Dana Altman - Producer / Director

Dana Altman, grandson of legendary film director Robert Altman, began his motion picture career working on the set of Popeye in 1981. 

Altman is founder and chairman of North Sea Films, Inc., an entertainment development production company now in its thirteenth year of operations.  North Sea Films, Inc. has produced four feature films, coordinated two network concert specials and produced and directed many television spots for regional and national clients.  The company has also won many awards, producing two award-winning half-hour dramas on AIDS and AIDS awareness in conjunction with the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Altman served as executive producer for a PBS television pilot and produced and directed David Crosby & CPR: Though the Music, a 90-minute Public Television program that aired in more than 90% of the country.  Altman is actively in pre-production on The Oil Tree and the feature film, Lovely, Still, and continues his commercial work.

Official GIFF Selection: Americas Marine Aviators

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Mark C. Andrews, Director

Mark Andrews was raised in the Midwest and has lived in Los Angeles for the last 15 plus years where he’s been pursuing a dream of becoming a writer and feature film director.   Seal Team VI is in fact, Mr. Andrews’ first feature film to be produced and was something in which he wrote while attending film school in the Los Angeles area.

He is also extremely honored to have received the support of the US Navy and the California National Guard in the making of the film and dedicates it to those who serve this great country in uniform and the manner in which they do so.  He’s also very humbled as first time film-maker to have been given the access to military hardware, locations, and technical support that made the film possible in the first place.

Mark’s influences in film cover a wide range of film-makers including Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Copella, Martin Scorsese, Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay, David Fincher,  Peter Berg, and Steven Spielberg to name a few.

His goal as a writer / director is tell raw powerful stories, have audiences experience them unlike ever before, and work with the most talented men and women in show business.

He is one of six children and has spent a great deal of his professional life in the investigative field as a private detective for over 10 years.

Official GIFF Selection: SEAL Team VI

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Kari Aiya Barber

Kari Aiya Barber is currently a second year graduate production student at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.  She received her Bachelors of Arts from Bowdoin College in 2006 a Masters in Education from Harvard University in 2007.  After college Ms. Barber tried to enlist as an Officer in the USMC, but a pre-existing medical condition precluded her from joining.  This set back was disappointing, but she did not discarded her respect and firm admiration for those who have and do serve our country.  She chose to fuse her passion of the Armed Services with her love of film. . . 

Official GIFF Selection: Nakunatta

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

David Baugnon

David E. Baugnon is a filmmaker and screenwriter currently living in New York . His directing credits include the feature documentary Art in the Face of War, 2006 (winner of the Newport Film Festival Special Jury Prize 2007 and Audience Award Winner for Best Documentary at Connecticut International Film Festival, 2006); the short documentary Matisyahu (screened in 50 film festivals worldwide and Grand Prize Winner at AOL Moviefone Short Film Festival, 2006 and the Special Jury Prize at the God on Film Festival 2004), the short documentary White Bait (2003) and numerous viral videos

David also wrote and was the Creative Director on a Public Service TV campaign for United Cerebral Palsy Foundation produced by Give a Damn Films in 2002. He teaches screenwriting in New York at Writers Boot Camp and at Pratt Institute and has two feature scripts, Code of Ethics and Echo Charlie, currently in development with Producer Jeff Apple (The Recruit, In the Line of Fire).

Official GIFF Selection: Art in The Face of War

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Josh Baxter

Josh Baxter is a 1996 graduate of the University of Memphis , College of Communications and Fine Arts. Baxter has multiple production awards and honors to his credit at the local and national level and has produced and directed numerous projects, including award-winning documentaries and various other recognized productions. Baxter's work has been featured on national television, at film festivals, fundraising events, and international conferences. Josh Baxter is the founder of Arion Pictures LLC, a

production company that specializes in independent filmmaking, television program development, and commercial video production.

Official GIFF Selection: Injury Slight...Please Advise

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Elliot Berlin, Co-Producer, Writer and Director
Elliot Berlin is a media professional with 25 years of varied experience. His work spans an uncommonly broad range of activities, creatively and technically. He is a producer, director, writer, and editor of documentary films and a fine art and commercial still photographer. He has managed and overseen every facet of production, extending to the rigorous demands of getting a feature documentary ready for 35mm national distribution to commercial theaters by Miramax Films.

Elliot's work is both local and international. He has directed documentary productions across North America and in Latin America, numerous European locations, in Africa, and Asia . He has produced projects for national theatrical release and broadcast outlets such as HBO, The Discovery Channel, The Science Channel, and the History Channel. One film, Paper Clips, was nominated for a National Emmy and, while receiving over a dozen other major awards, was named One of the Five Best Documentaries of 2004 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

Official GIFF Selection: Bedford, the town they left behind

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Emile Bokaer, Director

Emile Bokaer began his documentary filmmaking career at Oberlin College , where he also majored in mathematics and English.  He has made films about a small town skateboard park, the relationships between various institutional lifestyles, collectives of Guatemalan women who work to preserve native species of corn, and a technical theater program at a girl’s school in Cleveland .

Bokaer worked with Geoff Pingree on the forthcoming documentary feature The Return of Elder Pingree.  He is currently pursuing an MFA in documentary film and video at Stanford University.

