As we celebrate over five decades of honoring creative visionaries, the Nashville Film Festival is thrilled to introduce our distinguished jury members for 2024. Comprising of industry veterans, celebrated filmmakers, and passionate scholars, our jury will play a pivotal role in selecting winners across fourteen diverse categories. Their expertise and vision are integral to honoring the best in film and storytelling. Explore their profiles to learn more about the remarkable individuals shaping this year’s festival.
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Narrative Feature
Jose Rodriguez
José F Rodriguez is a Senior Film Programmer at the Tribeca Festival, overseeing the festival’s Documentary Screening Committee and helping to determine the feature documentaries and fiction features that are pre-screened, shortlisted and invited for the festival. He has also directed the short films ADOLESCENCIA (2017), Mama,mama (2018) and JUNGLE X (2022).
Clemence Taillandier
Clémence Taillandier is an accomplished professional in the field of art-house film distribution, with two decades of experience. Until recently, she served as the Director of Theatrical Sales at Kino Lorber, a prominent independent art-house distributor. Her extensive background includes working with boutique distributors such as Zeitgeist Films, Film Movement, Music Box Films, and Good Deed Entertainment, where she honed her expertise in audience development and film distribution. Currently, Clémece operates her own distribution services, managing theatrical and festival bookings for boutique distributors mostly, including Film Movement. Throughout her career, Clémence has passionately collaborated with both emerging and acclaimed filmmakers, creating unique distribution opportunities for those working outside the mainstream. She is dedicated to providing audiences with thought-provoking, alternative voices in cinema, ensuring that films are experienced in their intended environment—a cinema. Her commitment to bringing diverse and compelling stories to the big screen continues to drive her work in the film industry.
Jasper Basch
Jasper joined Variance Films as their Head of Distribution in 2023, handling the theatrical distribution of films on behalf of distributors that include MUBI, Sideshow/Janus Films, Samuel Goldwyn Pictures, Apple, National Geographic Documentary Films, Screen Media Films, and Universal Pictures Content Group. He had previously been at Variance as an intern in 2012 and grew with the company becoming its Film Intelligence Officer in 2013.
Before rejoining Variance Films, Jasper served as IFC Films’ Head of Distribution, where he oversaw over thirty theatrical releases annually, ranging from traditional releases with full theatrical windows to day-and-date titles that gross seven figures, such as The Wretched, Relic, and The Rental, the last of which was the #1 movie in America for two consecutive weeks.
Prior to joining the team at IFC Films, Jasper was the Vice President of Theatrical Sales at Greenwich Entertainment, where he handled the distribution of multimillion-dollar grossing films that include Echo in the Canyon and Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.
Documentary Feature
Tishon Pugh
Tishon Pugh, a native of Georgia and raised in South Carolina, is a multifaceted storyteller, blending her talents as a screenwriter, filmmaker, and film programmer. Her journey in the film industry has been enriched by her participation in prestigious inaugural programming fellowships with the Outfest Fusion Film Festival and the Athena Film Festival. In her role as the Programming Coordinator for the New Orleans Film Society, Tishon is dedicated to curating impactful experiences, particularly through youth education initiatives and fostering sustainable community engagement. She is a proud member of Brown Girl Doc Mafia and IMAS (Indie Media Arts South), furthering her commitment to diverse storytelling and representation. Outside of any creative endeavors, Tishon enjoys bar trivia, thrifting and indulging in occasional rewatches of the cherished cult classic, “The Mummy” (1999), featuring the beloved duo of Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser.
Noopur Sinha
Noopur Sinha is a producer and writer with an extensive portfolio spanning 15 years in the Los Angeles and Indian industries, with experience across independent film, mainstream television, branded digital content and audio formats. She has produced seasons of unscripted docuseries for National Geographic including Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, Never Say Never with Jeff Jenkins, Restaurants at the End of the World, Appetite for Adventure etc. As Executive Producer of the feature documentary, And, Towards Happy Alleys, she has steered the film from a world premiere at Berlinale 2023, to many festivals globally including winning the Best International Film jury award at BAFICI (Argentina).
