Mark Johnson is both an Oscar (Rain Man) and an Emmy (Breaking Bad) winner who has produced over forty films and television shows. Johnson produced all of the writer-director Barry Levinson’s films from 1982-1994. In addition to Rain Man, their diverse slate of acclaimed features includes Good Morning Vietnam, The Natural, Tin Men, Avalon, Diner, and Bugsy, nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director His slate of motion pictures includes The Chronicles of Narnia franchise and David Chase’s Not Fade Away. He produced Alfonso Cuaron’s A Little Princess; The Notebook, based on Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling novel; Lance Hammer’s Sundance award-winning film Ballast; the Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest; The Rookie directed by John Lee Hancock; Mike Newell’s gangster drama Donnie Brasco starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino; and Clint Eastwood’s A Perfect World starring Kevin Costner. He produced the 2017 Alexander Payne film Downsizing starring Matt Damon, as well as Simon Baker’s directorial debut Breath, an adaptation of Tim Winton’s novel of the same name. Later this year, Focus Features will release a second collaboration with Alexander Payne, The Holdovers.
In television, he executive produced the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning drama Breaking Bad for AMC and the Peabody-winning Rectify for SundanceTV. He also executive produced Better Call Saul and Halt and Catch Fire for AMC. Currently, he is executive producing the Anne Rice series, Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches. Johnson has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has served for the last nineteen years as the Chair of the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Selection Committee.
Marc Abraham is an American film director, writer and producer. In 2016 Sony Classics released I Saw The Light, which Abraham wrote, directed and produced, and is based on the life of legendary singer-songwriter Hank Williams. Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers, High Rise) starred alongside Elizabeth Olsen and Bradley Whitford. In 2009, Abraham directed Flash of Genius for Universal, starring Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham, and Alan Alda. The film won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Hamptons International Film Festival, was the winner of the Best Actor Award at the Boston Film Festival, and an Official Selection at the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, among many others. He is currently in pre-production for The Hunted, which he adapted from a novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard.
Some of Abraham’s many producing and executive producing credits include Children of Men, Spy Game, The Family Man, The Rundown, Dawn of the Dead, Air Force One,13 Days, Bring It On, and The Hurricane.
Abraham is a member of the Writers Guild, the Producers Guild, and the Directors Guild, and he is on the board of the Violence Policy Center, “the most effective … anti-gun rabble rouser in Washington,” according to the NRA, and the board of the Virginia Film Festival. He has been honored with the Spirit of Chrysalis Award, which recognized Abraham for his commitment to helping change lives through jobs and helping thousands of disadvantaged and homeless individuals and families in Los Angeles.
Former Assistant Dean, UVA College of Arts and Sciences; Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, UVA
Beverly Colwell Adams is an Assistant Dean, UVA College of Arts and Sciences, and Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, UVA. Originally from Youngstown, Ohio, she earned a BA in Psychology from Spelman College (Atlanta, GA), and MS (Developmental Psychology) and PhD (Cognitive Psychology–Psycholinguistics) from the University of Pittsburgh. She studied language processing within the framework of the psychology of reading as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA) and The NIAS: The Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Wassenaar and Leiden, Holland, The Netherlands). She and her daughter, Jasmine, moved to Charlottesville, after her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research interests include the examination of microaggressions as one of the contributing variables to the decline of physical and mental health in strong black women. Beverly holds leadership and membership roles in the Black Faculty and Staff-Employee Resources Group (a founding member), Virginia Social Sciences Association (VSSA), Charlottesville Live Arts, Colonnade Club (UVA) Board of Governors, City of Promise, The Women’s Initiative, African American Authors Book Club, Charlottesville Chapter of The Links, Inc., and Charlottesville Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Doro Bachrach was one of the producers of the 1987 sleeper hit film, Dirty Dancing which was largely shot in Virginia.
She produced Soldier’s Girl which premiered at Sundance, based on the true story of Pfc. Barry Winchell, who was murdered by a fellow soldier for his love affair with a transgender nightclub performer. Soldier’s Girl was nominated for three Golden Globes, won an American Film Institute award and the film’s lead actor, Lee Pace won the breakthrough performance award at the Gothams. She also produced The Yes Men Fix the World!, the true story of a couple of activist pranksters who infiltrate the world of big business to expose corporate greed which won the Panorama Audience award at the Berlin Film Festival — and was acquired there by HBO.
Other films include Truman for HBO starring Gary Sinise, based on David McCullough’s biography, which won the Emmy as well as the Producer’s Guild award for television – and the Peabody Award-winning Citizen Cohn, also for HBO, based on Nicholas von Hoffman’s portrait of Roy Cohn starring James Woods. Among the independent films Bachrach has produced is Love Hurts starring Jeff Daniels, also written by Soldier’s Girl’s screenwriter, Ron Nyswaner.
She served on the Board of Directors of the Independent Feature Project in New York.
