Jubilee 2008 Visiting Filmmakers

Nanobah Becker

 Nanobah Becker is a member of the Navajo Nation (mom's Navajo, dad's German-American); from Albuquerque, NM. Nanobah is a producer, director, and writer. She received a 2005 Sundance Institute Ford Fellowship. her short film Flat screened at a number of festivals and venues. Conversion, Flat

Ms. Becker received her BA in Anthropology from Brown in 1997, MFA in directing from Columbia University in 2006
Upon completing her undergraduate work at Brown University, she shuttled between the East Coast, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque, where she grew up. “I guess like a lot of teenagers, I wanted to leave home and learn a different life and I was good at school and that was the one thing that could get me somewhere,” Becker recalled. But as soon as she finished college, she returned home to work for the Navajo Nation AmeriCorps Program in New Mexico, and spent almost three years working at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute before deciding to pursue film full time. “I feel most home in New Mexico,” she said, “but at the same time there’s a part of me that’s driven and tells me I can make it in L.A.” She has been described as “well-spoken, focused, and honest to her personal vision”.

Meaghan Brander

http://tiffg.ca

  Meaghan Brander holds a degree in Film Studies from Canada's Queen's University. She has worked at the Toronto International Film Festival Groups for three years, most recently as a Programming Assistant at Film Circuit, TIFFG's division devoted to promoting Canadian cinema across Canada and abroad. In this capacity, she has had the opportunity to coordinate screenings of some of Canada's best and most popular films at festivals and other venues as far-reaching as Iceland and Mumbai.

She has also been long immersed in the world of short films and short film programming. Her first film, I Got Sweet, screened at various short film festivals across Canada, and won several awards. Since she began her employment at TIFFG, she has been programming short films in over 200 markets, travelling as far north as Dawson City, Yukon to view short films at film festivals across the country. She also served on the programming committee of Canadian Short Film Showcase, a TIFFG initiative, for the past two years.

Peter Broderick

http:www.peterbroderick.com

Peter Broderick is President of Paradigm Consulting, which helps filmmakers and media companies develop strategies to maximize distribution, audience, and revenues. In addition to advising on sales and marketing, Paradigm Consulting specializes in state-of-the-art distribution techniques—including innovative theatrical service deals, hybrid video strategies (mixing retail and direct sales online), and new approaches to global distribution.

Broderick was President of Next Wave Films, which supplied finishing funds and other vital support to filmmakers from the US and abroad. He helped launch the careers of such exceptionally talented directors as Christopher Nolan, Joe Carnahan, and Amir Bar-Lev. In January 1999, Broderick established Next Wave Films’ Agenda 2000, the world’s first entity devoted to financing digital features.

A key player in the growth of the ultra-low budget feature movement, Broderick became one of the most influential advocates of digital moviemaking. He has given presentations on digital production at festivals worldwide and written articles for Scientific American, The New York Times, and The Economist. In 2004 Broderick launched Films to See Before You Vote, harnessing the power of film to impact the US presidential election. He is a graduate of Brown University, Cambridge University, and Yale Law School.

Now focused on the revolution in film distribution, Broderick gives keynotes and presentations internationally, most recently at Cannes, Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Brisbane, New York, and Los Angeles. He served as Program Co-Director of Digimart, the global digital distribution summits held in Montreal in 2005 and 2006. His seminal article, “Maximizing Distribution,” has been reprinted in publications around the world.

Sydney Levin

www.newline.com

  Sydney T. Levin is Vice President of Alternative Programming. Her credits include Amish in the City, America's Next Top Model, Big Brother, The Family and The Bachelor. In addition to developing and serving as Executive Producer of the landmark documentary series High School Confidential for Wetv, she is involved with a number of projects, including Family Foreman featuring Heavyweight Champion George Foreman for TV Land this summer and a series of specials for A&E entitled Confronting Justice, which was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

She previously worked as a Producer at CNN and as Manager of Original Programming for Turner Original Productions, a documentary unit of Turner Broadcasting. Her other experiences include broadcast production in advertising and working with the international broadcasters at the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia and the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.
Based in New Line’s Los Angeles office, Sydney is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana with a B.A. in English Literature.