Her award-winning work as writer/ producer includes Hindi feature SHOEBOX (Winner, Grand Jury Prize at New York Indian Film Festival and Tasveer South Asian Film Festival Seattle), and a Hindi adaptation of Audible original EVIL EYE. She is a huge cinephile and leads the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) as Festival Producer, helping bring the best of independent South Asian cinema to LA. Noopur is a graduate of the prestigious Peter Stark Producing program at USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Sanora Bartels
Sanora’s most recent Documentary as Director/Writer, “TransTale: The Maria Roman Story”, features a transgender woman’s life culminating in wedding her cis-gender boyfriend in an historic downtown Los Angeles church.
Prior to this latest project, Sanora worked as a Producer on several feature documentaries including “Michael & Me” and “Taking the Hill: A Warrior’s Journey”, a documentary about PTSD. She also travelled all over the world as Field Producer and directed interviews for the documentary “Greedy, Lying Bastards”, executive produced by Daryl Hannah.
Sanora has also crewed as an Assistant Director on several television projects, notably for Discovery and NatGeo.
Sanora holds a Master of Professional Writing degree from University of Southern California. Comet Line, co-written with Carl Bartels, was a quarter-finalist in the PAGE Screenwriting Awards.As Documentary Faculty Chair at New York Film Academy, Los Angeles campus, Sanora was instrumental in creating curriculum that earned WASC accreditation for an MFA degree in Documentary.
Music Documentary Feature
Luke Wiget
Luke Wiget is an award-winning writer, director, and producer who lives in Nashville by way of Brooklyn. He grew up in Santa Cruz, California, where he played in punk and indie rock bands and ran a small recording studio. Luke has worked professionally as a copywriter, podcast producer, branding consultant, and adjunct English professor. He’s also driven forklifts, worked as a janitor, and today is a Senior Creative Director. He’s directed and produced web series, short documentaries, concert films, and podcasts for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Oh Boy Records, Contrary Western, WPLN, among others. Drawn to hi-fi productions in lo-fi locations, heart-forward stories, and finding poetry in unscripted, high-stakes moments, Luke’s work with artists from Dolly and Reba to Chris Shiflett, Amythyst Kiah, and Kelsey Waldon has won numerous awards and also given audiences an inside look into some of country and Americana’s most interesting characters and unexpected stories.
Lucy Lerner
A lifelong enthusiast of pop culture and cinema, Lucy Lerner is a programmer, curator and producer who has recently been working as the Senior Manager of Programming at AspenFilm, Senior Programmer at Mountainfilm and as the Curator and Producer for the Psychedelic Cinematique, a program of the Psychedelic Science Conference. Her diverse background includes a 17-year tenure at the Telluride Film Festival, where she served as the Managing Director of the SHOWcorps office. Lucy’s extensive expertise spans project direction, project management, programming, curation, production, and operations/event management. She has served on numerous festival juries and currently programs for a diverse range of film festivals.
Amanda Culkowski
As Vice President of Music Program Development at MTV/Paramount+, Amanda Culkowski is responsible for developing original music documentaries and talent driven series for MTV’s 170+ global channels, as well as P+ premium content.
Since joining the network in 2019 she has overseen the development and production of As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial, LOLLA: The Story of Lollapalooza – both of which premiered at Sundance this year – Hip Hop My House and Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? just to name a few.
Prior to MTV, Amanda was a part of the WE tv unscripted development team for nearly a decade. She has previously held positions at HGTV and at PBS member stations ThinkTV and WOUB.
She holds a Master of Arts degree from Ohio University. She is based in Brooklyn, New York and is originally from Toledo, Ohio.
Tennessee Feature
Claire Sisco King
Claire Sisco King is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Chair of Cinema & Media Arts, and Interim Chair of Theatre at Vanderbilt University. A critical cultural scholar of media and visual culture, she is the author of over twenty scholarly essays and two books. Her first book, Washed in Blood: Male Sacrifice, Trauma, and the Cinema (Rutgers University Press, 2011), considers representations of sacrificial violence as central to discourses of masculinity and nationhood in Hollywood cinema. Her second book, Mapping the Stars: Celebrity, Metonymy, and the Networked Politics of Identity (The Ohio State University Press, 2023), offers intertextual readings of celebrity culture in order to reframe popular rhetoric about subjectivity in the United States. Her recent work addresses the relationships between art, tourism, and racial and spatial justice in Nashville, including analyses of bachelorette party culture and public murals.
