Panels

Welcome to the IFFF.

Providing professional panels and networking opportunities for aspiring filmmakers to meet with established leaders in the industry is central to IFFF's mission.

The 2011 festival will re-present some of last year's more popular panels and add some new and exciting panels in specialized areas of film interest and distribution.

Check back periodically for "Panels" schedule additions, changes and/or updates.

Seating is limited and many of these panels are "sold out" in advance.

2011 PANELS

SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2011

INDIE FILM FINANCING

Incredible access to successful film and finance professionals who understand the business of how to fund independent production - creatively!

March 19: 10:00 am - Noon.

MEDIA LITERACY - Is it "good" for us?

Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, YouTube, online gaming, video streaming, texting and emailing are significantly impacting society at an earlier age than ever. Are the effects a net positive or minus on our future generations? What does it mean to be "media literate" and how does society go about training our youth in this rapidly growing digital world?

March 19: 12:30 - 2:30 pm

PRODUCING FILMS IN CHINA

This panel brings together some of China's premiere filmmakers and Studio Executives to introduce the process, hurdles and benefits of making a film in China.

March 19: 2:30 - 4:30 pm

SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2011

PRODUCER'S BRUNCH

An informal brunch held at the Raleigh Studios Cantina, this networking event offers a casual way to meet industry professionals including producers, investors, and distributors.

March 20: 9:00 - 10:00 am

INDIE DISTRIBUTION FOR FAMILY FILMS

A frank discussion with some of the most reputable distribution and production companies in the family-film genre. How they do it and how you can too!

March 20: 10:00 - Noon

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Moderator: Carl Bressler

Carl Bressler is President of Bressler Adventures and Strategic Endeavors. He has a proven gift for recognizing talent and providing the appropriate framework for it to be nurtured, empowered and fully expressed.

Carl was founder/CEO of the technical talent agency, Montana Artists, which he sold in 2004. With vision and determination gleaned from a background in music management and concert production in Detroit, he built Montana from a phone and a table in 1989 to a major industry player with over 400 clients. Today that agency represents creatives who have made major contributions on such recent films as Mystic River (won two Oscars), Lost in Translation (won one Oscar), Open Range, The Fighting Temptations, Cold Creek Manor and Bad Boys II and on such television shows as Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, Cold Case, Joan of Arcadia, Everwood, Without a Trace, and The O.C.

In 1998, Carl was an executive producer on the independent, critically acclaimed, SMOKE SIGNALS - which won the Audience Award and the Filmmakers Trophy at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and was purchased by Miramax Films and distributed throughout the world. Carl enjoys his limited partnership investments in restaurants around Los Angeles currently including Jones and Grace. Carl's ability to sculpt and imbue a passionate sense of direction into people and projects and mentor them through challenging circumstances to successful fruition is his best skill. In the early 90's, Carl was a pioneer in the area of representing new media artists in the entertainment arena and has spoken over the last decade at emerging technology/new media conferences around the world. He currently serves on the advisory board of new startup Transplant Connect and privately consults individuals and businesses on singular strategy and vision. Carl continues to look for ways to combine smart business, fun, warmth and a heartfelt sensibility in all of his endeavors.

Currently, Carl serves on the Board of Advisors of Orb Media Group, Santa Monica Electric Vehicles, Freshi Media, The Doheny, MovieSet, Transplant Connect, and more. He is a limited partner or investor in multiple restaurant industry ventures. Carl has also invested in a variety of media companies, including Xingxing, a China based 3d animation company which has done visual effects for major blockbusters such as Twilight, The Forbidden Kingdom, Red Cliff, and Fantastic Four.

Panelists:

1. Mathius Gertz (Bio to come)

2. Patricia J. Pawlak

Patricia J. Pawlak has been a Vice President of International Distribution/Production for 20 years, attending such festival and markets as Cannes, MIFED, London, AFM, Shanghai, MIPTV, MIPCOM and MIPASIA. She has been involved in all phases of production in her capacity as VP from pre-production, supervising casting to post production.

Patricia received her B.A. from Rutgers University studying theater and cinema and spent her junior year in London study art and film at a branch of the London Polytechnic, Sir John Cass School of Art. After spending some time at the then mini major Film Ventures where she learned both international and theatrical distribution, Patricia opened up the distribution department for AIP handling thirty new films a year.
Patricia was instrumental in developing many films there and developed the domestic Pay Per View and Cable departments. From there, she moved on to Arista Films whose President, was one for the founding members of the original American Film Marketing Association. There, Patricia was a member of the AFMA Outreach committee whose function was to act a liaison for AFMA and new producers.

After a stint of successfully raising financing for several independent features, Patricia joined FM International as Vice President of International Sales and was involved with the production of the controversial and yet to new released The Good Life with Dennis Hopper, Beverly D'Angelo, Frank Stallone and Sylvester Stallone. While there Patricia licensed Bloodsport II and III to every territory/country in the world and was directly responsible for the financing of Bloodsport IV.

Patricia has handled the largest film every shot in China, The Opium War which was first screened the night China took back control of Hong Kong in that city at midnight as well as You Can Thank Me Later with Academy Award Winner Ellen Burstyn, Mary McDonnell, Ted Levine and Amanda Plummer. The film was the closing night gala film for Palm Springs Film Festival. Patricia was responsible for opening art house divisions at several companies and acquired and spearheaded the Oscar and Golden Globe Campaign for The Kite, the Philippine submission for the Academy Awards, which was also, was awarded their Best Film of the Year.

Patricia is also known for her publicity efforts to promote films. Her party in Cannes made history when she successfully lit a girl on fire during a party to promote the company's latest film. Highlights of the party were shown on John Stossel's ABC News Prime Time Show, Hype in America, E Entertainment and Access Hollywood and throughout the world. In addition, Patricia has been an invited guest and speaker to several festivals including London Film Festival, Gramado, Tokyo, Palm Springs, Shangahi, Rio Fest and Rio Cine.

Most recently, Patricia is licensing titles, representing films and the USA liaison for Parabel Studios located in Hungary.

3. Lifeng Wang

Lifeng Wang is the founder and president of Xing Xing Digital Corp, a leading digital animation studio based in Beijing China. Through his company, he successfully distributes Chinese and co-pro animation product worldwide.

Mr. Wang was admitted to the Special Class for Gifted and Talented Youth at the University of Science and Technology of China in 1987 when he was 14, and received his Master's degree specializing in Computer Animation from The University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada in May 1993 when he was 20.

Mr. Wang's work experience includes two years with Vertigo Technology Inc. writing 3-D computer animation software. In 1995, Mr. Wang founded Xing Xing Computer Graphics Inc. in Vancouver to undertake the Digital Yuan Ming Yuan project and produced the award winning game Lotus Spring in February 1999. In 2004, Mr. Wang founded Xing Xing Digital Corp. in Beijing and turned it into the premier digital animation studio in China with over 350 employees for both international outsourcing and original content production. Animation Magazine ranked Xing Xing as one of the top 25 animation studios in Asia in 2007.

Sold! Getting Your Screenplay Sold and Produced

Meet with a passionate and distinguished panel of working writers who have had screenplays successfully produced in both the TV and feature film markets.

March 20: Noon - 2 pm

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Moderator: Quendrith Johnson

[Photo By Perry Randall, Screenmancer.]

Quendrith Johnson is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter and celebrity journalist, whose work has appeared in Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, NEWSDAY, DGA Magazine, and many other outlets. A graduate of UCLA Film School, she received the Marty Klein Comedy Award from APA, a nod in UCLA's prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Awards, and first received critical acclaim for Nicholl Semi-Finalist script JAZZ AGE DOLL. Her script CHOOSING PAULA was tapped as part of AFI's MOW Workshop sponsored by ABC. In addition to writing projects in development, Quendrith is the Founder and Executive Producer of www.screenmancer.tv.

SCREENMANCER, incubated out of UCLA TFT (Theatre, Film & TV) in 1997, is "a gathering place for people who make movies" and connects writers, actors, and directors; the site also brokers sales of independent films and provides access to creatives, promoters, and funders. Screenmancer provides global reach/access.

Quendrith is also an accredited entertainment journalist with a worldwide syndicated byline. She has served as Events Editor, Boston Phoenix; Associate Editor, Boston Business Journal, and writer/interviewer for FANCAST, a celebrity site owned by COMCAST, which just took control of NBC/UNIVERSAL. Quendrith is currently the Los Angeles Correspondent for FilmFestivals (PARIS, FR), Fest21 (CANNES, FR), and recently completed a book, "REDLIGHT GREENLIGHT LIMELIGHT," a first-hand account of working in Hollywood and on the red carpet. Her recent interviews include chats with TWILIGHT franchise screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, Oscar nominees Christopher Nolan (INCEPTION, DARK KNIGHT) and Aaron Sorkin (THE SOCIAL NETWORK).

Panelists:

1. Anne Lower

Anne created On the Verge and Global Voices, two Outreach programs for Final Draft, Inc., which work to close the gap between Hollywood talent and emerging or under-served writers. She has worked as a consultant for Save the Cat! and Blake Snyder, and has served on the Board of Trustees as Director of Communications for the International Centre of Women Playwrights.

Anne has led workshops and seminars for the University Film and Video Association, Women in Film Los Angeles, Women in Focus, Writers Faire, Freshi Film Festival and several others. She has been a guest judge for the Hollywood VPype contest, a featured guest on ScriptChat and Write On! Blog Talk Radio, and is a member of Reel Ladies and Women in Film. She lives in Los Angeles, where she works with her writing partner, producer Michael Colton, and blogs about screenwriting on PrincessScribe.com. She can be found hanging out wherever great food trucks are in abundance.

2. Rob Tobin

Rob is a father, husband, screenwriter, novelist, non-fiction book author, frequent guest speaker at film festivals and writing conferences, former motion picture development exec, book editor and a graduate of USC's Master of Professional Writing program and of the University of Victoria's Creative Writing program.

He has a $15 million feature film ("Dam 999") in post production, a $40 million feature ("Camel Wars") in development with legendary filmmaker John McTiernan ("Die Hard," "Predator," "Hunt for Red October") attached to direct, a novel ("God Wars") scheduled to be published in early 2011, and two published non-fiction books. As well, Creative Screenwriting Magazine produced two of Rob's instructional screenwriting DVDs.

Rob is a former VP of Writers Boot Camp, the country's largest private screenwriting school. As a story analyst, he read 5,000+ screenplays for Goldwyn, Spelling, Interscope, TriStar, TriMark, HBO, et al. He also helped establish a feature film department for Stephen J. Cannell ("The A-Team," "Hunter," "The Commish").

3. Patricia Rust - Writer, Reporter and Host

Many recognize Patricia Rust for her work in front of the camera as a model, reporter, and talk show host, but behind-the-scenes writing distinguishes her most. As president of her own production company, Patricia created productions for network and syndication and public television, wrote for ABC Evening News (after serving as a correspondent), and successfully moved to the fantasy side of the media and entertainment by selling her first screenplay to Warner Bros.

Patricia went on to write for situation comedies and specials, dramas, and was signed to a development deal for ABC. Patricia created a bible for ABC based on her own family life experiences in Hawaii. She continued to write for Disney, Fox, NBC, CBS, and other studio features and scored victories at film festival competitions such as IFFF.

She went on to write for Emmy winning shows. Today, she has one family film in pre-production and another that is being developed from a best-selling children's book she wrote called "The King of Skittledeedoo." She actively writes for the Los Angeles Times Kids Reading Room and has a not-for-profit children's literacy foundation called Power for Kids.

You can read more at www.patriciarust.com and visit www.powerforkids.com.

4. Aaron Mendelsohn

Aaron has been a working screen and TV writer for nearly twenty years. He is best known for co-creating and co-writing the successful AIR BUD family film franchise, which has sired eleven sequels to date.

Recently Aaron wrote the Christmas MOW "THE 12 DATES OF CHRISTMAS" for ABC Family Channel, which is currently in production. He also wrote the pilot for the kids' TV series "THE ADVENTURES OF TAXI DOG" for executive producers Victor Syrmis and Howard Grossman, which recently wrapped, and the CG-animated feature MONKEY KING for Hong Kong-based Unicorn/Imagi Studios, which is in pre-production. Among his other writing credits are the family film THREE INVESTIGATORS AND THE SECRET OF TERROR CASTLE for Studio Hamburg, the Lifetime movie CHANGE OF HEART, the Fox series "KINDRED: THE EMBRACED" and the independent feature CHAPTER ZERO, which he also directed. Aaron has also written projects for Fox, New Line, Showtime, Paramount, New Regency, Bob Yari, Lightstorm, Arnold Kopelson and others.

For the last three years Aaron has been working extensively in new media. Recently he started The Artists Group (formerly Virtual Artists), a digital studio that produces sponsor-supported, "water cooler" entertainment for new media platforms. TAG/Virtual Artists client have included NBCU Digital, Intel, Group M, Mark Burnett, Ace Hardware, Sheraton, Mindshare, Lockheed Martin, Audi, Unilever, Ford and many other top media companies, agencies and brands. Aaron is currently prepping three original web series for Paramount and AOL and recently wrapped on a branded series of videos for the Party City store chain.

Aaron is currently serving his fourth term on the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America West.