Woods Hole Film Festival
Jury 2009
CATEGORY: FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Chris Schmidt Talent Agent Paradigm
After studying film theory at Eckerd College in her home state of Florida, and aiming for a career in film editing at UCLA, Chris Schmidt made a detour and accepted a job assisting the head of Smith/Freedman & Associates, a respected boutique talent agency, and decided then to make a career of talent representation. Currently she is a senior agent at Paradigm, a Literary and Talent Agency, where she works on behalf of clients including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Andy Garcia, Neil Patrick Harris, Dana Delany, Wendell Pierce, and Philip Baker Hall, to name but a few.
David Poland creator, co-publisher, and editor-in-chief Movie City News
Movie City News is a leading aggregation and original content site for the film industry for over 6 years. As a critic and industry analyst, David has been writing in depth about film for over a decade, currently on The Hot Blog, which evolved technologically out of a decade writing the daily column, The Hot Blog. Poland also produces and presents a 30 minute interview program, running exclusively on the web, that features stars, directors, writers, etc, DP/30. In years past, Poland produced theater, made a number of films as a script doctor, and worked in television, starting with Saturday Night Live over 20 years ago. He is a graduate of NYU 's Tisch School of the Arts Film School.
Amy Grey Founder/Publicist Dish Communication
Amy Grey founded Dish Communications in 1991 and has successfully developed a loyal clientele around what she is passionate about: documentary film, television programming and music. She has worked at APA publicizing artists such as The Manhattan Transfer, Frankie Valli and Anne Murray and comedians Steven Wright and David Brenner. She has travelled with performers like David Bowie, Prince, Neil Diamond and John Mellencamp. Recently, with DISH, Amy acted as tour publicist for The Police on the second highest-grossing tour of all time.
Through DISH Amy handles accounts for HBO, Viacom, NCTA, Cinemax, A&E, Sundance Channel, History Channel, documentary filmmakers Jessica Yu, Michael Apted and Werner Herzog, and special events including Miss Universe Pageant, CableACE Awards, and the Billboard Music Awards.
CATEGORY: FEATURE NARRATIVE
Betsy Hamlin Founder
Jetstream Pictures/CineSky Pictures
Betsy has worked in film production, distribution, sales and marketing for the past 15 years, working early on with James Cameron at his company, Lightstorm Entertainment.
Later, Betsy worked at Warner Brothers in International Marketing/Media Buys, working in tandem with publicity, promotion and research departments, analyzing data and planning optimal media campaigns. Today, she is a founding partner of Jetstream Pictures LLC and CineSky Pictures, LLC, assessing marketability of production projects. Additionally, Betsy implements long term budgeting projections, cash flow management and all marketing and publicity activities for each company. She acquires and sells ancillary rights to international and domestic markets. She has established binding relationships with such producers/distributors as Bob Yari Productions, Hyde Park International, NuImage, Arclight, Beyond Films, QED, Fragile Films/Ealing Studios, Nordisk and Media 8, to name a few.
Sandy Missakian Founder
Golden Child Ventures, LLC & Golden Child Pictures, LLC
Sandy brings over 14 years of entertainment experience in finance, production, business development and business affairs. She provides management consultant and/or legal services to a variety of companies and individuals, including film funds, high net worth individuals, production companies, multi-platinum recording artists, talent management companies, multi-media companies and even an all natural juice brand distributed in over 4000+ stores nationwide. In addition, Sandy has been producing and structuring financing for independent films through her Golden Child Pictures banner. In 2006, she produced “Stiffs” starring Danny Aiello, and Lesley Ann Warren. In 2009, she anticipates participating in producing “The Prince of Providence” starring Oliver Platt, Robin Williams, and Ed Burns; “Under Cover Brother 2” starring Eddie Griffin and Snoop Dog for Universal; and “My Place In The World” starring Olympia Dukakis.
Michael Saltzman Founder Michael Saltzman Communications.
Michael brings both a law and business background to his company, working with such diverse accounts as The American Film Institute , Southwest Airlines , Red Bull, IMAX, and SLINKY . On the entertainment side, Saltzman has worked with Miramax Films, animation company DKP , Film Roman (The Simpsons, King of the Hill), H2V , Ringling Brothers Circus , Toonz Animation India, The Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), K2 Communications ( Fighter Pilot for IMAX) creators David Lynch and Mark Frost (Twin Peaks) and commercial production leader Stoney Road Productions . Saltzman has represented numerous inventors and entrepreneurs, and on dozens of films, television series, movies of the week, commercials and specials.
CATEGORY: SHORT DOCUMENTARY
George Ciccarone
George Ciccarone is a thirteen-time Emmy Award Winner. He is the creator and producer of the HBO Original Series CATHOUSE, THE SERIES. The series pilots, CATHOUSE & CATHOUSE II, BACK IN THE SADDLE, CATHOUSE, THE SERIES & CATHOUSE, THE MUSICAL. CATHOUSE made ratings history at the network and the two original pilot specials remain the most watched HBO documentaries in the history of the network. He has recently produced and delivered a commissioned hidden camera reality pilot for Showtime titled “Tattoo Tales” and recently sold the show concept, “Personal Bounty” to TruTV. Ciccarone also produced and conceived the FOX primetime sweeps special, “When Animals Invade Your Home,” which aired April 26, 2002. George has also served as both Senior Supervising Producer and Senior Editorial Producer for FOX Sports Net’s “Beyond The Glory” specials.
