2022 BREAKING THROUGH THE LENS
SHORTLISTED PROJECTS
HoVER OVER PHOTOS TO REVEAL BIOS
Valerie Steinberg, Producer
Valerie is a film producer based in Los Angeles. She is the lead producer of the feature film KARMALINK (dir. Jake Wachtel), a Cambodian “Buddhist sci-fi” that opened Venice Film Critics’ Week 2021. She is also an Executive Producer of WAR PONY (dir. Riley Keough, Gina Gammell), which is having its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard). Valerie's award-winning short film producing credits include HAIR WOLF (dir. Mariama Diallo; Sundance award winner, Criterion Channel), COFFEE SHOP NAMES (dir. Deepak Sethi; Tribeca X 2021, HBO Max), BLOCKS (dir. Bridget Moloney; Sundance 2020), FRY DAY (dir. Laura Moss; SXSW, Tribeca award winner, Criterion Channel), and THE NEW NANNY (dir. Bridget Moloney; Hulu). She is developing a slate of feature films including NOT YOUR AVERAGE QUEEN (dir. Rochée Jeffrey), and she is EP of upcoming feature films including A24’s THE INSPECTION and SILVER STAR (dir. Ruben Amar). She is an alum of the Sundance x WIF Financing Intensive, Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talents, Venice Biennale College Cinema, Gotham Week, Film Independent Producing Lab, and Tribeca All Access. Valerie earned her BA in Philosophy and Chinese at Yale University.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE QUEEN
DRAMA, COMEDY | USA
After a controversial ranking app is created for a high school to vote for their prom queen, a gender non-conforming teen decides to run in order to prove a point, but gets sucked into the pressure of traditional beauty standards, becoming the very thing she sought to defeat.
Rochée Jeffrey, Writer/Director
Rochée is a graduate of Howard University and a writer/director/performer who hails originally from Jamaica. As a television writer, her credits include Golden Globe-nominated comedy series SMILF (Showtime), Woke (Hulu), Bigger (BET+), Santa Inc. (HBO Max) and co-executive producer of Grown-ish (Freeform). On the film side, her award-winning, Oscar-qualifying short film Suitable was a finalist in the American Black Film Festival HBO Competition and premiered on HBO in February 2019. Rochée also wrote and directed Mr. Talented, a short film which premiered as a part of the 2018 Project Involve Showcase at the Directors Guild of America. She was one of 7 directors selected for the 2018/2019 Viacom Emerging Directors Program. She was a 2019 IFP-Blackhouse Multicultural Producers Lab Fellow, sponsored by HBO, and one of Moviemaker Magazine’s 2019 Screenwriters To Watch. Her feature directorial debut Not Your Average Queen was selected for the 2021 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab and the 2021 WIF/Sundance Financing Intensive. She serves as a producer and writer on the feature film Throw it Back and Make it Clap For Trudy Jones starring Tiffany Haddish (produced by Paul Feig/Feigco). She has an adult animated series executive produced by Lizzo set up at Tomorrow Studios and Apple TV+. She also has a narrative comedy podcast greenlit by Audible and produced by Broadway Video. Rochée recently directed an independent television pilot starring David Arquette. She’s represented by UTA and Rain Management Group.
WRITER/DirECTOR:
ROCHEE JEFFREY
pRODUCER:
VALERIE STEINBERG
Nicky Bentham, Producer
Nicky has twenty years’ experience in the screen industries, having studied film production in her native Australia she then worked in independent production before eventually developing her own projects and establishing Neon Films in London. The company develops and produces forgotten and untold stories from the margins, reframing them in the mainstream spotlight for international audiences. Her most recent production, THE DUKE, stars Academy Awards winners Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren and was directed by Roger Michell. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival to five star reviews before screening at Telluride ahead of its cinema release by Pathe/Warner Bros in the U.K (where it reached the top spot in its week of release) and Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S. Nicky recently completed post on the feature documentary WHO KILLED THE KLF? A co-production with Fulwell 73, also set for simultaneous theatrical and streaming release in 2022. Other feature producing credits include Duncan Jones’ multi award-winning sci-fi MOON starring Sam Rockwell, THE SILENT STORM starring Andrea Riseborough and Damian Lewis which was executive produced by Barbara Broccoli, the children’s dance film YOU CAN TUTU (acquired by Netflix) and the BAFTA nominated theatrical feature documentary TAKING LIBERTIES. Nicky is the co-chair of the Pact Film Producers’ Group and co-founder of the campaigning organisation Raising Films. She is currently developing original film and TV projects with a range of partners including the BFI, Screen Scotland, Netflix and Paramount Plus.
BRIDES
drama | Uk, ITALY, TURKEY
Two teenage girls in search of freedom, friendship and meaning, run away from their troubled lives in an English seaside town to join Isis in Syria. On their road trip we learn about what they are running from, as they come to understand the reality of where they are headed.
Nadia Fall, Director
Nadia is the artistic director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, and was an associate director at the National Theatre in London from 2015 to 2018. Prior to this she spent many years as assistant and protégé of acclaimed stage and film director, Sir Nicholas Hytner. Her work for the National includes “Three Sisters” (in a new version by Inua Ellams), “Home” (also as writer), “The Suicide”, “Our Country’s Good”, “Dara”, “Chewing Gum Dreams” (created by Michaela Coel), “Hymn” and “The Doctor’s Dilemma”. Other work includes an adaptation of “King Hedley II” and “The Village” at Stratford East; “Talking Heads” at The Bridge; “Hir” and “Disgraced” at Bush; “Way Upstream” at Chichester; “Hobson’s Choice” at Regent’s; and “The Maids” and “Oliver Twist” at the Lyric Hammersmith. In 2018 she completed her debut short film, “Bush” with Neon Films and Film4. In 2020 she filmed “No Masks”, a Sky original drama based on the stories of key workers from the community and their fight against the coronavirus, starring Russell Tovey, Anya Chalotra and Eamonn Walker. Fall also filmed her production of Alan Bennett’s “Talking Heads” (“The Outside Dog”), for BBC One, starring Rochenda Sandall. In 2020, Fall was named as a Sky Arts ambassador. Nadia is represented by Rose Cobbe at United Agents.
