Independent Filmmakers in the Spotlight

Benjamin Stark

Award-Winning Filmmaker

As both a first-generation immigrant and graduate of the University of Alabama, Stark began making short digital films in 2005, and began working as a video production professional the same year.
Since then, his dueling careers have taken parallel paths. As a film director, he has helmed numerous shorts and one feature film (“The Nocturnal Third”), and has contributed to the indie film landscape as both a screenwriter (“The Nocturnal Third”) and feature film producer (“A Genesis Found”).
With a directorial filmography that is probing, humanist, tense, and above all, entertaining, Stark’s "Dead Saturday", which features Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts, has screened at over a dozen film festivals. He is currently developing "Rocket City Shakedown", a comedic "slacker noir" to be filmed in Spring 2015. Read More

Samati Boonchitsitsak

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Born in Thailand, Samati is a filmmaker currently living in San Francisco. He has an extensive background in animation and visual effects after working at the leading visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic, Weta Digital and Digital Domain to create believable animation for characters in “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “King Kong”, ‘Lord of the Rings”, “I Robot”, “Iron Man” and “Rango” amongst several others.

Samati found his film production company "Boon Pictures" in 2013, and created a award-winning shorts, inlcuding A Solitude at the Golden Gate. Samati is currently directing his first Sci-fi feature film that he has written and will produce. Read More

Laura Wootton

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Laura Wootton grew up in Atlanta and realized her dream of becoming a filmmaker at a young age. She graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta in 2014. As a filmmaker/artist, she likes to think outside the lens when creating her art. Read More

Brian Benson

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Brian Benson has been making ridiculous movies since he was 8 years old – only then he had youth as a defense. After studying film at UCLA and San Francisco State University, he directed several festival films and a few commercial videos including an ill-fated video about a loose-fitting condom.
Brian’s day job is producing and assistant directing movies and TV commercials and he has over two dozen feature films under his belt. In 2000 he produced his first feature film, HAIKU TUNNEL, which screened at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and then was distributed by Sony Classics. In 2002 Brian received the prestigious Sundance Producer's Fellowship. He followed up with DOPAMINE which won an award at 2003 Sundance Film Festival, RED DIAPER BABY produced for the Sundance Channel and FULL GROWN MEN a comedy starring Alan Cumming, Deborah Harry and Amy Sedaris which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
Brian assistant directed Peter and Benjamin Bratt’s 2009 award-winning film LA MISSION and he produced Peaches Christ’s ALL ABOUT EVIL, a dark comedy starring Natasha Lyonne, Casandra Peterson, Thomas Dekker and Mink Stole which premiered in 2010 at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Simultaneously, he was a producer on HOWL, a film about Allen Ginsberg’s poem directed by the Academy Award winning team Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, executive produced by Gus Van Sant and starring James Franco, Jon Hamm and Mary-Louise Parker. HOWL was the opening night film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Last year Brian assistant directed the 2015 Sundance hit THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL staring Kristen Wiig and Alexander Skarsgard and which is on track for a summer 2015 theatrical release.
Currently Brian is producing a documentary with Carlos Santana about civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, writing a feature-length musical to star Cousin Wonderlette, performing in shows and teaching a film course at San Francisco State University about, among other things, the appropriateness of inappropriate cinema.

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FR3DER1CK TAYLOR

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Fr3deR1cK is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who graduated from Temple University’s documentary film program, and received a M.A. from Georgia State University in Communications. His projects include the Award Winning, COUNTER HISTORIES: ROCK HILL...Read More

Brey Browne

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Brey Browne is a producer, actor and co-founder of Wildfox Films. The award winning stay. marks Brey's directorial debut. Brey is a Film/TV Major at the University of Texas RGV and Vice President of the Director's Cut Film Initiative. Read More

Pam Walton &

Ruth Carranza

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Pam Walton and Ruth Carranza are award-winning documentary video producers. Their work has screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; in the International Documentary Association's Theatrical Documentary Showcase; and has been included in the prestigious International Public Television Screening Conference (INPUT). Their documentaries have aired on PBS member stations in major American cities, have been broadcast nationally on MTV Network's LOGO, and are distributed by New Day Films and Netflix. Both Walton and Carranza have Masters in Film and Video Production from Stanford University, and from 1989 to 1999 Walton was a lecturer in the Department of Communication at Stanford. She is currently the editor of New Day Films’ annual catalog.

Sabrina Mccormick

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Sabrina McCormick is a filmmaker and scientist. Her first award-winning film, A GOOD EGG, is screening at festivals across the country. She has also produced and directed several award-winning documentary films, including two segments of THE YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, a Showtime series that won the Emmy for Best Documentary Series in 2014. Her first film, NO FAMILY HISTORY, won Best Documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival. Sabrina’s next short narrative film, FRACKTURED, will be at festivals soon.

Mitchell Lazar

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Toronto born Mitchell Lazar is now studying at New York University Tisch School of the Arts for Film and TV Production. From an early age, Lazar has been acting and is now pursing a career as a director.

