Moderator: Emily Ann Hoffman
Emily Ann Hoffman is an animator, filmmaker, and artist whose work explores female sexuality, body, and vulnerability through a comedic lens. Her films have screened at Sundance (Nevada), SXSW (Blackheads), Slamdance (Ok, Call Me Back), and qualified for the Academy Awards (Nevada). She has been awarded fellowships and residencies with institutes such as the New York Film Festival Artist Academy, the Sundance Institute, and the Jacob Burns Film Center. As a fine artist, her work is represented by Spacey Studios and has been featured on Architectural Digest, Fast Company, and more. She has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and currently teaches illustration and animation at Parsons, The New School.
Panelist: Sophie Carroll
Sophie Carroll graduated from the University of Warwick, England with a BA in Film Studies. After working at a variety of production companies in production management in London, Sophie joined Gunpowder & Sky and spearheaded the development of their ALTER brand. ALTER showcases innovative horror short films from diverse filmmakers on their platforms and has quickly amassed over 4 million fans since launching in August 2018. Since mid 2020, Sophie has also headed up Filmmaker Management & Curation for Gunpowder & Sky’s Sci-Fi brand DUST.
Panelist: Jason Sondhi
Co-Founder of the influential website Short of the Week, for 13 years Jason Sondhi has curated shorts for international audiences on the web— via S/W, and as Vimeo’s Lead Curator from 2011-2016. S/W recently welcomed Oscar-winning producer Michael Sugar, Cary Fukunaga & David Gordon Green as minority investors, and partnered with Netflix on a first-look deal, as the company seeks to grow its mission to provide audience and opportunities to the next generation of innovative visual storytellers.
Panelist: Bri Castellini
Bri Castellini is an award-winning independent filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. She has an MFA in Writing and Producing for Television and a BA in Creative Writing, and by day, she's the Film Community Manager for Seed&Spark and an adjunct professor for LIU-Brooklyn and Stephens College. She has been described by collaborators as a "human bulldozer" and is honestly kind of flattered.
Panelist: MarBelle
MarBelle is the founder and editor-in-chief of the independent film curation and interview site Directors Notes. Prior to that, he worked as editor of Shooting People’s Filmmakers Bulletin and as a contributing writer for Short of the Week and No Film School. Through DN he has curated numerous film programs and served on festival juries for over a decade.