2019 Filmmakers and Panelists
FILMMAKERS AND SPEAKERS ATTENDING OR CONNECTING VIA SKYPE
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MADE HERE SHOWCASE
PETER ACKERMAN
(A CAVE YOU FEAR TO ENTER & GAME DINNER)
Peter is a Danish-American filmmaker and graduate of the University of Vermont’s Film & Television Studies Program. His films explore the ways in which we understand ourselves as part of nature, as well as removed from it. He currently works full-time as Videographer for an animal health company in Portland, ME.
MARIA T ALVARADO (THE COLLECTOR)
Maria is a creative producer and editor for promotional campaigns [HBO Latin American Group, Discovery Channel] and creates videos focusing on arts, gastronomy, and events.
CODY BALL (RECOVERY COUNTY)
Cody is a documentary cinematographer and editor based in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. In both his branded work and original films, Cody seeks to bring out deep human truth in seemingly small stories, with the hopes of sparking meaningful conversation of all shapes and sizes. While Cody is typically on the road (he has shot in over 24 states, and 7 countries across 4 continents), he always longs for the rivers and woods of Western Massachusetts where he grew up.
DEMETRIUS BORGE
(CAROL STREET)
Demetrius has been producing videos since he accidentally erased all the family photos during a summer trip. He co-owns 273 Productions where he has works a producer, director, editor, and cinematographer on short films and commercials. Carol Street is Demetrius’s debut festival appearance.
JOHN GRIESEMER (LITTLE BEERY’S MARCH)
John is a filmmaker, actor, and novelist. He lives in Lyme, NH and wrote and directed the web series Parmalee.
REGINALD GROFF (BROTHERS)
GARRETT HARKAWIK (DOOM VIBRATIONS)
Garrett is a southern Vermont-based documentary filmmaker and composer, whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, Aeon, and Short of the Week. His previous film Remote Viewing Memories tracked 30 years in the life of military psychic Ed Dames using only promotional commercials and other found footage.
DANIELLE HAZLETON
(THE SILENCE BETWEEN)
Danielle has collaborated with a variety of companies including BBC Three UK, Vice Media, and The Food Network. She has worked on projects in Ireland, England, and Wales, including the feature documentary Violet Gibson: The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini.
JOANNIE LAFRENIERE
(SNOWBIRDS)
Based in Montreal, Joannie is a documentary filmmaker and photographer with an anthropological focus. Her latest documentary project, The Woman Who Saw the Bear, has been shown in major festivals across Canada and internationally.
ANTHONY LAHOUT (NORTH COUNTRY)
I am Joe Lahout’s grandson as well as the Executive Producer of North Country. Outside of filmmaking I’m a native of the White Mountains.
ELEANOR LANAHAN
(DAN HIGGINS: MAKING PICTURES)
Lanahan has lived in Vermont since 1971 and has been illustrating stories her entire life– through children’s books, advertising, map making, biography, portraits, animation and documentaries.
BEATRICE LECLERC (HERD)
Béatrice works as production coordinator, manager and assistant at Metafilms and UQAM.
QIAN LI
(NOTHING TO MY NAME)
Qian Li is an aspiring filmmaker from Shanghai, China. She works as an assistant in film instruction at Middlebury College where she recently graduated with a joint major in English and film. Nothing to My Name is her thesis film.
JOSH MELROD
(MAJOR ARCANA)
Josh Melrod is an award-winning filmmaker and editor who splits his time between Vermont and New York. Major Arcana is his first narrative feature.
MARIO MORIN
(SACRED HAIR)
Cumulating 25 years on stage and screen, as an actor, web commercial director, Movie and TV technician and coach-trainer, Mario Morin, born in Baie-Comeau on the north shore of Quebec, in Canada directs his first fiction film Sacred Hair, of which he also signs the scenario and the artistic direction
KEITH OPPENHEIM (NOYANA – SINGING AT THE END OF LIFE)
Keith is Associate Professor of Broadcast Media Production at Champlain College. He began working on Noyana – Singing at the end of life because his sister-in-law is a member of the choir that sings to terminally-ill residents at Respite House in Colchester.
JULIE PRIEUR (DOLLS DON’T DIE)
As a trained musician, Julie Prieur transposes her musicality in movies. Her art revolves about the themes of beauty and femininity.
JACOB ROBERTS (LEWISTON)
DAVID SHAYNE (LEWISTON)
MARC WENNBERG
(PRECIOUS GURU)
Precious Guru is my first film and a 7-year labor of love that came to fruition due to the support of many hands and talents.
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MAIN FESTIVAL
GINA ABATEMARCO
(NOTHING FANCY: DIANA KENNEDY)
Gina is a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow. Her debut feature Kivalina made its world premiere at the Berlinale Culinary Cinema and was broadcast on America Reframed. Gina is the Co-Founder of the Fusion Film Festival celebrating female filmmakers at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. When not working on films, Gina is active in the sustainable food movement. She has worked for farmers and artisans at The Union Square Greenmarket, collaborated with Slow Food International, and apprenticed at the “Rome Sustainable Food Project” at The American Academy in Rome.
ROGER ALLBEE (THE MILK SYSTEM)
Roger Allbee is the former Secretary of Agriculture for the State of Vermont. He also has been a member of the Senior Management Team of the former Farm Credit and Bank for Cooperatives for the Northeast; a former Chair of the Animal Products Advisory Committee to the a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Trade Ambassador. He lives in Townshend, Vermont
EVAN BARQUIST
(ADVOCATE)
Evan Barquist is a general practice litigator. He represents clients in criminal and traffic defense matters, civil litigation, and real estate litigation. Evan grew up around the country and around the world.