His short award-winning film, Marvin, has been screening at film festivals world-wide and several new projects are currently in production.

Samantha Slater

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Samantha is an actor, writer, producer, and the founder of Made with Sass Media, her production company focused on getting women behind the camera. Samantha’s work has been showcased at Holly Web Fest, NYC Web Fest, LA Web Fest, The Edmonton Short Film Festival, The Iron Mule Comedy Film Festival, Channel 101 NY, IndieWorks, New Filmmakers on My Damn Channel and all over the world wide web. Samantha is a graduate of The Atlantic Acting School where she was a student of Cynthia Silver's. The two bonded over a common desire to tell honest and unique stories within the context of the ordinary and from the female perspective. The award-winng Sleep Training was their first collaboration. The pair are currently in post-production for their second short: Sibs. Read More

John Ludwick

Award-Winning Animator

John Ludwick (MFA Sequential Art, BFA Graphic Design) has been a storyboard artist for over a decade. He has directed 2-D and 3-D animation television spots for Cartoon Network, PBS Kids, and Toon Disney through the award-
winning Atlanta studio Primal Screen.
As a professor for Ball State University, John has consulted with regional and international studios to plan narrative, documentary animation projects including Adrenaline Motion Pictures, Mediasauce, Performance Services, Inc., The Basement, Meysen Inc., Disney XD, and many others. He's presented at the Heartland Film Institute, Savannah College of Art and Design, Huntington Christian University, and twice at SIGGRAPH His award-winning Claire and the Keys took a whopping five years to make and has been winnng-awards at film festivals world-wide . See More

HAsan Can Dagli

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Hasan Can Dagli was born on June 06, 1987 in Istanbul, Turkey. He is a director, writer, known for the Award-Winning Organik Uyku (Organic Sleep) (2016), La Fabbricazione (2015), Everyday (2011). He studied film at School of Visual Arts and Marmara University. He is co-founder of BLAH Pictures, a filmmaking company located in Istanbul. Mostly working on short films and commercials...Read More

LANCE OPPENHEIM

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

The talent behind the Award-Winning doc THE OFF | SEASON, Lance's films have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, official selections at over 45 film festivals, awarded at 16 festivals, and nationally televised on PBS...

Dave Patterson

Award-Winning filmmaker

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Dave Paterson's love of films comes from his mother, who would even pull him out of school as a youngster, just so they could see the latest films together. Dave began his career working under Executive Producer Ean Thorley on projects such as The YouTube Symphony Orchestra and the ASTRA Awards, where he was promoted to write for the ASTRA Awards. Dave has written and directed two short films: the award-winning, Butcherbird, and short documentary, boné, He is also in development on his feature, Cottontail, which he will direct. Read More

Gail Lerner

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Gail Lerner’s short film, Raise the ToyGantic, has screened at many festivals around the country, where it has garnered several ‘Best Ensemble’ and ‘Audience Choice’ awards. Gail’s television writing credits include Black-ish, Happy Endings, Ugly Betty, and Will & Grace. Her directing credits include episodes of Happy Endings, Trophy Wife, and Awkward, as well as the viral short GIRLS: Season 38. She has been nominated for three Emmy awards and a Golden Globe, and has won an Image Award for her work on Black-ish. Her short film, Seraglio, which was co-written and co-directed with her dashing and talented husband, Colin Campbell, was nominated for a 2001 Academy Award. She holds an MFA in Theater Directing from Columbia University.

Gina Lee Ronhovde

Award-Winning Filmmaker

A graduate of The Los Angeles Film School, award-winning writer/director Gina Lee Ronhovde took 2015 by storm with her psychological horror short "Boudoir" starring Dominique Swain ("Lolita", "Face/Off", "Alpha Dog") cinematography by Will Barratt ("Frozen", "Hatchet I&II") and sound by John Neff ("Mulholland Drive"). "Boudoir" won three awards at the 2015 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival: Best Dramatic Short Film, Best Cinematography, and won the HRIFF People's Choice award for Best Short Film, and was an official selection of the 2015 Chicago Horror Film Festival (nominated for Best Music) and the 2015 Fargo Fantastic Film Festival, WILDsound in Toronto and Hollyshorts Horror Monthly Screenings at TCL Chinese Theaters in 2015. Ronhovde first delighted audiences with her original shorts such as "Ace of Spades" (2010 finalist for the Jay Leno Show FlipCam Film Contest) and her satirical thesis short "Bereft Left: A Very Brief, Very American Tale" (Official 2010 Selection Action on Film Festival - Nominated Best Student Film Category; Official 2010 Selection Valley Film Festival; Official 2010 Selection Austin International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival). After graduation, she interned in the Creative Development department at Lionsgate as well as for producer John Jacobs (Blades of Glory) at Smart Entertainment and continued her film education on the set of Kevin Smith's "Red State" as a production intern. She worked simultaneously as a freelance script consultant for Script Pipeline and as a production coordinator for New Wave Entertainment, helping produce over 15 comedy specials for cable and network television including "'Weird Al' Yankovic Live!: The Alpocalypse Tour" (2011);"Jim Gaffigan: Mr. Universe" (2012) and "Aziz Ansari: Dangerously Delicious." In 2013 Gina came on board as an executive producer of the black comedy thriller feature "Spreading Darkness" starring Eric Roberts, James Duval, John Savage, Louis Mandylor, and Robert Davi. That same year she also wrote and directed three original projects: a short comedy "If Only You Were French", a Match.com spec commercial, and "Boudoir." Her award-winning script "Family Reunion" - a comical take on a dysfunctional family reunion in rural Minnesota - has been a finalist or winner in the top screenwriting competitions (3rd Place Winner - The 2015 Indie Gathering International Film Festival in Feature Comedy category; Top Ten Finalist - 2015 Palm Street Films Screenwriting Competition; Finalist - 2015 Creative World Awards Screenwriting Competition; Quarter-finalist - 2015 Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition; Semi-Finalist - 2015 Table Read My Screenplay Contest; Official Selection - 2015 Columbia Gorge International Film Festival.)

