Film Festival Jury
Winter 2022
Sasheen Artis
Two-Time Emmy Award-Winning Producer
Sasheen Artis is a two-time Emmy winning producer with over 25 years of experience developing and producing television, film and live events, including a Prince concert and two national book tours that garnered two New York Times Bestsellers. She has worked with notables such as President Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, actor/director Robert Duvall, actress Cicely Tyson, LA Phil Conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and singer/songwriter Annie Lennox.
As Chair of the Producers Guild of America Power of Diversity Master Workshop, Artis was responsible for the PGA’s flagship diversity initiative. During her term, participants’ success rate increased from 60% to 100% in securing funding, representation, or employment. Moreover, Artis was invited by HRH Princess Rym Ali and the Royal Film Commission to lead a week-long seminar for creatives in Amman, Jordan, where she taught pitching, story development, budgets and schedules, and marketing. Named a Wayfinder Foundation Fellow in 2019, Artis spearheaded the initiative and produced a webinar for creatives “Ground Zero: Narratives on Homelessness” to help change the depiction of the homeless in media.
Getting her start in marketing and creative services at Paramount Home Entertainment, Artis worked on blockbuster campaigns for TITANIC, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, BRAVEHEART and TV series like STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION and Nickelodeon’s RUGRATS. She is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. Artis is originally from New York City and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Standford University.
Mark Baldo
Supervising Director/Producer
Mark Baldo recently finished up as a Consulting Director on a series of animated shorts with Meta-X-Studios, on their Sir Mix-a-Lot BIT BUTTS NFT auction. The animated Sir Mix-A-Lot character that introduces the auction items was produced as traditional hand-drawn 2D animation.
Baldo completed his post as Supervising Director with Wonder Media earlier this year on MY LIFE IS WORTH LIVING, the first animated series for teens about mental health. Baldo led the Wonder Media team to produce dramatic, compelling narratives that provide messages of hope. Prior to this, Baldo directed the full-length animated feature, ROCK DOG 2: ROCK AROUND THE PARK for Lionsgate Entertainment – now on Amazon Prime Video.
Previously, Baldo spent 4 years at Disney, as the Supervising Producer on the animated series: LEGEND OF THE THREE CABALLEROS for Disney+. Baldo was also responsible for the development and pre-production of the Emmy Award winning MUPPET BABIES re-boot for Disney JR., as well as producing three, 22 minute stop-motion CLUB PENGUIN specials for the Disney Channel UK.
Baldo was at DreamWorks Animation for 4 years, where he directed on the FATHER OF THE PRIDE television series, served as a Sequence Consultant on the animated feature SHARK TALE and developed SHREK THE HALLS, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and the PUSS IN BOOTS movie.
His most notable work was on 20th Century Fox’s Oscar-nominated ICE AGE, while at Blue Sky Studios. Baldo’s opening sequence for the film, starring the acorn loving Scrat, not only became the film’s trailer, but also became the running gag of the franchise. Other animated movies directed by Baldo include: BARBIE: A PERFECT CHRISTMAS, for Technicolor Digital, BIONICLE: THE LEGEND REBORN, HERO FACTORY and LEGO: ATLANTIS for Threshold Animation.
After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Baldo started his animation career working in New York City on the first season of PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE and directed countless animated television commercials, short films for SESAME STREET.
Erin Bartnik ball
Emmy-Nominated Producer
Erin Bartnik Ball is an Emmy-nominated producer and the producer for KCET/PBS Fine Cut: Festival of Films. She has worked as a producer, line producer, and production supervisor on award-winning films that have screened at Sundance, SXSW, Outfest, SIFF, and Tribeca. Her credits include: Camp X-Ray, Any Day Now, Shelter, All I Wish, The Night Stalker, Beholder and Starsky and Hutch.
Ball has a Bachelor’s degree in Film/Cinema/Video Studies from Penn State University.
Maggie Bellomy
Director/Creator
Prior to joining MammothVision, Maggie Bellomy worked hand-in-hand with the directors at Threshold Animation to create a number of productions for LEGO which include: Bionicle: The Legend Reborn (direct to DVD film) and Clutch Powers (4D Film), Lego: Atlantis (TV special), Hero Factory (TV mini-series). She personally oversaw every aspect of production ensuring each phase was executed to the highest quality from story and pre-production, all the way to final render, comp, and output. She also worked directly with the LEGO executives to ensure their vision and expectations were being met and many times exceeded.
