THE CRITICS CIRCLE || FESTIVAL HOMEPAGE ||  THE FESTIVAL FILMS

THE FILMMAKERS || THE COMPETITION FILMS || FESTIVAL AWARDS

------------------

THE FILMMAKERS

Behold! The Future of Cinema

DANIEL BANG (New York University)

Daniel Bang was born and raised in Southern California with two old parents and an old older brother – an eight year difference.  Currently, he attends New York University and has ambitions of becoming a professional writer, filmmaker, and a stand up comedian.  He has written two feature length screenplays – one of which won him the top prize in a high school screenwriting competition.  He enjoys eating cookies.

ELIZABETH BARKER (New York University)

Elizabeth Barker was born and raised in southwestern Connecticut. After two years studying film history and theory at Barnard College, Columbia University, she moved down to Greenwich Village to pursue film and television production at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Since graduating she has worked as a freelance production assistant with the Food Network and is excited to continue writing and directing. 

JORDAN BLAKE (Brigham Young University)

Jordan Blake is currently a Media Arts Major at Brigham Young University.  He began his film career prestigiously in the 5th grade, writing and directing such politically charged films as Ralph Nader Must Die.  As he matured, he realized the ripe possibility of parody.  In this period, he crafted many hilarious short films, including The Blake Witch Project, 17 Candles, and Harry, Catch The Snitch!  Recently, Blake has recognized the pathetic nature of his love life, resulting in a new wave of sad sap romantic comedies that would make Woody Allen proud.  Eventually, Blake plans on leaving the film industry to become an Astronaut. 

JOSEPH CARNEGIE (Chapman University)

Joseph Carnegie is a freshman at Chapman University majoring in Film Production. He grew up in LA and has been making movies for 10 years, concentrating on sketch comedy. He enjoys writing three sentence biographies about himself and sarcasm.

REBECCA CHAN (University of San Francisco)

Rebecca Chan is leaving her sophmore year behind and heading off towards her third year.  She has been enrolled in production this past school year, making 2 shorts (Apples of Yesterday and Things Bright and Interesting) and will continue doing so in Milan next spring in 2010.  Her long term project is to work on collaboration for a future movie-musical called IOWA! THE MUSICAL a satirical glittery tribute to Iowa legalizing gay marriage.

NELSON A. CUELLAR (American University)

Nelson A. Cuellar is a native of Washington DC.  He is currently a student in the American university Film and Media MFA program.  He works full time as an editor for Fairfax Public Television in Merrifield, Virginia.  He has produced the 16mm short film “Ghost 2” as well as several other short works.  Nelson currently lives with his wife, Jessica in Alexandria, VA.  He would like to thank his family and friends for their continuing support and love.  Thanks also to Phil Carluzzo for his music and love.

CHRIS DUCE (Brigham Young University)

Chris Duce is a film student at BYU. He once produced a short film that was in Sundance called Nobody Knows You, Nobody Gives a Damn. He's super into girls.

MAX GOLDBERG (Dartmouth College)

Max Goldberg is an aspiring filmmaker and member of the Class of 2012 at Dartmouth College. Hailing from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Max’s film career began in his freshman year at Holland Hall School, when he was assigned to make a video adaptation of a scene from Shakespeare’s Macbeth for English class. Although the limited means of production made for a decidedly goofy product, movie making captivated Max forever after. Since then, he has continued to develop his craft through study at Chapman University in Orange, CA and the University of Tulsa, and through the independent production of numerous short narrative, documentary, and promotional projects. Max’s work has been exhibited at the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest Arts Festival and the Holland Hall Branch Theater. He is currently working as Director of Photography on a Dartmouth student production, Worship Me, due for release summer 2009.

MEL GONZALEZ (University of Chicago)

Mel Gonzalez is a graduating undergraduate Music and Philosophy major at the University of Chicago that has been working with film for the past 4 years. Gonzalez was on Fire Escape Films’s committee for 3 years and is still an active member. He has worked on various projects before but Vetting Wail is his first solo production. He is currently working on a 30 minute piece to be accompanied with live improvised music.

JUSTIN HACKMAN (American University)

Justin Hackman has an MA in Film and Video from American University.  His goal in life is to always have a story to tell.