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Randy May

Award-Winning filmmaker

Hailing from the San Joaquin Valley, Randy May is a writer/director to whom storytelling comes naturally. Working alongside a regular group of collaborators, Randy focuses most of his creative energy on projects that will challenge and grow his ability to tell stories. His award-winning short, Before We Meet, has been screening a numerous festivals. He now lives in Mississippi where he continues to work with filmmakers on a number of projects.

KAREN AUDETTE

Award Winning FILMMAKER

Karen Audette is a visual artist. Her current medium is documentary filmmaking - first producing and now directing short independent films. Her Award-Winning directorial debut, THE NIKE CHARIOT EARRING is about an unusual art theft from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston...Read More

Jay Perry

Award-Winning Filmmaker

23-year-old Jay Perry from Victoria Australia developed a strong passion for art and filmmaking during his time at Swinburne Senior Secondary College. Upon graduation he was awarded a ‘highly commended’ certificate in both Media and Studio Arts. Jay then went on to study a Bachelor degree in Screen Production at the University of Canberra from 2012 to 2014. Here, he developed his skills as a scriptwriter, director, and editor. Throughout the 3 years of study he successfully completed 5 short films, including the award-winning, Obsolete, and earned a Dean’s Excellence Award in 2013 and 2014. Jay Perry is now working on his next film project. Read More

Greg Keith

Award-Winning Filmmaker

After obtaining a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies from Middlesex University, Greg Keith dabbled in stand up comedy before focusing on acting, screenwriting and then directing. After creating such short films as sci-fi action satire Chaos Black and the psychological drama Weird Love, which premiered at the BAFTA qualifying London Short Film Festival, Greg is now balancing the development of his feature directorial debut, Charlie, with his need to portray a diverse range of characters and take direction from and learn under as many great directors of stage and screen as possible. Special skills and interests include powerlifting, various martial arts, singing and character voices.

Tess Martin

Award-Winning Animator

Tess Martin is an independent animator who works with cut-outs, ink, paint, sand or objects. Her most recent award-winning films are The Whale Story , The Lost Mariner, an animated interpretation of an Oliver Sacks case study, and Mario, a paint on glass film based on an Italian folk song. Her films have displayed at galleries and festivals worldwide. She is the director of Haptic Animation Amplifier, a non-profit that helps support & distribute animation from the Pacific Northwest of the USA, and she runs a monthly animation event in the Netherlands called Manifest: Animation Show & Tell. She also occasionally writes about the world of independent animation.

Oriana Oppice

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Oriana Oppice is an award-winning director, producer, and actor. Beginning her career in Los Angeles, she is constantly involved in the independent film circuit, most recently with films screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival, Salento Film Festival in Italy, and many others. Lobster fra Diavolo, a comedy she directed, produced, and starred in, has won many awards and screened at film festivals around the world. She is the Programs Director on the Board of Directors for Women in Film Chicago.Read More..

CHEO TYEHIMBA TAYLOR

Award-Winning Filmmaker

CHEO TYEHIMBA TAYLOR is an award-winning journalist, producer, screenwriter, filmmaker and creator/executive producer of the Game Changers Project (GCP), a national film fellowship for emerging filmmakers of color. In 2014, he launched his production company, Forward Ever Films, for which he wrote and produced "Rites," a dramatic short film about fathers and sons, first haircuts, and lost innocence. "Rites" was an Official 2015 Selection of several film festivals and has been acquired by ASPIRE TV for broadcast on their ABFF Independent series. Cheo is currently writing, producing, and directing several film and episodic projects for development for various networks, including the second film in the trilogy to "Rites.