Before her foray into LEGO production, Bellomy’s work included the blockbuster stereoscopic film AVATAR with Lightstorm Entertainment. Based on her reputation as being an expert in the latest motion capture techniques and her leadership abilities, she was recruited to help oversee the production artists. During her time with Lightstorm, Bellomy streamlined and standardized the layout and motion capture pipeline, making it more ‘artist friendly’ resulting in a marked increase in efficiency with less artist error. In addition to managing and scheduling the team, she worked on key scenes of the film directly with James Cameron.
Bellomy’s animation experience includes being invited to join the Animal Logic team in Sydney, Australia to work on HAPPY FEET, her first feature film. She quickly proved herself and earned the privilege of creating key animations for the film’s lead characters Mumbles, Gloria, Raoul and the baby penguins.
Before moving into films, Bellomy honed her skills in animation and in the use of motion capture working on television and video games. Among her many game credits are AND1 Streetball, The X-Files Resist or Serve, and the Knockout Kings series. She worked in a variety of computer graphics roles, specializing in character animation during her early career. Her work includes national television commercials and station branding graphics packages. Bellomy is the artist behind the award-winning logo for the Sarasota area transit system.
Devi Bhaduri
Screenwriter/Book Reviewer
Devi Bhaduri is a Chicago screenwriter and book reviewer specializing in thriller, horror, and sci fi. She has an M.A. in writing from DePaul University, studied screenwriting at the Writers Bootcamp, and once worked as a geneticist. Her favorite stories investigate the supernatural, the psychological, or murderers, and come with a generous helping of suspense. To her, genre is a safe space in which to grapple with dark truths about the human experience.
Bhaduri wrote the short horror films, HEREAFTER and SPECIMEN 9126, both directed by Robbie Barnes (Perfect Holiday Productions). The films premiered on Shudder as part of the Nyx 13 Minutes of Horror Film Festival. Her feature thriller screenplay, PARASOMNIAC, has been recognized by many film festivals, including the Toronto Independent Film Festival, where it won Best Sci Fi or Horror Screenplay.
In addition, Bhaduri has served as a co-curator and judge for the Juggernaut Film Festival in Chicago. When not writing screenplays, she is a contributor to the Chicago Review of Books.
Angela Boisvert
Director/Creator
Angela Boisvert is an award-winning television producer whose credits include: Artbound: Lula Washington, Open Your Eyes, Writers
Block Presents: Linda Ronstadt, Lost LA, and Fine Cut: Festival of Films.
Boisvert has worked in the film and television industry for over 15 years and serves as the Director of Production for KCET/PBS SoCal/LinkTV. She is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America as well as the Academy for Television, Arts and Sciences.
Jerry Bryant
Director/Creator
Chicago music legend and founder of JBTV, Jerry Bryant, has produced and aired over 3,600 episodes of the television music showcase since its inception in 1985. His love for music, respect for talent, and determination to introduce overlooked artists to his loyal viewers have twice garnered hin the coveted Billboard Music Video Award for Best Local/Regional Alternative Modern Rock Show and multiple Chicago/Midwest Emmy® Awards for production.
Jerry's music history began in the mid-1960s with the formation of Studio Enterprises, a student radio training ground with Junior Achievement. He produced radio specials with The Supremes, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and other new acts at the time. In 1967, Jerry produced Studio 68, a local Milwaukee TV program featuring high school students doing comedy skits and reporting musical news. From 1971 to 1973, Jerry was General Manager, Program Director and on-air personality at WQFM in Milwaukee.
Jerry co-founded SuperSpots, a company developed to produce creative television advertising for the entertainment and leisure industry. SuperSpots moved to Chicago in 1979 to take advantage of the growing television market to include cable advertising. The company continues today and Jerry has developed Emmy® Award-winning spots for national and local advertising campaigns like WLIT-FM.
Jerry developed JBTV to show artistic music videos on TV. An all-volunteer student staff gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to do all aspects of television production. Every year, more than 20 interns graduate from JBTV into professional industry jobs.
