Speakers’ Bios

Bonnie Abaunza

Bonnie Abaunza is the Vice President of Campaign Development & Operations for the social media organization Participant, where she is responsible for the creation and implementation of advocacy campaigns for Participants’ films. Prior to Participant, Bonnie served as Director of the Artists for Amnesty program for Amnesty International, cultivating relationships with celebrity spokespeople interested in leveraging their visibility to support critical human rights and social justice issues, enhancing organizational diversity and attracting a new generation of activists through the power of popular media. She currently serves on the Board of Casa Libre/Freedom House operated by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law.

Carol Atwood

Carol Atwood is the Executive Producer of “Investing in Media that Matters - A Gathering at Sundance Village,” as well as the founder and CEO of Spartacus Media Enterprises (SME), a social mission media company committed to incubating new projects and ventures. Carol is the recipient of many awards, including “NYC Entrepreneur of the Year” sponsored by NASDAQ, USA Today, and Ernst and Young. Ms. Atwood is active with the Social Venture Network, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Enterprise Forum, and Social Venture Partners (a group of individual philanthropists who have pooled their money and talent to help the nonprofit community).

Chris Boebel

Chris Boebel joined MIT in 2006 as Manager of Multimedia Development in the MIT Libraries after more than ten years as an independent filmmaker, producer, and editor. He collaborates with faculty, students, and other members of the MIT Community on video projects, and is a consultant on MIT web video initiatives, including MIT TechTV  and MIT World.  In the fall of 2008, he will be teaching a graduate-level class entitled Representing Reality that will seek to combine documentary theory and film making practice. Chris’ work has been shown on the BBC, PBS, Nickelodeon, and many other television networks around the world.  His films, which include Containment: Life After Three Mile Island, Red Betsy, and Like/Dislike, have been screened at more than forty festivals, including Sundance. He holds an MFA from NYU’s Graduate Film Program.

Dan Cogan

Dan Cogan is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Impact Partners, an investment services group for individuals interested in financing social-interest cinema. Films that IP members have financed include Born Into Brothels (winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature); Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (winner of the 2007 Emmy for Best Documentary Special); and Freeheld (winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short). IP is currently in production or development on eight films. Mr. Cogan is also the founder and President of DMC Films, which is devoted to discovering emerging voices in film and exploring new models of independent film finance.

Jeanine Cowen

Jeanine Cowen has worked as a composer, music producer, orchestrator and conductor since 1986. Her background as a classical percussionist and music engineer has allowed her to work with directors and production companies all over the United States on studio, television, and indie film projects that have gone on to receive critical acclaim. She has also created sound for games, including Hasbro’s Mr. Potato Head, Microsoft’s Fine Artist & Creative Writer, the MMORPG Lord of the Rings Online, and Shadows of Angmar. She currently serves as Assistant Vice President – Curriculum Academic Affairs at Berklee College of Music.

Lisa Crafts

Lisa Crafts is a self-taught animator and painter. Her work is characterized by richly rendered imagery, emotional resonance, and a quietly quirky sensibility. Her independent films have been shown in festivals, museums, theaters, and on television in Europe, Asia, and throughout North America. She has created animated segments for independent documentary films, music television, and pieces for Sesame Street and American Movie Classics. Her most recent work on documentaries include animation for Cindy Kleine’s Phyllis and Harold, Nancy Porter and Harriet Reisen’s Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, and Michel Negorponte’s Ibogaine.

Bill Elliott

Bill Elliott is a teacher, arranger and orchestrator at Berklee College. He has worked as a player or arranger for Seatrain, Livingston Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Donna Summer, Johnny Mathis, and Smokey Robinson. His songs and arrangements have appeared in Dick Tracy, Northern Exposure, Nixon, Independence Day, Cinderella Man, and Wedding Crashers. As a music director in collaboration with actor John Lithgow, Bill has conducted the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, and San Diego Symphonies, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Carnegie Hall. He is currently producing and arranging an album for singer Michael Feinstein on Concord Records.