Official GIFF Selection: Looking Back 

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Jeff Bolton, Producer

As a dynamic, nationally recognized talk radio show host in his third year at the Legendary 570 KLIF in Dallas, Jeff offers a vibrant Middle American perspective on both local and national issues with a combination of independent thought, scathing humor and a tireless commitment to broadcasting "on the scene" where news and talk collide. Bolton has been nationally recognized and honored for his international groundbreaking talk radio broadcasts from Iraq , Afghanistan and Sri Lanka , and for his national broadcasts from New York after 9-11 and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  A husband and father, Jeff and his wife Blaine have been married for 18 yrs and have two children: Evan, 13 and Rachel, 11.

He has been seen and heard nationally as a host and guest on hundreds of talk radio programs across America including The Rush Limbaugh Program, The Sean Hannity Show, The Glenn Beck Program, The Savage Nation, The Rusty Humphries Show and The Jerry Doyle Show. He has also appeared on the NBC, FOX, and MSNBC television networks.

Bolton has flown in more than twenty current and vintage fixed and rotary wing combat aircraft including the F\A-18D Hornet, the AV-8B Harrier, the F-16 Viper and the EA-6B Prowler and has completed carrier deployments at sea with multiple catapult launches and arrested landings. As a writer and photographer, Jeff has produced newspaper and magazine features from the seats of Ferraris and fighters for publications such as MediaNews Group Inc., Wings of Gold, The Hook and SMOKE magazine. Jeff is heard exclusively on Talk Radio 570 KLIF, weekdays from 5:00am to 9:00am.

Official GIFF Selection: Americas Marine Aviators

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Connie Bottinelli

As co-founder and executive producer of Grinning Dog Pictures, Connie is an innovative filmmaker of exceptional talent and energy.  In her career she has received diverse national and international awards for Directing, Writing and Producing.  They include four Emmy awards, New York International Film Festival, Independent Feature Project (IFP) in New York , multiple Gold, Silver and Bronze Stars at Worldfest Houston, San Francisco International Film Festival, Angel Award, Cine Eagle, Worldfest Flagstaff, Moondance International Film Festival and CableACE Award nominee. Her diverse network production experience covers a wide range of programming for CBS, NBC, Fox, WB, The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, Discovery Health, CourtTV, Lifetime Television, Hearst Entertainment, The New York Times and others. 

Official GIFF Selection: It was a War

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

George Ciampa

George Ciampa is an Army veteran of five campaigns in Europe during WW II.  He was with the 607th Graves Registration Company.  At the age of eighteen, weighing 115 pounds, he landed in Normandy , France on D-Day and also served in the Battle of the Bulge.  Duties of the 607th were to gather the dead from battle areas, during hostilities,  and bury them in quickly planned temporary cemeteries.

Over sixty-three years later at the age of eighty-one and again at age eighty-two, Ciampa returned to Belgium and France with young high school history teachers, combat veterans and a film company to produce documentaries called "Let Freedom Ring: The Lesson is Priceless" and "Let Freedom Ring: Memories of France."  The teachers received an opportunity to interact with citizens and freedom fighters who survived the brutality of Nazi occupation and the war. They also heard the experiences of veterans who served there.

Ciampa's mission is to reach students through their teachers who will be equipped with lesson plans and DVDs that reveal the horror stories told by the oppressed citizens of occupied countries as well as stories from the veterans ...who were not much older than they when they served. 

Official GIFF Selection: Let Freedom Ring:  The Lesson is Priceless

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Cary Cremidas, Director

Cary Cremidas was born and raised in California . He developed a passion for film at the young age of eight when he made movies with his Super-8 camera. Today he is an award-winning cinematographer and director whose film projects include: movies, TV, commercials, documentaries and reality TV, music videos,  and still photography. His filmmaking skills have taken him all over the United States as well as to other countries such as: Canada , Vietnam , Germany , France , and Macedonia . He has worked on projects for and in conjunction with Sony Pictures, Time Warner, MTV, Universal Studios, Propaganda Films, ABC, PBS, The Learning Channel, and was staff camera operator on the original "Candid Camera." His knowledge and experience of the many facets of filmmaking to include cinematography/camera, directing, producing, editing make Cary a very skilled and well-rounded filmmaker. Cary is seen and admired for his undeniable talent of making every project well-crafted, creative, of high-quality, and beautiful. He currently resides in Los Angeles and continues to work around the United States and the globe.

Official GIFF Selection: Operation Manor Assault

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Leo Cunningham, Director

As a young boy, growing up on the streets of Philadelphia , Leo Cunningham’s creative mindset contradicted his grey, city surroundings. Although his artistic passion was his main drive, Leo needed guidance and life experience, to better understand himself as an artist and a man. He found these traits by enlisting into the United States Marine Corps.

While in the infantry, Leo’s hard work and dedication earned two meritorious promotions and upon returning home from his first deployment, he continued to drive forward by volunteering to join the elite unit of Reconnaissance and operated in Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003.

After his honorable discharge from the Corps, Leo moved to California and rekindled his passion for the arts. Through the love and support of his wife and son, Leo is currently in his last year of film school at the University of Southern California , where he is majoring in Film and Television Production. Leo will continue to use the tools he has learned in life to create art, in hope of becoming an American filmmaker.

Official GIFF Selection: Welcome Home

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Rick Derby 

Rick Derby has worked as a producer, director, editor and writer in documentary film, news, and independent and studio feature films for over twenty years.  His resume includes work for Dateline NBC, Turner Broadcasting, Twentieth Century Fox, Tri-Star, Universal, Sony, and Paramount Pictures.

