Carol Bidault d'Isle

Carol Bidault d’Isle, a 30-year veteran of all aspects of the film industry, has worked in the US, Europe, Latin America and for numerous film festivals around the world.

Ms. Bidault d'Isle worked with renowned filmmakers, such as Dino de Laurentiis, Federico Fellini and Sergio Leone before moving into the area of film distribution and international film sales. In 1988, while based in Paris, she worked as a financial and distribution consultant for the EU´s MEDIA Program. Ms. Bidault d'Isle, a native of Honduras, co-founded several women´s film and video organizations and has won several awards in the area of film.   

Panel: Co-Production and Financing: Finding the Money
Panel: Marketing and Distribution

Philippe Caland

Director, Writer and ProducerBorn of French/Lebanese descent, Philippe Caland has lived in the United States since 1985. He grew up in Paris and Beirut, attended the American College of Paris and was part of the French National Swim Team.
became interested in the film industry in 1987. He wrote the story for 'Boxing Helena,' which Jennifer Lynch adapted into a screenplay in 1993. Caland also served as producer on the film. In 1998, Caland and co-producer, Sean Penn, were nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for "Best Feature" for the film, "Loved."
He is also the founder of Econology, an organization that supports concepts and campaigns that promote environmental sustainability.

Panel: Do Filmmakers Make a Difference?: Making Movies that Matter

Israel Cárdenas

After studying film and Speakerting in various projects, in 2001 he created Blueberry Films, an independent films production company.  Since then, he has directed and filmed many projects such as music videos and commercial ads for television as well as documentaries and short films. Cochochi (2007) is his first film which will be screened at the II DR Global Film Festival 2008.

Panel: Do Filmmakers Make a Difference?: Making Movies that Matter

Raquel Cepeda

Raquel Cepeda, a New Yorker born of Dominican parents, is an award-winning editor and multi-media journalist, producer and filmmaker. Under the umbrella of her production company, djali rancher, Cepeda is also a multicultural media consultant specializing in translating news, and social and global issues into an authentic language that is palatable to younger generations—18-34 years of age—stateside and abroad.

Cepeda is the writer, director and co-producer of “Bling: A Planet Rock,” an 87 minute documentary about American hip-hop culture’s obsession with diamonds—“blinging”— Read more

Panel: Women Rising: The Emergence of Latin Women in the Film Industry
Panel: Do Filmmakers Make a Difference?: Making Movies that Matter

Anna Marie De la Fuente

Chief Latin America Writer, Variety. Based in Los Angeles, De La Fuente began her career in journalism while living in Madrid.

She was the Spanish bureau chief for the Hollywood Reporter from 1990-96, at which time she moved to Los Angeles and became a freelance media writer. In 1998 she was appointed Latin America bureau chief for Screen International. She joined Variety in March, 2004. De La Fuente has written widely on the entertainment industry, contributing to the Los Angeles Times, Variety Deal Memo, Billboard and Broadcast.

Panel: Women Rising: The Emergence of Latin Women in the Film Industry
Panel: The Art and Power of Film Critique

Amir Delara

He is currently CEO of Cima Productions, an audiovisual production company mainly dedicated to produce TV commercials for the Hispanic community in the United States and feature films on Hollywood. Mr. Delara is also CEO of one of the most important law-firm at Orange County, and has been a member of NALIP since several years

Panel: Direct to DVD (Home Video)

Juan Fernández

Juan Fernández started his career as a young model for the most reputable international designers like Yves Saint-Laurent and graphic artists, like Salvador Dalí but immediately followed his calling as an international actor taking part in European and US television series like Hill Street Blues; Beverly Hills, 90210; Miami Vice and The Fugitive, as well as in international productions large screen productions as The Lost City, The Butcher’s Son, etc. Juan is now part of the cast of the big project about an important piece of Dominican history, Trópico de Sangre, about the Mirabal sisters.

Actor’s Workshop

Laura Amelia Guzmán

Laura Amelia Guzman is a graduate of the Altos de Chavón School of Design, in the Dominican Republic, where she studied Fine Arts and Photography. She has also completed Cinematography studies at the International School of Film and Television in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. Guzmán directed the short film El Paciente de la Uno (2003), and the documentary Las Últimas Horas de un Cerdo (2005). She is married to Israel Cárdenas, with whom she co-directed their first feature film, Cochochi (2007).