Eduardo Rufeisen

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Eduardo Rufeisen, MBA and a MFA in Motion Pictures, is a Producer/Director with international experience producing and directing creative teams. His previous positions include Marketing Manager of MTV-Brazil and Producer for a Brazilian network. In the Bay Area he worked as a Producer/Director of TV shows and industrial videos for tech companies. He also produced and directed the award-winning It Was Dali and other short films, documentaries and commercials seen in networks nationally and worked as the Director of the School of Motion Pictures at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Nicholas Treeshin

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Canadian Screen Award and Leo Award nominee, Nicholas Treeshin has directed over 90 episodes of television for National Geographic, OLN, YTV, HGTV, OWN, CityTV, and W Network. He’s directed music videos for Vancouver-based hip-hop artist Moka Only as well as Pittsburgh native and community activist Jasiri X. His short Sci-Fi Thriller Leave Us Alonehad its Los Angeles premiere at Scream Fest, won the Audience Award at the Catalina Film Festival and is currently writing the feature length version of his award-winning short. Nicholas Treeshin is a graduate of the University of Regina and lives in Vancouver BC with his wife and two children. See More

ruby rodriguez

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Ruby was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Since her early years she demonstrated an interest for art and film and during high school discovered her artistic talents and decided to persue them. While studying art as her undergrad she finaly decided to venture and explore the world of film. By doing producer and art department work on her earlier short-films, Ruby gained some confidence and started writing and directing projects, which resulted in starting graduate school as a Film major. To date, Ruby has decided to become a full-time production designer and has worked on various short films and has many in pre-production but without stopping her filmmaker ventures. Her award-winning film, One Last Time, can be seen at festivals world-wide

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Danielle Dunnigan

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Danielle Dunnigan began as a classically trained theatre actress. Then she discovered her true calling; Producing and Directing. She is now an award-winning independent filmmaker currently living in Los Angeles.

Her newest award-winning film, Take Care, follows a young girl trying her best to cop while living in a neglectful home.

Niall Glennon

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Niall Glennon is the writer and director of Joined At The Hip. Born and reared in Dublin, Ireland; Niall is married with one grown up child and spends part of his life writing short stories that will hopefully become films. The other side to his career is spent appearing in acting roles for television and feature films which have spanned the last 20 years. Joined At The the Hip is Niall’s first venture into the world of directing and it is with great honour and pleasure, that he can say that his film, Joined At The Hip, has been officially selected and honoured to receive the Bronze Award at The Spotlight Film Awards. Read More

SHAHIR ZAG

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Award-Winning A TREE IN THE SEA marks the directorial debut of Shahir Zag. He works in Dubai as the chief creative officer of one of the leading advertising agencies in the world. Zag has won a bevy of awards for his advertising work, including 35 Lions at the prestigious Cannes Festival...Read More

Susanne Boeing

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

After finishing high-school Susanne Boeing travelled Europe and South Africa working as camera assistant for TV magazines and documentaries.

Her own most important films as a director, shown and awarded at several international festivals include the award winning

Wintersreise/Winter’s Journey.
Current work in progress: several treatments for feature films: “Das Leben ein Fest”;

2015 Award Winning Filmmakers in the spotlight

Kiya R. Reddy

Award-Winning Filmmaker

An Art Institute graduate nominated for Best Director and Best Film for the short film, Roadside Assistance, at the schools 2013 48 hour Horror Film Festival. Since graduating she's had the opportunity to work on a big budget production movie, and continues to build her career by working towards goals that can not only help her but others in the process. She is currently working on a feature film set to be released early next year. Read More

Andre Silva

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Andre Silva currently teaches film production classes at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington as an Assistant Professor. His filmmaking interests include experimental animation with an emphasis on the intersection of camp, the absurd and the esoteric. Andre’s short films have screened at fests worldwide, including the Award-Winning CYBERGENESIS...Read More

Laura Vogels

Martha Frances Williams

Erica Cho

Award-Winning Filmmakers

"Found" is the first short film from VWC, a group comprised of three women filmmakers who meet weekly. Laura Vogels, the connector and art conductor of the group, is constantly collaborating on new work for both stage and screen as an Actress and Producer. You can follow her @LauraVogels, like her here and check her out at her website. Martha Frances Williams, the creative brainstormer of the group, also produces and acts with other collaborators and her company Bad MoFo. Erica Cho, the grounded facilitator, is a NYC-based actor who supports creating more opportunities for women in TV and film. VWC has recently finished production on a new short film, Greener, which you can learn more about here.

Watch the group's award-winning short, Found,

here.

Lea Zora Scruggs

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Lea Zora Scruggs is a video producer and reporter from Miami, Florida. To date, she’s produced videos for Quartz, freelanced as a casting producer for Efran Films/The New York Times: Ben & Jerry’s, an associate producer for Tina Brown Live Media’s Women in the World Summits and interned for CNN’s Newsroom and “Black and Latino in America” documentary series. Scruggs received her B.A. from Spelman College and her M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. While at Columbia she served on the boards of the NABJ student chapter and Columbia’s first Women in Media group. She also worked as a video journalist fellow for the Village Voice and produced two award-winning short documentaries, The Harlem Quartet and Born Into This. Scruggs will be working as an Associate Producer for Radical Media on a docu-series about income inequality in America. Follow her on Twitter @LeaScruggs and on Instagram @LeaZora.

