Best in Fest

Daniel Carsenty: Berlinale Talents alumni Daniel Carsenty wrote and directed the thriller 'After Spring Comes Fall' in 2015. It won the award for Best Feature at the Zsigmond Vilmos Festival. His second film, 'The Devil's Drivers', a documentary about a Bedouin smuggler, premiered at TIFF in 2021, won the Special Jury Award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, and was nominated by the Cinema for Peace Foundation for Best Documentary. A graduate of the American Film Institute directing program, Daniel came to filmmaking after working as a TV journalist for ARTE and BBC in zones of conflict. His films, both fictional and documentary, examine the origins of violence, reflect on intergenerational trauma, and explore the possibilities of forgiveness. His work has taught him how to discover both compassion and humanity under the most difficult circumstances.

Alexis Iacono Growing up Bayside, Queens, New York, Alexis' artistic sensibilities have been shaped by a world-class theatre and arts community. Her early stage work included playing Elle in The Meadowlark, portraying Fay Wray (King Kong) She has studied at New York City's HB Studio and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Alexis Iacono has been brought to the attention of mainstream audiences worldwide for her Female Goblin voice character in the 2011 World of Warcraft Cataclysm video game and World of Warcraft Legion (2016) . Also known for her multiple characters voices in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned. After being cast as Jane Prescott in Peilin Kuo's 1940's black and white short film, Prescott Place (2011 Cannes Short Film Corner)and(Won the Spring 2012 Asian on Film Honorable Mention.)She was cast alongside Sid Haig and Jeffrey Combs in Leigh Scott's Horror Anthology: The Penny Dreadful Picture Show - The Slaughter House (2012) Alexis's past works includes portraying Elizabeth Short aka The Black Dahlia in The Black Dahlia Haunting (2013) and Blue Caprice (2013),a true story about the sniper shootings in D.C. Directed by Alexandre Moors, starring Isiah Washington. Alexis now an independent film producer who has produced features such as, The Pipeline feature film starring Barry Corbin and Wes Studi and Brian Howe. She went on producing the documentary Layin' the Pipe." Soon after, she went on to produce Escape From Ensenada with Noel G (Fast and the Furious), Louis Mandylor (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and was soon after hired as an Associate Producer in Thomas Churchill's Nations Fire (2018) starring Bruce Dern and Gil Bellows. Alexis was a production assistant at AFX Studio for 'America Horror Story Season 6', Jamie Lee Curtis's 'Scream Queens' and now a production assistant for Steve Wang at Alliance Studio. Alexandra Essoe Alexandra Essoe is a Canadian actress who has appeared predominantly in horror films. Essoe had her first lead role in the 2014 American horror film Starry Eyes, and she had a starring role in the 2017 American horror film Midnighters.

Jon is a filmmaker who works primarily on short and feature narrative films. After starting out working in production departments and as a script supervisor on indie films in New York City, he began writing, directing, and producing my own and others' movies. He is particularly interested in dark comedy, thriller, and horror satire films about people navigating powerful societal pressures. Aside from his film work, he is a co-founder and board member of Yspaniola, an education and human rights non-profit organization based in the Dominican Republic.

Michael Friberg is an award winning editorial and commercial photographer who somehow figured out how to make films despite the fact that the camera equipment is significantly more complicated than stills cameras. His work has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, Esquire, The New Yorker, Time Magazine , Wired, GQ and many more. He has photographed projects on Syrian refugees in the Middle East, celebrities, water and environmental issues in the West, and everything in between. His commercial clients include Nike, Apple, Google, and other giant evil corporations. Not like oil company evil...just regular evil. When he isn’t making photos, he’s spending all his money making films. In addition to the short films he has directed, he has written several feature length screenplays and multiple half hour comedy pilots. His works are dark comedies that focus on existential and spiritual matters. He resides in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife, 2 year old son and an overweight pit bull.

BriGuel, Brianne and Miguel, are a NYC artist couple. The duo produces bilingual, genre borderless music, and film. While collaborating with MusicPromoToday BriGuel released seven singles and two EPs, as well as launched a documentary movie that was featured on Tribeca Film Festival.