Panel: Women Rising: The Emergence of Latin Women in the Film Industry
Panel: Do Filmmakers Make a Difference?: Making Movies that Matter

Mark Haskell Smith

Smith, a film maker and writer, graduated from Evergreen State and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He is the author of three novels: Moist (Grove Press), Delicious (Atlantic Monthly Press), and most recently, Salty (Grove Press), which was a Book Sense Notable Book. He is also a screenwriter whose feature film credits include Playing God and the award-winning Brazilian film A Partilha. He has been a faculty member at the University of Nebraska MFA Writing Program and also teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers Program

Master Class on Screen-Writing

Ken Kokin

Producer Kenneth Kokin’s career began with a Grand Jury award at the Sundance Film Festival with Bryan Singer's (X-Men, Superman) He then produced and directed the second-unit of Christopher McQuarrie’s Academy Award® winning film “The Usual Suspects.”  With Director Amin Matalqa, Kokin shot “Captain Abu Raed.” Having worked in Hollywood for over a decade, Kokin also produced McQuarrie’s The Way of the Gun”. He recently directed the award-winning documentary "For Tomorrow" and is preparing to direct "Rat Bastards," a feature based on the New York Times best seller.

Panel: Creative Writing: Books to Scripts
Panel: Co-Production and Financing: Finding the Money

Félix Manuel Lora

Félix Manuel Lora is a journalist and film critic. He holds a degree in social communication from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. He has practiced film journalism in several different mediums. Among his work is the documentary Un rollo en la arena (2005) which is a collection of reflections on the  film industry in the Dominican Republic. The documentary was shown at the New Latin American Festival in Havana, Cuba (2006).  His book, Encuadre de una identidad audiovisual (2007) analyzes all angles of the evolution of film and other forms of audiovisual expression in the DR. He also offers film appreciation classes in various public and private institutions in the DR. He is a professor of Art and Film Technology at the Madre and Maesta Pontifical Catholic University.

Panel: Dominican Stars Rising Internationally

Millie Luna

Millie Luna is a veteran in the entertainment arena having dedicated her entire 16 year professional career to this industry.  Currently, Millie Luna is in charge of all programming acquisitions for Venevision International, a leading Latin distributor -- which includes Home Video, VOD and Pay TV windows for US territory. Prior to joining Venevision International, Millie was Latin Brand Manager for Image Entertainment in Los Angeles, CA. In this role, she was responsible for the creation of the Latin label, and its strategic marketing campaigns. Prior to Image Entertainment, Millie was in charge of On-Air promotions and local productions for Disney Channel Latin America. Millie began her career with CBS news at the O&O station, WFOR ch.4 in Miami, Florida.

Millie fue gerente de marca latina para Image Entertainment, en Los Ángeles, California. Como tal, fue responsable de la creación de la marca latina y las campañas de mercadeo estratégico. Antes de eso, estuvo a cargo de las promociones y producciones locales para el Disney Channel América Latina. 

Comenzó su carrera con CBS noticias en la estación O&O, WFOR Canal 4 en Miami, Florida.

Panel: Marketing and Distribution

Elba McAllister

Founding partner of the Cineplex film distribution company which began to function in 1993. During these 15 years of distribution, nearly 200 films were shown in Colombia, opening the door to alternative film. In 2000, she made strategic alliances to distribute in Central America and in some cases, the entire continent. Examples of this include Brokeback Mountain, Broken Flowers and My Blueberry Nights.  She is known for selecting high quality films seen in the main film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Toronto. She represents some Colombian film producers whose films she sells in Latin America.

Master Class sobre Distribución
Panel: Marketing and Distribution

Lourdes Portillo

Portillo's films have focused on the search for a new documentary language. She has worked in a richly varied range of forms, from television documentary to satirical video-film collage, and theatre. Portillo's pivotal documentary film “The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo”, in collaboration with Susana Munoz, resulted in a 1985 Oscar nomination and opened the door to PBS film project La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead, a film with a dreamlike structure that became her hallmark. Señorita Extraviada garnered wide acclaim as Portillo’s influence among documentary makers increases. Ms Portillo has been recognized with at least 40 International prizes, three retrospectives and many awards.

Panel: Women Rising: The Emergence of Latin Women in the Film Industry
Master Class: Master Class in Documentary Film making

Fernando Ramírez, Esq.