Jesse Edwards
esse is a three-time Emmy award-winning Director, Producer, Writer and Cinematographer. Jesse began work in film as an editor and worked through about every crew position until directing commercial campaigns for brands such as Disney, National Geographic, and BMW. In 2017 he began producing and directing episodic television including National Geographic’s Origins (2017), The Story of God (2019), and two seasons of the ESPN+ series: Draft Academy (2018, 2019). In 2020 his narrative filmmaking journey began with writing, directing, producing and DPing his debut feature film, The Stolen Valley. The Stolen Valley (2022) premiered at the Nashville Film Festival, was distributed worldwide by BlueFox Entertainment, opened in theaters across the USA, and is now available through Apple TV / Amazon. It has won over 10 awards including Best Narrative Feature (Kanab Film Festival), Best Cinematography (LAFA), Best Actress and Best Director (Utah Film Festival). Jesse’s work has been seen by mililons and has won many awards including an RFK Journalism Award, an Edward Murrow Award, 3 National Emmy Awards and over 30+ National Emmy Nominations.
Zuri Orbi
Zuri Obi is a Haitian-American artist raised with deep cultural roots in magical realism. As a Camerawomxn, she has collaborated with artists such as Solange and Lizzo, and as Creative Producer, her projects have screened at notable film festivals, including Sundance and won top awards at New Orleans Film Festival, AFI and BlackStar. Zuri also works as a Film Curator at New Orleans Film Society, where she champions community-centered cinematic experiences.
New Directors Feature
Alexandra Fredricks
Enthusiastic about functioning as a bridge between creators, industry, and audiences — Alexandra Fredricks handles Non-Theatrical Distribution and International Sales at Oscilloscope Laboratories, a Brooklyn-based independent film distribution company founded in 2008 by Adam Yauch. Previously, she held the positions of Programming and Operations Senior Manager at Metrograph and Film Screening Operations Manager at the Doha Film Institute (DFI). She has over 15 years of international experience in film exhibition organizations and festivals in New York, Qatar, Canada, Australia and The Netherlands, and has served over the years on a number of Jury and Screening Committees, and as a talent liaison for New York Film Festival (NYFF).
Adam Cobb
Adam Cobbis an Independent Spirit Award nominated producer based out of Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to producing Nicole Riegel’s award winning feature debut Holler, he re-teamed with IFC Films on her follow up, Dandelion, which was released in theaters around the country in July of 2024. He recently formed Room 252, a production company focused on helping first time filmmakers get their debut films into production. He is currently developing Selena Burks’ autobiographical narrative feature Rose from Concrete, based on her Sundance selected doc short Saving Jackie, as the company’s first feature.
Lauren Lukow
From the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Lauren Lukow is a Swiss-American producer based in LA. Lauren’s latest short, MARA HAS THREE JOBS IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, and had a theatrical window of distribution playing in select theaters in front of BARBIE and BLUE BEETLE. Her projects have screened at festivals around the world including Seattle, Palm Springs ShortFest, Nashville, RiverRun, Sarasota, Pan African, and LALIFF, among others. For nearly six years, Lauren worked for the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, recently as their Manager of Producing and Artist Support. In this role she oversaw the Producers Track and provided year-round creative and strategic support to 40+ fiction feature projects annually, helping to advance these projects from script stage to distribution. Before Sundance, Lauren was on the development team at Pixar Animation Studios where she supported their in-house filmmakers in the earliest phases of their creative process for features and shorts such as SOUL, LUCA, and PURL. Lauren is a 2024 Film Independent Project Involve Producing Fellow, a 2024 NYU Production Lab Development Studio Fellow, and presently serves on the Board for the University of Virginia’s Entertainment Club, her alma mater.