Sandra Forman

Sandra Forman is an attorney with the law firm of Rich May, where she leads the firm’s entertainment, copyright and trademark practice. Her clients include film and television producers and directors, writers, animators, publishers, distributors, and multi-media producers. In addition, she has served as project director and legal counsel on the re-release of Eyes on the Prize, the Emmy Award winning documentary series on America’s Civil Rights Movement. Ms. Forman was recently chosen by readers of Women’s Business as one of the region’s top ten lawyers. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Filmmakers Collaborative.

Nettrice Gaskins

Nettrice Gaskins received a BFA in Computer Graphics from Pratt Institute and an MFA in Art & Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  As an artist she explores the intersection of art, technology and communities, as well as her heritage and the effects of capitalism unified into a common theme of identity, double-consciousness, and transcendence in virtual space.  As Computer Arts Academic Liaison at MassArt she supports the use of digital technologies by students and faculty in all disciplines.  Her wealth of experience in education/training, leadership, and youth development enables her to work successfully with educational programs for underserved students.  She is a recognized national leader in bridging the socio-economic gap between communities that have access to technology and those who do not.  For example, she serves as a media mentor in year two of Adobe Youth Voices, a global philanthropic initiative to empower youth in underserved communities.  Nettrice is currently on the board of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture.

Marc L. Grubb

Marc L. Grubb is the owner and chief technologist of Fusion IT, a Mac consultancy specializing in creative businesses. He is a member of the Apple Consultants Network, holding numerous Apple certifications. He is active in the Massachusetts Production Coalition and the Boston Final Cut Pro Users Group (BOSFCPUG). On his blog, creative-reaction.org, he explores the numerous factors affecting creativity within a business environment.

Ryan Harrington

Ryan Harrington runs the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund - a finishing fund that supports films about social issues missing from the mainstream media. Prior to his work with the Tribeca Film Institute, Ryan oversaw production for A&E IndieFilms. There he championed the Oscar-nominated films Murderball and Jesus Camp, the Sundance hits My Kid Could Paint That and American Teen (in theatres July 2008); Barbara Kopple’s Bearing Witness, Street Thief and Alexis Arquette She’s My Brother. Ryan is currently producing films via his production company Bugle B including 21 Below (with IndiePix Studios), Ivy Meeropol’s Preacher Men and others.

Robin Hobart

Robin Hobart began his visual effects career at Olive Jar Studios in Boston. There he learned traditional stop motion and cel animation skills. As the trend towards digital compositing and computer graphics took hold, Robin moved into those fields and became Technical Director, working on jobs for MTV, Coca-Cola and Disney. Director Errol Morris recruited him to serve as VFX Supervisor for his academy award winning documentary Fog of War. Since 2002, Robin has worked as a Visual Effects Artist at Brickyard VFX, expanding his skills as a Flame compositor and 3D visual effects artist.

Artemis A.W. Joukowsky, III

Artemis A.W. Joukowsky, III, has acted as a venture capitalist, asset advisor, entrepreneur, non-profit activist and film producer for the past 19 years. He has formed over twenty for-profit and four non-for profit institutions and has been a founding partner in two venture capital funds. He has been a part of four companies that have gone public, including 7th Generation and Econergy International, PLC, a renewable energy company. He is a co-founder of Rios de Energia, a $20 million International Energy Conservation Fund. Mr. Joukowsky is also the Executive Director of Carbon Nation, a film about solutions to the global warming crisis.

Scott Karambis

Scott Karambis is currently a Partner and Director of Strategy at MECHANICA, a brand strategy co. in Newburyport, MA. He helps MECHANICA’s clients understand and succeed within the emerging world of proliferating media channels and changing consumer behavior. Before MECHANICA, Scott was the Planning Director at Mullen where he doubled the size of the planning department and started a digital experience practice. He began his career in marketing at Saatchi & Saatchi about a decade ago, working on the iconic P&G brands, Tide and Cascade.

Scott Kirsner

Scott Kirsner is a journalist who writes about the ways that new technologies are changing the entertainment industry. He writes regularly for Variety and The Boston Globe, and edits the blog CinemaTech. Scott is the author, most recently, of “Inventing the Movies,” and before that, “The Future of Web Video: New Opportunities for Producers, Entrepreneurs, Media Companies and Advertisers,” published in March 2007. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Salon, the San Jose Mercury News, BusinessWeek, and Newsweek, among other publications. Scott has spoken and moderated panels at the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, South by Southwest, and the Los Angeles Film Festival. He’s part of the group organizing “The Conversation,” a new gathering of filmmakers this fall in San Francisco. He is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communications and the New World School of the Arts, in Miami.

