Reach out today: saelyx@contextmoves.com