Throughout his career, Jerry generously welcomed new artists and promoted their work when major channels presented barriers to new music talent. He has launched the careers of hundreds of artists— many have gone on to worldwide acclaim. The big names in modern rock history who owe their success, in part, to JBTV include Joey Rame, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Moby, No Doubt and Henry Rollins. As a result, Chicago's JBTV has become the longest running resource of modern-music television programming in the world and Jerry Bryant has become an icon in the rock 'n roll community
Timothy Dillard
Actor / Writer / Director / Producer
Upon Tim Dillard’s love of film began as a toddler when he demanded to attend a second screening of Superman at the age of three, but his love of filmmaking began when he snuck onto the set of Carlito’s Way as a teenager.
After studying directing and acting in college, Dillard spent four years grinding away in the independent film scene of Austin, Texas in the nineties, working in whatever capacity he could on projects that ranged from big budget and prestigious to schlock. A move to Europe in 2002 found Dillard working as a personal assistant, stand in, production assistant, production coordinator, and assistant director on various jobs that brought him to locations across Europe and Africa.
After a chance encounter with six-time Academy Award Nominee Jim Sheridan, Dillard began his professional screenwriting career. He has gone on to have a couple of scripts optioned, a couple sold, and several more to write, pitch, and eventually produce.
“Film is the highest form of artistic expression and there is nothing that compares to being a part of the army of technicians, craftspeople, artists, accountants, caterers and rogues that come together to realize the vision of a director.”
Romell Foster-Owens
Filmmaker, Producer, Director, and Writer
Romell Foster-Owens is an award winning Filmmaker, Producer, Director, and Writer of television series, shorts, commercials, and independent feature films. A 20 year veteran of TV and film, Foster-Owens has produced over 100 hours of television, produced 30 films and directed the feature films, Reach For The Skies and The Three Muscatels, both distributed by SONY.
Foster-Owens has the rare distinction of three films, that she produced, being “Official Selections” of the Cannes Film Festival. Other festivals include Sedona, Palm Beach, Pan African International Film Festival, Dances With Films, and the Milan, Madrid and Cleveland International Film Festivals.
Additionally, she produced The Lift, winner of Best Film and Best Director at the Madrid International Film Festival and My Mom And The Girl, winner of the Best Picture and Jury Award at the Connect Film Festival. She produced feature films, First Love and The Lonesome Trail.
Foster-Owens’ numerous awards include an EMMY Award, NAACP Image Award, and the Black Filmmaker’s Hall of Fame Award for Best Independent Film, the National Council of Christians and Jews Humanitarian Award and the Platinum Aurora Award for Best In Show. She also the winner of three Gold Aurora Awards, four Telly Awards, four Addy Awards and the Women In Film Spotlight Award for Outstanding Achievement as a producer.
Foster-Owens is a graduate of the prestigious American Film Institute (Directing), San Diego State University (Theatre), the Producers Guild of America’s Power of Diversity Workshop and Robert De Niro’s Tribeca All Access Program. Foster-Owens is a member of the Alliance Of Women Directors, Women In Film, and Board Member of the Gang Alternatives Program and a Board Member Emeritus of The American Film Institute’s Center for Advance Film Studies. Foster-Owens is the President of Jowharah Films.
Charles Howard
Award-winning Creative Executive
Charles Howard is a 30-year veteran in the film, television, and new media industry. He’s an award-winning creative executive with extensive experience in leading cross-functional production teams and agency partners in the design, development, execution and delivery of complex integrated digital projects and innovative solutions for entertainment and Fortune 500 clients. Charles has expertise in multi-platform media strategies, graphic web design, full life-cycle production management, analytics, technical and creative writing, presentation design, interactive content, game development, web based applications, CMS programs, mobile apps, virtual and augmented reality, post-production and social media marketing.His production experience also includes feature films and broadcast television. Some of his credits include: Comic View, Johnny Skidmarks, Spark, Sliders, Pacific Blue, Dead at 21, The Huntress, The X Files, The Seat Filler and Alien III.
A graduate of the Loyola Marymount University MFA program in Film Production, Charles now teaches producing classes in that same graduate program at the LMU School of Film and Television. He is also a regular guest lecturer for several of Film Independent’s Artist Development programs and their U.S. Department of State sponsored Global Media Makers program. Further, Charles develops and teaches international producing master classes in countries such as Brazil, Taiwan and Jordan.