ANDY HERIAUD (New York University)

Andy Heriaud is a young man with a varied verbiage that is most verbose.  As a film student entering his second year at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (may he request a “what, what”?), he has created innumerable short projects ranging from radio plays to video installations.  With aspirations of becoming a screenwriter, Heriaud is currently collaborating on the teleplay of a twelve-hour miniseries with friend and fellow scribe Kaitlin Kelly.  When not toiling at his computer, he can be found discussing the finer points of Stephanie Meyer’s populist antifeminist “literature” with girlfriend Michelle Warren.  He enjoys a good sandwich.

HARRY KAGAN & ZACH PULS (Ithaca College)

Harry Kagan and Zach Puls are both Cinema & Photography majors at Ithaca College. Harry is from Chicago and Zach is from Long Island. This is the first film they have made together, though not the last.

TING KANG (Dartmouth College)

Ting is a Master of the Arts in Liberal Studies at Dartmouth College. She had never used Flash prior to the production of her animation Be Your Man.

KYLE KELLEY (Ithaca College)

Kyle is a Cinema & Photography student at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY.  He got his start in video production at South Burlington High School in South Burlington, VT, and has been immersed in it ever since.  In addition to the films he makes in school, Kyle regularly enters contests online.  He was on the second place team in the 2005 eSchoolNews/Discovery Student Video Discovery awards, he was on the 15th place team in the 2007 Apple Insomnia film contest, he won an honorable mention in the 2008 48-Hour Ivy Film Festival, and he won the 2008 Around June: Cut Your Own Trailer Contest.Kyle also works as a videographer and photographer for an on-campus online magazine, and works on the staff of Park Productions, the school’s in-house professional production company. Kyle is currently working on various small projects and is in the process of co-writing a film for his thesis production class, which will take place next spring.

KAITLIN KELLY (New York University)

Kaitlin Kelly is young woman, who after flirting with several careers before the age of sixteen (ballerina, playwright, and professional photographer), finally moved from her house in the backwoods of Seattle, Washington and settled for going to college in the fantastic city of New York at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. After spending years attending theatre festival after theatre festival as a playwright, she gave up the stage and decided film was way better. She is currently slaving away over a twelve-hour miniseries with her partner in crime, Andy Heriaud. When she can escape his demands, she enjoys running her photography business, anything and everything Scottish, and engaging in exploits of extreme nerdiness with her beautiful girlfriend, Mihael.

MOLLY KHALIL (Dartmouth College)

Molly Khalil was born and raised in Seal Beach, CA.  She plays Division I Softball at Dartmouth College and was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week twice this season.  Prior to this work, she had no previous animation experience. Khalil took an animation class with David Ehrlich in the winter, and her work was featured in the 17th Annual Dartmouth Animation Film Festival.

ZIYE LIN (Dartmouth College)

Ziye has worked on numerous film projects, as well as for MTV and VH1. “Making a Living” is his second documentary film. It was selected for screening at the White River Independent Film Festival.  Currently, he is working on a new short film that will premier on the Dartmouth campus in the Spring of 2009.

JACK MAYER (University of Chicago)

Jack Mayer is  a third year Cinema and Media Studies Major at the University of Chicago. He has done extensive video work for the school and for various theatres associated with the University. Additionally, He has written and directed a number of feature and short films, including: She Died Almost Happy (2006) (89min, DV, B&W), Terminus (2008) (91 min, DV, Color), Three Stories (2007) (16min, DV, Color), Pushing 23 (2009) (18min, HD, Color), A Girl Named Clyde (2009) (HD, Color)

DIEP NGOC PHAM (Dartmouth College)

Diep Pham is originally from Vietnam but she has been living in the U.S. for six years.  At Dartmouth, she majored in Economics and minored in Film & Television Studies. Her passion for filmmaking has started as early as 2005 when she went back to Vietnam with two friends and made a documentary about her home country to show at her high school. At college, she took two production courses in the Film department, when she made a handful of short films on her own or in collaboration with her classmates. Diep has graduated and is now working for an economic consulting firm in Washington DC. Despite her busy schedule, she has been sketching out ideas for her next projects.