Tom Malloy has been involved for over two decades in all aspects of the film business. He trail-blazed the role of a multi-hyphenate, having approached projects early on as an actor, writer, and producer, recently adding director to his list. Malloy has raised millions for independent films, produced 20 films, written and sold 25+ screenplays, and has starred in many films. The roster of films produced by Malloy over the years includes, 2022's Rear View Mirrors, starring Erika Christensen, Penelope Ann Miller, David James Elliot, and Zach Gilford, 2021's Ask Me to Dance, directed by Malloy, starring Briana Evigan and Mario Cantone (which was in 38 cities theatrically nationwide on October of 2022), 2020's Lansky, starring Harvey Keitel, Sam Worthington, and Minka Kelly, Love N' Dancing, which was directed by Rob Iscove (She's All That), and stars Amy Smart, Malloy, Billy Zane, Rachel Dratch, and Betty White; the psychological thriller The Alphabet Killer, directed by Rob Schmidt (Wrong Turn) and stars Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Malloy, Timothy Hutton, Michael Ironside, and Oscar Winner Melissa Leo; and a horror film directed by Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary) called The Attic, starring Elisabeth Moss, Alexandra Daddario, and Malloy. Many film projects are developed through the production company he founded in 2005, Trick Candle Productions. In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Tom is an accomplished author whose book Bankroll: A New Approach to Financing Feature Films was considered the "gold standard" of indie film financing instruction. He now co-owns the filmmaking instructional site FilmMakingStuff.

Writer, producer and teacher. Born in Madrid, the son of film director Carlos Saura and film teacher and journalist Adela Medrano, brother of film director Saura Medrano. Either as executive of the film companies LolaFilms and Iberoamericana Films, or as executive producer for the film production companies Zebra Producciones and La Fiera Corrupia, Antonio Saura has produced many films in recent years, including Carlos Saura's Salomé (2002) (Best Artistic contribution Montreal 2002), Antonio Hernandez's En la ciudad sin límites (2002) (Berlin 2002, best film Toulouse 2002) and Miguel Albadalejo's Rencor (2002). He has been actively involved in training activities both as founder and director of the Media Business School, and as teacher of audio-visual and development economics for programs such as EMAM, MEGA, Universidad de Navarra, Instituto de Empresa of Madrid and Universidad de Valencia. As a scriptwriter, his credits include "Lisa", "El arbol del manzano", and "Dos tipos Duros". Antonio Saura has also written for some of the most prestigious newspapers in Spain, including El Pais, El Mundo and Diario 16, and has contributed analyses on film aspects to "la Gaceta de los Negocios", "Viridiana" and other publications. He is member of the European and the Spanish Film Academies.

Clay Epstein is President of Film Mode Entertainment, a worldwide sales and production company he launched in March 2016 which aims to present 10-15 theatrical titles a year. Prior to founding Film Mode, Epstein spent several years at Arclight Films as Senior Vice President, Sales and Acquisitions. While there, he represented such feature films as Dog Eat Dog, Paper Planes, Predestination, and Last Knights. Before joining Arclight in 2012, Epstein worked at The Little Film Company where he served as Vice President, Sales and Acquisitions. He joined the company in 2002, where his responsibilities included film development, acquisition and distribution. While there, he helped grow the company into a leading boutique sales agency representing prestigious titles such as Academy Award nominees Tsotsi and The Last Station as well as Eye of The Storm. Epstein was previously a sales executive at First Look Studios, where he was solely responsible for all distribution of the company's 300-plus title library to Asia, ancillary and new media markets. He started his career at Kushner-Locke.

Danicah Waldo is a writer, director, and producer based out of New York City. She got her 10,000 hours directing and producing narrative short films for the Applause New York YouTube channel, which now sits at over 1.5 million subscribers and 1 billion views. In 2021 she took a leap to join LIT Videobooks, a startup production company making documentary versions of nonfiction books. She now acts as Director of Production, directs all of the live-action elements of the videobook, and has built the entire production system from the ground up. She started Yellow Chair Films to produce her personal debut narrative short film, "Sally, Get the Potatoes," set to release in 2024.

Tanna Marie Frederick is an American stage and independent film actress who rose to prominence for her title role in Henry Jaglom's Hollywood Dreams, for which she received the Best Actress Award at the 2008 Fargo Film Festival.