Liz Biber is a Partner and Head of Content PR at The Lede Company where she works with clients on their film, series, podcast, awards and special event campaigns. Her clients include Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Freeform, HBO Max, Showtime, The Gotham Film & Media Institute, the American Black Film Festival, as well as creators such as director/multi-hyphenate Jeymes Samuel, filmmaker Kasi Lemmons, OscarⓇ-winning screenwriter/filmmaker Josh Singer and NYT bestselling novelist/producer Laura Dave. Since joining the team at The Lede Company, Biber has led projects including Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, Apple TV+’s successful limited series The Last Thing He Told Me, the hit holiday film Spirited starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, awards campaigns for HBO’s Succession and Hacks, the documentary Apple TV+’s dramatic limited series The Shrink Next Door, the Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp, the animated family film Luck, Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago Seven, the 2020 smash hit Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Gossip Girl, Cruel Summer, Dave Chappelle’s The Midnight Miracle podcast and many others.
Biber spent almost a decade heading up publicity at Open Road Films, where she led successful publicity campaigns for a wide array of film releases, including Oscar Best Picture-winner, Spotlight, which – in 2016 – made Open Road the youngest company to win the Oscar for Best Picture. As a strategic advisor to film, television and awards clients, at Open Road, and in her previous senior publicity roles at The Weinstein Company, Dimension Films and Sony Pictures Entertainment, Biber played a role in the campaigns for acclaimed projects such as The Irishman, Marriage Story, The Two Popes,First Man; Oliver Stone’s Snowden; Marshall, starring Chadwick Boseman;Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9; Jon Stewart’s Rosewater: Garry Marshall’s Mother’s Day; Home Again; Bleed For This; Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects; Nightcrawler; Jon Favreau’s Chef, David Ayer’s End Of Watch; Inglourious Basterds, Robert Redford’s The Conspirator, the record-breaking revival of Halloween from Rob Zombie, Oscar Best Picture nominee The Reader, The Road, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel, Michael Moore’s groundbreaking documentary, Sicko and many others.
Liz – like her father Millard Biber, who attended The University from 1937-1941 – is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.
Janet Graham Borba is executive vice president, Production, for HBO & Max, responsible for supervising production, post and production operations on all HBO and Max Original programming including such series as Succession, Barry, Perry Mason, The Last of Us, House of The Dragon, Euphoria, Love and Death, And Just Like That…, and the upcoming The Penguin, among many more.
Prior to this role, Borba was senior vice president, West Coast Production, overseeing films and miniseries for HBO, where she worked on Game of Thrones from the pilot stage onward. She also worked on the multiple award-winning miniseries Olive Kitteridge, The Pacific, John Adams and Angels in America, as well as films such as Paterno, Lackawanna Blues, Something the Lord Made, Iron Jawed Angels and Wit.
Prior to HBO, Borba held various producer titles on studio productions including October Films’ Still Breathing, United Artists’ Hackers, Hollywood Pictures’ Camp Nowhere, Miramax’s The Night We Never Met and 20th Century Fox’s Hotshots! between 1991 and 1995.
Borba has served as an adjunct professor in the MFA Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California, where she received her MFA in 1989, and she holds a BA from the University of Virginia, where she was an Echols Scholar and Lawn resident.
Perrin Chiles is an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer with a background in private equity, finance and entrepreneurship. He is the CEO of Adaptive Studios, which he co-founded in 2012; the company is a first-of-its-kind Hollywood studio that reimagines previously abandoned intellectual property from film & television studios, production companies, agencies and estates for engagement across a wide range of digital platforms. Notably, Perrin was an executive producer on the HBO television and film series, Project Greenlight, with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon & the Farrelly Brothers.
Adaptive works with premium partners, including Fox, Showtime, Netflix and YouTube, and currently has over 185 acquired media properties, including the literary estate of legendary writer and sportsman Zane Grey. Prior to launching Adaptive, Chiles founded In Effect Films to produce socially-conscious documentaries, such as the Oscar Short-Listed and Emmy Award-winning Autism: The Musical and the award-winning Splinters.
Scott Cooper made his feature film directorial debut, in 2009, with Fox Searchlight’s award-winning, CRAZY HEART, which he also wrote and produced. The film, which starred Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall, earned three Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Actor (Bridges) and Best Song (T Bone Burnett/Ryan Bingham). Cooper won an
Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, a USC Scripter Award, and earned nominations from the Writers Guild of America and the Independent Spirit Awards, for his screenplay.
Cooper’s follow-up was the Leonardo DiCaprio/Ridley Scott produced, OUT OF THE FURNACE, starring Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Zoë Saldana, Forest Whitaker and Sam Shepard. For his work as writer, director and producer, Cooper won the Best Debut and Second Film Award at the 2013 Rome Film Festival, where he was also nominated for a Golden Marc’Aurelio Award.
Next, was Cooper’s 2015 Warner Bros. gangster film, BLACK MASS, which Cooper both directed and produced, and which made its worldwide debut at the Venice International Film Festival. The box-office hit garnered wins from critics’ associations across the country, and earned lead actor Johnny Depp the Desert Palm Achievement Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, as well as a Best Actor nomination from the Screen Actors Guild.
In 2017, Cooper’s Western epic, HOSTILES, debuted at both the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festivals, earning widespread critical acclaim. The film reunited Cooper with his OUT OF THE FURNACE star, Christian Bale, and featured performances from Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Jesse Plemons, Rory Cochrane, and Ben Foster.