Mr. Derby's diverse background in filmmaking proved helpful as Co-Producer, Editor and First Assistant Director of the independent feature Diamond Men, starring Robert Forster, Donnie Wahlberg, Bess Armstrong and Jasmine Guy.  Diamond Men was featured premiered at The Hamptons Film Festival where a special jury prize was awarded to Robert Forster for his performance.  The Stony Brook Film Festival awarded the film the Grand Jury Prize and the film also received a SPECIAL MENTION FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILMMAKING from the National Board of Review.   Diamond Men opened to critical praise in major cities across the country.  It appeared on Home Video, Showtime and currently can be seen on The Sundance Channel.

Currently, Mr. Derby is in year four of Producing and Directing Axis of Good, a story from 9/11, a feature documentary about a New England family who builds a school for girls in Afghanistan as a memorial for their son, who was killed on 9/11. The film is a work in progress.

Official GIFF Selection: Axis of Good

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Kether Donohue, Director

A proud native New Yorker, Kether Donohue has received critical acclaim for her fearless performances in independent film and off-broadway shows.  She is also no stranger to television, having been a series regular on the WB sitcom pilot Saving Jason (starring rapper Bow Wow) and guest starred on multiple episodes of Hope & Faith. In 2007, Variety hailed Donohue as making “a powerful impression in a multifaceted role” for her starring role in the indie drama Over the GW (Seventh Art Releasing), which premiered at Slamdance Film Festival and was theatrically released in New York , Los Angeles, and Chicago.

As a major in film at Fordham University , Donohue wrote, directed, and starred in The Babydaddy, which marks her directorial debut.  The short film is an autobiographical narrative about the relationship between a sixteen-year-old girl and her ill Vietnam Veteran father.  

Paul Doyle, Jr. – Director/ Producer

Over the past decade, two-time Emmy Award winner Paul Doyle Jr. has enjoyed roles as director, writer, producer and editor on an array of sports-based films.  His slate of sports documentary features began with the critically acclaimed Between the Madness which chronicled a season with Jerry Tarkanian and the Fresno State Bulldogs. From there he explored the world of English football in Manchester United: Beyond the Promised Land. The film was an on-and-off the pitch look at the world’s most successful sports franchise and it enjoyed a theatrical release in the UK .   

His production credits include the Nickelodeon series Are You Afraid of the Dark? as well as highly acclaimed documentary series Baseball, Minnesota (a season with the St. Paul Saints, an independent minor league baseball team); Founded 2003: the story of the inaugural season of the college football team at Coastal Carolina University and The Seeds of Victory a documentary that tells the story of 6 seniors on the 2004 Army Football team, the last class to enter the West Point Academy before 9/11.

Official GIFF Selection: The Seeds of Victory

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

John M. Garcia, Director

John M. Garcia is the Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services--a position he’s held since his unanimous confirmation by the New Mexico State Legislature as the department’s first secretary in 2004, when the department was created.

A Vietnam War veteran, Secretary Garcia is the executive producer of Soldiers of Honor, created as part of his department’s New Mexico Military Legacy Project to preserve the state’s rich military tradition.  He’s a founding member of the Vietnam Veterans of New Mexico and has served as the National Deputy Director of the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program. Secretary Garcia has a long record of service in state government, and is a board member of numerous federal, state and local business and service organizations.

Official GIFF Selection: Soldiers of Honor

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Aron Gaudet

Award-winning director and editor, Aron Gaudet, has worked on films in the United States , Jordan , and India . Aron was chosen as a 2007-08 WGBH Filmmaker in Residence for "The Way We Get By", and has done projects for the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, and Stephen King. Aron is a member of the International Documentary Association (IDA) and IFP. Aron currently lives and works in Boston , MA .

The Way We Get By

Please note, this screening open to all access pass holders or by invitation.

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Joe Fab, Co-Producer, Writer and Director
Joe Fab is an award-winning and Emmy-nominated producer and writer with more than 35 years experience in film and video production, media and communications, event production and the live presentation of plays and music.

Recent honors include the prestigious Christopher Award, given for achievements in media that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit." Also, in 2006, Billy Campbell, president of Discovery Networks U.S., presented him the Discovery and Imagination Award - an honor whose two previous recipients were Christopher Reeve and Dr. Jane Goodall.

Official GIFF Selection: Bedford, the town they left behind

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Rusty Farst, Director

Rusty founded Jawsproductions in 1993, an underwater video company based on Sanibel Island , Florida   Rusty integrated his intensive scuba diving training with video equipment logistics, applying these to the underwater arena, pushing the limits where no cameras have ever been. In 1994, he launched his first film, “Reefs in Motion” the first underwater documentary exploring offshore Sanibel and Captiva islands.  This spawned a series of films, revealing the shipwrecks and reef system in the waters of Southwest Florida . Rusty’s latest production has paired him with veteran film maker Connie Bottinelli, Emmy award winning producer, writer, director and co-founder of Grinning Dog Pictures. Their documentary feature film, “A Wall as Witness” depicts a year in the life of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, as seen through the eyes of the wall and the effects of the war to those that experience it still today. Rusty lives on Sanibel Island , Florida with his wife Patti and their 7 year old son Zachary.