Ben Niles

www.notebynotethemovie.com

  Ben Niles is a documentary filmmaker and award-winning graphic designer. His first documentary, Josh Joplin: Better Days, about the recording industry and the role of the singer-songwriter, received industry acclaim. His latest film, Note By Note, premiered at SilverDocs and has won the International Documentary Association Alan Ett Award for Best Music Documentary.

As a graphic designer, he directed and produced photoshoots, videos, commercials and print campaigns for clients including Atlantic Records, The Nantucket Film Festival and the Jacob Burns Film Center. He created album packages for Collective Soul and Jewel and celebrated box-sets for Phish and George Carlin.

A graduate of the University of Georgia at Athens, Ben attended UGA’s Cortona program, an intensive fine arts study-abroad program located in Cortona, Italy.

Shannon O'Rourke

www.shannonorourke.com

 Shannon has worked in non-fiction television for the past 15 years as a writer-producer-director for networks including CBS, A&E, Discovery, TLC, and Court-TV. She graduated from UC-Berkeley with High Honors.

Her documentary debut, In the Name of Love, about Russian mail-order brides, was edited by Yana Gorskaya (Spellbound) and Executive Produced by Sydney Pollack. It won a Cine Golden Eagle Award, and best documentary awards at the Portland Women's Festival, Temecula Film Festival; and Honorable Mention at the Berkeley Video & Film Festival. It was acquired by the Discovery Times Channel and international broadcasters including YLE (Finland,) Kanal 5 (Sweden,) Discovery Health (UK,) Spain's Educational channel and French Canadian TV.

Maybe Baby, her second documentary film follows several single women on their journey to becoming mothers. It premiered at SXSW and has played at several other festivals, winning the Grand Festival Award in Documentary at the Berkeley Video & Film Festival. The film is available for acquisition by foreign and domestic TV broadcasters.

Susan Petersen

www.shortsinternational.com

  Susan is the VP of Global Film Sales, Acquisition & Business Development for Shorts International and is owner and presidnet of Broken Arrow Entertainment. A graduate of the Ohio University Television and film program, Susan was formerly a VP of distribution and acquisition at Hypnotic and when it merged with Wellspring. She joined Shorts International after Wellspring became the Weinstein Company.

SHORTS INTERNATIONAL is the world’s leading short film company with the largest and most diverse film
catalogue devoted to short films representing over 3000 films to over 120 international broadcasters across every platform and every medium. More than half of the catalogue’s individual films have been nominated for or received international film awards, including the Cannes, Edinburgh, Clermont Ferrand and Sundance film festivals as well as the American Film Institute (AFI), USC, the Hypnotic catalog. This diverse catalog features both domestic and international films in their original language.Shorts International are providers of short films to the US and UK iTunes Stores. Their SHORTS™ are available for download and are regularly updated with new releases. Further information can be found at www.shortsinternational.com and www.shortstv.fr. The company is headquartered in London, England.

- VP of Global Film Sales & Acquisitions at Shorts International

Sarah Price

  Sarah Price is an award-winning filmmaker whose films include American Movie (1999—Grand Jury Prize winner for Best Documentary- Sundance Film Festival 1999), Caesar's Park (2000), The Yes Men (2003), and Summercamp! (2006). Additional work includes a music video for artist Har Mar Superstar, and artist David Robbins’ TV variety show, The Ice Cream Social (the MOMA-Paris 2004). Other notable credits include co-editor of Chris Smith's American Job (Sundance Film Festival 1996) and sound on Michael Moore's The Big One (1997).She grew up around the world, attending high school in Germany and Kenya. She received her BA from the University of Iowa and her MFA from the University of Wisconsin. A musician on the side, Sarah plays drums, formerly with the now-defunct Competitorr and The Horn Band.

Originally intent on being an actor, Sarah went to New York. Her first film experience was on the set of Ghostbusters 2, sorting the food on the craft table. Unhappy with that, she started taking film classes and learned about approaching it from a different way, and approaching it from an artist's perspective as opposed to an industry perspective. She got less interested in acting and more interested in documentaries.”Sherman’s March was sort of a pinnacle for me, and watching that just changed everything in my life. It's by Ross McElwee. It's a personal documentary. It has a very smart edge to it and it's humorous and raw. It changed the way I saw documentary and what I saw filmmaking was."