Alla Kovgan

Alla Kovgan is a Boston-based filmmaker born in Moscow. Her films have been screened at Sundance, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, New York African Film Festival, and broadcast on Russian television, on ZDF TV (Germany) and on PBS’s P.O.V. Alla is currently working on a documentary for PBS, Russia’s Pepsi Generation, about the last generation of Soviet children to grow up behind the “Iron Curtain.” She is one of the artistic directors of the Kinodance Company, acts as an international director of the St. Petersburg Dance Film Festival KINODANCE in Russia and co-curates Balagan Experimental Film Series in Boston.

Lyda Kuth

Lyda Kuth is a founding board member and executive director of the LEF Foundation, a private foundation that supports the creation and presentation of new work in the contemporary arts. She has been recognized by the Massachusetts Cultural Council with the prestigious Commonwealth Award and honored by Women in Film and Video New England with the Image Award for Vision & Excellence in the media arts. In 2005, Ms. Kuth became a Creative Capital board member. In addition to her philanthropic work, she is an independent film producer.

Cynthia López

As Vice President for American Documentary/P.O.V., Cynthia López is responsible for development of programming content and distribution, communications and marketing, and strategic development of the organization. Under her leadership, national media coverage of P.O.V. programs more than tripled and partnerships with Netflix, ABC News’ Nightline, and WNYC New York Public Radio have been forged. López has served as an advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Latino Public Broadcasting, Independent Television Service (ITVS), and REEL New York (Thirteen/WNET New York). She is also a founding board member of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers.

Rachel Lyon

Rachel Lyon is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and associate professor at Bentley College in Boston. Her latest project, Juror Number Six, explores the role of media in race, crime, and punishment. She has produced and directed many acclaimed documentaries, including Race to Execution for this season of PBS’ Independent Lens, probing the impact of race on America’s death penalty system. Both Race to Execution and  Mr. Dreyfuss Goes to Washington for the History Channel have won dozens of awards including Telly’s, among others. Her Shadow Over Tibet is one of three films she lensed on Tibet for PBS, BBC and National Geographic. Her Emmy Award winner, Men Who Molest, for PBS’ Frontline, broke the story of child sexual abuse and the “addiction to children.” Lyon has created over 60 documentaries for PBS, NBC, CNN, National Geographic and the History Channel, among others. She served as Senior Producer for Ted Turner for seven years.

Suzanne Lyons

Suzanne Lyons is the BAFTA award-winning co-founder of Snowfall Films, Inc. and has produced 5 feature films with actors including Christopher Walken, Naomi Watts, James Caan, Alfred Molina, Jon Lovitz, Winona Ryder, and Peter Fonda. Snowfall Films is gearing up to produce its next picture, AKA, which will be shooting in Germany this fall. In 2005 Snowfall Films created a genre division, WindChill Films, Inc. that has completed three films to date, selling one to ScreenGems, two to Lionsgate, and winning Best Picture at Shockerfest. Ms. Lyons is co-founder of the Flash Forward Institute.

Scott Masterson

Scott Masterson got his start in film as a production assistant for feature films and television commercials. In April 2006, Scott won the Howard Stern Film Festival with a short film he wrote and directed, entitled Radio Play. Since then, he has won a screenplay deal from Dimension Films and has begun directing for Redtree Productions. In 2007, Scott organized twelve directors to each write and direct a short segment of a feature film based on the months of the year. The film Twelve premiered at the Independent Film Festival of Boston in April 2008.

Robb Moss

Robb Moss’ current film project, Secrecy, directed with Peter Galison, explores the vast, invisible and expanding world of government secrecy in the United States, scheduled for a 2008 release. Moss’s film, The Same River Twice, premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and played theatrically in more than eighty cities across North America. He was on the 2004 documentary jury at the Sundance Film Festival and has thrice served as a creative advisor for the Sundance Institute documentary labs. He is the past board chair and president of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers and has taught filmmaking at Harvard University for the past twenty years.