Attorney in private practice. Transactional entertainment law for individual talent and business clients in film, television, music, and book publishing industries. Represents producers, writers, composers, directors, media personalities, executive producers, on projects acquired by Artisan, Columbia Pictures, BET, Court TV, ESPN, HBO, PBS; book authors with publishing deals with NYU Press, St. Martin’s Press, Warner Books, Humming Bird Press, Basic Books; musicians, songwriters, mangers, producers, labels attached to Blue Jackal Entertainment, EMI, Luaka Bop, Maverick Records, Premium Latin Music, Shanachie Entertainment, Esention Records, Universal, Warner Brothers, Uprising Records. Clients and projects include Emmy, Oscar, Peabody, MacArthur, Sundance, and Grammy nomination and awards. Currently represents Antena Latina Films, based out of the Dominican Republic. Frequent guest panelist and lecturer at universities, film festivals and industry conferences. Legal articles published in entertainment trade magazines. Adjunct Professor, The New School University’s Department of Media Studies and Film. BA, Fordham University, JD, Brooklyn Law School.

Panel: Co-Production and Financing: Finding the Money

Arturo Rodríguez

Arturo Rodríguez Fernández was born in Santo Domingo and is a graduate of the National University Pedro Henríquez Ureña law school, and has two law masters degrees, from Strasburg, France, and Chieti, Italy. He has published several books with short stories, an experimental novel and a film essay and has
has received national and international literary awards.

Arturo has promoted the film culture through the "Lumiere Film Club" and has  been distributor and screener of art films. He is the Film Commissioner under the Ministry of Culture and director of the Muestra International de Cine de Santo Domingo. With Armando Almánzar, he produces a daily radio show on cinema.

Panel: The Art and Power of Film Critique
Panel: Dominican Stars Rising Internationally

Julie Salamon

Julie Salamon, a bestselling author, was a reporter and critic for The New York Times and, for 11 years, was the film critic for The Wall Street Journal.  Her seven books include The Devil’s Candy, considered a Hollywood classic, and Rambam’s Ladder, a prize-winning book about charity and philanthropy. Her most recent work, published in May, 2008, is Hospital: Man, Woman Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God and Diversity on Steroids.  Her journalism and essays have been published in several anthologies and appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Bazaar, and The New Republic.  She lives in New York City with her husband, Bill Abrams, and their two children.

Panel: The Art and Power of Film Critique

Marlon Soto

Marlon Soto was born in Baní in 1972.  He graduated in film production at Brooklyn College in New York (1995 - 2000). He has worked in production at a local level as a director´s assistant, non-linear editor and freelance producer. He joined the National Film Office as a technical deputy director in 2006. Currently he is the director of that organization.  

Panel: Dominican Stars Rising Internationally

Producer of award-winning documentary FLOW: For Love of Water. Founder and CEO of video monetization pioneer Revver.com. Previous work included reorganizing KPFK-FM, largest community radio signal in the US, co-founder of Intel-backed P2P pioneer Uprizer, user-generated pioneer AntEye.com and the Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Ian Clarke's longtime collaborator on the Freenet Project, co-created and produced legendary sketch comedy troupe The State for MTV/CBS. Film: wrote/directed/produced Joey Breaker, produced Golden Leopard Winner Johnny Suede, ran the New York film operation for the William Morris Agency with a client list including Larry David, Tim Robbins, Joseph Papp, Andy Warhol, Ang Lee, Ben Stiller, the Bob Marley Estate, etc. Started as a college rep for CBS and A&M records and a concert promoter for Bob Marley & the Wailers.

Thematic Panel: Water Crisis

Nina Streich

She began her career as a film editor, working with trailers and television announcements for over 100 motion pictures, including: American Gigolo, The Elephant Man and Raiders of the Lost Ark.  She has produced several documentaries including In Our Hands and Talking Nicaragua.   In the early 1990s, she was the Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theater & Broadcasting and later became involved in film festival management for festivals such as the Nantucket Film Festival and the Newport International Film Festival.

 In 2003, she started the Global Peace Film Festival in Orlando, Florida. She is also, together with Entertainment Attorney, Ned McLeod, the Director of a Producer's Rep Company, Tele-Fest Representation.

Panel: Do Filmmakers Make a Difference?: Making Movies that Matter

Anne Tait

Anne Tait, casting director for Canadian CBC-TV before forming her own company, has several prize-winning feature films to her credit, including:  Screamers, with Peter Weller, Scanners II with Michael Ironside, The Assignment with Ben Kingsley and Donald Sutherland,  and For the Moment with Russell Crowe. She staged two of Peter O'Toole´s pieces in the Alex Royal Theater and was casting director for: Anne of Green Gables II, the seven complete episodes of Avonlea, the series Ready or Not, Goosebumps,  and 17episodes of The Composers, Artists & Inventors Specials. She wrote Yeats in Love, produced in Dublin´s Abbey Theater. Currently she has two projects in development and continues to give acting workshops which she began 20 years ago

Panel: Actor’s Workshop (English session)