STEVEN kAHN

Award Winning Animator

Frivolous Productions is the brainchild of writer and notary public Steven Kahn. A veritable compost bin of some of Kahn's most brilliant ideas, Frivolous Production's SUPERIOR LIVING

has won the Spotlight Platinum Award....Read More

Meet the 2016 Award-Winning Filmmakers

ELLEN GERSTEIN

Award- Winning FILMMAKER

Ellen Gerstein is an accomplished director, writer, actress and member of the Alliance of Women Directors. She produced, starred in, directed, and even wrote an original song for the Award-Winning COME AWAY WITH ME...Read More

Sean Robinson

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Sean Robinson is an award-winning director/editor whose work has screened in over 100 international film festivals and garnered numerous awards. His films include "THE PURITANS," "NAKED," a musical short film, and the award-winning "INDIGO GREY: The Passage" featuring original score by Evanescence's Amy Lee, and hailed by Rolling Stone as a "Wild Irish-Dance-Infused Sci-Fi Adventure." Robinson co-wrote an original screenplay "RECLAIMING EDEN", a finalist in the Harvardwood 2012 Writing Competition. Most recently, OUTmusic – the LGBTQ Academy of Recording Arts (LARA) commissioned Robinson to direct the Academy's music documentary film “For Which WE Stand" featuring Dolly Parton, Melissa Etheridge, Michael Musto, Deborah Cox, and other recording artists, activists, and industry professionals. Read More

Jeremy Burgess

Award-Winning writer & Producer

Having been schooled in creative writing, academic writing, and journalism, Jeremy has storytelling in his blood. Jeremy began writing for The Birmingham News/AL.com (Alabama’s biggest newspaper/media outlet) as a college sophomore and has been a freelance contributor for 10 years. He received a master’s degree in English from the University of Louisville-
Jeremy penned a pair of short scripts in 2011: “Get Right,” which won Best Alabama Screenplay in the 2011 Sidewalk Film Festival’s Sidewrite Competition, and “The Dan Dedman Song Factory,” which won Best Screenplay – Short Drama at the 2012 United Film Festival (Los Angeles) and was the runner-up for both Best Short Screenplay at the 2012 George Lindsey UNA Film Festival and the Best Alabama Screenplay in the 2011 Sidewalk Film Festival’s Sidewrite Competition.

ROYA ARYANPAD
Award-Winning Filmmaker

Roya is keen in harnessing the power of film to bring positive social change. Most recently acknowledged with four awards and five nominations for the award-winning, socially conscious narrative film, ‘Jacob Stone’ which has been the Official Selection of many national and international film festivals. In addition to narrative films, Roya has made numerous short documentaries on Sustainable Architecture, Sustainable Furniture, Energy Efficiency, and Education.

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Gunner Willis

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Gunner Willis is the writer/director of the award-winning Jump and Hopeful Sunday. Raised in South Carolina, Gunner fell in love with film and telling stories about small towns, weird families, and awkward situations. Last year he was a top 200 finalist in Project Greenlight and has recently moved to Atlanta for acting/directing. Read More

Cristina Kotz Cornejo

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Cristina Kotz Cornejo, holds an MFA in Film Production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her debut feature film, 3 Américas premiered at the 2007 Woodstock Film Festival. It has since screened at over 15 venues nationally and internationally and is available on NetflixDVD, iTunes, Amazon and IndieFlix. 3 Américas was invited to the 2004 Sundance Producer’s Conference, participated in the IFP/NY Director’s Lab and was in the script competition at the 2003 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, Cuba. She is the recipient of 2004/2007 Moving Image Fund Grants from the LEF Foundation. Her short films have screened at over 40 film festivals around the world. She is a 2010 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, a 2012 MacDowell Colony Fellow, a 2013 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow and a 2014 Cine Qua Non Screenwriter Fellow. Read More

Dylan Clay Blount

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Dylan Clay Blount is a writer, a director, and an editor. He and his workshop are based in Lexington, Kentucky. He has dedicated his life to making mind opening films & multilayered narratives. His award-winning short, STZ, is just one of his many projects. Along with his team of groundbreaking artists at Hyena Silver Studios; he takes us to the next step in filmmaking. Be calmed anxious viewers the future is beautiful.