Cooper followed this up with ANTLERS, an exploration of yet another genre, in the Guillermo Del Toro-produced horror film. Searchlight released the film to acclaim in October 2021.
Most recently, Cooper re-teamed, for the third time, with his closest collaborator, Christian Bale, in THE PALE BLUE EYE, an adaptation of Louis Bayard’s novel of the same name. The film
tells the story of a series of murders at The United States Military Academy, at West Point, in 1830, and surround a cadet the world would later come to know as Edgar Allan Poe. Robert Duvall,
Gillian Anderson, Timothy Spall, Toby Jones, and Harry Melling round out the cast. The Netflix film debuted to widespread critical acclaim, and was seen in over 100 million households upon its
first month of release.
Born in Virginia, Cooper now resides in Los Angeles.
Jocelyn Diaz has worked as both a producer and a television and film executive throughout her career, at companies including DISNEY, HBO and ABC TELEVISION. She most recently worked as an Executive Producer on the series HOUSE OF THE DRAGON. Prior to that, she was the Executive Vice President for EPIX, a premium cable channel, and was in charge of the creative programming strategy for the channel, overseeing all aspects of development and production for both original scripted drama and comedy programming and non-scripted programming, which included documentaries, docuseries, comedy, sports and concert specials. Prior to her position at EPIX, she was the Vice President for Walt Disney Motion Picture Production, overseeing live-action feature development and production for the studio. Prior to this, she was Vice President, HBO Entertainment, Drama Series, responsible for overseeing the development and production of dramatic series for the network. Among her credits are LOST, UGLY BETTY, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, BIG LOVE, INTO THE WOODS, ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY, BERLIN STATION and GET SHORTY.
Diaz hails from the Washington, DC area and holds a BA from the University of Virginia, where she served on the Alumni Association Board of Managers.
Andy Edmunds, Director, is a Virginia native and an accomplished musician and songwriter. After studying music at VCU in the mid-80s, Edmunds produced a music video of one of his songs that was broadcast on MTV. This experience introduced him to the film production industry where he ultimately settled in as a location scout until landing a job at the Virginia Film Office in 1997. “I found myself in a non-traditional area of economic development that seemed to be perfectly suited to my experience and interests. Every day I look forward to continuing to give back to the state I know and love through an enthusiastic approach to attracting clients and delivering creative solutions”, says Edmunds. During his time with the Film Office, Andy has worked with the most notable filmmakers of our time including Terrence Malick, Ridley Scott, Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg to name a few.
Andy enjoys a long marriage to Andrea. Their brood of three children, Madison, Emma and Evan, became five in 2012 when they decided to adopt two teenage brothers; Joseph and Jason, from Ghana in West Africa.
Temple Fennell is the CEO and founder of ATO Pictures, LLC. ATO Pictures (Art Takes Over) is a motion pictures finance, production and distribution company that provides U.S. distribution and production funding. ATO releases its films theatrically through its partnership with Samuel Goldwyn Films in the distribution entity, IDP (Independent Distribution Partners). In 2002, Mr. Fennell co-founded ATO Pictures with in Johnathan Dorfman, international music artist Dave Matthews and music executives Coran Capshaw, Michael McDonald and Chris Tetzeli.
Mr. Fennell began his film career as a designer and director for music videos, commercials and short films in New York City. Mr. Fennell attended the American Film Institute as a directing fellow and directed the award winning short, “Howard Black,” starring John C. Reilly. Mr. Fennell graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science, Systems Engineering, and is a member of the Omega Rho academic honor society.
Jason George is an actor with over 50 guest star and 10 series regular television roles to his credit in primetime television, including his upcoming lead role in the highly anticipated and unnamed “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff. After college friend coaxed him into taking an acting class, George beat out 14,000 hopefuls in a nationwide search and landed his first major acting job on Aaron Spelling’s “Sunset Beach” of which he would be later Emmy-nominated. Seen for the last eight seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy” as Dr. Miranda Bailey’s husband, Dr. Ben Warren, Jason was also a regular on “Mistresses” with Alyssa Milano. George is also known for his work on “Eve” and “Eli Stone” with Victor Garber and Jonny Lee Miller or films such as PLAYING THE FIELD with Gerard Butler. His newest role as a training firefighter in the “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff will see Ben Warren once again bettering himself through another career change. A classically trained theater actor, George recently starred in 12 ANGRY MEN at the Pasadena Playhouse, the State Theatre of California. The play, with its half-white, half-black cast, won the NAACP Theater Award for Best Production and Jason had the honor of playing Juror #8, the role made famous by Henry Fonda and Jack Lemon in film versions. George played the lead in U.S. poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Rita Dove’s epic drama, THE DARKER FACE OF THE EARTH.