Narrative Shorts
Ula Śniegowska
Director of the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. The AFF is organized by the New Horizons Association (14th edition runs from November 5 till 11in 2024). It is the only event in Eastern Europe devoted solely to the promotion and presentation of independent film from the USA (including American Shorts section). Ula also runs the US in Progress, a program in the framework of the AFF with the aim of fostering transatlantic collaboration and coproduction for feature narrative projects at rough-cut stage.
Rebecca Fons
Rebecca Fons is Director of Programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center, a public program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and serves as the Development and Programming Director for the historic Iowa Theater in her hometown of Winterset, IA. Rebecca previously served as Programming Director for FilmScene in Iowa City, IA; Director of Film at the John and Nancy Hughes Theater in Lake Forest, IL; and as Education Director for The Chicago International Film Festival for nearly a decade. Rebecca received her MA from Columbia College Chicago and BA from the University of Iowa. She is co-founder of the Chicago event series Destroy Your Art, and has proudly served on screening committees and juries for festivals across the country, including True/False, SXSW, the Seattle International Film Festival, and the Hawaii International Film Festival. In 2022, Fons was named Chicagoan of the Year in Film by the Chicago Tribune.
Murtada Elfadl
Murtada Elfadl is a culture writer, critic, and film curator. Originally from Khartoum, Sudan he’s currently based in New York. His writing has been published at Variety, The A.V. Club, and Backstage Magazine, among other publications. He’s currently a programmer at NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ Film Festival and at the documentary festival, DOC NYC.
Documentary Shorts
Mariah Kramer
Mariah Kramer is a multi-modal filmmaker with a focus on documentary filmmaking. Kramer is a Senior Lecturer in the Cinema and Media Arts at Vanderbilt University. She has received multiple awards for her work, which has been screened in festivals such as the Portland Oregon Women’s Film Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, and the Bend Film Festival. Mariah’s short documentary, This is My Home Now, was broadcast on PBS and the World Channel. Mariah is a co-founder of the UpTilt Film Fest, North Carolina’s only female & gender nonconforming film festival, where she now serves on the board of directors.
Nichole Young
Nichole Young is the Shorts Programmer at the American Film Institute’s AFI FEST. She has programmed for several festivals including Seattle International Film Festival, Indian Film Festival LA, and AFI DOCS; was a panelist at Atlanta Film Festival and NALIP; and has acted as a judge for both numerous student-run film festivals. She has also assisted in the success of hundreds of film organizations while working at the independent cinema platform, Eventive. Nichole holds a BFA in Broadcast Journalism from Chapman University and a Master’s degree in Film and Media Studies from Arizona State University. She currently resides in Phoenix, AZ and is excited to be a part of Nashville Film Festival this year!
Animated Shorts
Chance Huskey
Chance Huskey is the VP of Distribution at GKIDS, the Academy Award-winning distributor of animated films from around the world. He has led the North American theatrical releases of such films as CoMix Wave’s WEATHERING WITH YOU, Cartoon Saloon’s WOLFWALKERS, Studio Chizu’s BELLE and most recently Studio Ghibli’s THE BOY AND THE HERON.
Francisco Bello
Francisco Bello is an Academy Award® Nominated and Emmy® winning filmmaker. After entry level work starting in the early 2000’s – including Francis Ford Coppola’s MEGALOPOLIS, Kevin Smith’s JERSEY GIRL and Michael Moore’s FAHRENHEIT 9/11 – Francisco shot and produced SALIM BABA, a 2008 Best Short Documentary Oscar® and 2009 Emmy Nominee. He then produced and edited WAR DON DON, winner of the 2010 SXSW Special Jury Prize and two Emmy nominations. Additional highlights include editing the SXSW Narrative Grand Jury winning MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND, the Peabody winning BEST KEPT SECRET, Emmy nominee THE INTERPRETERS, Emmy winner 16 SHOTS and the triple Emmy winning THE FIRST WAVE. Among the multiple documentaries he’s worked on which featured animation, Francisco wrote and edited Barbara Kopple’s DESERT ONE, for which he was interviewed in Animation Magazine. He co-directed DREAMING AGAINST THE WORLD, seen at the Telluride Film Festival, the closing night of DocNYC and Asia Society. Francisco served on the board of the Karen Schemer Film Editing Fellowship, and is a member of A.C.E and the Documentary Branch of A.M.P.A.S.