Alex Moratto

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Alex Moratto is a Brazilian-American filmmaker known for his award-winning short films. His award-winning documentary NOWHERE TO BE FOUND had its World Premiere at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and its Online Premiere in The Huffington Post for World Suicide Prevention Day 2015. Read More

Michael Phillis

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Michael Phillis is a writer, director, performer, and teacher. He began his career as a stage actor after graduating from the UC Santa Barbara Acting Conservatory in 2004. He is a prolific playwright, and he makes his film directorial debut with MINI SUPREME, a comedy short which he also wrote and stars in...Read More

Guan Tian

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Guan Tian is a Chinese filmmaker and theatre director/actor. He earned a BA degree in Theatre Directing from Central Academy of Drama, Beijing, China, and an MFA degree in Film from Syracuse University, NY. His films have been screened at Warsaw Film Festival, Palms Springs Film Festival, Slamdance, Los Angeles Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, Athens International Film/Video Festival, and many other festivals. His latest film Drama was awarded “The Best Live Action Short Film” at the 30th Warsaw Film Festival, and Best Fiction Short at LA Film Fest. Read More

JASON KUPFER

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Jason Kupfer directed the Award-Winning INVADERS and other great short films and music videos. He currently co-manages 45 Year Old Productions, is a Composer and Sound Designer for Deeb Studios...Read More

Gabriel Furman

Award-Winning writer & Actor

Gabriel Furman, of Queens, NY is an actor, dancer, comedian and writer. Gabriel has performed comedy at UCB and The Pit. His acting credits include Netflix’s Daredevil, NBC’s Forever, Taxi Brooklyn and USA’s White Collar. His first film as a writer, Mother’s Day, was chosen as an Official Selection at several film festivals. Gabriel has previously worked as a special effects artist in TV and film, as well as a professional breakdancer. Gabriel, a member of The Actor’s Studio, loves flea markets and is always searching to find someone’s story. Read More

SPOTLIGHT

Mtume Gant

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Mtume is a Director, Actor and Screenwriter hailing from New York City. Known most for his work as an Actor on the hit HBO Series "OZ" and films like "CARLITO'S WAY: RISE TO POWER" Mtume has since became an acclaimed Filmmaker with the debut of his first film SPIT (2015) which was awarded Best Short Film at the 2015 Coney Island Film Festival and was an official selection to over a dozen well regarded Film Festivals around the United States such as Aspen Shortsfest and Woodstock Film Festival racking up numerous awards and nominations in the process. Currently Mtume is in development of his debut feature film "LOBOS" and a Documentary project both under the banner of his newly formed production company ALTEREYE CINEMAWORKS. Read More

Emile Schlesser

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Emile Schlesser is the producer and editor of the award-winning ROXY. He also starred in the protagonist's role Jeff. Born and raised in Luxembourg, he now lives and works as an artist and filmmaker in Düsseldorf (Germany), where he studied at the renowned "Kunstakademie Düsseldorf". Some of his former teachers include artists like Markus Lüpertz, Jörg Immendorff, Tal R and Marcel Odenbach. Delving deeply into the art of painting at first, he later switched to his childhood passion for making films. With ROXY he was able to combine both his passions by financing the short film production through selling his paintings. Read More

Gregg Masuak

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

From music videos to commercials, film, television and stage - writer/director Gregg Masuak's award-winning career is as eclectic as his Canadian-Australian-English-American life.
Masuak's short films, including the award-winning, Invisible, have earned acclaim at the London International Film Festival as well as the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. Upping the ante on this wealth of hands-on experience Masuak is now producing and gearing up to direct several self-penned feature film and TV projects, notably "Flycatcher", a darkly comic thriller, and "Canoga Faults", a 1-hour comedy-drama.

FILM AWARDS

Luca P. Machnich

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Luca P. Machnich is the grandnephew of Anton Machnich, one of the movie pioneers in Italy, who opened the first movie theaters in Italy, in Romania and in Ireland (the latter in partnership with the famous writer James Joyce) in the early 19th century. He studied film direction at the Los Angeles Film School after working as a production assistant in several screen and TV movies (also with Ettore Scola). He authored "Spaghetti Nightmares", one of the best books on Italian fantasy and thriller movies which was published in Italy (M&P edizioni) and in the United States (Fantasma books). The extended Italian version was very much appreciated by the fans of the genre and the film critics. THE EVE is his first work as director.

Jeffery Wang

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Jeffery Wang wrote his first script in middle school. It followed an American platoon through the Battle of the Bulge, and the writing of it was so consuming that he imagined himself on the wintry battlefield with his characters. Jeff’s parents returned home to find the air conditioning at full blast, and their son shivering under a thin blanket as he completed the script. Rather than committing him to intensive therapy, they were encouraging of his newfound hobby. He now lives in Los Angeles and continues to pursue his passion for film and television. As a filmmaker, Jeff still escaped into his imagination to become an African child soldier, a televangelist that turned into a demon, and a dying fortuneteller. His award-winning short, Lifeline is being screened in film festivals across the globe. See More

Blake Rice

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Blake Rice is the award-winning director, editor, and producer of Meridians - his first film. He is a sociology graduate who enjoys the visual exploration of transgression and voyeurism. Blake states, ¨For me, the goal of filmmaking is to explore new ways of doing things for the rest of your life, to continue to grow, and to keep making provocative content that moves audiences. The moment you lose your fascination with the world is the moment your work becomes stale. I will continue to push envelopes and deliver raw human emotion in film, without ever compromising excellence for mediocrity. Film is my life and I have a responsibility to maintain my integrity while delivering something audiences will feel passionate about.´ Read More

Paul Joe Johny

Award- Winning Filmmaker

Paul Joe Johny is a self taught film maker born in Kerala, India. He started as a stage actor then transformed into a Writer/Director. With Cinema as his main passion, he has since worked on television, advertisements, and his short film, 'Signature.' The award-winning 'Run Baby, Run!' is his second film as Writer/Director. Read More

Yangzi She

Award-Winning Animator

Director bio: Yangzi was born and raised in Beijing, China and moved to Los Angeles to study animation at UCLA since 2011. She currently works as a freelance storyboard artist and character designer and is the creator of the award-winning short animation, Eggplant.