Angeline Walsh is a filmmaker and writer from Cleveland, Ohio. Specializing in period pieces, she has a passion for unusual histories and an interest in portraying what connects people across time. Her most recent projects as a writer-director include "The Haunted Woman," an adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's classic short story The Yellow Wallpaper, and "The Coroner's Assistant," a historical dark comedy series set in late Victorian England.

Access Entertainment is a boutique sales agency dedicated to guiding filmmakers and television producers to reach their greatest distribution potential. Before Access, DuBow managed Lightning Entertainment as Executive Vice President and transitioned the company to its corporate owners at the time, Larry Flynt Publications. DuBow was also at First Look Studios as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Distribution and served as President and CEO of Modern Entertainment, a wholly-owned, Los Angeles-based subsidiary of a Swedish media conglomerate, The Modern Times Group. The company's primary business was buying and selling film libraries. in 2005, in partnership with Modern Times Group, DuBow successfully sold Modern Entertainment's 324 title library to LionsGate Entertainment which included “Dirty Dancing” and the “Halloween” films. For over 40 years DuBow has also held executive positions with MGM/UA and Disney in syndication, and Pandora Films in international film and TV program sales.

After earning a degree in Theatre and Philosophy at the University of Texas, Ms Spencer moved to New York City, where she attended NYU and The Actors Studio Playwright/Director's Unit, which was run by Elia Kazan and Arthur Penn. She wrote and directed plays in New York City, and was a member of Circle Rep Lab. She also wrote and directed plays in London and Los Angeles, and is a published poet. Her first film, Little Noises, premiered at Sundance. Her second film, Faces On Mars (aka: Wake Up Running), premiered in Europe at Solothurn and she is preparing the film for distribution screenings. She completed her third feature film, The Ninth Cloud, in 2015, has been in many festivals, garnered great reviews and was released in April 2018 in Europe and the UK and can be seen on iTunes and Amazon Prime in USA and UK. She is in Post Production for her fourth feature film, South of Hope Street, starring Tanna Frederick, Judd Nelson, William Baldwin, Asser Yassin, Jack McEvoy, Michael Madsen and Patricia Sluka, which has been picked up by Buffalo8 Productions in LA re Domestic Distribution, and has two other projects in development: 'The Velvet Gentleman' which will star Jean Hugues Anglade, and 'The Red Weather' with FilmInTuscany Productions. She received an Award for her work as a Filmmaker from Producers Without Borders at the Venice Film Festival 2023 for 'Auteur and Poetic Filmmaking'. She lives in Europe.

As Co-Founder and President of American Cinema International, Chevonne began her professional journey as the President of International Sales at Quest Entertainment. Over the spans of 10 years, she successfully oversaw the production and sales of more than 176 feature films and two popular television series. In 2000, Chevonne established American Cinema International. In less than a decade, ACI produced 20 feature films, securing international sales and prime-time broadcasts on platform such as USA, SyFy, and HBO Premier. Additionally, they produced multiple romance movie for Hallmark, and UPTV. Chevonne served as an executive producer for various films and TV mini-series. In 2014, along with George Shamieh, I established ACI INSPIRES, a new brand dedicated to producing inspirational entertainment with a focus on family films. My most current project is ACI On the Go, the YouTube channel for her company which boasts over 600,000 subscribers.

In this episode Leslie breaks down the Upfronts in Hollywood. What are they and why are they so important?

With over 30 years in the animation industry, Tony Bancroft has been creatively involved in almost every position making an animated film, video, commercial, or short film. His animation and directing skills have been sharpened and honed while working at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Sony Pictures, his own animation company, Toonacious Family Entertainment, and currently, as an independent contractor working with Disney, Warner Brothers, and many more. Bancroft was accepted into the exclusive California Institute of the Arts (Cal-Arts) in 1987, where he thrived artistically and developed a lifelong passion for animation. Soon after, he realized one of his childhood dreams as he was hired to animate for Walt Disney Animation Studios. During his 12-year career with Disney Studios, Bancroft helped create and animate Pumbaa, the lovable warthog in The Lion King; Kronk, the dim-witted sidekick in The Emperor’s New Groove; Cogsworth the nervous clock from Beauty and the Beast; and Iago the pestering parrot in Aladdin. Bancroft’s most notable accomplishments include being the co-director of Walt Disney’s animated film, Mulan, for which he received the Annie Award for Director of the Year from ASIFA-International; and animation supervisor of Sony’s