LIZ CANNER
(LOST CITY OF MER)
Liz makes documentaries, digital public art installations and new media projects on human rights issues. She often employs cutting edge technologies to explore social issues from a new perspective. A prime example of this is her critically acclaimed public cyber art documentary Symphony of a City. Her documentary Deadly Embrace: Nicaragua, The World Bank and the IMF (1995), was one of the first films to look critically at the effects of the IMF World Bank policy and globalization. In 2009 Canner directed Orgasm Inc. : The Strange Science of Female Pleasure (2009), a feature-length investigative documentary on the pharmaceutical industry and women’s health.
HEATHER FURMAN
(THE RIVER AND THE WALL)
As State Director of The Nature Conservancy in Vermont since August 2013, Heather Furman leads a statewide team of conservation and programmatic talent to achieve a resilient and connected landscape for both nature and people. Within the New England Division, Heather also guides a team of scientists and conservation experts to achieve large scale protection for land and water.
JAN HAAKEN
(OUR BODIES, OUR DOCTORS)
Jan is professor emeritus of psychology at Portland State University, a clinical psychologist, and documentary filmmaker. From refugee camps, shelters, war zones and mental hospitals to drag bars and hip-hop clubs, Jan Haaken’s documentary films focus on people and places on the social margins, drawing out their insights on the world around them.
COLIN HENKEL (THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI)
Musician based in Vermont
PHIL HUFFMAN (THE RIVER AND THE WALL)
Director of Government Relations and Policy for The Nature Conservancy in Vermont.
CRISTINA IBARA & ALEX RIVERA
(THE INFILTRATORS)
Cristina is a brown border crosser and an award-winning independent filmmaker with roots along the Texas/Mexico border. Alex is a filmmaker who has been telling new, urgent, and visually adventurous Latino stories for more than twenty years. His first feature film, Sleep Dealer, won multiple awards at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival.
REUBEN JACKSON
(IT MUST SCHWING – THE BLUE NOTE STORY)
Reuben Jackson is a poet, curator, educator and music historian and critic. He served as curator of the Smithsonian’s Duke Ellington Collection in Washington, D.C. for over twenty years. His music reviews have been published in the Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Jazz Times, and on All Things Considered.
JOHN KASBE
(WHEN LAMBS BECOME LIONS)
Jon is an Emmy Award-winning director, cinematographer, and editor. Born to an Australian mother and an Indian father, Jon spent most of his childhood traveling extensively. Growing up in this environment instilled in him a deep curiosity and desire to explore the world. When Lambs Become Lions is his first feature length film.
JAY KLEBERG
(THE RIVER AND THE WALL)
Jay is the Associate Director for Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. He is part of a team that conserves Texas’ most pristine lands to benefit wildlife and provide recreational opportunities to the public. He is a sixth generation Texan, born and raised on a working cattle ranch in South Texas. He is co-founder of a Brazilian-based Amazonian adventure travel company and conservation organization. Jay lived in El Paso for eight years working in cities along both sides of the US-Mexico border.
MARCUS LINDEEN
(THE RAFT)
Marcus is a writer and director. His debut documentary feature, Regretters, won the Prix Europa for Best European Documentary, the Swedish Academy Awards and the Swedish Emmy for Best Documentary in 2011. Lindeen’s theatre work has been presented at Sweden’s National Theatre, The National Theatre in Oslo and The Schaubühne in Berlin. The Raft premiered at CPH:DOX film festival in Copenhagen where it won the main award.
DR. LAUREN K MACAFFEE (OUR BODIES, OUR DOCTORS)
Dr. MacAfee is a gynecologist and obstetrician at the University of Vermont Medical Center. She specializes in obstetric, gynecology, reproductive health, family planning, and substance use disorders.
CARLOS MARQUES-MARCET
(THE DAYS TO COME)
Carlos Marques-Marcet is an editor and director, known for 10,000 Km (shown at VTIFF 2016), Anchor and Hope and The Days to Come. He lives in Barcelona.
MELINDA MOULTON
(OUR BODIES, OUR DOCTORS)
Melinda serves on the Boards of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and Vermont Main Street Alliance. Over the past 30 years she has put her energy and time, in a variety of ways, to focus on environmental concerns and the improvement of the status of women.
RANDALL PIERCE
(THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI)
Pierce music directs for the Flynn Theater, Vermont Stage and UVM. He writes music for films, theater pieces and runs a regular silent film series with Main Street Landing.
DR. SARAH PRAGER (OUR BODIES, OUR DOCTORS)
Dr. Prager is UW associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is the director of the Family Planning Division and Family Planning Fellowship.
PATRICIA PRESTON
(MR. TOILET: THE WORLD’S #2 MAN)
Patricia is the Executive Director of the VCWA. This past September she facilitated an exchange to connect future leaders and mentors invested in women’s health, innovation, and equity in Tanzania.
BARBET SCHROEDER
(THE VENERABLE W.)
Schroeder started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette. He was nominated for the Academy Awards and the Palme d’Or for his 1987 Barfly. He has also made a series of documentary films such as General Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait. The Venerable W. is in this style of letting the subjects of the films condemn themselves.
LEA TSEMEL
(ADVOCATE)
Lea is an Israeli lawyer known for her work in support of Palestinian rights. She defines her career as one involving “everything [that occurs] between the Palestinians and the authorities”.
PROF. LUIS VIVANCO (NOTHING FANCY: DIANA KENNEDY)
Prof. Vivanco is a cultural anthropologist and co-director of UVM’s Humanities Center.
DAVID WRIGHT (ALAN MAGEE: art is not a solace)
David is an award–winning director and cinematographer (Emmy & BAFTA) and has worked in over 60 countries. He shoots stories relating to both environmental and human justice issues. Plus works on television series such as David Attenborough’s Life and Frozen Planet.
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