GREG KEITH

Award-Winning Filmmaker

After obtaining a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies from Middlesex University, Greg Keith dabbled in stand up comedy before focusing on acting, screenwriting and then directing. After creating such short films as sci-fi action satire Chaos Black and the award-winning psychological drama Weird Love, which premiered at the BAFTA qualifying London Short Film Festival. Greg is now balancing the development of his feature directorial debut, Charlie, with his need to portray a diverse range of characters and take direction from and learn under as many great directors of stage and screen as possible. Special skills and interests include powerlifting, various martial arts, singing and character voices.
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Shira Meishar

Award-Winning Filmmaker

After completing two years National Service doing volunteer work in a neighborhood of South Tel Aviv, Shira Meishar completed four years' full time study at the Ma'aleh Film School of Jerusalem. Her 12 minute drama "Inside Outside,"completed in 2014 after her second year, won first prize for excellence at the film school awards, and has since been screened at the Manhattan Film Festival, the California Shorts International Film Festival and the Atlanta Shortsfest. Shira's graduate documentary, "Hanna is Beautiful" was released in January 2015. She is now working on her final year graduate drama

Jeff Tan

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Born and raised in Long Island, NY Jeff studied Film and Television at Hofstra University. For the past 10 years, Jeff’s credit’s include being a cinematographer for some of the top rated reality shows on television such as The Bachelor, Jersey Shore and Project Runway. The award-winning Mother’s Day is Jeff’s film directorial debut and he considers himself very blessed to have such a talented cast and crew for it. Read More

Sutinder Bola

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Sutinder is a British filmmaker from London, now living and working in Los Angeles. He is an alumnus of the MetFilm School (UK), The National Film & TV School (UK) and the New York Film Academy.
He has established his own production company dedicated to discovering and nurturing emerging ethnic filmmakers and written two feature scripts and a TV pilot. In 2014, he wrote, produced and directed his heartbreaking and award-winning debut short ‘Tell Me You Love Me’. He is currently developing several feature projects. Read More

Fabien Colas

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Fabien Colas is the director of the award-winning ROXY. Born and raised in Luxembourg, he discovered his passion for filmmaking early on in his life. This eventually lead to a degree in Film Studies at the University of Sussex before moving to London to start shooting commercials and short films. Fabien currently lives in Los Angeles where he's completing an MA in Film at the prestigious Art Center College of Design, trying to sharpen his skills in narrative storytelling for films and commercials. Read More

Sean Ryon

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Sean Ryon is a documentary journalist from West Chester, PA. He attended Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, where he co-produced the award-winning short documentary Born Into This with co-director Lea Zora Scruggs. Born Into This was selected to screen at DOC NYC, Denver Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival and more. Ryon has shot and produced short documentaries for Fusion, Vocativ, Noisey's "Live From The Streets” and Revolt TV. He is currently a Video Producer for NationSwell.com, a solution-oriented media company based in New York. Follow him on Twitter @seanryon89 and on Instagram @wallysean.

Hayden Baptiste

Award-Winning Producer

Hayden Baptiste is an independent film producer and owner of Wandering Worx Entertainment, a film production company and independent record label. He has produced award winning short films, music videos and feature length movies which have aired on networks such as CBC, Bravo and Much Music. He has also worked as a Producer on the Hallmark network's made for TV movie '3 Weeks 3 Kids' and The Movie Network's 'Confined'. Most recently, Hayden produced the award-winning sci-fi thriller short called 'Leave Us Alone' which he is currently developing into a feature length film. Leave Us Alone has screened at several festivals including Montreal World Film Festival, Screamfest and was the Audience Award winner at the Catalina Film Festival. Hayden is currently producing the feature film 'Eyewitness' in Ontario Canada and is finishing post production on the electronic music documentary 'I/O'. See More

Michael T. Scott

Award-Winning animator

Back in 2007 Michael T. Scott started fiddling with Flash animation and creating his own little cartoons. Since then, no one's really put up a fight for him to stop, so the cartoons will keep coming. Michael is responsible for the Award-Winning ZOMBIE ZEALOT...Read More...