Chris O’Donnell

Chris O’Donnell has been the Business Manager for IATSE Local 481 since 2003. Local 481 represents over 600 motion picture technicians and crafts people in five New England states. Prior to his current position, Chris spent 15 years as a boom operator on commercials, television programs, and feature films, including A Simple Plan, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Spider-Man. During this time, he never moved to New York or Los Angeles. Chris wrote, produced, and directed an award winning short documentary Wake Up, Freddy and co-produced an independent feature film, Could Be Worse.

Nicholas Paleologos

Nicholas Paleologos is the Executive Director of The Massachusetts Film Office. A prominent producer of several major studio feature films, numerous independent movies and theatrical shows, Paleologos is a two-time Tony Award winner and a former state representative for fourteen years. Paleologos was the recipient of a 1997 Emmy Award nomination for the HBO film In the Gloaming. Other film credits include Ghosts of Mississippi and HurlyBurly. Paleologos is the founder and Producing Director of Boston’s Stuart Street Playhouse.

Bryan Papciak & Jeff Sias

Bryan Papciak and Jeff Sias first worked together at Olive Jar Studios in Boston, creating highly original and unusual mixed-media commercial animation productions for clients such as Cartoon Network, MTV, and Samsung. Since 2001, Bryan & Jeff have continued to collaborate on commercial projects, independent short films, and other artistic endeavors through their own company, Handcranked Productions. HCP was established to explore the arts through non-traditional experimental film, and has recently been featured on PBS “Art Close Up”. Bryan & Jeff both teach courses in animation and experimental filmmaking at Rhode Island School of Design.

Alison Plante

Alison Plante is Director of Audio Production at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University. In 1999 she founded Treble Cove Music, a music composition and production company. Her credits include Bible Battles and Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War for The History Channel; A Life Among Whales for PBS; national television ads for clients including GMAC, Animal Planet, the National Geographic Channel; and multimedia exhibits for Kodak, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Alison has also served as also senior web developer for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ Science Education Department.

Tom Phillips

Tom Phillips’ credits include over 400 films and television programs for PBS, ABC, CBS, Discovery Channel, TLC, Lifetime, A&E and HBO. His score for the PBS film The Murder of Emmett Till contributed to both a national primetime Emmy award and the Special Jury Award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. His score for The Pill, a PBS film, contributed to winning the Best Historical Documentary Emmy in 2004. He has scored dozens of multimedia shows for planetariums and museums, films for major universities, and national television advertising campaigns. Tom Phillips and Tom Martin launched OBT Film Music Library in August 2007.

William C. Rogers

William C. Rogers is a director, producer and writer of numerous films and screenplays. Since 1989 he has directed the Coruway Film Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to film celebrating the human spirit. He is best known for his documentaries My Uncle Joe, a portrait of Bill’s uncle and his experience living in and leaving Fernald State School for the Retarded; Flying Downhill, a portrait of ski star Bode Miller; and the just released Front Wards, Back Wards, a portrait of America’s first institution for people labeled mentally retarded. He is now making Now or Never (nowornevermedia.org), a web and broadcast series on climate change solutions.

Fernanda Rossi

Fernanda Rossi, The Documentary Doctor, has consulted on over 150 films, scripts, and fundraising trailers including the 2007 Academy Award-nominated Recycled Life by Leslie Iwerks. In addition to private consultations, Fernanda teaches two signature workshops - Doctoring your Doc: How to Structure your Documentary and Trailer Mechanics: How to Make a Fundraising Demo. Ms. Rossi writes the bimonthly column “Ask the Doc Doctor” published by Film Arts magazine and is the author of the book Trailer Mechanics. (documentarydoctor.com)

Slava Rubin

Slava Rubin co-founded IndieGoGo to help independent filmmakers overcome their fundraising challenges. Focused on bringing Filmocracy to the people, Slava frequently speaks at conferences and writes on the disruptive technologies impacting the media industry; from finance to distribution. Recent speaking engagements include Sundance, SXSW, Slamdance, IFP Filmmaker & Play Conferences. Slava also serves as an Advisor to the IFP Film Market. Prior to IndieGoGo, Slava was a strategy consultant working on projects from start-up go-to-market strategies to corporate execution plans. He offers expertise in audience building, marketing, and DIWO (Do-It-With-Others).