Ligiah Villalobos

   After several years as a studio executive, Writer/Producer/Director Ligiah Villalobos made a transition into the independent film community with the film, Dancing in September, an Official Selection to the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. It premiered on HBO in February, 2001.

Born in Mexico, Villalobos moved to the U.S. at the age of 11. She attended Brigham Young University, majoring in Cultural Geography and Dance.

Since arriving in Los Angeles, Villalobos has held several positions at studios including Director, Programming for Buena Vista Productions where she oversaw all television production in Latin America, including eight #1 rated Disney Club Shows in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. She also developed Navidad en las Americas (Christmas in the Americas) for Disney Records, which included a CD that landed at #8 on Billboard’s Latin Chart and two Prime Time TV Specials which aired in 18 countries around the world. She was later hired by Touchstone Television to oversee Walt Disney’s prestigious Writers Fellowship Program and Director’s Training Program.

After leaving Disney, Villalobos served as Director of Current Programming for the WB Network , overseeing six prime time series – four sitcoms and two dramas. She made a transition into film production when she became VP, Creative Affairs at Esparza/Katz Productions, working on two HBO Films, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and Walkout; and a movie for Newline Cinema, Price of Glory.

Since going independent, Villalobos has been a staff writer on the NBC show, ED, and sold TV projects to NBC, Showtime, and F/X. Her documentary One World screened at the L.A. International Latino Film Festival and the Texas Film Festival.

Most recently, Villalobos was the Head Writer on the Nick Jr. series, Go, Diego! Go! And is the Writer/Executive Producer on the feature film, Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), was an official selection at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. After a five studio bidding war, the film was acquired by Fox Searchlight and The Weinstein Company for worldwide distribution. It will premiere in theatres in March 2008.

Currently, Villalobos is writing, Diego Ascending, an adaptation of the Israeli film Bonjour, Monsieur Shlomi, for Salma Hayek’s production company, Ventanazul. She is also writing a biopic and developing a television series, Eastside/Westside with Sander/Moses and Eva Longoria’s production company, UnbeliEVAble for ABC/Family.

Villalobos was named “One of the 25 Most Powerful and Talented Hispanic Women in the Entertainment Industry” by the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Magazine in 2007.

Chel White

www.chelwhite.com

 Chel White has been making films independently for over 20 years. His work has been shown in film festivals all over the world and recognized with numerous awards. He is a recent recipient of a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship for a feature film currently in development.

Chel's work explores love, obsession, alienation, memories, and dreams. He uses allegory and frequently black humor to paint indelible pictures of the human experience. His narrative films are often told from the perspective of the estranged individual, the outsider looking in. Described as a cinematic poet, his work is intricate, sublime, and beautiful. Dreams and dream-influenced imagery are ongoing resources in his work. With a background in experimental film and animation, his short films consistently defy categorization.

From Sundance to Berlin to Hong Kong, Chel White's films have been exhibited in film festivals all over the world, and recognized with numerous awards. His work has screened at the Smithsonian Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the High Museum in Atlanta. Two commissioned projects White directed are in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In addition to his recent Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship, Chel White is the recent recipient of a Media Arts Fellowship from the Regional Arts & Culture Council (Portland, Oregon). He has also received grants from Creative Capital (New York), the Oregon Arts Commission, the Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowship (through the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, and the Northwest Film Center), and from the Pacific Pioneer Fund.

He is currently developing two feature film projects, one of which is based on his own experience of being stranded in a car for four days during a mountain snow storm.

In addition to filmmaking, Chel White is a world renowned director of commissioned work, including short films, music videos, commercials, television, feature film effects, audio, multi-media and performance. Chel's commercial and public service clients include Memorial Blood Center, OfficeMax, Reebok, Fila, Adidas, Lux, Lugz, Honda, Coca-Cola, and the Washington Department of Health. His television projects include satirical shorts for Saturday Night Live. In 2007 he was commissioned to create a film, titled Wind, for the organization Live Earth, sponsored by Al Gore. The film premiered opening night in the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and was a part of S.O.S., a concert and rally on the topic of global climate change that occurred simultaneously on July 7, 2007, in seven cities on seven continents.

Chel White is a graduate of Antioch University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Arts. He lives in Portland, Oregon.