Ken Kwapis has been a motion picture and television director for four decades. He directed eleven feature films, among them A Walk In The Woods, Big Miracle, He’s Just Not That Into You, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Kwapis helped launch nine television series, including The Larry Sanders Show, The Bernie Mac Show, and The Office. He earned an Emmy nomination for directing the “Gay Witch Hunt” episode of The Office. He also earned an Emmy nomination for his work as a producer-director of Malcolm In the Middle. Kwapis contributed episodes to such shows Freaks and Geeks, Parks and Recreation, Santa Clarita Diet, and One Mississippi. Most recently, he directed the entire second season of Space Force. He is currently prepping the feature Thelma, based on the real-life story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole, author of A Confederacy of Dunces. Toole died before his novel was published, and his mother Thelma spent over a decade trying to find a home for her son’s masterpiece. In addition to his film and television work, Kwapis is the author of the memoir But What I Really Want To Do is Direct, published by St. Martin’s Press. Kwapis studied filmmaking at Northwestern University and the University of Southern California. He won the Student Academy Award in Dramatic Achievement for his USC film For Heaven’s Sake!, a contemporary

B.J. Graf (aka Beverly Graf) lives in Los Angeles with her family and a menagerie of four-footers. Her near-future-mystery-novel, GENESYS X, featuring Detectives Eddie Piedmont & Shin Miyaguchi, will be published 11/10/2020 by Fairwood Press and is available for pre-orders now at www.fairwoodpress.com, www.amazon.com, www.b&n.com, and an independent bookseller near you. In her alternate identity Dr. Graf is an Adjunct Professor who teaches Film Studies and Classical Mythology at Pepperdine, UCLA, and CSUN. Previously, she worked as V.P. of Development for Abilene Pictures where they produced several features and television projects including Primal Fear, Frequency, Fallen, Fracture and NYPD 2069.

Giovanni Labadessa Award winning film producer and storyteller, founder of Lumiere Lab a boutique film production company working since 2010 to tell stories that entertain, edify and build more understanding and empathy for others. Passionate about strengthening the independent film ecosystem as whole, in 2018 I co-founded Nòt Film Fest, a film festival and non-profit that connects audiences to storytellers whose work champions creativity, uniqueness and innovation while fostering film and business education for the youth. In 2021 I co-founded Nòtstream a SVOD streaming service dedicated to indie films that promotes an innovative distribution ecosystem that supports Independent cinema and its filmmakers.

Rick Markovitz is a partner in Weissman/Markovitz Communications. WMC forges connections between people, brands and media to convey powerful ideas. Grounded in the business of storytelling, we know how to use the right tools and channels in today';s complex social media environment. With decades of entertainment marketing and communications expertise, and an industry-wide network of resources, we help countless clients succeed in creative, effective and profitable brand-building relationships. Starting with our first breakout for AMC’s Broken Trail with 16 Emmy nominations and 4 wins in 2006, we have continually worked with the leading content producers and distributors across motion pictures, television, and digital on comprehensive release and awards campaigns covering the product lifecycle. With our “Awards Lifecycle” approach, in collaboration with our clients, we seek to build the best path to success in the consumer and awards stages. Our work on these clients includes the following services depending on the unique needs of each project: • Program Analysis, prioritization and strategic communications planning • Content development of press materials and editorial outreach for launch and awards coverage • Prepare video assets for editorial and promotion on social media • Screenings and events and other stunts (food trucks, event buses) • Advertising consultation based on target audience and campaign goals When it comes to the world of Hollywood entertainment, we are dynamically connected to consumer and industry audiences. We are keenly integrated in all facets of marketing from promoting a network program, feature film, film festival or advising our international Guild clients on their awards events and other strategic business issues.forge connections between people, brands and media to convey powerful ideas. Grounded in the business of storytelling, we know how to use the right tools and channels in today's complex social media environment.