Sofia Carillo
Sofia Carrillo is an Stop Motion Animation Film Director.
Winner of two silver Ariel for Best Animated short film from The Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences: Prita Noire in 2011, and Cerulia, 2017.
She is also the creator of the interstitials for the XX Anthology Horror Film, directed by Jovanka Vuckovic, Annie Clark, Roxanne Benjamin and Karin Kusama (Magnolia Pictures and XYZ Films), premiered at Sundance in 2017.
Her work has participated at Annecy, Sundance, Chicago, Tricky Women, Sitges, Habana film, Nashville festivals among others.
Sofia is an AMPAS (Oscar) and AMACC (Ariel) Academy member. She also collaborated in the second unit of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
Annecy Festival 2024 resident, with Insectarium, her first feature length film.
The Edge Shorts
Rebekah Iliff
Rebekah Iliff is a writer/producer and creative entrepreneur who has spent over 20 years working with brands to communicate value in compelling ways that drive growth. From developing thought leadership platforms and omni-channel marketing campaigns to producing native advertising campaigns and brand short films, her knowledge and skills are rooted in a deep understanding of people—and what motivates them toward taking action. As an award-winning author and filmmaker, Rebekah has received accolades and awards from Foreword Reviews, Publisher’s Weekly, Spy Magazine, Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop, Paris Shorts Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Critics Choice International Film Festival, and Hollywood Gold Awards, to name a few.
Maxwell Paparella
Maxwell Paparella is a writer and editor living in New York City. He currently serves as assistant editor at MUBI Notebook. Previously, he was the managing editor of Screen Slate. His criticism has appeared in BOMB Magazine, the Brooklyn Rail, Art Papers, Le Cinéma Club, Pioneer Works’ Broadcast, Monument Lab Bulletin, and elsewhere.
Jonathan Rattner
Jonathan Rattner is an acclaimed filmmaker and artist known for his innovative approach to experimental nonfiction cinema. Blending documentary techniques with lyrical elements such as collage and non-diagetic sound design, his films create immersive cinematic experiences that encourage viewers to engage deeply with the imagery and reflect on their own truths. Rattner holds M.F.A. degrees in Film and Video Production and in Intermedia Art, along with a B.F.A. in Film and Television. His creative journey includes serving as the creative director of Iowa City Senior Television, where he brought his unique vision to a diverse range of projects. His works have been exhibited at prestigious venues worldwide, including the Anthology Film Archives, Walker Art Center, and The Whitechapel Gallery. His film “The Interior” received critical acclaim, winning Best Documentary at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and earning a place in the Walker Art Center’s collection. In recognition of his artistic achievements, Rattner was awarded the Tennessee Individual Artist Fellowship in 2019. He serves as an Associate Professor in Cinema & Media Arts and Art at Vanderbilt University.
Graveyard Shift Shorts
Logan Butts
My name is Logan Butts, and I am the associate editor for The News TN, a publication that focuses on Nashville and Williamson County for FW Publishing. I also contribute to our sister publications the Nashville Post as a sports reporter and the Nashville Scene as a film critic and features writer. I’m an adjunct journalism professor at Lipscomb University, and I love all things film, especially horror movies!
Joseph Hernandez
Joseph Hernandez is currently the Senior Programmer and Director of Community Development of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Since its first edition in 2016, he’s helped build the festival into a premiere stop on the global genre circuit while shining a spotlight on countless new and established filmmakers. He joined the Austin-based SXSW Film and Television Festival in 2022, where he now serves as a Programming Associate. Joseph is a co-founder and programmer of virtual fests Nightstream and Reel Love, COVID-era initiatives created to ensure the film festival circuit continued through the pandemic. He also assisted in launching the North Bend Film Festival, a destination genre festival in Twin Peaks land, where he rose to Senior Programmer during a five year stint from 2018-2022. A proud member of SAG-AFTRA, Joseph has been an actor/performer for most of his life. He was born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn, NY and now based out of North Bergen, NJ.