Ellen Stanley

Ellen Stanley began working in communications 25 years ago at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where she helped to promote great blockbuster art exhibitions including “Treasure Houses of Britain” (which introduced Diana, Princess of Wales, to the U.S.) and the last exhibition of the work of renowned artist Georgia O’Keefe. Ellen has spent the last 20 years at National Geographic, and currently leads communications for their Entertainment and Ventures business units. In the past year she has worked on three feature films from National Geographic Films, as well as the digital, viral videos from National Geographic Digital Media.

David Tamés

David Tamés is a filmmaker and media technologist. He recently joined Massachusetts College of Art and Design as Media Arts Studio Manager, Studio Foundations. He has worked in key creative roles on a wide range of award-winning independent film and new media projects including Never Met Picasso (feature narrative), The East Village (web-based episodic), and Smile Boston Project (short documentary). While working at MIT as a Producer/Editor, David served as Project Manager launching MIT TechTV, a video sharing site for the MIT Community. He earned his M.S. in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Laboratory, studied filmmaking at City College of San Francisco, and holds a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.S. in Computer & Cognitive Sciences from the University of Florida. David is on the Board of Directors of Filmmakers Collaborative, has taught film production, and often speaks at film festivals and industry events about techniques, trends, and tools of interest to media makers working in both traditional and new forms. He blogs at Kino-Eye.com.

Roland Tec

Roland Tec was the first artist to be represented simultaneously in both the music and the film sections of the prestigious South by Southwest festival in Texas. Such range is typical of his career in music, theatre, teaching, and film. Tec has served as Artistic Director of Boston’s New Opera Theatre Ensemble, and three of his plays have been produced Off-Broadway. Tec’s debut feature film, All the Rage (Strand Releasing) which he wrote, directed and scored, is widely considered a hallmark of Queer Cinema. Tec will have two films hit U.S. theatres in 2008: We Pedal Uphill, which he wrote directed and scored, and Edward Zwick’s Defiance.

Tim Van Patten

Tim Van Patten is the manager of Central Booking Service, a scheduling and referral service for professionals in the film and video industry. Tim has placed crew on productions in New England ranging from corporate videos to major features. Tim collaborates with the Massachusetts Film Office, IATSE Local 481, and local production companies to promote film production in New England. He is a founding board member of the Massachusetts Production Coalition and serves on its membership committee. Tim received his M.Ed. in counseling in 2000, and enjoys assisting freelancers develop their skills and advance in their set departments.

Judith Vecchione

Judith Vecchione works at WGBH, Boston’s public television station, and has contributed to many major documentary series, including American Experience, Frontline, Vietnam: A Television History, and Eyes on the Prize. Her projects have won an Emmy, a Peabody, three Christopher Awards, four CINE Golden Eagles, and many other honors. She was Executive Producer for numerous award-winning PBS projects, including Americas, The Blues, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Her next film, China: The Young & The Restless, will air on Frontline in June 2008. Vecchione is also Executive Director for the CPB/PBS Producers Workshops.

Kathryn Washington

Kathryn Washington joined ITVS in 2004; she is the program manager for the Diversity Development Fund (DDF), which funds producers of color who are in the early stages of project development. In addition, Kathryn also works closely with the Vice President of Programming on commissioned Research and Development projects. She is an award-winning public radio producer and worked for NPR’s documentary series Lost and Found Sound. Kathryn screens for Independent Lens acquisitions as well as reviews proposals and gives feedback for production funding through Open Call.

Anne Zeiser

Anne Zeiser is the founder and CEO of Azure Media; she counts the BBC, Vulcan Productions and PBS among her clients. Before starting her own company, Anne was Executive Director of Marketing, Publicity & Media Platforms at WGBH, where she oversaw the marketing campaigns and affiliate relations for Masterpiece Theatre, This Old House, NOVA, American Experience, and Frontline, as well as Martin Scorsese’s The Blues, and Rx for Survival—A Global Health Challenge. Anne has contributed to Emmy-, Peabody-, and duPont Columbia-award winning projects. She has received top industry honors for her work in marketing communications, public affairs and journalism.