Documentary Jury
Jeff Scheftel
Jeff Scheftel is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with over two decades experience producing and writing features, television specials and series. After graduating from Berkeley, Jeff moved to Los Angeles to work as a script analyst for Francis Coppola at his then new Zoetrope Studios.
Scheftel also served for a number of years as Director of Production for The Recording Academy where The Grammys’ telecast was among his responsibilities. His documentary work includes the Sundance and TV Academy Special Governor’s Award winner, TV JUNKIE, and the Emmy and Grammy-winning Martin Scorsese series, THE BLUES. He also helped create and produce the Emmy and Peabody-winning Biography series as well as the long-running MODERN MARVELS series. His documentary, GIRLS IN THE BAND, was an official selection at CIMMfest last year.
Documentary Jury
Warren Cohen
Warren Cohen is a two-time, Emmy award-winning executive producer at VH1. He is responsible for developing documentary programming for VH1 Rock Docs franchise. In 2010, Cohen won his second Emmy for outstanding arts and culture programming for his work on VH1 Rock Doc: Anvil! The Story of Anvil, which he helped acquire. Cohen also supervised the doc series Inside/Out, which produced docs on such music notables as James Brown, Dave Matthews, ODB and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Outside television, Cohen writes about music, film, media and technology for Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly magazines. His blog, Docs That Rock, is devoted to music documentaries.
Documentary Jury
Andy Markowitz
Andy Markowitz, based in Sheffield, England, is a co-founder and chief content wrangler at MusicFilmWeb.com, the world’s most comprehensive online resource for all things music documentary including interviews, news, reviews, a film database, and (coming soon) a dedicated music doc video-on-demand channel. A recovering journalist, Markowitz is a former editor of the alternative weekly Baltimore City Paper.
Documentary Jury
Sara Kiener
After 2 years as Exhibitor Relations Manager at Magnolia Pictures, Sara Kiener began her grassroots outreach tenure with Frederick Wiseman’s LA DANSE: THE PARIS OPERA BALLET and Nicole Opper’s OFF AND RUNNING before joining forces with Merrill Sterritt in early 2010 to create Film Presence, where she is the director of marketing. Film Presence has implemented grassroots outreach and social media campaigns for over 30 films as they prepare for theatrical and DVD release, broadcast, and festival premieres. Highlights include Oscar-nominated WASTE LAND, 2010; Oscar-nominated HELL AND BACK AGAIN, 2011; and Oscar-shortlisted THE WAITING ROOM, 2012. Film Presence has also overseen the outreach and social media for multiple kickstarter campaigns, including THE SISTERHOOD OF NIGHT and AN HONEST LIAR, both currently in production.
Fiction/Music Videos Jury
Alison Cuddy
Alison Cuddy currently is the arts and culture reporter at WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago Public Radio. Cuddy’s been with the station since 2001, working as a producer, host and blogger. She was previously host of EIGHT FORTY-EIGHT and WEEKENDER with ALISON CUDDY,” a weekly guide to the cultural scene in Chicago and beyond.
Fiction/Music Videos Jury
Bruce Sheridan
Professor Bruce Sheridan has been Chair of the Film & Video Department at
Columbia College Chicago since 2001. He writes, produces, and directs drama
and documentary for the screen and teaches all of those disciplines. He has an
extensive background in music-oriented filmmaking that includes producing
music videos for Crowded House (Four Seasons in One Day; Private Universe)
and the Beastie Boys (Gratitude), and writing, directing and producing
Spellbound, a documentary about seminal New Zealand rock band Split Enz. He
won the 1999 New Zealand Best Drama Award for the tele-feature Lawless and
in 2006 a short film he produced with Tim Evans and Steppenwolf Films
called Kubuku Rides (This Is It) was recognized as Best Narrative Short at
Memphis IndieFest and played in festivals around the world.
Fiction/Music Videos Jury
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky is a critic and essayist for Notebook, a magazine of international film and film culture published by Mubi.com. He is also a founding contributor of the Chicago-based film website Cine-File, and co-hosted the syndicated television program Ebert Presents: At the Movies for two seasons. His criticism has appeared in the Chicago Reader, Cargo, Chicago Sun-Times, and other publications.
Fiction/Music Videos Jury
Brandon Harris
Brandon Harris, Brooklyn-based and Cincinnati-bred, has worked in the world of American independent film in all aspects including critic, screenwriter, programmer, producer, director, and educator. Harris is a contributing editor at Filmmaker Magazine and the director of the film, Redlegs, a New York Times Critic’s Pick. His writing has appeared in The Daily Beast, Variety, indieWIRE, The L Magazine and N+1’s Occupy Gazette. Currently, he is co-developing an independent cinema in Cincinnati that will program independent films and films not in regular distribution.