Tori Potenza
Tori Potenza is a queer horror writer and historian based out of Philadelphia, PA. They write critical reviews, interviews filmmakers, as well as in depth analysis on films; mainly focusing on sex and gender themes and body horror in film. She has been a staff writer for MovieJawn since 2020. She has also been published by Certified Forgotten, HorrorPress, Slay Away With Us, The Nottingham Horror Collective and has a personal essay in the book Hear Us Scream: The Voices of Horror: Volume 2. She worked as a community coordinator and associate producer on the documentary In Search of Darkness 1990-1994. They also took part in a global videographic essay program led by horror academic Alison Peirse. In this program she made her first videographic essay entitled An Ephemeral Composition of Disjointed Memories, which was published by MFA Feminism and showcased at Final Girls Berlin Film Fest earlier this year. They have given talks at The New School, Final Girls Berlin Film Fest, and for Bloodletter Press. She has recently started The Femme Fright Collective, a NYC group that connects women and gender non-conforming folks in the horror industry. She is currently a shorts screener for this year’s Brooklyn Horror Fest.
Tennessee Shorts
Mary Dossinger
Mary Dossinger is the Program Director for the RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, NC and celebrated her 17th Festival in 2024. As Program Director, Mary oversees all aspects of the film programming, the entire festival schedule and all filmmaker correspondence. Prior to joining the team at RiverRun, Mary received her Masters in Fine Arts in Contemporary Cinema Cultures from The University of London – King’s College London in 2007. She also earned her Bachelor of Arts with a major in English and minor in film studies at Emory University in 2000. She has had a varied career, starting as a Program Assistant at CNN and Turner Broadcasting and then moving on to Capitol Hill where she worked as an Executive Assistant at an international lobbying firm, the American Council of Life Insurers. She has moved all over the world both as a child with her family and as an adult. She was born in Guildford, England and lived in Athens, Greece; Houston, TX; Anchorage, AK; Atlanta, GA; Washington, DC and London, England.
Trent Farrington
Trent Farrington ( Farrington) is an Atlanta based programmer and activist from St. Thomas. He has interdisciplinary experience working for a wide range of artist and cultural organizations including theaters, media charities, and film festivals all over the US. He’s a member of the Georgia Film Critics Association and he also managed and programmed for Out on Film starting in 2019. OOF has since become both an Oscar® and BAFTA-qualifying film festival. Outside of his love for film, he is an avid reader, diamond support class on OW2, and is happy to answer all questions about his cat: Ruffles Furrington.
Tiffany Abreu
Originally from South Florida, Tiffany Abreu is an Uruguayan-American writer and filmmaker with a BFA in Film. She has taught screenwriting courses with The Porch, directed award-winning short films, and is a former Oz Art Wire Fellow.
She also owns and operates The Backlot Studio in East Nashville, and loves using the space to support local filmmakers.
Music Videos
Jennifer Bergen
As an editor, producer, and storyteller, Jennifer has enjoyed a career spanning over three decades in film and television. While her focus has been primarily rooted in the music industry, her work runs the gamut from network programming, documentaries, commercials, music videos, and live award shows to trailers and presentations. Currently, Jennifer is working as a freelance editor in Nashville. She is also a Lecturer at Belmont University in the Motion Picture department of the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business. Belmont’s film program is a Variety Magazine Top 20 Film School in North America.
Justin English
Justin English is currently the Vice President of Music Programming across MTV branded channels globally. In addition to overseeing the programming strategy across eleven US based traditional linear and FAST music video channels, he also oversees the overall content rollout for any long or short form content on all MTV branded screens. He has spent most of his professional career watching, programming, and probably thinking too much about music videos. In his spare time, he is a dad, record collector, sneaker head, and BBQ enthusiast.