DIRECTOR:
NADIA FALL
Writer:
Suhayla El-Bushra
producer:
NICKY BENTHAM
Mynette Louie, Producer
Mynette Louie is a Spirit Award-winning, Emmy and Critics Choice-nominated producer whose credits include Heidi Ewing’s Sundance 2020-winning, Spirit Award-nominated I Carry You With Me (Sony Pictures Classics); Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ Tribeca 2019-winning, Gotham-nominated Swallow (IFC Films); Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour’s Black Box (Amazon Studios/Blumhouse); Jennifer Fox’s Emmy, Golden Globe, and Spirit Award-nominated The Tale (Sundance 2018, HBO); Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz’s Spirit Award-winning Land Ho! (Sundance 2014, Sony Pictures Classics); Tze Chun’s Children of Invention (Sundance 2009); and Andrew Bujalski’s Mutual Appreciation (SXSW 2005). As the first head of film fund Gamechanger Films, Mynette greenlit and oversaw ten films which collectively garnered nine Spirit Award nominations and one win, including Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation (SXSW 2015, Drafthouse/Netflix), Christina Choe’s Sundance 2018-winning, Spirit Award-nominated Nancy (Goldwyn), Sarah Adina Smith’s Buster’s Mal Heart (TIFF 2016, Well Go/Netflix), So Yong Kim’s Spirit Award-nominated Lovesong (Sundance 2016, Strand/Netflix), Lauren Wolkstein & Christopher Radcliff’s The Strange Ones (SXSW 2017, Vertical), and Natalia Garagiola’s Venice Critics Week 2017 winner Hunting Season (Netflix). Mynette is also an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the graduate film program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She is on Film Independent’s Board of Directors and a member of the executive and diversity committees in the Producers branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She was named one of Business Insider’s “12 Movie Producers at the Top of Their Game to Watch in 2020 and Beyond,” Ted Hope’s “21 Brave Thinkers of Truly Free Film,” and Indiewire’s “100 Filmmakers to Follow on Twitter.” She won the Piaget Producers Award at the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards. A native New Yorker, Mynette graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University, where she studied Chinese literature and film.Independent Spirit Awards. A native New Yorker, Mynette graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University, where she studied Chinese literature and film.
OLD HAUNTS
DRAMA | japan, us, france, sweden
Fleeing an abusive home, a young boy and his mother shelter in a decrepit apartment complex, where lonely retirees and old ghosts hark back to a lost Japan.
Kyoko Miyake, Writer/Director
Kyoko is a Peabody award winning filmmaker. Her documentary film, Tokyo Idols, premiered in World Cinema Documentary Competition at 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix. Brakeless was supported by BBC / ITVS / IKON / NHK / DR and won the Peabody Award 2014 after airing to great acclaim on BBC and PBS. Kyoko’s first feature-length documentary, My Atomic Aunt (aka Beyond the Wave) was coproduced by broadcasters including BBC, NHK and WDR and supported by Sundance Documentary Fund. It has been screened at festivals across the world, winning Gold Plaque at Chicago International Film Festival. Hackney Lullabies won the Berlin Today Award 2011 at the Berlin International Film Festival. Kyoko’s projects have been selected for prestigious grants, project markets and workshops including Cannes Film Festival’s Cinefondation for their L’Atelier section, Cinema du Monde from CNC in France, Film Wast in Sweden, Bucheon South Korea, Hong Kong and Udine’s film project markets. Kyoko has served as a jury member for Hot Docs -North America’s leading documentary film festival - and Sheffield Doc Fest - UK’s leading documentary festival. She has been selected for Berlinale Talent Campus, Ties That Bind, Japanese government’s Artists Grant, Talent Campus Tokyo, Crossing Borders, Documentary Campus, and Pola Art Foundation Grant among others. Born and raised in Japan, Kyoko moved to UK to study history of English witchcraft at Oxford as a Swire Centenary Scholar, having studied English history at Tokyo University. While studying and working for British and Japanese media, she picked up a camera to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a filmmaker and started to make short films on her own. She is based in NY.
WRITER/DIRECTOR:
KYOKO MIYAKE
PRODUCER:
MYNETTE LOUIE
Kenny Reynolds, Producer
Kenneth Renaldo Reynolds began his producing career as Production Manager and Producer for the New Jersey-based Sound Off Productions. While there, he worked as both a Production Manager and Producer on a wide array of live broadcasts, including The Rolling Stones return to Hyde Park in London. Kenny returned home to New Orleans in 2013, and served as a producer on the award-winning pilot, Shepherd. His next project, narrative feature Lost Bayou, was selected as a 2018 IFP Narrative Lab Project and made its world premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Kenneth was also a member of the 2020 Sundance Creative Producer’s Lab. Other recent projects include the feature Tiger Style! (winner of 4 out of 7 prizes US Works In Progress Festival in Wroclaw, Poland), and Pearl and Henry, a short film premiering at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and BET as part of 8:46 Films.
LITTLE LYING WILD
HORROR, DARK FANTASY | USA, BELIZE
When the moon falls from the sky in rural Belize, a young girl finds the body of a murdered girl no one believes exists. She sets out on her own to solve the crime and stop the monster from killing again.
Samantha Aldana, Writer/Director
Samantha Aldana is an award-winning Belizean-American director and writer based in Los Angeles. She is most inspired by stories that use genre elements to explore the human condition and is heavily influenced by the magical realism/storytelling traditions of her unique multicultural upbringing in South Mississippi and the Caribbean. Her first feature film, SHAPELESS, was selected as a 2020 fellow of the IFP Narrative Lab and premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. The film was recently released by XYZ Films. Samantha is the recipient of the Belize Film Commissioner’s Emerging Storyteller Feature Film Award for her in-development feature LITTLE LYING WILD. This film was also selected to participate in the Tribeca Film Institute Network, the Emerging Voices Program at the New Orleans Film Fest and most recently was an alum of Tribeca's Writing in Unreal.
writer/DIRECTOR:
SAMANTHA ALDANA
PRODUCER:
KENNY REYNOLDS
Bizimana Jean, Producer
Bizimana is the film’s primary field producer and is the founder/producer of the peace and reconciliation photo workshops. He is also a photographer/videographer for Reuters in East Africa based in Kigali, Rwanda, a project coordinator with Through the Eyes of Children/Camera Kids, and a GroundTruth Film Fellow. In April 2021, he was named a Social Justice Fellow with Magnum Foundation. It is through his eyes that the CAMERA KIDS story is told.developing LAYLA IN DREAMLAND with the support of the BFI.
CAMERA KIDS
DOCUMENTARY | RWANDA
In a country where reminders of genocide are ever-present, a Rwandan orphan dedicates his life to fighting genocide ideology. And he does it through photography. In the process, he inspires reconciliation between perpetrators and survivors as well as peace for himself.
Beth Murphy, Writer/Director
Beth is the founder of Principle Pictures, a media and impact company dedicated to storytelling for social impact. Beth is director/producer/executive producer for more than 20 documentaries, including six award-winning feature films (BEYOND BELIEF, THE LIST, WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS, DAWNLAND, PEACEMAKER, SON OF FUKUSHIMA, AFGHAN DREAMERS), news reports, podcasts, and photo series. Her work premiers at top-tier festivals globally and can be found across national and international media outlets, including MTV Films/Paramount+, PBS (FRONTLINE, POV, Independent Lens and NewsHour), The New York Times Op-Docs, TIME, History Channel, The Sundance Channel, Discovery Networks, Lifetime, ABC News, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Washington Post, PRI The World, NHK, Canal Vie, and many others. Through targeted impact campaigns, Beth raises awareness and promotes action for issues that demand social change. An impact campaign with her film WHAT TOMOROW BRINGS succeeded in building a women’s college in rural Afghanistan and lowering rates of child marriage in a Bangledeshi community. Another with BEYOND BELIEF helped to build the first women’s center in Afghanistan. Inspired by the fact that in the year 2000 there were virtually no resources available to young women diagnosed with breast cancer, Beth wrote Fighting For Our Future (McGraw Hill, 2002), a companion book to her Lifetime TV documentary with the same title. The book was heralded by the Library Journal as doing the cancer community “a vital service.” Her honors include: Emmy Award, World Press Photo Award, Overseas Press Club Award, Scripps Howard Award, National Headliner Award, Webby Award, RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, AWRT’s Gracie Allen Award, One Shared World International Outreach Award, and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. She earned a Master’s in International Relations and International Communications from Boston University.
writer/DIRECTOR:
BETH MURPHY
PRODUCER:
BIZIMANA JEAN
Jack Tarling and Pietro Greppi, Producers
Jack Tarling produced GOD'S OWN COUNTRY which won awards at Berlin, Sundance, Edinburgh, Galway, Stockholm, Chicago, and many more, followed by 4 BIFA wins and a BAFTA nomination. He produced sci-fi horror AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS which was Critics Pick in the New York Times and won several awards on the genre circuit. Both films have been acquired by Netflix for multiple territories. Jack has also line produced several other feature films for the BFI, BBC Films, and others, and his short film ASSESSMENT won the Film London Best of Boroughs Jury Prize and was shortlisted for a BAFTA in 2010.