Official GIFF Selection: It was a War

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Joseph Fatheree, Director

Joseph Fatheree is an award winning educator and filmmaker. His television work has been seen on PBS and the Documentary Channel.  He was recently named the Illinois Teacher of the Year, representing more than 100,000 teachers.  He is in high demand as a motivational speaker, setting high standards for educators and challenging audiences to better serve their students.  His groundbreaking work in the field of multimedia has been the subject of a number of national articles.   As a producer, he has received three Mid-America Emmy awards for producing and writing and a Telly award.

Official GIFF Selection: A Time for Honor

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Cheryl Fries

When she was in 4th grade, Cheryl Fries read a biography about Clara Barton.  The story of the founder of the American Red Cross profoundly affected the young girl, who found in the story of a teacher, nurse, patriot and humanitarian that a woman could do something that could truly make a positive difference for the world.

Thirty years later, Cheryl and her husband Patrick filmed the journey of restored UH-1 “Huey” helicopter “091” on a mission to tell the untold stories of Americans affected by the Vietnam War.  The resulting documentary, In The Shadow of the Blade, won wide acclaim—and introduced Cheryl to the amazing women who had followed Clara Barton’s legacy as Vietnam War “Donut Dollies,” traveling to the front lines to deliver A Touch of Home to GIs serving in a dangerous, divisive and faraway war.  Cheryl decided that the untold women’s history story of the Vietnam War’s Red Cross girls’ courage, fortitude, and dedication should be captured in a documentary.

Official GIFF Selection: A Touch of Home

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Sandra Gabrych

Sandra is an award winning filmmaker and film professor.  She received a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television Producing from Chapman University and a Bachelors of Science in Television/Radio Communication from Bradley University .  Sandra has produced several award winning films and worked in the film industry for Miramax Films, Columbia Pictures, Wendy Finerman Productions, and ICM talent agency. 

Sandra is currently an independent writer/producer/director in stages of development, pre-production, and production on several feature and short projects, as well as the Program Coordinator and head of screenwriting and producing at the Colorado Film School .  She is presently writing a book on feature screenplay analysis and founding a screenplay analysis company.

Official GIFF Selection: Stories of Colorado Vets

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page  

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, Director

Stokes is dedicated to telling the soldier's story.  Following high school, Kyle enlisted with the US Army's Airborne Infantry and was assigned to a unit responsible for simulating true-to-life jungle and urban warfare scenarios for troops preparing for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan . The years spent there would serve as the foundation for Kyle's emergence as a soldier-filmmaker; he filmed everything from tank missions and gritty urban warfare to the unit's monthly paratroop jumps from US/Russian planes and helicopters.  Honorably discharged in 2004, Kyle went on to attend and earn honors at ASU, UCLA, Universidad de Madrid in Spain , and finally settling at the University of Southern California .
 
In the fall of 2006, Kyle was accepted into the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts-Production Program.  That same week, however, he also received a letter from the US Army recalling him to active duty and a yearlong deployment to Iraq .  Although his film school acceptance was enough to exempt him from this nationwide recall, Kyle decided instead to take an 18-month academic leave of absence and fulfill his military obligation.  From May 2007 to May 2008, Kyle served as a squad leader and convoy commander in Iraq as a member of the 1st of the 160th Infantry Battalion. For his actions under fire and meritorious service throughout the yearlong deployment, Kyle was awarded 2 Army Achievement Medals and the Bronze Star. 
 
Kyle returned to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in August 2008 - he has been making films for soldiers ever since.

Official GIFF Selection: Kapisa and Now, After

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Carole Holiday, Director

Carole Holliday wanted to be a musical theatre actress but became an animator instead. Since she loved telling stories and creating imaginative worlds she decided to combine her passions by directing. She came to there by the circuitous route as a Disney animation storyboard artist. In her time with the studio she worked on films such as "Tarzan", "Jungle Book 2", and several other projects with the number two in the title. While there, she was both learning how to compose shots and how to write heartfelt, character based stories, until  God gave her an opening to direct, via her live action production company, Crowded Metro Films. The company's first project is a featurette entitled "Witt's Daughter" and tells the story of what happens when a young man returns from the Korean War and expects everything to be as he left it, but discovers instead that his three-year-old daughter has forgotten him and now views him as an unwelcome stranger.  With her company, Carole has generated many potential live action ideas but is currently is in focusing on two projects: one a romantic comedy and the other a romantic/ fantasy/ coming of age story.

Official GIFF Selection: Witt's Daughter  

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page 

Diane Lisa Johnson
Writer-Director-Producer Diane Lisa Johnson is pleased to present SWIMMING, her award-winning Masters Thesis film from the  University of  Southern California . SWIMMING has screened at more than 25 festivals around the world and has won 15 Awards and Honors including: The Ida Lupino Honorable Mention for Directing from the Directors Guild of America's Student Film Awards, the Audience Award from USC's "First Look" Industry Showcase, and the top award from the San Francisco Frozen Film Festival where SWIMMING was in competition for "Best Short Film" but took home the grand prize for "Best Film" -- beating out all of the feature films entered in the festival.  SWIMMING is the recipient of generous grants from the Irving Lerner Endowment fund and the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors Foundation.

Prior to receiving her M.F.A from USC, the multi-talented Ms. Johnson enjoyed a successful career as a Senior Financial Analyst in Silicon Valley where she held back-to-back overseas assignments in Japan and The Netherlands installing finance systems for the world’s leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer. Ms Johnson has worked in Los Angeles as a finance consultant to many top tier entertainment companies including: ABC, Fox, Disney and Genius Products.