NextGen/Tennessee Student Shorts
Stephen Hauser
Stephen has been working in Hollywood for over 20 years. He moved from Los Angeles to Nashville seven years ago to help produce the TV show “NASHVILLE” for ABC, CMT and Hulu. During his three-season stint on the show, Stephen began teaching Screenwriting at Belmont and now teaches Screenwriting and Production full time. After growing up in St. Louis and graduating from Wheaton College outside Chicago, Stephen began his career in Hollywood reading scripts for Academy Award-winning director and screenwriter Barry Levinson. He assisted Mr. Levinson on the NBC show “Homicide: Life on The Street” and the Warner Brothers films, DISCLOSURE, and SLEEPERS. During this time, Stephen adapted his his first screenplay based on the Michael Crichton novel, SPHERE, for Warner Brothers, directed by Mr. Levinson and starring Dustin Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson. Over the last 15 years, Stephen has written and sold original screenplays and been hired to adapt books and doctor scripts on projects for Miramax, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Fox, Paramount Pictures, and financiers in the independent film world. Stephen’s passion lies in helping students develop their creative process and hone their unique voice for the marketplace.
Aleks Dimitrijevic
Aleks Dimitrijevic is a film festival and events producer and programmer. She has worked for some of the largest UK film festivals, including the BFI London Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest, London Short Film Festival, the LOCO London Comedy Film Festival, The Smalls Film Festival and London Film Week.
Currently, Aleks oversees the strategic development and delivery of the BFI Film Academy’s UK-wide events programme for 16-25 year-olds. She also heads up the BFI Future Film Festival, the largest UK film festival for young screen creatives, spanning 10 venues across the UK and an internationally accessible online programme, reaching a global audience of 20k.
As a Trustee for GlobalGirl Media UK, Aleks helps empower young women from underrepresented communities through digital media training. At Carousel, she supports artists with learning disabilities in pursuing their creative ambitions and ensuring their work is valued and showcased through partnerships, training, and cultural events.
Amanda Dillingham
Amanda is a producer, working around the country on commercials, docu-series, music videos, features, and more. She has her B.F.A from Watkins College of Art, and her M.F.A from Vermont College of Fine Art. Amanda began in the art department before moving to production manager and then the producer role. In addition to producing, she is the chair of the filmmaking program for TN Governor’s School for the Arts for high schoolers. It is one of her favorite and most inspiring things she is involved in teach year. Amanda also enjoys playing flag football, traveling, and time with her son, Kingston.
Episodic Competition
Liza Domnitz
Liza Domnitz is a Senior Programmer of feature film, TV and indie episodics for the annual Tribeca Festival. She also spearheads the Creators Market, a pitch market during TF highlighting some of the most promising emerging artists and voices in multi-genre storytelling space. Previously, Liza was the Project Manager of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, a cultural partnership between Tribeca Enterprises and the Doha Film Institute, during its 2009-2012 run.
Sally Pitts
Sally’s passion for screenwriting sparked when she began creating short films to bring the characters she wanted to see to life. She recently won the Studio21 Drama Script Competition at Content London leading to her dark comedy pilot ‘Rupture’ being optioned. In 2023 her comedy short ‘Wake Up’ won an audience choice award at DC Shorts, best micro-short at Atlanta Shortsfest, and best AZ short at Phoenix Film Festival while being screened at many other festivals. And ‘Lunatic’ a comedy horror feature script she co-wrote was a second-rounder at the Austin Film Festival and a quarter-finalist of Screencraft’s comedy script competition. Sally focuses on writing female characters fueled by comedy both dark and light.
Henry Jones
Henry’s written feature and television projects for MGM, Fox, Paramount, Bad Robot, Universal, New Line Cinema, Amazon and Netflix. Some of his recent endeavors are Netflix’s JUPITER’S LEGACY, BLACK SUMMER, and the Emmy-winning ARCANE. He’s currently writing on SPARTACUS: HOUSE OF ASHUR for STARZ/Lionsgate and preparing for his directorial debut on his original feature, DRAW.
For more information on the 55th Nashville Film Festival, visit the official festival webpage below:
