A prominent group of film industry executives and filmmakers have agreed to serve on an Advisory Board for the Miami Filmmaker Project. They will guide development and evaluation of all programs, assist in securing award-winning artists to be mentors, and serve as members of screening committees who select the participants in the Labs. The Board includes:
Patricia Boero Formerly the Director of the Sundance Institute's International Program and the Senior Program Officer at the MacArthur Foundation in charge of media programs, Boero is currently the Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting. In her current position Boero supports the development, production, acquisition and distribution of non-commercial educational and cultural television that is representative of Latino people. She also previously directed Hispanics in Philanthropy's Transnational Program and was Senior Manager for Global Public Affairs at the Levi Strauss Foundation. Boero studied film in Sydney, Australia, where she directed documentaries for Film Australia and the public TV station SBS. She has been a correspondent for the BBC's World Service and field producer for CNN.
Howard Cohen Currently the Co-President of Roadside Attractions. Howard Cohen has been a film and television professional for more than twenty years. Roadside Attractions, a highly respected theatrical distribution company which releases over ten major independent feature films each year, has previously distributed such movies as Super Size Me, Bella, The Boynton Beach Bereavement Club and Ladies in Lavender, and produced Lovely & Amazing. Cohen was previously the Head of Independent Packaging at United Talent Agency, from 1996-2003 and Head of Acquisitions and a production executive for The Samuel Goldwyn Company from 1987-1994.
Rob Cowie Successful Orlando, Florida-based filmmaker, television producer, and an internet entrepreneur Robin Cowie was most notably the producer of the breakout low-budget feature film phenomenon The Blair Witch Project. He has also produced the feature films AlteredSeventh Moon, and is currently working on a children's cartoon series and a children's book/feature film. He is the recipient of the Nova Award from the Producers Guild of America, the Independent Spirit Award from the Independent Feature Project, and the Prix de Jeuvenes from the Cannes Film Festival
Julie Davis Miami Beach native Julie Davis' first feature film, which she wrote, produced, directed and edited was the critically acclaimed , low budget comedy I Love You, Don't Touch Me, released in 1998 by MGM/Goldwyn Films. She went on to make her second feature Amy's Orgasm and directed the romantic comedy All Over the Guy featuring Adam Goldberg, Christina Ricci and Lisa Kudrow. Davis' new film, Finding Bliss has just wrapped. The New York Times' Janet Maslin has aptly called Davis "the female Woody Allen."
David Frankel Director David Frankel has a long list of feature film credits to his name, from the recent box-office hits of Marley & Me and The Devil Wears Prada to his earlier love-letter to South Florida, Miami Rhapsody, for which he also wrote the screenplay. He is known for getting wonderful performances from a long-list of major Hollywood actors, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Aniston and Sarah Jessica Parker. Frankel has also had a successful career in television, from his own series Grapevine to directing episodes of Sex and the City, Entourage and Band of Brothers, for which he won an Emmy. He has made his home in Miami for many years.
John Hadity An independent producer and financial expert with over 20 years of studio experience, Hadity most recently served as the Executive Vice President of Motion Picture & Television Production Finance for Miramax Films. During his 12 year tenure with the company he was responsible for a portfolio of production budgets valued in excess of $4 billion. In addition to his corporate responsibilities at the company, Mr. Hadity also served as production rep on several Miramax releases including Academy Award-winners Shakespeare In Love, The English Patient, Emma and Restoration. Hadity is the Chair of the Producers Guild of America East and is a frequent guest lecturer at Yale, Colombia and New York Universities.
Brian Hecker Brian Hecker grew up in South Florida, the setting of his new autobiographical feature film Bart Got a Room, starring William Macy, which will be released theatrically in the 2009. He received an MFA at the American Film Institute where he was awarded 'Director of the Year'. His short thesis film Family Attraction, starring the late Chris Penn and Martin Sheen, earned over a dozen national and international film festival awards. Paramount Pictures has recently hired Brian and his writing partner to write a biopic for Leonardo Dicaprio about the 29-year-old rebel-genius Nolan Bushnell who, in 1972, created Pong and started Atari.
Roy Meyeringh Meyeringh is Director of Multiplatform Content for Venevision International, a major purveyor of film and television to the Spanish-language market in Latin America and the United States, and a global entertainment unit of the Cisneros Group. His expertise lies in the formulation and implementation of strategies for the sale of digital media products and Web-based content to prominent emerging media outlets as well as global cable, satellite, and telecommunications organizations, and the promotion of alternative programming for the Hispanic market. Meyeringh is based in South Florida.
Howard Rodman Howard Rodman is a screenwriter and novelist, as well as a professor and former Chair of the writing division at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He is a member of the board of directors of the Writers Guild of America, West, and has been an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his recent film Savage Grace, staring Julianne Moore and directed by Tom Kalin. His other produced screenplays include August, starring Josh Hartnett, and Joe Gould's Secret, which was the opening night film of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.
Susan Seidelman A pioneering filmmaker whose debut feature Smithereens was the first American independent film to be selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Seidelman went on to make the cultural milestone, Desperately Seeking Susan, and has continued working in film and television for more than two decades. She has made two films set in South Florida, Making Mr. Right and the recent The Boynton Beach Bereavement Club.
Sean Wolfington Miami-based Sean Wolfington is an entrepreneur and financier, and a co-owner of One Media Group and Metanoia Films. His first feature film as a producer was Bella, which starred Eduardo Verástegui and won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. It received a wide theatrical release in 2008 with significant box office for an independent film. Wolfington co-financed Bella with his partner, Eustace Wolfington, after having founded and sold two hugely successful technology and internet marketing companies.