Ms. Johnson holds a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University's top ranked Tepper School of Business, and went on to study filmmaking at New York University and screenwriting at Stanford University's Continuing Studies program before receiving her M.F.A in Cinema-Television production from the University of Southern California's renowned School of Cinematic Arts. Ms. Johnson lives in  Los Angeles  where she is currently in development on the feature length version of SWIMMING.

Official GIFF Selection: SWIMMING

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page 

Ashley Karras, Director

An Ogden , Utah native, Ashley Karras received her BS from Utah State University where she studied journalism and visual arts. With her directorial debut, "The Inheritance of War," Karras displays her inherent capacity for journalism and artistic expression by unlocking the raw emotions that grip the heart from the opening scene to the closing credits. At age 23, her passion for detail lines everything she touches with silver stitching traditionally reserved for veteran filmmakers. Karras has worked in the realms of live television, corporate video and has assisted other directors in documentaries, features and shorts.  She works as a freelance videographer and hopes to change the world, one documentary at a time.

Official GIFF Selection: The Inheritance of War

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Patrick Knipe
Patrick Knipe grew up in Northwest New Jersey where heavily forested rolling hills, Revolutionary War Era hamlets, and fog-haunted lakes inspired his imagination into the realms of storytelling and filmmaking at an early age. After studying English, Irish, and American Literature at Boston College and Oxford University , Patrick took a cubicle job at a medical insurance company for a year and a half in order to save enough money to go to film school.

Patrick pursued his MFA in Film and TV Production at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He was a recipient of the Mary Pickford Foundation Scholarship, and a 2008 finalist in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker's Award competition for the short film THE REPORT. He is a grant recipient from the Institute of Multimedia Literacy and has guest lectured on film re-recording mixing in the USC Graduate Film Program. He is the co-founder of Mythmakers, an entertainment development and production company currently based in Burbank, CA, where his mission is to entertain, delight, and bring stories to the flickering screen that captivate and move the soul.

Official GIFF Selection: Scarecrow

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Bill Kubota, Producer / Director
Bill has been working in television journalism, based in Michigan for the past 25 years. He first learned of Ben Kuroki through his father, Jim Kubota, who saw Ben at the Minidoka Idaho internment camp in 1944.  Kubota has worked for most of the major television networks, as producer and photographer. Before that he worked for local television stations in Michigan as a reporter, assignment editor, producer and photographer.
 

Kubota and his partner David Newman started their video production company KDN Videoworks in 1988. With Newman and producer/writer Ed Moore, KDN Films was created in 2005 with a focus on independent programs and documentaries.

Official GIFF Selection: Most Honorable Son

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Craig Lindvahl, Director

Craig Lindvahl is a nationally recognized filmmaker and educator.  His television work is regularly seen on PBS stations across the country.  He is the recipient of twelve Mid America Emmy Awards, for producing, writing, camera work, and composing, and the Studs Terkel Award for contributions to the humanities.  He is a recipient of the prestigious Milken National Educator Award, has twice been recognized as a finalist for Illinois Teacher of the year, and has been honored for excellence in teaching by the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Math and Science Academy, Eastern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University, and Western Illinois University.

Official GIFF Selection: A Time for Honor

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Norman Lloyd, Director

Norman Lloyd grew up in a coal mining town on the east coast of Australia . He left home at the age of 14 and worked on a diary farm milking cows. Later, Lloyd moved to the Outback and worked as a kangaroo shooter. Eventually, he made enough money shooting kangaroos to buy his first camera, a Bolex 16mm (which he would later carry with him to Vietnam ). In June of 1965, Lloyd landed a job as a cameraman for a local TV station. After a few years of experience, he flew to Vietnam on a one way ticket to cover the war as a freelance cameraman. Lloyd covered the war for five years, filming combat in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos . He would later go on to work for CBS News and 60 Minutes. In 2004, Lloyd retired, ending a 40 year career marked by a number of awards and accolades, including 9 Emmy Awards. It was at this time that he began working on his first documentary feature.

Official GIFF Selection: Cover Me

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Coyote Marino, Director

Originally from Montana , Coyote received a BA from Colorado College , a MBA from The University of Mississippi and is currently finishing his MFA in Film Production at the University of Southern California . Coyote produced a number of projects during his time at USC, most notably “The Morning Routine,” the 2007 Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker¹s Award Grand Prize Winner, “Just Around The Corner,” a music video for Heineken, and “Digital Troubadours”, a promotional documentary for Cisco Systems. Although, you could say his biggest accomplishment and most influential project was directing Where Life Is, a documentary that follows three severely injured veterans pursuing sport as a means of rehabilitation and readjustment to civilian life.

While filming Where Life Is, it became clear that the greatest impact of sports wasn¹t found in some record-breaking win, but in the everyday accomplishments made possible from leading an active lifestyle: events like being able to change a shirt again, chasing your daughter, or hanging out with fellow Marines.  For these former soldiers, sport provides them with something to focus on and look forward to as they find their way back to civilian life. Coyote¹s future plans are to continue to produce and direct documentaries.

Official GIFF Selection: Where life is

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Tony Martinez, Director

Tony Martinez is a distinguished award-winning documentary filmmaker.  He has received a George Foster Peabody award and three national Emmys as a director/producer on ESPN’s acclaimed SportsCentury series.  In 2003 he created “Colors of Courage, Sons of New Mexico” a feature length film on the Bataan Death March during World War II, hosted by Academy award winner Gene Hackman.