Vasily Chuprina

Award-Winning Filmmaker

After a succesfull career in science, having PhD in physics and biology Vasily Chuprina pursued his passion for filmmaking. His first drama "A Morning Call" received numerous awards from film festivals world-wide.
With the latest work, his award-winning "The Rat", Vasily got attention from Manhattan Film Festival, New York City International Film Festival, Burbank International Film Festival (Nomination: best dramatic short), Austin Revolution Film Festival (nomination: best short thriller), Long Island International Film Expo, Diana Golden Awards (Silver Diana) Orlando Film Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner to name a few. Read More

Maverick Moore

Award- Winning FILMMAKER

Currently based in Dallas, Maverick is an aspiring director, editor, and self-confessed cinephile that continues his passion for making films including the Award-Winning SHOTGUN... Read More

Travis Vermilye

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Travis Vermilye is Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts, College of Arts & Media, University of Colorado Denver, in the Digital Design Area. He is professional medical illustrator and animator who now focuses his creative work toward visual communication of public health information. In his past work, Travis has created anatomical models, illustrations and animations derived from medical image data for the surgical planning of more than 20 cases of conjoined twins. His work has been shown on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline NBC and Discovery Health as well as international publications. His award-winning short, Addictus, can be seen at film festivals everywhere.

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Christopher Angus

Award-Winning animator

Chris began dabbling with animation in 1993 as part of the commercial arts course that he was taking at that time. Becoming fascinated with the animator’s craft, he began attending workshops held by the Manitoba Society of Independent Animators (MSIA). Chris received funding from MSIA in the form of space and equipment usage and set up shop in MSIA’s studios working on his first film “the Urge” when time permitted. “The Urge” was completed in the spring of 2001.
In 2008 "The Urge" was picked up as a greetings card for a popular website, which inspired the production of the Christmas greetings card entitled "Christmas Band". This short film was completed in the Fall of 2009.
After several years of production Chris completed the Urge 2 - It Lies Within. During this time, Chris, taught an animation course at the Winnipeg Art Gallery - Studio Programs, worked on several small animated commercials and began working on a screenplay for a feature film. Read More

Erin Good

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Erin is a Sydney based writer/director represented by RGM Artists. She has directed several short films including the award-winning short "THE WONDERFUL". Festival acceptances include the prestigious Montreal World Film Festival, Academy accredited LA Shorts Fest and Toronto International Short Film Festival. Recent awards include an Australian Director’s Guild Award nomination, the 2014 ATOM Award, Best Director at St Kilda Film Festival (2015), Best Student Film at Atlanta Shorts Fest (2015) and Best Short Film at BOFA Film Festival (2015). Erin has worked some amazing Australian actors on her films including Shari Sebbens, Charlotte Best, Nathaniel Dean, Max Cullen, Richard Green, Ashleigh Cummings, Susan Prior and Leeanna Walsman. Erin is currently directing the supernatural web series "JADE OF DEATH" which is due for release in 2017. Read More

Michael Nardelli

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Michael is a director, producer, writer and actor. Films include ANOTHER HAPPY DAY, which won the Waldo Salt Award for Best Screenplay at the 27th Sundance Film Festival, and the Award-Winning DENNIS DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE. Read more

ABAN BHARUCHA DEOHANS

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Aban majored in Psychology from St. Xavier’s College and has done her Advertising and Marketing, and a Journalism diploma from XIC (Xavier’s Institute of Communication.) She has worked in several Advertising Agencies as a Creative and has contributed short stories and articles to several magazines. Aban directs Advertising films for her Production House, Candid Creations. She is a theatre actress as well, and has acted in several English and Hindi plays. Her short award-winning film, Teaspoon is currently making rounds at festivals, and she is currently scripting her feature film, which she plans to direct next year. See More

Katie Harbin

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Katie Harbin is an up-and-coming filmmaker from the beautiful mountains of East Tennessee. She earned her MFA in Film Production from the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts before taking the Westward plunge and setting up a home base in Los Angeles, California.
When Katie isn't writing her next screenplay or directing up a storm, she can usually be found watching stand-up, listening to rock and roll, taking long walks on the beach, or eating babies.
With a keen sense of humor and a flair for the dramatic, she hopes to make her living being a professional smart-ass one day. Look for her unique brand of comedy in the world of film and television, and her most recent award-winning shortt, DANTE, at film festivals this year. Read More

DMITRI VOLOSHIN

Award- Winning ANIMATOR

Dmitri Voloshin- producer, director and founder of the company “Simpals” which has become the largest studio of computer graphics and animation in Moldova..Voloshin is the director of the Award-Winning DJI. DEATH SAILS...Read More

Jordan Stone

Award-Winning FILMMAKER

Born and raised in Austin, TX Jordan Stone is naturally the bold, creative type. In 2011, he formed Two Birds Entertainment to write, produce, and perform in short films. He has acted in theater, television, and film across many genres. He lives in Hollywood, and enjoys running through Griffith Park.

Award-winning Informal Approach is the directorial debut of Jordan Stone, and his second film to write and produce. He was recently featured as a commentator on the Alfred Hitchcock docu-series HITCH20.