2009 Festival Jury
Click here to check out the 2009 festival award-winners!
FEATURES JURY
Steven Beckman focuses on domestic film acquisitions at Cinetic Rights Management, sister company of Cinetic Media. Steve identifies and acquires relevant film content for CRM, and strategizes the projects' distribution and release into the marketplace. Steve's previous industry experience includes The Weinstein Company, DreamWorks, 20th Century Fox, Marc Platt Productions and Hock Films. He has also produced a number of independent documentaries and concert films. Steve graduated from New York University with a B.A. in history and minor concentrations in economics and cinema studies.
Elvis Mitchell is host of The Treatment for National Public Radio's Los Angeles affiliate KCRW. He is also entertainment critic for NPR's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon and hosts Independent Focus for the Independent Film Channel and, most recently, Elvis Mitchell: Under the Influence for Turner Classic Movies. Elvis was film critic for the New York Times for four years, beginning in January 2000. He has also served as editor-at-large for Spin magazine and has written for Interview, Esquire and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. A graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit, Elvis is a visiting lecturer on African and African-American studies and visual and environmental studies at Harvard University. He has twice served on the dramatic jury for the Sundance Film Festival. He presented his documentary The Black List, Volume I at the 2008 Indie Memphis Film Festival.
Heidi Van Lier is an indie filmmaker living in Los Angeles. She is the author of The Indie Film Rule Book, the strategy of truly independent filmmaking, currently a textbook for film schools. She writes a weekly blog for FilmIndependent.org called Indie Film Q & A with Heidi Van Lier, and she continues to make films, advise 10-20 filmmakers a year, speak at colleges and on film festival panels, and program the Slamdance Film Festival. Heidi attended the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and soon after her first feature, Chi Girl, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival and sold to IFC Films. Her second feature Monday, made the festival rounds and will be released soon digitally through Cinetic Rights Management. She is just finishing her third feature, American Decaf, which will hit the festival circuit in 2010. Heidi is married to composer Joe Kraemer and they have a daughter in private school, that they have to feed, and clothe, from the sales of the book. Buy one if you feel suitably manipulated.
DOCUMENTARIES JURY
Peter Gilbert produced and was the Director of Photography of he Oscar-nominated documentary HOOP DREAMS, which won the Audience Award at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival and received awards from the Producer's Guild of America, the Independent Spirit Awards, the National Arts Club and the National Society of Film Critics, to name just a few. In addition to directing numerous commercials and music videos, Peter produced and was Director of Photography for PREFONTAINE and STEVIE, and directed the Emmy-nomindated WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED. He co-directed AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR, his latest collaboration with HOOP DREAMS director Steve James, which screened at the 2008 Indie Memphis Film Festival. Peter is a director with Workhorse Media in Los Angeles, Maysles Films and a member of Kartemquin Films in Chicago.
Toby Leonard currently serves as the Program Director of the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. In 1999, he was part of a small group that saved the city's last historic neighborhood theater from the wrecking ball. Since then, he has dedicated the past 10 years to making the Belcourt a nationally recognized venue for challenging cinema and a model of community pride and involvement. He serves on the leadership committee and as co-chair of the programming committee of the Sundance Institute's Art House Project, a unit of 12 nationwide cinemas established to keep the arthouse vital to local and national film culture. He has also served as a consultant to other film-based organizations including The Documentary Channel, a growing cable channel.
Gabe Wardell is the Executive Director of Atlanta Film Festival 365. For 15 years, from Slamdance to SILVERDOCS to Atlanta, Gabe has accumulated over 10,000 hours of film festival experience. Gabe is energized by Atlanta Film Festival's new strategic plan outlining how the festival will grow to international prominence and will solidify Atlanta as a production juggernaut. In December 2008, at the International Film Festival Summit, Gabe was honored with an Excellence Award for best Festival Director in the National Category.
SHORTS JURY
Skizz Cyzyk is the Founder / Festival Director of MicroCineFest, the Programming Manager for the Maryland Film Festival, and Advisory Board Member / projectionist / occassional juror for the Slamdance Film Festival, ten-year technical supervisor / projectionist for the Atlanta Film Festival, and has served on the juries of many other festivals. Since 1983, Skizz has made more than 50 short films & videos, many of which have won awards and been shown at festivals around the world. He also writes for music and film magazines, is on the Board of Directors for Maryland Lawyers for the Arts, and has been playing drums and ukulele in various bands for longer than he has been making films.
David Harris is a producer at MTV New Media, where he works on jackassworld.com, $5 Cover, and most recently Savage County, a feature-length original movie for new media, which he also co-wrote and directed. Harris's short Address to Silas on the Occasion of the Retreat at Los Angeles County was winner of Best Short Film award at the 2008 Indie Memphis Film Festival. His UCLA thesis How Do I Say This was funded by mtvU and Cisco and won Best Student Project at SXSW Interactive 2007. David is currently in post-production on his new media documentary This is Fi, about the experience of a bohemian immigrant living illegally in America.
Christopher Holland co-founded Stomp Tokyo in 1996, one of the first web sites dedicated to fringe cinema. The site was touted by the New York Times as "a place to indulge one's questionable taste." Holland went on to co-author the book "Reel Shame: Bad Movies and the Hollywood Stars Who Made Them," and his writing has appeared in other publications including "The Radio Times Guide to Film" and "Austin Monthly." His new book is "Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook for Independent Filmmakers." (www.filmfestivalsecrets.com.) Following his time on staff at the Austin Film Festival, Chris now works as the Director of Festival Operations for Austin-based indie film distributor B-Side Entertainment.
HOMETOWNERS JURY
Melanie Addington has worked with the Oxford Film Festival for the last five years, first joining as a screening committee member and eventually becoming the Media Coordinator. For the past two years she has coordinated the Oxford Film Festival's Summer Series, expanding the program from three screenings to ten. She works full-time as a staff writer for the Oxford Eagle and writes about film in a weekly column for the Oxford Town. She also writes the film blog Oxford Film Freak and serves as a guest blogger on blogs for the Oxford Film Festival and author Ace Atkins.
Paula Martinez is the Managing Director of Atlanta Film Festival 365, where has brought a business focus to the 33-year-old organization. She holds an MBA from Mercer University and a B.A. from Oglethorpe University. As a lover of the arts, Paula enjoys combining her business acumen with her passion for film. She has spoken about film festivals to new and emerging media students at Georgia Tech and has been a panelist at the International Film Festival Summit. She has worked on independent film productions and has acted in commercials. Paula is part of the selection committee for the Atlanta Film Festival and has served on the jury for other festivals.
Steve Montal is the Co-Founder and CEO of Caucho Technology, a global leader in web server software. Montal has collaborated with over 100 film festivals serving as board member, programmer, jury, organizer and panelist. Montal worked with the American Film Institute, where he launched the Silverdocs Film Festival and served as Director of Educational and SpecialProgram Development. Montal's producing credits include "Viva Terra Viva," a television concert event for UNICEF that was broadcast to over 100 countries and seen by 500 million people for the benefit of the Amazon. Montal lectures throughout the world at festivals and conferences.