His award-winning documentaries at ESPN included many of the sports icons of the 20th century including Jim Thorpe, Wilma Rudolph, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Ben Hogan and Tom Landry.

Official GIFF Selection: Soldiers of Honor

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Meg McLagan, Co-Director & Co-Producer

Meg McLagan is a documentary filmmaker and cultural anthropologist. She is the co-director and co-producer with Daria Sommers of Lioness, which won the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in 2008 and was recently broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens. Her short film Tibet in Exile co-directed with Barbara Banks aired on public television and was screened at festivals and museums in the U.S. and Europe . She began her film career working as a producer of the film Paris Is Burning which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and both the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics Circle Award for Best Documentary.  

Official GIFF Selection: Lioness

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Derek Francis Meyer, Director

Derek F. Meyer is an MFA candidate at the Florida State University Film School . Spending most of his youth in Richmond, Virginia, Derek was involved in performing arts from an early age. He started as an actor for the theater before moving to the other side and directing for the stage. During this time he and his close friends formed a mock "production company" for the sole purpose of entertaining friends with films, music, and live performances.

At the Virginia Commonwealth University , he earned a BS in Creativity for Advertising. He also served as a broadcast journalist in the United States Army from 1999 - 2007, just before attending FSU. While in the Army, Derek was responsible for writing, shooting, and editing documentaries, news packages, and public service announcements both domestically and overseas.  Derek has written and directed a number of plays and films. "Carry On" is his second collaboration with co-writer, Lee Carlisle and currently, Derek is working on his thesis film, "The Hatter's Apprentice," a thriller set in Victorian England.  Derek will graduate from Florida State in the fall of 2009.

Official GIFF Selection: Carry On 

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Robert Moore, Director

Robert started his film career at age twelve when he moved to Los Angeles when into the atmosphere of Hollywood and started working on film sets as an extra and production assistant.

His scholastic career began in film production at Santa Monica College in LA, followed by a year abroad in my native Britain where he studied film and Television production and soon found his way back to the States and to New York City when he won a scholarship to study film production at Brooklyn College . Mr. Moore graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and made his directorial debut with a short film production; ‘El Sueno Americano’. The film went on to win numerous awards at the school film festival including an award for outstanding student film by the National Board of Review in 2007. ‘Sueno’ has also played in numerous independent festivals around the world including London , Los Angeles , and New York . My current film, ‘Detachment’, about a young marine struggling to re-connect to civilian life after two tours in Iraq , recently won the diversity in filmmaking award at the 2008 Cinema City International Film Festival in Los Angeles .

Official GIFF Selection: Detachment

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Claudia Myers
Claudia Myers is a DC-based filmmaker whose work spans both documentary and fiction genres. Claudia produced the "The Long Road Back" for the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of its ongoing series, "The Face Behind the File." The show was executive produced by Rocket Media Group of Fairfax , VA. Claudia is collaborating with Rocket again this summer on another program for the series focusing on women veterans.

Claudia's dramatic work includes the narrative feature "Kettle of Fish," starring Mathew Modine and Gina Gershon. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was cited as one of the standout films in David Carr's festival overview for The New York Times. It was released theatrically in 2007. In addition, Claudia wrote and directed two award-winning short films, one of which screened in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Claudia also wrote and directed "Outside the Wire," a dramatic, interactive training feature for the U.S. Army, which won a 2008 Codie Award and a Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Award.

Claudia is a professor of film at American University's School of Communication .

Official GIFF Selection:  The Long Road Back

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Daniel Noa

Daniel Noa started making movies when he was 15 on a VHS camcorder. Since then he has produced several short films, served as assistant director on the indie-feature “Come What May” and directed and produced the direct-to-dvd movie “Smuggler’s Ransom.”

Daniel believes that filmmaking is the last universal public forum in American society.  Only in films can ideas be presented to every sector of society and be received without prejudice or preconception. He hopes that his films can help give the smallest bit of insight and just maybe help someone be able to step back from their world and see it with new eyes. He currently resides in the Los Angeles area.

Official GIFF Selection: Scorpian 5

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Ron Osgood, Director
Ron Osgood is a Vietnam veteran who served on board the USS Oriskany (CVA34) in 1969-72. During his service he made 3 Westpac cruises and spent more than 20 months in the Gulf of Tonkin . Osgood currently teaches documentary storytelling and production in the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana University .

His creative work has been broadcast on network and satellite channels, selected for screening at film festivals and distributed both nationally and internationally. His first long form documentary Trouble No More: The Making of a John Mellecamp Album won a regional Emmy in 2004 and is still available through Netflix and Blockbuster. Other directing awards include the Pop Culture Association Documentary Award, a National Telly Video Award, two Media Communications Association Silver Reels, and three Broadcast Education Association Awards, including Best of Competition.

Official GIFF Selection: My Vietnam, Your Iraq

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Rex J. Pratt, Director / Producer
Born and raised in Southern California , Rex Pratt has been involved in various film and video projects over the past decade. His interest in a project is always based upon the ability of the film to move and inspire the viewer and tell the truth. Since 2004 his documentary films have been centered on military issues. In his most recent film, Warriors...In Their Own Words, Rex explores the Warrior ethos from the inside out. Rex believes "that truth is a form of currency and that it is the only currency that never looses it value". He makes all his decisions based on that view. "Always tell the truth, unbiased with no opinion of his infused into the film." Rex is currently working on a follow up series of Warriors films that will continue in the spirit of Warriors...In Their Own Words. He also is working on a Narrative feature with his son, also a filmmaker. He continues to live in California and is an avid surfer.