WILLIAM SEIDMAN (Chapman University)

William Seidman attended Oak Park High School and is currently a student at Dodge College School of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. He is developing a project for Summer 2009 set in the San Fernando Valley.

MONICA SHAPIRO (Ithaca College)

Monica Shapiro is attending Ithaca College for a degree in Cinema & Photography.  She is also minoring in Audio Production and aspires to work on feature-length sound design projects.  Monica attended the New York Film Academy several years ago and thus started receiving formal instruction about filmmaking, although she has been making movies since elementary school with friends and family.  Monica enjoys using editing programs and is especially fascinated with the possibilities Final Cut Pro presents amateur/independent filmmakers.  This is her first film festival.

KEVIN SLEE (Chapman University)

Kevin M. Slee is a student at Chapman University majoring in Film Production, Screenwriting, and Political Science. As a filmmaker, his resume is long and diverse with festival wins in directing, writing, and nominations in acting. Some of his most notable works include his 2007 film The Petals & The Thorns starring the Emmy nominated editor Steven Sprung (Arrested Development, Entourage), Peter’s Prayer, a story about a boy who looses his mother to the September, 11th attacks, and most recently The King of the Jews also starring Steven Sprung along with Ryan Healy and Drew Parkhill (Eli & The Golden Fish) which is currently in post-production. Slee’s credits also include work on acclaimed AFI films such as Eggbaby and The Response as well as the feature film Dispatch (Dir. Steven Sprung.) Currently, Slee is working with producer David Foster (The Thing, The Mask of Zoro, Hart’s War) as well as developing his drama, The Journal of Jonathan Gacy (2010). Slee is a determined, creative individual, and has a great deal of passion for life and for storytelling.

HEIDI TAN (Dartmouth College)

Heidi made her first foray into cartoon drawing when she was five – her older sister and her attempted to create an illustrated storybook series on the lives of two turtles. Fourteen years later and on a whim, she decided to take an animation class and ended up loving it.  Heidi grew up halfway around the world, in the sunny island-state of Singapore. She is currently a sophomore Psychology major and Education minor at Dartmouth College, but is still dabbling in film and animation.

PAOLA TAPIA-LIMON (American University)

Paola Tapia-Limon recently graduated from the Film and Visual Media program at American University. After transferring from Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, Tapia-Limon realized that telling stories, whether others’ or her own, had become an obsession and that film was the best way to do it. She interned for National Geographic, and although she is fascinated by documentaries, she is drawn to fictional stories that show life through the eyes of other people. Tapia-Limon studied for one semester at FAMU (Prague, Czech Republic), where she learned to work with 16mm film and produced her first short film. She is currently working a second short film based on a real character as well as Martes (Tuesday), the second part of her animation Lunes that she would like to transform into a series.

GEORGE THORMAN (Dartmouth College)

George Thorman was born in 1988 in Lincoln, Nebraska and now lives in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.  He is a sophomore at Dartmouth College majoring in Geography and Film and is currently (spring 2009) studying Arabic and development economics in Fes, Morocco.  Sam the Super Sticky is George’s first film project (hopefully with more to follow).

STEPHEN TRINGALI (American University)

Stephen Tringali is a senior film student studying at American University. He hopes to pursue a career working as a professional cinematographer on feature films and music videos.

ZACH WECHTER (Chapman University)

Zach Wechter grew up with a mini-VHS JVC video camera that never left his side.  He has made several of his own short films and collaborated with other filmmakers since then.  He currently attends Chapman University’s film school, Dodge College, and plans to focus in directing and writing.  Zach generally thinks movies are completely rad.   He loves watching, learning about, and making them.  And, more often than not, he loves making people laugh.

JEREMY WARNER (Brigham Young University)

Jeremy Warner was born in a log cabin in Idaho.  He is now a senior in and the top dog of Brigham Young University's Media Arts School.  Jeremy is a filmmaker, a teacher, an electro-musician, and a hopscotch champion.

If you would like to get in touch with any of the filmmakers, or learn more about the festival, please email the festival director, Peter Stein, at peter.j.stein@dartmouth.edu