Over the last 15 years, Charles has held a variety of leadership positions with the Producers Guild of America, having chaired several committees and contributed toward many of their large initiatives. He co-chaired the Diversity Committee and contributed to the development of the PGA Power of Diversity Master Producing Workshop,a 3-month professional development program for rising producers to teach them the skills they will need to be successful in the film and television industry. Charles was instrumental in developing the core curriculum for the program which includes: story and script development, budgeting, scheduling, pitching,packaging, marketing, film finance, traditional and YouTube distribution, transmedia content development, crowdfunding, brand development and business plans. He has been a lead instructor and mentor to the 200 students that have come through the program. He chaired the PGA Seminar Committee, producing 120 seminars, master classes and training workshops for PGA members. He co-chaired the Motion Picture Technology Committee’s partnership with The American Society of Cinematographers on a motion picture digital camera assessment. He is a voting member of the PGA’s Documentary Motion Picture Blue Ribbon Panel for selecting the nominees for consideration at the PGA Awards. He is a member of the PGA’s Virtual Reality Task Force which, in conjunction with the Virtual Reality Society, is exploring setting guidelines and standards for credits for VR and AR producers in the industry. Currently he is a delegate to the PGA’s New Media Council and a member of the PGA’s National Board of Directors.
Charles is frequently called upon to moderate the PGA’s premiere film screenings Q&A sessions in front of audiences as large as 1,000 people. Over the last 12 years, Charles has moderated discussions and interviewed top producers for more than 200 film screenings, including titles like The Revenant, Birdman,Pariah,The Master, Detroit, Foxcatcher, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Gravity, LBJ, The Departed, The King’s Speech, Inception, The Hurt Locker, Precious, American Hustle, Argo, Brooklyn, Fences, The Artist, Bridge of Spies, Into the Woods, The Imitation Game, Spotlight and Moonlight.
Brian Kallies
Producer / Editor
Brian Kallies is an independent documentary filmmaker having produced and/or edited feature docs and docuseries for Showtime, Discovery+, American
Public Television, Apple TV, Amazon, TruTV, other networks and streaming services.
His comedy documentary PHUNNY BUSINESS was critically acclaimed by Roger Ebert as “one of the best documentaries of the year.” Kallies’ environmental feature-length documentary directorial debut, EVERGLADES OF THE NORTH, inspired a national wildlife preserve and water trail. His editorial and story work on another environmental documentary, SHIFTING SANDS, directly affected legislation to create the Indiana Dunes National Park.
Gustavo Martín Benites Gálvez
Director, Screenwriter and Producer
Gustavo Martín Benites Gálvez is a Latinx director, screenwriter, and producer based in Chicago. His work has been screened at film festivals around the world and featured on the popular short film website Filmstortage.com.
When not working on personal films, Martín contributes his talents to the ever-growing Chicago film industry as a Location Scout for feature films, television, and commercials. His most recent credits include the films Candyman And The Last Shift, as well as the upcoming Amazon show Paper Girls.
Tony Medici
Producer/Director/Cinematographer
Tony Medici is an award winning producer/director/cinematographer with a passion for the visual arts. He is driven to utilize these arts as a catalyst to effect change, create dialog and foster new and expanding perspectives. As Marshal Macluhan declared, “The Medium is the message.”
His career has spanned over 40 years and is going strong. During this time, Medici has been contributing to the creation of television programs covering a myriad of genres from news, sports and cable programming, to corporate, industrial, arts, social media, not for profit and short form and feature documentaries.
Documentary production is my life’s work. It is within this genre that he is most driven and finds his greatest fulfillment. Documentaries afford Medici and the people he collaborates with, the opportunity to share diverse subject matter that he hopes enriches viewer’s points of view, as well as motivates conversation on important social issues.
Medici’s documentary work has touched upon a diverse array of topics ranging from Chicago’s Mexican mural movement, rock star Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, arson, the labor movement in Chicago, the history of Maxwell Street, Chicago’s legendary outdoor bazar, Ken Nordine the creator of Word Jazz, “Juke” hip hop, The Chicago “Imagists” and others.