Kristine Kreska CEO Collaboration Entertainment.
Prior to the formation of CE, Kreska was VP of Feature Film Sales at B.D. Fox & Friends, Inc. Kristine received her B.S. in management Information systems from Oakland University. Recent speaking engagements include Women In Film’s international marketing and distribution panel and judge for the Hatchfest film festival. Ms. Kreska has rebuilt commercial and investment banking divisions through strategic staffing during the mergers of United California Bank (formerly Sanwa Bank), United Financial Japan, and Bank of the West. In 1997, she was recruited to an emerging telecommunications and media company, Winstar Home Video, to lead their west coast corporate placement—helping them to grow to over 3,000 worldwide prior to the sale to IDT. She has recently co-produced a documentary comedy titled "The Truth About Film School" and executive produced an indie musical in post production titled "NoWhere Fast."
Jay Spain Producer/Director/Cinematographer
Jay is an internationally recognized filmmaker based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. Spain’s history includes filming and editing numerous broadcast and educational films and filming several narrative features before directing his first feature documentary, Live and Let Go now in distribution with Fanlight Productions. He produced and filmed Moving Midway that was acquired for distribution by First Run Features and released to North American audiences premiering in NYC on September 12, 2008. Moving Midway was picked one of the top two documentaries of 2008 by the New York Observer & New York Magazine and top ten movies of 2008 by the LA Weekly. Mr. Spain is currently producing Oil in the Family, a multi-faceted documentary that weaves together family history, the cinematic legend Robert J. Flaherty and his classic film Louisiana Story, and our culture’s insatiable appetite for oil in its many incarnations.
CATEGORY: SHORT NARRATIVE
Michael Matzdorff Director/Writer/Editor/Producer/Actor
Michael is in post-production on "Feed The Fish", a comedy with Tony Shalhoub, Ross Partridge, Kathryn Aselton and Barry Corbin, he wrote and directed the film and is co-editing. Michael has written and directed two award winning short films, edited one season of the Emmy award winning "Monk", as well as independent and studio feature films. He assisted in the editing of the films: "Fight Club", "Panic Room" and "Meet Joe Black" among others. Michael lives in Los Angeles and is a Woods Hole Alumnus.
Anthony Breznican Film Reporter USA Today
Anthony started his work at an early age, watching home videos and asking: "Why did you want to cast my sister for this film?" and "Tell me a little bit about how you got involved in 'Grandma's Birthday.'" He's a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, and worked as a news reporter covering crime, politics, and disasters for the Associated Press -- first in Pittsburgh, then in Los Angeles -- and was a 1998 Pulliam Fellow at The Arizona Republic. At USA Today, he specializes in profiles (recent ones include Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, and Angelina Jolie), covers the Oscars, and reports from the Cannes and Sundance film festivals.
Tze Chun Director
Tze Chun’s debut feature Children of Invention premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and is currently on the festival circuit. It won Grand Jury Prizes at the Independent Film Festival Boston and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, as well as Special Jury Prizes at the San Francisco Asian American, Sarasota, Nashville, and Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festivals. In 2007, he was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" for his short film Windowbreaker, an official selection of Sundance and over 30 other international festivals. He is currently reteaming with producer Mynette Louie (Children of Invention, Ayiti Ayiti, AAIFF screenplay competition juror) on his second feature, You're a Big Girl Now.
CATEGORY: SHORT ANIMATION
Jonathan Hickman Editor-in-Chief einsiders.com
Einsiders.com is one of the Internet’s leading destinations for film buffs. Since launching the site with three partners more than a decade ago, Hickman has interviewed many of the biggest names in Hollywood while cultivating a solid reputation in the competitive film criticism industry. He regularly covers the most important film festivals, including Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca and Slamdance. In addition to writing for print and internet outlets, Hickman is the host and producer of the television show The Film Fix, which appears on metro Atlanta cable, as well as online. A graduate of Mercer University and the University of Memphis Law School, Hickman worked as an associate for an Atlanta area firm for several years, handling everything from contracts to criminal defense, before becoming the chief public defender for the state court in Coweta County. He also teaches at the University of West Georgia.
Christina Steinberg Producer (the upcoming, “The Guardians,” “The Bee,”) Dreamworks Animation
Keith Fay Creative Produce Titmouse Animation
Born and raised by Inuit seal hunters in Sacramento, California, Keith has always been dangerous – but until recently only to himself. As lead singer and guitarist of the seminal LA punk band Balm, he prided himself on offending people in a very direct and loudly abrasive fashion. This segued seamlessly into writing for hyper-violent video games, including the wildly successful and brutally offensive “God of War.” Turning his penchant for exaggeration and angst to television, Keith wrote for several seasons on Nickelodeon’s hit comedy Romeo!, in addition to developing everybody’s favorite teen lesbian dramedy “South of Nowhere” for The N. On the animation side, Keith developed Cartoon Network’s “Class of 3000” with Andre Benjamin and has produced several high profile projects with Snoop Dogg. Keith currently lives above ground in a secret, undisclosed location with his trophy wife Marin and brutally adorable baby son Zachary.