Pietro Greppi is a British-Italian producer focused on stories of outsiders from visionary talent, often featuring LGBTQ+ and female leads and cross-cultural perspectives. His producing credits include Peter Strickland's new film, Flux Gourmet, Andrew Steggall's BFI-funded debut, Departure, and Sarah Clift’s BAFTA-longlisted comedy short The Birth of Valerie Venus. He also executive-produced three recent debuts: Camille Griffin’s Silent Night, starring Keira Knightley; Marley Morrison’s Sweetheart, funded by Microwave; and Eliza Schroeder’s Love Sarah, starring Celia Imrie. His company, Lunapark Pictures, received a BFI Vision Award in 2020.
DAUGHTER OF EDEN
DRAMA, PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER | UK
Nurse Nessa (31) meets Maryam (65) who she believes fatally betrayed her parents in Iraq many years earlier. Nessa infiltrates Maryam's life but neglects her own health, family, and career. When Maryam's son develops feelings for Nessa, it becomes even harder to take her revenge.
Fateme Ahmadi, Writer/Director
Fateme is a writer-director who graduated from the London Film School. She is an alumna of Berlinale Talents and Edinburgh Talent Lab. Her short film “Bitter Sea” was a British Independent Film Awards nominee, and her latest short, “Leila’s Blues,” premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival as a part of Tunisia Factory. Fateme was one of the Film London Lodestars in 2019 and a John Brabourne Award recipient in 2020. She was also an associate producer on “Coup 53,” a feature documentary directed by Taghi Amirani and edited by Walter Murch. Fateme’s first feature, “Daughter of Eden,” is currently in development with the BFI Film Fund. Fateme is represented by Kelly Knatchbull at Sayle Screen.
writer/DIRECTOR:
FATEME AHMADI
PRODUCERS:
JACK TARLING
PIETRO GREPPI
Miriam Chandy Menacherry, Producer
Miriam has always made films that celebrate everyday heroes whether it was a rat killer in Mumbai (The Rat Race), children choosing music over violence in an area known for gang warfare (Lyari Notes) or the unsung heroes of Indian cinema (Stuntmen of Bollywood). Now, she turns the spotlight on the valiant survivors of child sexual violence as they emerge `From the shadows’. Miriam’s films have premiered at IDFA Amsterdam, where they were nominated for awards, won the Mipdoc Coproduction challenge at Cannes, and was nominated for the youth jury award at Sheffield. They have been broadcast on channels like Arte, National Geographic Channel, and Netflix.
FROM THE SHADOWS
Documentary | INDIA, USA, SOUTH KOREA
An artist relentlessly sprays silhouettes on public walls tagged #missing, an activist accompanies rescued girls across international borders. Parallel narratives intersect to reveal a sliver of hope when women imaginatively challenge a powerful trafficking nexus operating in a country where every 8 minutes a child goes missing.
Miriam Chandy Menacherry, Writer/Director/Producer
With a background in filmmaking and journalism, Miriam makes films that celebrate everyday heroes. She shoots for years to capture intimate accounts of real people whose stories we do not notice whether a rat killer in Mumbai (The Rat Race), children choosing music over violence in an area known for gang warfare (Lyari Notes) or the unsung heroes of Indian cinema (Stuntmen of Bollywood). Now she turns the spotlight on the valiant survivors of child sexual violence as they emerge `From the shadows’. The film has been chosen for 8 international forums in Portugal, Korea, India, Israel, USA, France and Geneva. Miriam is one of 18 fellows selected from South Asia and the Middle East for the Global Media Makers Fellowship (2019-2020) with From the Shadows by Film Independent (USA) and the US State Department for a 6 week residency in Los Angeles followed by a year round mentorship program. Nominated in 2020 and 2021 for the Chicken&Egg Award as well as the IDA-Netflix Emerging Filmmaker Award. Her previous films have premiered at IDFA Amsterdam, where they were nominated for the Alliance of Women Film Journalists – EDA award, won the Mipdoc Coproduction challenge at Cannes, and was nominated for the youth jury award at Sheffield (UK). In India her films have had theatrical releases and been the opening film of the Artists Cinema Package at the Kochi Biennale, won the top awards at the Kerala Film Festival as well as the Indian Documentary Producers Association. They have been broadcast internationally on channels like Arte, National Geographic Channel, Al Jazeera, BBC world and Netflix. Miriam has served as a Jury member at the Kashish Film Festival 2020 the biggest LGBTQ festival in South Asia, the International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards USA and the IDPA
WRITER/DIRECTOR/
Producer:
mIRIAM CHANDY MENACHERRY
Fran Borgia, Producer
Fran was born in 1980 in southern Spain and is based in Singapore since 2004. Borgia is the founder of Akanga Film Asia. He was the producer and editor for "HERE" (2009), Ho Tzu Nyen's first feature film that was presented at the 41st Directors' Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 2009; and for the medium-length film, "Earth", presented at the 66th Venice Film Festival 2009. Since then he has produced noteworthy feature films such as "Sandcastle" (2010), Boo Junfeng's first feature film that premiered at the 49th Cannes Critics' Week in 2010; "Disappearing Landscape" by Vladimir Todorovic, which premiered at the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam 2013, and "Mister John" by Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor, a UK-Ireland-Singapore co-production, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013. In 2015, he produced K Rajagopal's segment for the omnibus feature "7 Letters" (2015). In 2016, he co-produced Lav Diaz's "A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery" (2016), which won the Silver Bear Prize for "a feature film that opens new perspectives" at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. In the same year, he also produced two films that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival: Boo Junfeng's "Apprentice" (2016) at Un Certain Regard and K. Rajagopal's "A Yellow Bird" (2016) at International Critics' Week. In 2017, he produced Liao Jiekai's segment for the omnibus feature "667" that screened at 22nd Busan International Film Festival. In 2018, he produced Yeo Siew Hua's "A Land Imagined" (2018), that won the Pardo d'oro (Golden Leopard) at the 71st Locarno Film Festival.
IF I HAD TWO LIVES
DRAMA | USA, THAILAND, SINGAPORE
Upon agreeing to become a surrogate mother to the child of her lover, Yen begins to re-examine the relationship with her own mother who abandoned her as a child and the mysteries surrounding her childhood living in a Vietnamese military camp.