Official GIFF Selection: Warriors...in their own Words

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Paul Sage, Director

Paul first began demonstrating his knack for story telling at the age of ten when he began making short narrative stories with his parent’s home video camera. Trying his hand in all areas of production and postproduction, he followed his love for filmmaking into adulthood. While working as an auto mechanic to put his wife through college he continued to perfect his skills by working on industrial, independent and student projects whenever possible. Directing, cinematography, editing and visual effects compositing became an obsession of his. Working as a freelance contractor he has run the gamut from shooting product material for Fox Head Racing, to directing music videos for Delta Moon Records.

In the fall of 2008 Paul was accepted into the prestigious University of Southern California 's Cinematic Arts Production program and it is here that he continues to pursue his life long dream and perfect his skills as a filmmaker.

Official GIFF Selection: Kapisa

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Monica Sharf

New York-based filmmaker Monica Sharf’s While We Lie Sleeping, is a 16mm black and white silent short, pays tribute to the troops who have served and or are still, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan . Sharf's Tribute 9.11, was created to capture the emotions, impact, loving and care that flowed from all of the people affected by the day of terror in New York on September 11th. Tribute 9.11 was an Official Entry for the Academy Awards®, and was acquired by the Library of Congress for their National Archives. Additionally, the film received the Women in Film International Finishing Fund Prize and was screened at the 2002 Crystal & Lucy Awards in Los Angeles . HBO and Brad Grey Pictures used footage from the film in their Emmy Award® winning documentary, In Memoriam New York City 9/11/01.

Official GIFF Selection: While We Lie Sleeping

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Thad Smith,  Director  and  Executive  Producer

Thad  Smith  is  the  tour  de  force,  Director  and  Executive Producer  behind Everyman’s  War, the  tale  of  his  father’s heroic  machine  gun  squad  during  World War  II’s  Battle of the Bulge.   Smith  is  an  award-winning  commercial director   with a  long  list  of  national commercials  and productions under his  belt.   He  co-founded the commercial film production company  One-Eighty  Films  in 1999.   

After fast-paced success under  that  banner,  Smith conceived X Factor  Advertising, an international  marketing  firm specializing in  the healthcare and  military  sectors. X Factor’s  work  spans 12  countries and includes  advertising campaigns  for  many Fortune  500 Companies.  Smith  has created  concepts  and business models  that have won praise throughout  the  industry for  their forward  thinking approach. Smith’s creative  talents and solid production experience  enabled  him  to  launch  X  Factor Entertainment Group.   This  new  venture  was  conceived solely to develop,  produce, and market  entertainment  products. Smith is  producing  Everyman’s  War  under  the One-Eighty Films and X  Factor  Entertainment  Group  banners. 

Official GIFF Selection: Everyman's War

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Daria Sommers, Co-Director & Co-Producer

Daria Sommers is a NYC-based filmmaker whose work includes both documentaries and narrative fiction. She is the co-director and co-producer, with Meg McLagan, of Lioness, which won the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award at the Full Frame Film Festival in 2008 and was broadcast nationally on the PBS series Independent Lens. Her previous films include Eastern Spirit Western World, a portrait of Chinese artist Diana Kan, which was broadcast by PBS, BBC and CBC and premiered at the Smithsonian, and the half-hour drama Ready To Burn for which she received Panavision’s New Director’s Award.

Daria began her career at PBS and her work has garnered support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Fledgling Fund, Chicken & Egg Pictures and NYSCA. She has served on the Metropolitan Museum ’s Program for Art on Film review panel and been an artist-in-residence at the Macdowell Colony and the Content+Intent Documentary Institute at Mass MoCA. She recently completed Sawadika American Girl, a screenplay about Americans living in Thailand in the shadow of Vietnam War. Daria is a graduate of Oberlin College .

Official GIFF Selection: Lioness

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Erik Spink, Director

Erik Spink is an independent filmmaker from New York City . He is currently working on his Bachelors Degree in Cinema Studies at SUNY Purchase College .  Erik has an interest in working in both narrative filmmaking and documentary; however regardless of the genre he prefers non-fiction. “There are so many untold stories of extraordinary human beings, just waiting to be told, that no fiction writer could ever develop” stated Spink “stories of real people, and real conflict interest me most.”

The US Military has been a recurring theme in Erik Spink’s work, and he is dedicated to honoring those who defend our freedom. Erik is the director, producer, and editor behind Tokens of War, premiering at the GI Film Festival. This is Erik’s first official film festival and he is humbled to be among a group of such amazing filmmakers, and our nations heroes. Support our Troops!

Official GIFF Selection: Tokens of War

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Bennett Stein, Director
Bennett Stein was born in Paris to a CIA agent mom -- an actual covert ops-conducting/Soviet nuke-counting spy during the Cold War -- and a father who ran a CIA front organization, The Committee For Cultural Freedom, set up to extract writers and other thought criminals from East European imprisonment.  Back in the states, his parents founded Stein & Day Publishers, which put noted black writer James Baldwin on the map and launched notorious film director Elia Kazan into his own second act as a novelist.  As a lad, Stein accompanied his dad to edit sessions on Kazan 's final film, THE LAST TYCOON. He would never be the same.