Maja Memišević
Producer/Director/Cinematographer
Maja Memišević is a Chicago based Bosnian born and raised producer of short films and documentaries. While studying law in Sarajevo, she was an active member of the local film and music industries, which inspired her to pursue a creative arts path. Memišević collaborates with talented filmmakers from USA, Canada, Peru and Brazil passionately seeking to understand herself, and the world around her through film.
When not working on shorts and docs, Memišević contributes her talents and skills to the ever-growing Chicago film industry working in production on feature films, television, reality shows, and commercials for well-known networks such as Netflix, Amazon, Fox, HBO, NBC, etc.
Her credits include The Last Yugoslavs (documentary), The Carbonaro Effect (reality show), Amy Schumer (Netflix specials), What They Had (narrative feature starring Hilary Swank), Hypothetical (award winning short film), The Orange Story (short film).
Memišević has been involved in many film festivals, such as Sarajevo Film Festival, Sundance, Chicago International Film Festival, CIMMfest, and WIFF where she was also selected to be a jury member in 2020 for Mark Boscariol’s 48 Hour Flick Fest.
Dave Moore
Producer/Director
Dave Moore graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 1992 and has been working in the film and music world since.
After working with the City of Chicago’s Film Office producing industry conferences and film showcases, he took on the role of Executive Director of The Chicago International Music and Movie Film Festival. CIMMFest became the second largest film festival in Chicago with annual attendance over 10,000.
Koji Steven Sakai
Writer/Producer
Writer/Producer Koji Steven Sakai is the founder of Little Nalu Pictures LLC. He has written seven feature films that have been produced, including, The Commando, a feature film starring Michael Jai White and Mickey Rourke; Haunted Highway (2006), The People I’ve Slept With, Santa & Me, #1 Serial Killer, and Dying to Kill.
Most recently, Sakai wrote and produced a feature film, Last Girl, which is in post-production. The film was the directorial debut of Arsal Asal and stars Jeanne Lau, Stephen L. Wilson, Sarah Wong Thompson, and Christopher Dionne. In addition, his screenplay, Romeo, Juliet, & Rosaline, was optioned by Amazon Studios.
Sakai has also produced a one-hour comedy special on Starz, Dwayne Perkins: Take Note; Comedy InvAsian, a television series featuring the nation’s top Asian American comedians, and Brash Girls Club, a limited comedy series, which premiered on Tubi TV. He produces and hosts three podcasts; Guy Code; Best OR Worst Podcast with M. Martin Mapoma; and Midnight Watchers with Quentin Lee and Jennifer Field.
A graduate of the University of Southern California’s Masters of Professional Writing program, Sakai is currently a screenwriting instructor at UCLA Extensions, New York Film Academy in Burbank, and Chapman University.
Elizabeth Waller
Producer/Director
Most of Elizabeth Waller’s work has been documentary, working with such people as Tom Weinberg, Ron Weiner, Towers Productions, Duke Hillinger, Ben Hollis, D.P. Carlson, and Rana Segal. She has stood on line for 7:00am breakfast at the commissary of PBS behind Bill Kurtis and has done several special projects, such as Lawyers for the Creative Arts, Chicago. She was working in a newsroom on 9/11.
Waller is a born-and-bred New Yorker and traces her interest in film and media to the influence of her Aunt who worked for decades at NBC-TV NY in the days when it was not so easy to be a woman in television.
She studied/produced films in Paris, The Center for New Television, Chicago; produced a talk show under Ron Weiner (Phil Donohue’s original Director) at Columbia College, Chicago. She has worn many hats in the production world, including location/talent scouting, writing, editing, voiceovers, visuals/scripts, tape logs, shooting, pulling/logging tape, producing segments and creative consulting.
She gives a respectful nod to all of this festival’s participants knowing the blood, sweat, and tears that go into it all and looks forward to seeing their names roll in credits for years to come.
Brian Wilson
Animator
Brian Wilson is an animator with 20 years experience. Most of his work has been in the arena of advertising. Some of the agencies he has worked with under the title of motion director include Leo Burnett, DDB, FCB Draft and HAVAS Worldwide.
Wilson is also a music producer with producer credits on over 10 albums.