Ash Mayfair, Writer/Director
Ash was born in Vietnam and educated in the UK and the US. She received an MFA in filmmaking at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. The screenplay for her first feature, The Third Wife, was a recipient of the Spike Lee Film Production Award in 2014. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018 and won the NETPAC Jury Award. The Third Wife has since garnered more than 20 awards worldwide, screened at over 70 film festivals and received distribution in 30 territories. In 2020, The Third Wife earned three Spirits Awards Nomination including the Someone To Watch nomination for Ash Mayfair. Ash Mayfair’s project in development, Skin of Youth, is about an all-consuming love story between a transgender singer and a dog-cage fighter set in the 1990s Saigon, Vietnam. The project has participated in the South-East Asia Fiction Film Lab 2019, Asian Film Market at Busan 2019, Talents Tokyo 2019, Berlinale Co-Production Market 2020 and Cannes La Fabrique 2020. Skin of Youth is also one of the four winners of the NYU Purple List for the best unproduced screenplays written by graduates in 2020.
WRITER/DIRECTOR:
ASH MAYFAIR
PRODUCER:
FRAN BORGIA
Jack Tarling, Producer
UK producer Jack Tarling has produced two feature films, GOD'S OWN COUNTRY and AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS, and line produced several more films for other companies including one with BBC Films and two which were financed by the BFI and premiered in Venice. Prior to features Jack’s background in short films included ASSESSMENT which was short listed for a BAFTA. Romantic drama GOD'S OWN COUNTRY won prizes in 2017 at Sundance, Berlin, Edinburgh, Galway, Chicago, Dinard and many more festivals before winning the Empire Award for Best British Film, the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Film, Best Motion Picture at the Satellite Awards, 4 British Independent Film Awards including Best Film, and a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film.
AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS is a sci-fi horror film directed by Johnny Kevorkian (The Disappeared) and starring David Bradley (Game of Thrones, Harry Potter) which had its world premiere at Cinepocalypse Film Festival in 2018, where it won the Audience Award for Best Film. It was Critics Pick in the New York Times upon release, and was acquired by Netflix in a multi-territory deal.
Jack has produced content for Disney/Hulu and worked for a year with Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2019. Jack previously supported development and business affairs across the film and TV slate for Ridley Scott's company Scott Free. Jack is the co-founder of the Mother Tongues Development Award (run in partnership with Curzon) which supports the development of UK-set films, by UK-based talent, in which the story dialogue is in a language other than English.
Jack is a graduate of Berlinale Talents, Torino Filmlab Extended, Rotterdam Cinemart, Think. Shoot. Distribute. Save Our Scripts (with The Bureau) Film London Micro Market and many other labs and holds a First Class BA (Hons.) Degree in Media Production from Northumbria University.
LEARNING TO BREATHE UNDERWATER
DRAMA, COMEDY | UK
Eight year old Leo’s best friend is an 8m shark which his dad Peter, an artist, put on the roof of their house. Leo misses his mum and Peter misses his wife but their new Polish au pair Anya (26) isn’t either of those things – she’s a whole different kettle of fish.
Rebekah Fortune, Director
Having not being diagnosed with Autism until she was in her 30's Rebekah struggled to fit in whilst she was growing up. She always felt on the periphery of any group and used her vivid imagination and creativity to enable her to process her emotions. Rebekah set up production company Seahorse Films in 2011 with longtime collaborator and writer Peter Machen to develop a slate of films that combine creativity with commerciality, and that actively encourages more opportunities for women and disabled artists both in front and behind the camera. In 2017 Rebekah’s micro-budget debut feature “Just Charlie” was released to critical acclaim, receiving many awards including The Audience Award at Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival Ecrans Junior Award, it has appeared in festivals worldwide and was nominated for 2 BIFA’s. Just Charlie secured international distribution in the USA, Canada, China, Taiwan, and Theatrical Release extensively in Europe. Just Charlie was ***** rated on Sky Cinema where it had its UK premiere.
Rebekah's short film Her Majesty about a woman with Dementia and her young carer has already won the Audience Award at Academy Award qualifying Hollyshorts and the XX Award at BAFTA qualifying Underwire Film Festival, with further selections for Academy Award qualifying LA Shorts festival and BAFTA qualifying Norwich FF. She has further short films also currently touring BAFTA and Academy Award qualifying festivals.
Rebekah has mentored for BFI Network, appeared as a panellist at numerous film festivals, is a member of Cinesisters and Directors UK where she was selected for the “Inspire” programme and sits on the access and inclusion committee. Additionally Rebekah works extensively with young actors with Disabilities preparing them for careers both in front of and behind camera.
Rebekah is represented by Ellen Gallagher at Casarotto Ramsay Associates.
DIRECTOR:
REBEKAH FORTUNE
Writer:
RICHARD BRABIN
PRODUCER:
JACK TARLING
Courtney Moorehead Balaker, Producer
Courtney Balaker is an award-winning writer, director and producer. Her critically-acclaimed work most recently includes Little Pink House, starring Academy Award nominated Catherine Keener and Emmy nominee Jeanne Tripplehorn. Her films have received awards from such festivals as Vail Film Festival, Provincetown Film Festival, as well as a congressional screening on Capitol Hill. Her script was selected for the prestigious Athena List. Courtney served as a producer on America in Primetime, an award-winning four-hour PBS documentary series that examines the creative process behind primetime’s most iconic and groundbreaking shows. The series features interviews with Ron Howard, James L. Brooks, Sarah Jessica Parker, Larry David, Norman Lear, Alec Baldwin, David Lynch, Jon Hamm, Danny DeVito, Mary Tyler Moore, and Dick Van Dyke.
PHANTOM
drama | USA
A double amputee combat veteran returns home from Afghanistan and faces a new battle she must wage to regain her Self.
Jennifer Noonan, Writer / Director / Producer
Based in Los Angeles, Jennifer feels passionately that Story has the power to inspire, to uplift and to unite humanity. Her screenplays have received accolades from the Nicholl, The WGA Disability List, The Black List, Athena Film Festival, Women in Film, Tribeca Film Festival, Oaxaca International Film Festival, New York Women in Film, and TV, WIST and more. Her directing projects have received several accolades from Sundance.
WRITER/DIRECTOR/
PRODUCER:
JENNIFER NOONAN
PRODUCER:
COURTNEY MOOREHEAD-BALAKER
Conor Barry and John Lang, Producers
Conor Barry is an Irish producer working in Dublin based Savage Productions. Presently, under Screen Ireland’s POV scheme, he is producing Antonia Campbell Hughes directorial debut – IT IS IN US ALL, which recently wrapped during covid. Most recently, he produced Lee Cronin’s debut feature THE HOLE IN THE GROUND starring Seana Kerslake, sold by Bankside, and selected at Sundance 2019, and is being distributed by A24. As coproducer, Sacha Polack’s DIRTY GOD, was also selected at Sundance 2019. He produced PILGRIMAGE (Brendan Muldowney) featuring the Tom Holland, Richard Armitage (The Hobbit) and Jon Bernthal (Fury, The Punisher), screened at the Tribeca and Edinburgh Film Festivals, and has been distributed by Universal for most territories, RLJ Entertainment in the US and Studio Canal in the UK. He also produced Rebecca Daly’s latest film – GOOD FAVOUR, premiered at TIFF 2017, and as coproducer, Volker Schlondorff’s – RETURN TO MONTAUK, which was selected in Competition at Berlinale 2017.
John Lang is an American producer working in Los Angeles. He is the founder of SuperBloom Films, a company focused on the development and execution of director/creator-driven films and series. Projects he has produced and developed have been distributed around the world by companies such as Universal, HBO, Hulu, Blumhouse, and Netflix. They have also premiered and won awards at festivals across the globe including Sundance, Toronto, SXSW, Locarno and AFI Fest. His recent work as a producer includes SPREE (Sundance 2020), directed by Eugene Kotlyarenko, starring Joe Kerry, BEST SELLER, directed by Nora Kirkpatrick and starring Beth Grant, MERCY BLACK, directed by Owen Egerton and starring Daniella Pineda, and LUCKY (SXSW ’17) directed by John Carroll Lynch and starring Harry Dean Stanton.
LUCIA
DRAMA, HORROR, DANCE | IRELAND, USA, BELGIUM
1932 Paris, Lucia Joyce is a brilliant modern dancer but lives in the shadow of her famous father, James Joyce. Determined to be recognized in her own right, she sets out to create the greatest and most original dance in the world. But can she do so without losing her mind?
Alexandra McGuinness, Writer/Director
Alexandra was born in Dublin, Ireland. She graduated from the London Film School in 2010; her graduation film - SHE OWNS EVERYTHING; based on a short story by Anne Enright was chosen to represent her graduating class. Her debut feature film LOTUS EATERS about a group of young Londoners getting lost in a world of drugs, parties, and frivolity premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and later showed at Mill Valley and the London Film Festival, Galway Film Festival among others, before being released theatrically by Pathe, Curzon and Phase 4. She has directed commercials, short films, and music videos for artists and brands such as The Voice, Clinique, Sony, Universal records, Chanel & Samsung. She was named a director to watch by Variety and featured on the cover of the magazine. Alexandra created, wrote and directed the pop musical web series RIDERS, for online channel Super Deluxe. RIDERS had over 3 million views on YouTube and Facebook. RIDERS was bought by SUNDANCE NOW and developed as a half-hour show. Alexandra’s second feature film SHE’S MISSING starred Eiza Gonzalez, Lucy Fry and Josh Hartnett, SHE’S MISSING; about a rodeo queen who goes missing and her best friend who embarks on a search across the desert for her uncovering violence and secrets along the way, premiered at Edinburgh Film Festival, it was released theatrically in December 2019 by Vertical. Alexandra lives between Dublin and Los Angeles with her husband and three sons.
WRITER/DIRECTOR:
ALEXANDRA MCGUINNESS
PRODUCER:
CONOR BARRY
Tiernan Hanby, Producer
Tiernan, a London-based producer with experience of shooting features across Europe is currently in post with the film SUMMIT FEVER, a mountain climbing adventure film shot in some of the most inaccessible locales in the Alps. His previous films incl. the Gary Oldman starring COURIER the WWII fighter pilot epic MISSION OF HONOUR and the BAFTA-nominated short THE KARMAN LINE starring Olivia Colman. He also has 15 years of experience producing commercials and music videos for artists including Little Mix, and Moby. Currently working through a slate of films put together during lockdown.
CABBIE
ACTION, HEIST, CAPER | UK
A group of aspiring English cabbies endeavor to complete a dangerous heist in order to fund their training and solve their financial problems.
Katrin Magrowitz, Writer/Director
Kat is a graduate from the London Film School where she wrote five shorts, directed four of them and produced three. Her drama short “The Crossing” premiered at the Curzon Cinema in Soho in conjunction with the UK premiere of von Donnersmark's Oscar film “The Lives of Other”'. Her graduation film “The Embrace” backed by German film board, premiered at the Krakow Film festival and was bought by German TV station WDR for ARTE TV in Germany, France and Austria. Her Stasi thriller ANNA K. was developed with support from German film board. Kat is currently in pre-production of British action heist comedy “Cabbie” Kat has taught film directing at CityLit and for Skillset. She also set up and run ‘The Director’s Lab’ for Rada and DirectorsUK, a monthly workshop for professional film directors. 2016 Diplom Female producer in film, Filmonomics, Birds Eye View, UK 2005 - 2009 MA Film making, London Film School, London, UK 2011 TALENT Berlinale, Berlin
WRITER/DIRECTOR:
KATRIN MAGROWITZ
PRODUCER:
TIERNAN HANBY
Ellen Pittleman, Producer
Veteran film studio executive, producer, director, talent manager, and teacher Ellen Pittleman is responsible for the development, production, and distribution of over 25 feature films, more than five series, and various specials throughout her 25+-year entertainment career. Initially a successful producer and director, she transitioned to the executive ranks in a variety of emerging and established entertainment companies including 10+ years as an SVP at Paramount Pictures, leading the studio’s foray into original local-language production.
Receiving a Peabody Award while still in college and Ace Awards when she began her career, she continued to make notable contributions to the projects she took on and worked with filmmakers ranging from Martin Scorsese and Jonathon Demme to first- time filmmakers like Steve Buscemi.
With a keen visual eye, a nuanced understanding of storytelling, and an innate business sense, she works with a variety of clients at her entertainment consultancy Hybrid Entertainment while pursuing her slate of original, entertaining, and important projects.
BRINGING IT HOME is a project that spoke to her due to its revelatory nature about a not often discussed issue affecting women today. The notion of gender-specific implications of war is an idea that hasn’t been broadly explored in Film. Impressed with Sabine El Gemayel’s documentary GENERATION ZAPPED, the two decided to collaborate on BRINGING IT HOME.
BRINGING IT HOME
DRAMA | CANADA, USA
Upon her return from Iraq, a female American veteran is stalled by unexpected financial constraints and debilitating health symptoms that VA doctors attribute to her unplanned pregnancy, but which her new Iraqi refugee neighbor recognizes as exposure to Depleted Uranium.
Sabine El Gemayel, Writer/Director
Traumatic events from her childhood during the Persian revolution and the Lebanese wars shaped Sabine El Gemayel's personal interests and storytelling. She brings social issues to light with a particular focus on the socio-political differences between the Middle East and the United States advocating for peace and dialog in a world of conflict. Her goal is to shine light on the condition of women in conflicting zones and how conscious leadership can empower communities. Her passion for filmmaking brought her to Los Angeles, where she resides since 1994. El Gemayel successfully marked her feature debut as a writer-director with NILOOFAR an award-winning feature film produced by Jean Bréhat (Days of Glory, Out of the law, and The Insult, all nominated for Best Foreign Film by the Academy) and Fereshteh Taerpour. It competed in prestigious film festivals such as Berlinale 59th, Cannes Junior, Dubai IFF, and AFI to name a few. Her award-winning feature documentary GENERATION ZAPPED about the invisible repercussion of wireless technology has been distributed worldwide but most importantly had a tremendous impact on raising awareness about Radio Frequencies. She also edited award-winning feature films such as 1982, the Lebanese submission to the 2020 Oscars, directed by Oualid Mouaness and produced by Alix Madigan. El Gemayel was awarded screenwriting fellowships from Hedgebrook in 2019 for her screenplay BRINGING IT HOME where she had the honor to work with acclaimed screenwriters Robin Swicord and Jane Anderson. DreamAgo offered her a fellowship for THE THREE OF US, 2009 and BRINGING IT HOME, 2012. Currently, El Gemayel has two compelling screenplays ready for production and a documentary project in development.
DIRECTOR:
SABINE EL GEMAYEL
PRODUCER:
ELLEN PITTLEMAN
Elizabeth Woodward, Producer
Elizabeth Woodward is an American film producer and founder of Willa Productions. Woodward co-produced The Great Hack and Persuasion Machines, a virtual reality experience which explored how household devices collect personal data on their users.Persuasion Machines was narrated by will.i.am. Both The Great Hack and Persuasion Machines premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Woodward founded Willa Productions, a film production company, to support bold stories by innovative filmmakers.Through Willa Productions, Woodward produced You Resemble Me, a film that explores radicalization in Europe, which premiered at the 78th Venice Film Festival in the Venice Days section. She also produced On The Divide, a film that documents the lives of three latinx people in south Texas who find themselves in the gray area of the abortion debate, which at the Tribeca Film Festival. Woodward is also producing Another Body, a documentary that will explore the world of deepfake image based abuse which was selected for the Hot Docs 2021 Selected Projects and received the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund Award. Woodward was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Media list in 2021 for her work, and in the Doc NYV 40 Under 40 list 2021. She was selected for Berlinale Talents and the Impact Partners Producers Fellowship. Her projects have been selected for various film festivals, shortlisted for Academy Awards, nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, BAFTA Award, an IDA award and won a Cinema Eye Award. Her films have been supported by Sundance Institute, Tribeca Institute Chicken and Egg, Film Independent, Impact Partners, Field of Vision, Level Forward, Perspective Fund, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
ON THE ROAD TO HADES
DOCUMENTARY | ITALY, FRANCE, UK, USA
Drawing on the myth of Demeter and Persephone, On the Road to Hades tells the intimate stories of two women, a Nigerian teenager and an Italian mother, as Europe’s deadliest environmental disaster unfolds on their doorstep.
Daisy Squires, Lou Marillier, Sophia Seymour, Co-Directors
Isosceles Productions was formed by co-directors - Sophia Seymour (Italian speaker), Daisy Squires and Lou Marillier - combining their experience in feature films, broadcast TV and journalism to make On the Road to Hades. They gained access to this story by spending four years filming their first award-winning documentary Teranga (The Guardian/BBC Africa Eye) in Campania. The directors formed strong bonds with the different communities, often ending up in the Land of Fires. They were struck by the cinematic dystopian landscape, the complex humanitarian issues and the ticking environmental time bomb. Daisy Squires is an award winning documentary filmmaker and producer based in London. With 7 years experience in producing TV documentaries working in countries all over the world from Syria to Venezuela, her recent work includes BBC series 'Exodus' which won a Bafta and an Emmy. Sophia Seymour is a British journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Naples and London working for the likes of the Guardian, BBC and CNN. She is the founder of Looking for Lila, an independent local production company in Naples and is currently at The National Film and Television School. Lou Marillier is a journalist and documentary director whose favourite projects are those that require meaningful relationships with contributors over time, and who has experience working on sensitive stories in often high-risk countries, such as Venezuela or the DRC. Together they form a trans-european team that works between the UK, Italy and France.
CO-DIRECTORs:
DAISY SQUIRES, LOU MARILLIER, SOPHIA SEYMOUR
PRODUCER:
ELIZABETH WOODWARD
Anna Griffin and Alastair Clark, Producers
Anna Griffin is a BIFA nominated producer and Screen Star of Tomorrow. With Wellington Films she produced Matt Palmer’s debut, CALIBRE (Netflix), alongside Al Clark and Co-Produced Hope Dickson Leach’s THE LEVELLING (TIFF, LFF), produced by Rachel Robey. Other projects include Benjamin Wigley’s debut feature documentary, PAA JOE & THE LION, which premiered at SXSW and played Sheffield Doc/Fest. In 2020 Anna left Wellington to focus on her own company, Griffin Pictures, with support from the BFI’s Vision Award and has projects in development with BFI, Film4 and Okre. In 2021 Anna joined forces with BAFTA winning writer, Jolyon Rubinstein, and launched the company, Jolly Griffin, focussing on television production. They are working with Expectation and Balloon Entertainment on the company’s first two projects.
Alastair Clark co-founded Wellington Films in 2000 with producing partner Rachel Robey. In 2018, Wellington was named by Screen International as one of the top 50 independent film production companies in the UK. Producing credits include Matt Palmer’s debut feature, CALIBRE, on global release as a Netflix Original Film. It won the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film, going on to be nominated for a record-equalling five BAFTA Scotland Awards. His BAFTA nominated debut feature, LONDON TO BRIGHTON earned them the Best Achievement in Production award at the 2006 British Independent Film Awards and a nomination at the London Critics Circle Film Awards for British Film Producers of the Year. It has since been named by TimeOut London as one of the top 100 British films of all time. Other producing credits include Simon Ellis’ AS DEAD AS IT GETS for interactive mobile platform Whatifi; Justin Molotnikov’s CRYING WITH LAUGHTER (SXSW 2009, Best Film - BAFTA Scotland Awards 2009); and Muayad Alayan’s A HOUSE IN JERUSALEM, currently in post-production.
ANY MEANS NECESSARY
DRAMA | UK
An activist discovers her long-term partner is an undercover police officer tasked to spy on her, and her world is destroyed. Heartbroken, paranoid, and desperate to know the whole truth, she fights against all odds to expose the dark heart of Britain's secret political force. Based on a true story.
Sandra Goldbacher, Director
For her first feature, THE GOVERNESS, starring Minnie Driver, Sandra was nominated for a best newcomer BAFTA and won both the Audience Award and Special Debut at Karlovyvary. Her second feature, ME WITHOUT YOU, starring Michelle Williams, was also BAFTA nominated. Her BBC1 adaptation of the Noel Streatfeild novel BALLET SHOES, starring Emma Watson, won Best Director at the Rome TV Festival. Recent credits include directing THE ACCIDENT by Jack Thorne for Channel 4 and Hulu, and ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE for Amazon, starring Bill Nighy. She is set to direct the upcoming drama about Jimmy Savile, THE RECKONING, for BBC1.
DIRECTOR:
SANDRA GOLDBACHER
WRITER:
Kefi Chadwick
PRODUCERS:
ANNA GRIFFIN, ALASTAIR CLARK
Anna Hall, Executive Producer
Anna has been making films for over 20 years. She's been nominated for 4 BAFTAS and is the only woman ever to be nominated in two consecutive years for the BAFTA CRAFT Best Factual Director Award. She's best known for her 17 year enquiry into gang grooming and broke the Child Sexual Abuse story in 2004 with her first feature length doc 'Edge of the City' for Channel 4. Since then she's made a further two films on the subject for Channel 4 and won the hugely prestigious Women in Film & TV Best Factual award and the RTS Journalism Award for "The Hunt for Britain's Sex Gangs" in 2013. She has gone on to make films about forced marriage and honour based abuse; domestic violence and coercive control. In the last year she has directed Torn Apart and The Family Secret for Channel 4, and A Day in a Life of Coronavirus Britain which was filmed in a day and transmitted 3 days later! In 2021 she won the Women in Film & TV Best Producer Award. Anna is Creative Director & Executive Producer of Candour Productions and sees the company as fulfilling her life-long dream of providing a home for film-makers in the north of England.
THE PAEDOPHILE RING NEXT DOOR
DOCUMENTARY | UK
From the outside, Peter and Judith are a normal middle-class couple, but in 2019, Derbyshire Police uncovered an evil secret they had been hiding for more than 30 years. A powerful, shocking British crime story that uncovers historic child sexual abuse and its ordinary disguise.
Rebecca Coxon, Director/Producer
Rebecca is a shooting Director/Producer with experience across BAFTA-nominated BBC One, Two, Three and Channel 4 observational and current affairs documentaries in the UK and abroad. Experienced working with vulnerable contributors in sensitive environments; particularly young people affected by abuse, victims and perpetrators of crime and those with mental health issues. Rebecca has worked closely with various police forces, ambulances, hospitals and social services around the UK. Experienced, creative shooter with FS7, C300, XF305. Skilled at negotiating difficult access. Strong casting and development skills with keen journalistic and editorial eye. Rebecca's debut film for Channel 4 received a 5 star review in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/nov/13/britains-child-drug-runners-review-devastating-tales-of-modern-slavery and in 2020 she was the winner of the ‘Debut Director’ award at the TV Foundation New Voice Awards 2020. In 2016, she was one of Edinburgh Television Festival's ‘Ones to Watch’ and have previously pitched, won and directed two funded commissions at Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2014 and 2018. For the last 18 months she has been filming, producing and directing a 1-hour documentary for BBC One's Current Affair's strand, Panorama, that follows people through the criminal justice process after reporting rape. She's also been filming a 5-part series about midwives in Yorkshire for BBC Two.
DIRECTOR/PrODUCER:
REBECCA COXON
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
ANNA HALL
Neil Champagne, Producer
Working as a producer and the head of development for tinygiant, Neil is an integral part of both the commercial and scripted divisions of the company. Neil has over a decade of producing experience and oversees creative workflow in both departments. In 2020, Neil and tinygiant produced the Netflix feature Ali and the Ratu Ratu Queens with Indonesian production company Palari Films. The project went on to be nominated for best picture at the Indonesian International Film Festival. Additionally, Neil’s feature project The Gate was selected as a finalist in the 2020 Whistler Film Festival power pitch competition. Prior to joining the tinygiant team, Neil worked and produced alongside veteran executive producer Robert C. Cooper on the series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency for BBC America and co-produced the series Unspeakable for CBC/Sundance Channel (New York Times Best Series of 2019). His other notable TV credits include FX’s Fargo, Starz’s The Girlfriend Experience and Netflix’s Blackstone.
THE PILL
COMEDY | CANADA, USA
Set in the summer of the ’90s, a spirited 13-year old with a proclivity for bending the truth gets in over her head with a white lie, all the while trying to assemble a misfit team to run on a local streetball court.
Jenn Shaw, Writer/Director
Jenn is an award-winning NYC writer/director and alumna of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her bold and cinematic filmmaking has both distinctive humor and dramatic instinct. As a former ESPN producer, her career was cultivated by many years of working with the NBA, WNBA, NFL and MLB leagues. Her passion for creating strong character-driven sports and coming-of-age stories is evidenced in her directorial campaigns for brands including Facebook, Capital One, KIA, USAA, Complex, Pizza Hut, and Verizon; as well as in her narrative shorts and documentary films. She has directed several short films exhibiting at major festivals including Pan African Film Festival, Hollyshorts, Edmonton International, and two appearances at the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival (2017, 2020). Her ESPN film $15 Kicks was executive produced by legendary director Spike Lee, and it earned her a selection in the 2017 Shoot Magazine’s New Director DGA Showcase and a Black Reel Award. In the past three years, she has directed three episodes of NFL Football Town and a documentary film called The Superbowl That Wasn’t for the NFL Network. Shaw is also an alumna of the Fox Network’s Diversity Writers Program and participated in Gotham’s 2020 Episodic Program with her pilot and series Afro. Recently, she finished two short films I Won The Lottery (Wavelength FIlms) and Charlie and the Hunt starring Marvel’s first deaf superhero Lauren Ridloff (Eternals, Walking Dead) which was the winner of the 2021’s Women in Media CAMERAderie Showcase. Those films are both in the 2022 film festival circuit. Currently, she is an executive producer and director on an upcoming series with Vice and Religion of Sports. Shaw is managed by Anonymous Content and repped by Sola Fasehun.
WRITER/DIRECTOR:
JENN SHAW
PRODUCER:
NEIL CHAMPAGNE
Nicole Teeny, Producer
Nicole Teeny is a queer Lebanese-American filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Her Slamdance award-winning debut documentary BIBLE QUIZ garnered played theatrically nationwide, was on Netflix, and on Sundance Channel in 20 countries, and was selected for the US State Department’s “American Film Showcase”. It was critically acclaimed and garned over 10 festival awards including Audience Award, Best Documentary, and Emerging Director awards. L.A.Times said it was “smart, funny, and disarming.” and San Francisco Bay Guardian said it is “a film that people will remember for years to come.” Her other work has been on HuffPost, Bloomberg Video, NowThis, and featured in textbooks, and exhibited widely including at the Viennale and in hundreds of museums and film festivals worldwide. Her short documentary UNITY MOSQUE is currently on the film festival circuit (including InsideOut, Cleveland International, Hamptons International, Seattle International, and more) and for it she has been awarded best director awards. Nicole’s short script PUBLIC POOL was workshopped at the Berlinale and won 6 screenwriting awards. Nicole’s work has been supported and a part of organizations like International Documentary Association (IDA Enterprise), Tribeca, Berlinale, LEF Foundation, and been an artist in residence at VCCA, Arts Kibbutz, Brush Creek Arts Foundation. When not making films she can be found running long-distance trails around the world or designing activist art through her alias Nasty Ribbons.
THE SARAH HEGAZI DOCUMENTARY
DOCUMENTARY | LEBANON, USA
Determined to change Egypt, LGBTQ activist Sarah Hegazi was the first in Egypt to raise the rainbow flag publicly. The act brought LGBTQ issues out of the shadows but cost her imprisonment, torture, exile, & ultimately her life. However, she changed not just Egypt but the world.