Bennett began his career as a personal assistant to celebrated actor William Hurt.  After acting in over 25 plays himself and in films such as A TIME OF DESTINY with Hurt and Timothy Hutton, and AUTO MOTIVES with Robert Downey, Jr., Bennett proved his directing capabilities with several off-Broadway plays, mostly notably the world premiere of THE DOG INSIDE THE MAN by Matthew Carnahan, creator of DIRT, the 2007 episodic for the FX Channel.  Stein then directed the short films MOTEL JERUSALEM, a festival hit whose run included the Cannes Film Festival in 2006, and NUDE DESCENDING A STAIRCASE, shown in several film fests in LA and NY.  THE DIVIDED is his feature film debut.

Official GIFF Selection: The Divided

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Civia Tamarkin

Civia Tamarkin is an award-winning television news producer and magazine reporter. JERABEK is her first effort as director of an independent documentary feature. Tamarkin was Executive Producer of CNN's Emmy Award weekly news magazine show "CNN&Time." Before joining CNN, she produced investigative series for ABC World News Tonight, Nightline specials and contributed to ABC's breaking news coverage. Since 2002, her company has developed and produced documentaries, including three for ESPN. Prior to her work in television, Tamarkin was a special correspondent for People Magazine, reported for Time and wrote for various other publications, covering stories around the world, including the fall of Vietnam . She authored a book, two plays, and editeda literary magazine. Tamarkin, 59, has received numerous awards including a National News and Documentary Emmy, an Edward R. Murrow Award and Overseas Press Club Award. She divides her time between her native Chicago and Scottsdale , Arizona .

Official GIFF Selection: JERABEK 

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Folleh Tamba, Director

Folleh Tamba was born in Chicago , Ill.   His parents sent him to Sierra Leone ( West Africa ) his mother's home Country; when he was 13 months old while his parents were earning their degrees at American universities and was raised temporarily by his grandmother.  His parents returned to Liberia in 1986 and he moved to live with them in Liberia in 1987. (West Africa; Monrovia ; Liberia ).  

His mother escaped after the 1990 civil war to bring Folleh and his siblings to America for a better life and education.  Life in Liberia during the daily four plus years of civil war was short and brutal.  America was a place to escape for a better life.  Folleh came to the states, finished high School earned a BFA in film and video and another BA in Justice Studies form Northeastern Illinois University . He is currently serving as a rifleman in the Marine Corps.  Folleh is currently in pre-deployment training for another seven month tour, his third, in Iraq . 

Official GIFF Selection: Triangle of Death

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Scott VanOrdstrand

Scott is an awarding winning filmmaker, journalist and member of the Colorado Film School faculty.  Scott has over 20 years experience working in film and television and has received several regional emmy awards and National Press Photographer association awards.  He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Colorado , Boulder in Television Production Management and has worked for ABC New, NBC News, RTL, Rocky Mountain PBS and various local news organizations.

Scott is currently the Equipment and Technology Manager of the Colorado Film School , Community College of Aurora as well as an independent filmmaker.  He is currently in development on music video and film projects.

Official GIFF Selection: Stories of Colorado Vets

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Win Wachsmann, Director
Win is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and businessman. After completing film studies at Simon Fraser University he continued writing and teaching. A businessman and syndicated business columnist, he has written many articles for national and international magazines on business and the World Wide Web. Win’s companies have sold products and software internationally.
 
He has written a series of feature length scripts under consideration in Hollywood . He has completed several short films and in 2005 embarked on his most ambitious project yet - as Creator, Producer, Writer, of Military Miracles, a pilot for History Channel.
 
Military Miracles chronicles the first 30 days of the 1300 Marines of the 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment as they battled their way through the deserts of Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. It features miraculous stories of survival in the face of certain death, as told by the soldiers who lived them. The stories are revisited through compelling interviews, exciting re-enactments and archival battlefield footage. While the Marines themselves refer to these events as miracles, the viewers can decide for themselves whether this is so. We feel this approach honors each soldier's personal beliefs.

Official GIFF Selection: Military Miracles 

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Michael Wilker
Michael Wilker moved from the ground up in video production. He started his career just after high school sweeping studio floors at a local ABC affiliate and has gone on to work on national and international productions for the major networks, PBS, Discovery and National Geographic. Michael currently acts as Executive Producer for the Department of Veterans Affairs where he oversees the "Face Behind the File" series and several national public service announcement campaigns. He lives in Alexandria , Virginia , with his wife, Mary, and three children.

Official GIFF Selection: The Long Way Home

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page

Jason Winn, Director

Presently co-owner of Tin Roof Films in Atlanta , award-winning filmmaker Jason M. Winn began his career in the advertising world. He has produced/directed many spots for television and cable. 

Following his dream of making films, Jason partnered with Screenplay writer Michael Buchanan to create the film Last Bullet.  Currently, Winn is attached to direct the family action adventure film, Treasure of the Four Lions, the tale of how three kids are helped by Civil War ghosts to find the lost gold of the Confederacy. This feature (written by: Michael Buchanan and Diane Lang) is in pre-production and is slated to start shooting in Georgia during the summer 2009.

Official GIFF Selection: Last Bullet

Filmmaker Focus: back to top of page