After receiving a BA from the University of Virginia, Jason went on to get his Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Temple University and served on the Board for Temple’s School of Communications and Theater. George serves as a Board Member of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. He is currently the chair of the national union’s Diversity Advisory committee, has been Chair or Co-Chair of the legacy unions’ National or Hollywood EEO Committees and has been part of the unions’ negotiating teams for the last several prime-time television and film contracts where he has been instrumental in helping protect performers and championing diversity. Jason is extremely pleased to put all of this experience to work in COLLABORATIONS WORKSHOP, a weekly workspace he hosts for actors to further their craft and their career.
John Lee Hancock is a film writer, director, and producer based in Los Angeles. Born in Texas, John practiced law in Houston with a JD from Baylor University before moving to California to found the Legal Aliens Theatre Company. His writing credits include A Perfect World, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Alamo, Snow White and the Huntsman, and The Blind Side. John has directed The Rookie, The Alamo, The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks, and The Founder, and coproduced My Dog Skip as well as the television show Falcone with VAFF Advisory Board Chairman Mark Johnson. Currently, John most recently wrote, directed, and produced Netflix’s The Highwaymen, starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson about the Texas Rangers who came out of retirement to hunt down and kill Bonnie and Clyde. John is currently producer of the upcoming Heaven of Hell for Paramount Network.
John serves as an advisor at the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Lab, part time faculty at American Film Institute, an Advisory Board member of the Austin Film Festival, and is on the Board of Trustees of The Thacher School.
John Harris served as the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer for The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm, from 1997 to 2007, and as a Managing Director/Senior Advisor through 2011.
John has written screenplays for two award-winning short films, Playing Through and Bernie and Rebecca, which have screened at numerous film festivals around the world including the Edinburgh Film Festival, LA Shorts Fest and the Cleveland International Film Festival. John also served as Executive Producer for 1186 TO OMAHA, a sports documentary about University of Virginia Baseball’s 2015 NCAA Championship.
John’s community and charitable service includes serving on the boards of the University of Virginia Alumni Association, which he chaired, the Jefferson Trust, the Boys and Girls Club of Central Virginia, which he chaired, The Virginia Film Festival, and the Charlottesville Tom Sox, a summer league baseball team for college players.
John, a 1982 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce of the University of Virginia, is married to Amy Bowler Harris. They have two children, Caroline and James. The Harris family resides in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Pat Hogan was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Virginia in 2012. He was responsible for setting financial policy and for overseeing the financial affairs of the University including its schools and the Medical Center. Prior to his role at UVA, Pat was with Ernest & Young for 37 years, most recently serving as Deputy Global Managing Partner in the firm’s London office. He also served as member of Ernst & Young’s senior global leadership team, overseeing their global quality and risk management function for the professional services lines of assurance, advisory, tax, and transaction advisory.
A true civic leader, Pat currently serves on several UVA-related boards, including Jefferson Scholars Foundation Board; McIntire Foundation Board; the Medical Center Operating Board; University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO); and UVA Foundation. In addition to these roles, Pat often guest lectures at the McIntire School of Commerce on topics including enterprise risk management. Having a vested interest in the Arts, Pat has long advocated for support of the Virginia Film Festival, and has been helpful in rallying other University leaders.
A native Virginian, Pat received a B.S. in Business Administration from Old Dominion University. Pat is married to Sharon Hogan, and the couple has one daughter, Kristen Hogan Moore, a graduate of UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce.
Ron Hohauser is the Chief Financial Officer of Legendary Entertainment, a leading media company with film (Legendary Pictures), television and digital (Legendary Television and Digital Media) and comics (Legendary Comics) divisions dedicated to owning, producing and delivering content to worldwide audiences. He joined the company in May 2017.
Mr. Hohauser is a former Principal of Latus Advisors, a specialized media advisory firm providing financial, strategic and operational consulting services to film, television and transmedia companies. Clients included Dalian Wanda, Studio 8, Huayi Bros., Relativity Media, Virgin Produced, Macro Media, Exclusive Media and Miramax. Mr. Hohauser founded Latus Advisors in June 2012. Mr. Hohauser was the Chief Financial Officer of Summit Entertainment from April 2007 through May 2012, with responsibility for financial operations, human resources, information technology and investor relations. Mr. Hohauser led the sale of Summit to Lionsgate in January 2012 for an equity valuation of over $400 million.Prior to joining Summit, Mr. Hohauser served as Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations of Marvel Studios and Chief Financial Officer of Marvel’s production entities. Mr. Hohauser joined Marvel in 2004 to assist the company in its transformation from a licensor of comic character film rights into a full-fledged financing and production company fully controlling its intellectual property.
Mr. Hohauser holds an MBA in Finance and Decision Processes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia.
Jai is writer/director from Richmond, Virginia. He was most recently an Executive Story Editor on The CW’s Superman & Lois, where he also directed episode 311 “Complications.” In 2016, his film TRI, an action sports drama about Triathlons, led to his selection for the Shoot Magazine New Director’s Showcase. His most recent short film, Slave Cry, was The Commonwealth Award Winner at the 2019 Virginia Film Festival and screened in the 2021 Pan African Film Festival. He’s also written comic books for DC Comics and Boom Studios, including Creed: The Next Round in collaboration with LaToya Morgan, Michael B Jordan, and Outlier Society.
Jai graduated from Hampton University and received his master’s in film from American University, before working in various capacities on a number of productions in Virginia including Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, Turn on AMC, and the Apple+ show Swagger.
In miscellaneous facts, Jai served on the Board of Tourism for Virginia from 2018 to 2022. He was a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellow. Helen’s in Richmond has the best pancakes in the world (but he challenges anyone to prove otherwise.)
[1] Jai is the nickname his mother came up with to differentiate him from his father and prevent confusion in the household. It is pronounced “Jay.”
Producer and Founder of Magnetic Fields Entertainment
David Koplan is a Film Producer and founder of Magnetic Fields Entertainment with over 25 years of experience in the film industry. He is currently producing The Smashing Machine, directed by Benny Safdie and starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, which is in post-production and set to be released by A24. Koplan produced the musical-comedy Spirited, starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer, directed by Sean Anders and distributed by Apple TV+. He served as an Executive Producer for Uncut Gems, directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, released by A24, which was named one of the National Board of Review’s Top Ten Films of 2019. Additionally, Koplan served as an Executive Producer on Daddy’s Home, directed by Sean Anders and released by Paramount Pictures, and Dumb and Dumber To, directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, distributed by Universal Pictures.
Koplan has also served as either Producer or Executive Producer on a wide range of award-winning independent films over the years, including Michael Noer’s Papillon, Stuart Blumberg’s Thanks for Sharing, Marc Lawrence’s The Rewrite, Tim Blake Nelson’s Leaves of Grass, Ray McKinnon’s Chrystal, and Adam Rapp’s Winter Passing. A graduate of the University of Virginia, he serves on the board of the Virginia Film Festival, the LA Advisory Committee for Americares, and is an active member of The Academy.
The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Steven J. Kung is a writer-director who wrote on Dear White People and directed on the sixth season of Fresh Off The Boat. He’s been telling POC, queer, and female-forward stories for his entire career, most notably with A Leading Man, his feature film about anti-Asian racism in the entertainment industry which lead Mic to proclaim him as one of Six Filmmakers Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling. He is currently a director in the Paramount Directing Initiative and writing projects for Starz, Lionsgate, and the Hallmark Channel.
Kung also wrote the episode “Koreatown” for the HereTV anthology series Falling for Angels. A dual director and UPM member of the Directors Guild of America, he produced Ernest Borgnine’s final movie, The Man Who Shook The Hand of Vicente Fernández.
Kung graduated from the Disney ABC Directing Program and the DGA Mentorship Program. He serves as co-chair emeritus of the DGA Asian American Committee, co-founder of the DGA LGBTQ+ Committee, and a board member of the Virginia Film Festival. A native of Virginia Beach, he holds an MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and a BA with High Distinction in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.
Julie Lynn formed Mockingbird Pictures in the summer of 1999, with Bonnie Curtis joining in 2011. Mockingbird is currently in post-production on Heart of Stone for Skydance Media and Netflix. Recent Mockingbird releases include its first animated film, My Father’s Dragon, with Cartoon Saloon and Netflix, as well as its 10th project with Rodrigo Garcia: Raymond & Ray for Apple. Previous Mockingbird films include Albert Nobbs, Wakefield, 5 to 7, To the Bone, Mother and Child, Last Days in the Desert, Terminator: Dark Fate, Face of Love, Life, The Jane Austen Book Club, and Nine Lives. Mockingbird Pictures have played at festivals including Toronto, Sundance, Telluride, AFI, SXSW, Tribeca, LAFF, Deauville (Grand Prize), San Sebastian (Closing Night) and Locarno (Grand Prize), and have been nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards, as well as Oscars. As time allows, Ms. Lynn serves as a story consultant for Pixar Animation Studios.
Ms. Lynn started in Hollywood as a Creative Executive for producer Mark Johnson. Before moving to Los Angeles, she practiced law at the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in Charlottesville, Virginia. She received her JD from the University of Virginia’s law school and a BA from its college. Ms. Lynn serves on the board of the Virginia Film Festival, the LA Advisory Committee for Americares, and is active within both the PGA and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Rita D. McClenny serves as president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation, a state agency charged with marketing the Commonwealth as a premier travel destination and film location. The mission of VTC is to expand domestic and international in-bound travel and motion picture production to generate revenue and employment in Virginia. Ms. McClenny was born and raised in Southampton County, VA and presently resides in the City of Richmond.
Tourism and film are instant revenue generators for Virginia. In 2017, tourism in Virginia generated $25 billion in revenue, supported 232,000 jobs and over $1.73 billion in state and local taxes. Tourism is the 5th largest private employer in Virginia. In 2016, the film and motion picture industry’s overall contribution to the state’s economy totaled $696.8 million, and created 4,287 jobs, and generated $27.1 million in state and local tax revenue.
Diane Naughton is a 1983 graduate of the University of Virginia with a BA in Psychology. At UVA, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was active in Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. She received her Masters in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1986.
Combining her interests in health care, film and “filmanthropy”, Diane has produced short films for non-profits including the Arlington Free Clinic and the Medical Care for Children Partnership. She sits on the Board of both of these organizations as well. Most recently, she executive produced the PBS documentary “When My Time Comes” with co-producers Diane Rehm of NPR and Joe Fab, the VFF Guest Programmer she first met at the festival.
Ms. Naughton was also a partner in Cavalier Films, where she worked on script development, casting, marketing and distribution strategy for Cavalier’s first feature, “Familiar Strangers,” on which she also served as Second Assistant Director during the 22-day shoot in Staunton, VA. She was also an investor/partner in ATO Pictures, producer of such films as “Joshua” and “Choke”.
Marshall Persinger, through her company, Fresh Produce Pictures, has gravitated toward creatively challenging and innovative projects. She has produced films, documentaries and television that are usually unique and/or edgy, utilizing both proven and/or newly discovered talent.
Persinger recently executive produced THE CONTINENTAL for Lionsgate and Peacock which will be released in September 2023, a prequel series to the John Wick movie franchise. Recent work also includes THE GOOD LORD BIRD, a limited series for Blumhouse Television and Showtime, starring Ethan Hawke as the extraordinary abolitionist John Brown. The series was nominated for multiple awards, including the Peabody for Limited Series. Other television credits include Hulu’s INTO THE DARK series, the TNT/PTV’s Emmy nominated series THE ALIENIST, AMC/SundanceTV’s Peabody Award winning RECTIFY created by Ray McKinnon (exec produced along with VAFF Advisory Board Chairman Mark Johnson) and the ABC Studios/Lifetime’s hit series ARMY WIVES.
Her documentary Z CHANNEL: A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION directed by Xan Cassavetes for IFC, was an Official Selection at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and subsequently screened at film festivals all over the world. Past projects also include: Showtime’s WILD IRIS, starring film legend Gena Rowlands and Oscar® nominee Laura Linney (both nominated for Best Actress Emmys® with Linney winning the award); CHERRY FALLS, starring Brittany Murphy and Jay Mohr (USA Films); the Polish brothers’ TWIN FALLS IDAHO (Sony Classics).
Persinger began her entertainment career in New York in 1986 under the mentorship of Academy Award®-winning producer/director Jonathan Demme. She worked with Errol Morris (on his groundbreaking documentary THE THIN BLUE LINE), George Armitage (MIAMI BLUES with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Demme (MARRIED TO THE MOB with Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Oliver Platt and the multiple Academy Award-winning feature film THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins). Persinger also produced E. Max Frye’s social satire AMOS & ANDREW, starring Nicolas Cage and Samuel L. Jackson.
Persinger is a native of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee and graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in rhetoric and communications. She served for ten years as co-chair of the Independent Film Producers Committee for the Producers Guild of America.
Scot M. Safon is a consultant for Marketing, Media, and Branding, whose corporate clients include Civic Entertainment Croup, Facebook, and FairHealth. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and chief marketing officer for The Weather Channel (2013-14) and Executive Vice President and General Manager of HLN (2010-13), where he was responsible for the management of the HLN television network. HLN is the former CNN Headline News network and is home to some of the fastest-growing news and information programming on television, including Morning Express with Robin Meade, Nancy Grace, Dr. Drew and The Joy Behar Show.
Safon earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and history from the University of Virginia and his MBA from Cornell University. Prior to running HLN, Safon served as CNN Worldwide’s Chief Marketing Officer, overseeing marketing, promotion and branding campaigns on behalf of all CNN US, CNN International, CNN.com and HLN content and news coverage. His teams marketed and promoted the brand during CNN’s award-winning coverage of the 2008 and 2004 Presidential Elections, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the war in Iraq, and the Southeast Asia Tsunami disaster. The group’s promotional campaign for the top-rated God’s Warriors was awarded the first-ever national Emmy Award for news tune-in promotion in 2007. Promax/BDA has honored Safon and his team for campaigns including Black in America, America Votes 2008 and Planet in Peril. Safon has also served as senior vice president of marketing for Turner Network Television (TNT), and before joining TNT, Safon was in the ad agency world, handling campaigns for the CBS Television Network, working on campaigns for CBS Sports, CBS News and CBS International. He began his career as an account executive with D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, Inc., developing advertising campaigns for national consumer brands, including Pampers, Pepto-Bismol and Kal Kan Foods.
Managing Director, Middle Market, First Citizens Bank
In her role, Linda Stanley is dedicated to delivering First Citizen Bank’s full product suite including investment banking, credit, treasury solutions, investment management and personal banking to our clients.
Prior to joining First Citizen’s, Linda was President of Bank of America Charlottesville and Market Executive for Virginia. Previous roles with Bank of America include Market Executive for both North Carolina and South Carolina Commercial Banking team after serving as Senior Client Manager on the SE Middle Market GA/AL Team within the Southeast Region Commercial Banking Group leading a team of commercial bankers to deliver integrated financial solutions to Power, Utility and Energy companies.
Linda began her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and has been in banking for 35 years. Prior to joining Bank of America, she worked for Fuji Bank, Kredietbank and SunTrust. She holds the Series 7, 24 and 63 securities licenses.
Stanley is a native of South Carolina and graduated with dual Bachelor of Science degrees in finance and marketing; as well as a minor in international studies from the University of South Carolina. She attended the Master of Business Administration program at Georgia State University.
Linda is a graduate of the 2016 LEAD Virginia class and currently serves as Secretary of the Board and Executive Committee for LEAD Virginia. She is also a board member for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, where she serves as Treasurer; board member for the Virginia Film Festival; and is an Executive Partner for the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William and Mary. Additionally, she has served as a member of the Executive Committee for the Richmond Heart Walk for the American Heart Association. Stanley served as Board Chair for Charlotte Regional Partnership, a member of the board for the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and on the Executive Committee for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. Prior board service includes Leadership Georgia, the Atlanta Women’s Foundation where she was also the Treasurer, Gilda’s Club of Atlanta and the NW Georgia Girl Scout Foundation. Linda resides in South Carolina and Virginia with her husband, Brian.
Throughout her career, Genevieve Villaflor has been involved with film festivals, non-profit organizations, and specialty publicity firms, working in programming, PR, fundraising, special events, and artist support. After college at the University of Virginia, she worked on early editions of the Virginia Film Festival before moving to New York City to start a 15-year tenure at Film at Lincoln Center (then The Film Society of Lincoln Center) during the opening of the Walter Reade Theater. While there, she held positions in PR, programming, and development, starting programs like Independents Night, the Grand Marnier Film Fellowships, and selecting shorts for the New York Film Festival.
Over the years, she served on juries, lectured on film festivals, and attended Rotterdam, Cannes, Toronto, San Francisco, and Sundance – where she was on the Advisory Committee for Features and Documentaries from 1995 -1998. In addition to working at The Hamptons International Film Festival and Sundance Channel, Genevieve most recently worked at The Gotham where she managed the IFP/HBO New True Stories Funding Initiative, supporting non-fiction projects in the early development stage.
Director and Executive Producer, Jeff Wadlow. is currently in production on Fantasy Island and Master of the Universe. In 2018, Jeff produced and directed, Truth or Dare, a screenplay he wrote and directed for Jason Blum and Universal Studios. Before that, he wrote and directed True Memoirs of an International Assassin, staring Kevin James and Andy Garcia, which was at the forefront of Netflix’s expansion into original movies. His preceding action comedy, Kick Ass2, was named one of the ten best films of the year by Quentin Tarantino, who stated the movie demonstrated a “real auteur approach.” While prepping that movie, Jeff developed and executive produced the worldwide hit, Non-Stop, starring Liam Neeson, in addition to writing the feature film X-Men/Deadpool spin-off, X-Force, for Fox and Ryan Reynolds.
A graduate of Dartmouth College and a Charlottesville native, Jeff received his master’s degree from the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC, where he conceived and directed his thesis film, tHE tOWeR oF BabBLe (narrated by Kevin Spacey), winning more than a dozen awards before taking the top prize in the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival. Jeff used the million-dollar grant to make his first feature, Cry_Wolf, which was released by Universal Studios. His next feature, the action/drama Never Back Down, starring two-time Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou, beat out big-budget competition to win “Best Fight” at the MTV Movie Awards and spawned a series of successful sequels. In television, Jeff’s first pitch sold in a competitive situation to CBS and Warner Brothers with Joel Silver (The Matrix) producing, eventually going to pilot. He followed that with another pilot order from CBS for his character-based procedural starring Minnie Driver. Jeff went on to collaborate with Cartlon Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights)to help launch the Emmy-nominated series, Bates Motel, eventually working with Cuse again as a writer and producer on the final season of The Strain, created by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Chuck Hogan (The Town). In addition to his film and TV work, Jeff has directed award-winning shorts staring acclaimed actors such as Meryl Streep and Danny DeVito. For the last fourteen years, Jeff has returned to his hometown to lead The Adrenaline Film Project, a program he founded to help filmmakers of all ages, write, shoot, and screen a short film in the Virginia Film Festival in just 72 hours. Through the Adrenaline Film Project, Jeff has helped produce more than two hundred short films, personally mentoring over six hundred aspiring filmmakers.
Glenn Williamson is an independent film producer and former studio executive with more than 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry. Through his Los Angeles- based production company Back Lot Pictures, he has produced Focus Features’ “Hollywoodland,”; Overture Films’ “Sunshine Cleaning,”; Summit Entertainment’s “Push; Magnolia Pictures’ “Wonderful World”; the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winning film “Happythankyoumoreplease,” and “The Runner”.
In addition, Mr. Williamson is co-head of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Producers Program where he’s been a professor and lecturer over the past five years. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Virginia, Williamson moved to Los Angeles to start his film career at Castle Rock Entertainment. During this time, he also worked in production on Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands” and Cameron Crowe’s “Singles.” Two years later, Williamson joined Parkes and MacDonald at Amblin Entertainment when Steven Spielberg hired them to run his production company and he soon oversaw “Men in Black” for Amblin & Columbia Pictures. From 1994 to 2002, Williamson was a senior production executive at DreamWorks SKG. He supervised Sam Mendes’ Academy Award-winning “American Beauty” and “Road to Perdition”; Crowe’s “Almost Famous” (best original screenplay Oscar winner in 2001); Gore Verbinski’s “The Mexican”; Todd Phillip’s Road Trip, and Bronwen Hughes’ “Forces of Nature.” When Focus Features was formed in 2002, Williamson became the specialty label’s president of production. He supervised Michelle Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”; Todd Hayne’s “Far From Heaven”; Mira Nair’s “Vanity Fair”; and Christine Jeff’s “Sylvia.” In 2005, Williamson executive produced Harold Ramis’ “The Ice Harvest,” starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton; and in 2006, he produced the hit remake of “The Omen,” starring Live Schreiber and Julia Stiles. Williamson is a member of the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science and sits on the Foreign Language Film Executive Committee.
Lee Caplin is Founder and Chairman of Picture Entertainment Corporation, a motion picture, television and theatrical production company that Executive Produced the Sony-Columbia Pictures $115 million Academy Award nominated feature film release, Ali, starring Will Smith. Executive Producer of the Literary Estate of Nobel Laureate William Faulkner, Mr. Caplin has been a leader in the multimedia and telecommunications industry for over 25 years. He Co-Founded Penske Media, owner of such iconic entertainment brands as Variety, Rolling Stone, Robb Report, and Women’s Wear Daily; and recently founded the Immersive Studio for Altered Reality (iStar) at Miami’s Florida International University, teaching students how to produce Virtual Reality programming for film and television.
An attorney, entrepreneur, and educator, Mr. Caplin has published over 200 titles of graphic novels and illustrated children’s books; his own book The Business of Art, is a three-time International Best Seller. He served as the Special Assistant Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts under President Carter, was honored as a Founding Faculty member of California State University’s high tech campus at Monterey Bay in establishing its Telecommunications program.
Mr. Caplin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Duke University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia Law School, where he was an Editor of the Virginia Law Review.
John is a Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo Bank where he has led The Private Bank in Charlottesville, VA for the past eight years. He works with clients to understand their needs and then coordinates a team of specialists to provide clients with wealth management services including banking, lending, investment management, and financial and estate planning. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, John spent fifteen years at Bank of America specializing in commercial lending and wealth management and was ultimately chosen as the Global Wealth and Investment Management leader for Central, VA.
John has a deep enjoyment and love for the arts, which is shown by his support and involvement. In addition to being an Advisory Board member of the Virginia Film Festival, he is also on the Board of Charlottesville Opera. John has been instrumental in securing Wells Fargo as a major corporate sponsor for the Virginia Film Festival, Charlottesville Opera, The Charlottesville and University Symphony and the Paramount Theater. He is currently serving on the Honorary Committee for this year’s Paramount Theater’s Annual Grand Marquee Award Gala.
A native Virginian, John, is a 1988 graduate of the University of Virginia with a BA in Economics and a minor in History. He later went on to earn an MBA at the University of Richmond. John lives in Keswick, VA with his wife, Kristin, and his two daughters, Charlotte and Madeleine.
Sara Risher, one of the original Board Members of the Virginia Film Festival, was previously President of Production at New Line Cinema. She established and independent production company CHICKFLICKS, which focuses on female-driven projects. Her most recent production is the film 55 STEPS starring Hilary Swank and Helena Bonham Carter and directed by Academy Award winner Bille August. It premiered in competition at The Toronto Film Festival, is being distributed by Sony, and selected to play at the 36th Annual Virginia Film Festival. Sara is presently in pre-production of a remake of the 1958 classic BELL, BOOK & CANDLE for Paramount which is expected to shoot at the beginning of 2024.
Previously she produced the 2015 film LILA & EVE starring Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis which premiered at SUNDANCE and was distributed by Samuel Goldwyn. Other productions were RAISE YOUR VOICE, which starred Jason Ritter and Hilary Duff and was released by New Line Cinema; Lee Harris’s CHRISTINE BENNETT MYSTERY SERIES with Patty Duke for The Hallmark Channel, and BROKEN BRIDGES starring Toby Keith, Burt Reynolds and Kelly Preston, for MTV/ Paramount. She was the Executive Producer of THE LAST MIMZY, also distributed by New Line. Ms. Risher also produced the well-received horror/thriller THE DEMENTED for Starz and Anchor Bay.
While President of Production for over 15 years at New Line Cinema, Ms. Risher supervised the development and production of over 50 films, including the HOUSE PARTY, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES and NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series, John Water’s HAIRSPRAY and POLYESTER, MENACE II SOCIETY, PUMP UP THE VOLUME, THE RAPTURE, WIDE SARGASSO SEA, POISON IVY, and Michael Apted’s BLINK. She was Executive Producer of IN LOVE AND WAR, starring Sandra Bullock and Chris O’Donnell, directed by Lord Richard Attenborough and Walter Hill’s LAST MAN STANDING starring Bruce Willis. As Chairman of Production from 1995 – 2002, Ms. Risher was in charge of the corporate overview for the production department during its exciting growth under Time Warner, culminating in the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.