Nicole Teeny, Director / Producer
Nicole Teeny is a queer Lebanese-American filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Her Slamdance award-winning debut documentary BIBLE QUIZ garnered played theatrically nationwide, was on Netflix, and on Sundance Channel in 20 countries, and was selected for the US State Department’s “American Film Showcase”. It was critically acclaimed and garned over 10 festival awards including Audience Award, Best Documentary, and Emerging Director awards. L.A.Times said it was “smart, funny, and disarming.” and San Francisco Bay Guardian said it is “a film that people will remember for years to come.” Her other work has been on HuffPost, Bloomberg Video, NowThis, and featured in textbooks, and exhibited widely including at the Viennale and in hundreds of museums and film festivals worldwide. Her short documentary UNITY MOSQUE is currently on the film festival circuit (including InsideOut, Cleveland International, Hamptons International, Seattle International, and more) and for it she has been awarded best director awards. Nicole’s short script PUBLIC POOL was workshopped at the Berlinale and won 6 screenwriting awards. Nicole’s work has been supported and a part of organizations like International Documentary Association (IDA Enterprise), Tribeca, Berlinale, LEF Foundation, and been an artist in residence at VCCA, Arts Kibbutz, Brush Creek Arts Foundation. When not making films she can be found running long-distance trails around the world or designing activist art through her alias Nasty Ribbons.
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER:
NICOLE TEENY
Oliver Ridge, Producer
Oliver is a British born filmmaker now residing in the USA. Oliver has produced multiple independent films and documentaries winning awards along the way. He was a recipient of the BAFTA LA Newcomer award, and his documentary ‘Valerie,’ won best documentary short at the American documentary film festival. Valerie was also in consideration for the Oscars 2020. Oliver’s current projects include producing Jon Hamm’s new film, CORNER OFFICE, alongside Anonymous Content; SHRIVER, starring Kate Hudson and Michael Shannon and his first foreign language project. A gay rights film in Pakistan called JOYLAND which he produced with Oscar nominee Ramin Bahrani. In addition, this past fall he directed and produced a new Television series called WHISK(E)Y in Kentucky.
THE SPIRIT OF WOMEN
DOCUMENTARY | SCOTLAND, usa
An intimate look at the women paving the way for females in the male-dominated world of whiskey and bourbon. These trailblazing women are changing the landscape while taking on the social issues of sexism, race, and gender equality.
Leigha Kingsley, Sarah Moshman, Co-Directors
Leigha Kingsley is an actress, writer, producer and director in Los Angeles. She is originally from Kentucky which is where her fascination with women in the distilling industry began. As an actress, she has worked on films with Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Riley Keough, Kristen Wiig and guest starred on shows like CRIMINAL MINDS. Most recently she shot OYAKODON, which was directed by Emmy nominated and this year’s Critics Choice Award nominated director Roxy Shih. Leigha began writing to help create stronger female roles and female driven stories. Leigha’s feature film and television scripts have been finalists for; SUNDANCE, HBO Project Greenlight, New York Television Festival, shortlisted with Breaking Through The Lens, and most recently her one-hour television drama based on true stories of women in America in the early twentieth- century is currently in development. Leigha also Co-Executive Produced the feature film THE NEIGHBOR, starring William Fichtner which was purchased by Starz, and most recently Executive-Produced the television series WHISK(E)Y.
Sarah Moshman is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and TEDx speaker whose work has been featured on Netflix, PBS, Upworthy, Marie Claire, CNN, and Good Morning America. Sarah has directed and produced 3 feature-length documentaries: The Empowerment Project: Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things (2014), Losing Sight of Shore (2017) and NEVERTHELESS (2020). Sarah is dedicated to telling stories that uplift, inform and inspire as well as showcase strong female role models on screen. Prior to focusing on documentaries Sarah worked as a field producer on the hit ABC show Dancing with the Stars for 10 seasons as well as shows on NBC, MTV, Lifetime, Bravo and the Food Network. She also directs branded content for EllenTube, Tastemade, Mattel, AT&T and more. Sarah is an inspiring public speaker and an adjunct professor in documentary film, passionate about empowering the next generation of storytellers.
co-DIRECTORS:
LEIGHA KINGSLEY, SARAH MOSHMAN
PRODUCERS:
OLIVER RIDGE, LEIGHA KINGSLEY
Caryn Capotosto and Lauren Greenfield, Producers
Caryn Capotosto is an award-winning documentary producer known for WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?, a feature documentary about Mister Rogers that won a 2019 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary as well as a Producers Guild Award and Critics’ Choice Award for Best Documentary. She received a 2016 News and Documentary Emmy Award for her role as co-producer on BEST OF ENEMIES and she was associate producer on the Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning documentary, 20 FEET FROM STARDOM (2013). Other projects include FEELS GOOD MAN, which won a Special Jury Award at Sundance 2020 (Producer), SHANGRI-LA, a music doc series for Showtime (Co-Executive Producer 2019) and the Emmy-nominated Netflix series UGLY DELICIOUS and BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER (Executive Producer 2019-2020).
Lauren Greenfield, Executive Producer - Named by The New York Times as “America’s foremost visual chronicler of the plutocracy,” Emmy-award-winning filmmaker/photographer Lauren Greenfield is a two-time Directors’ Guild and Writers’ Guild award nominee known for the groundbreaking work she has created on consumerism, youth culture and gender for the past 25 years. Her documentary films Thin, The Queen of Versailles, Generation Wealth and The Kingmaker, and photography from her monographs, Fast Forward, Girl Culture, Thin and Generation Wealth have been screened, published, and exhibited around the world, as well as collected by cultural institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), J. Paul Getty Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), Smithsonian, and the International Center of Photography.
WE ARE PAT
HYBRID DOCUMENTARY | USA
We Are Pat is a hybrid documentary exploring the evolution of gender identity through the lens of the iconic Saturday Night Live sketch It’s Pat. Trans and non-binary comedians reimagine and rewrite the Pat sketches, using humor to reclaim a character that has long maligned us.
Ro Haber, Writer/Director
Ro Haber is an aesthetically-minded Writer/Director who works at the intersections of doc, narrative and new media. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch, they were a 2018 Sundance Momentum Fellow and New Frontier Lab fellow. They were selected for the Universal Pictures Directing Lab, AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, Film Independent’s Episodic Lab and Project Involve, Outfest’s Screenwriting Lab, and were a shadowing director on FX’s Pose. They were featured on The Alice Initiative’s 2018 list of directors ready to helm studio films, Indiewire’s 8 Best Trans Directors Working Today, and have been a fellow at Yaddo and MacDowell Artist Residencies. They recently served as an advisor for Sundance’s first ever Trans Possibilities Lab. They won a Webby, New Orleans Film Festival, and LA Film Festival awards and were nominated for a GLAAD award for their series, New Deep South. Their series Braddock, PA (Topic) gained critical attention from The New York Times and The New Yorker. They directed short documentaries Stonewall Forever for Stink Studios and Celestial for Tribeca Studios. Recently, they directed the finale for the Gotham-nominated FX x Killer Films series, Pride. They are directing a hybrid documentary EPed by Lauren Greenfield, Caroline Libresco and produced by Caryn Capotosto entitled We Are Pat about the 90s SNL cult figure Pat. They are attached to direct Amasia Entertainment’s trans coming-of-age film, Handsome and their film Shell.ai, a modern feminist horror retelling of the Frankenstein story from the perspective of a female technologist, is being produced by Seaview. They and their collaborators won an SFFILM Rainin Grant for the project they are attached to direct, Since I Laid My Burden Down by Brontez Purnell and Savannah Knoop. They are currently a Sundance Art of Practice Fellow, and recently won a MacArthur Grant for their project, We Are Pat.