jurors
2010 Jurors
Felicia Feaster
Felicia Feaster is senior editor focusing on art, film and culture at The Atlantan magazine, part of the largest city-regional magazine publisher in America, Modern Luxury. Previously she was the staff art and film critic for Atlanta's alternative newsweekly Creative Loafing. She received her B.A. in film studies from the University of Florida and her M.A. in film studies from Emory University. Her film reviews can be found regularly in Charleston City Paper and New York Press. Her writing has also appeared in Elle, Sculpture, Art in America, Artnews, Paste, Playboy and Art Papers. She is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Women Film Critics Circle. She has curated exhibitions for the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center and TEW Galleries. She has received multiple Green Eyeshade Awards for criticism and feature reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Robert Fieldsteel
Robert Fieldsteel is a resident of Macon, following a distinguished 28-year career in Los Angeles as an actor, writer, producer and educator in film, t.v. and theatre. He began his career working as filmmaker John Cassavetes' assistant, running his film distribution company, co-producing 3 Cassavetes-directed plays (starring Gena Rowlands, Jon Voight and Peter Falk) and working on the films Gloria and Love Streams, making his screen acting debut in the latter. Other highlights of his feature acting career include films with acclaimed directors Sidney Lumet and Joe Dante, popular hits such as Beth Henley's Miss Firecracker and the teen cult-favorite Just One of the Guys, and a two-film pairing with actor James Avery (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). Numerous t.v. guest-star roles include Designing Women, The Parkers, Party of Five, Wings, Married With Children, and Fame. In theatre, he holds the unique distinction of having won Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards as both a playwright and an actor. He currently supervises film selection for the Macon Film Guild, and is also an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Theatre at Wesleyan College.
Erica McCarthy
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1965, she moved with her family to Athens, Georgia when she was 8. As a high school foreign exchange student in Copenhagen, Denmark, she immersed herself in film studies at the Danish Film Institute. Returning to the United States, she attended the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, where in 1988 her project People Who Live To Dance, was nominated for a Student Academy Award.
Her documentary work continued with features for the Georgia Public Television. She has worked extensively in music videos for world-famous musical acts such as REM, B-52's, Cheap Trick, Vic Chesnutt and They Might Be Giants. She has worked in high-end post production at Atlanta's Video Tape Associates. She has also worked in all production capacities for the major television networks, as well as in Europe and Mexico. In 1996, she received an Emmy for her work with Bob Costas on NBC's coverage of the Centennial Olympic Games.
Jacqueline Pennewill
Jacqueline Pennewill began her career when she studied acting with Sylvia Leigh at the Showcase/57th Street Theatre, where she performed in numerous plays before she began writing for the theatre. During this time she received a scholarship to the prestigious School of Visual Arts in New York City for her writing. Shortly after, she began teaching, writing and directing at the behest of Ms. Leigh and she opened and extension of the theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey. In 2005 Jacqueline took over the Showcase/57th Street Theatre. Jacqueline has done theatre, film and television and she prefers to concentrate on theatre and independent films and recently made her directorial debut behind the camera with the award-winning film "And Then She Was Gone" which she also wrote and acted in. The film stars Oscar/Emmy nominee, Diana Scarwid.
Didi Dunphy
Didi Dunphy is a post-studio artist and Assistant Professor of Art teaching in the innovative "Art X" program at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. She received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in performance and video art and her exhibits and installations have been shown across the United States at places such as The Atlanta Contemporary, Ivy Brown Gallery, NY, Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, The Lab, San Francisco, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA, The Georgia Triennial, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, and The Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA. Ms. Dunphy also exhibits design objects at the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), NY and CaBoom West Coast Indy Design Show, Santa Monica. A number of features have been written about Ms. Dunphy in publications including Athens Magazine, Craft, CMYK, Southern Living, as well as reviews in the LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and more.
Perry Kirk
For several years Perry Kirk has pursued issues surrounding photography's and society's relationship to science and mysticism. Kirk has exhibited recently at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA and the Center for Living Arts, Mobile, AL. Publications include Extending Human Vision, in Exposure - Journal for the Society for Photographic Educators. Kirk also curated the exhibition Essence:Matter /Science/Photography which was exhibited at University of West Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology and Pace University, Pleasantville, NY. Kirk has worked with a wide variety of commercial clients nationally including: Connections Magazine, Memorial Healthcare System, South Bend, IN; LifeTimes Magazine; Notre Dame Magazine, Culture Wars Magazine. Kirk holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography from University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. He is currently Associate Professor of Photography at University of West Georgia in Carrollton, GA.
Preston Poe
Preston Poe is an artist, professor of New Media and director/curator of The Electronic Gallery at Salisbury University. In addition to his work with video and installation he has created a number of documentary digital film projects including "American Folk", and the upcoming documentary, "The Book" on the subject of legendary blues singer Roy Book Binder, currently in post-production. His experimental work has been exhibited nationally and recently at the Motion Graphics festival in Washington D.C.
James Vasquez
James Vasquez is an actor, writer, and director originally from San Diego, CA. As an actor he's appeared Off-Broadway with the New York Public Theatre, regionally at the Old Globe Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and on film and television, portraying everything from the ditzy Ms. West Coast vying for the tiara in the musical "Pageant", a potentially murderous hairdresser in "Shear Madness", and a wide range of Whos down in Whoville in Jack O'Brien's annual hit production of "Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas". He has been responsible for re-staging the San Diego production of "The Grinch" for the past six years. On stage, James has directed and choreographed "Sweeney Todd", "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", "A Little Night Music", and the west coast premiere of the new musical "Twist". His first feature film as a screenwriter, "29th and Gay", played the national and international gay and lesbian film festival circuits in 2005. It was released on DVD by TLA Releasing in April of 2007, and made its here! Television debut in December of the same year. His second feature film, "Ready? OK!", was inspired by a failed attempt in 2nd grade to participate in a school pep rally. "Ready? OK!", his feature directorial debut, was an official selection of MAGA 2009. Mr. Vasquez is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama in New York City. He co-founded Daisy 3 Pictures in 2004 with his partner, Mark Holmes, and Juilliard classmate, Carrie Preston.
Michael Jackson Chaney
Michael Jackson Chaney's films and time based media installations have been exhibited internationally. His short films have been included in numerous national and international film festivals including the Black Maria Film Festival, The International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Savannah Film Festival, The Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, The Virginia Film Festival, and The Cannes Short Film Corner. Chaney holds a B.F.A. from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and an M.F.A. from Tufts University/The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He has completed post-graduate studies in theology at the University of the South, Sewanee, TN. He is a professor of Film and Television and Sound Deign at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, USA with an interest in emerging distribution for independent media. Prior to teaching he worked as a television producer in New York City for clients such as Hearst Publications, the Seagram Company, and the New York Times. He has been a consultant and special events programmers for the Savannah Film Festival since it's inception in 1998.
Pete Konczal
Pete launched his career with the famous short film Bullet in the Brain, based on the Tobias Wolff short story. The film won the Million Dollar Universal/Hypnotic Film Festival. Pete also shot the Lion's Gate feature Urbania starring Dan Futterman. Most recently, Pete shot and co-directed And Then She was Gone with Jacqueline Pennewill. He also recently filmed the doc Metallica: In Their Own Words. Currently Pete, also works as a commercial cinematographer with credits that include, Maybelline, Garnier, Calvin Klein, The Navy, Izod, Van Huesen, ESPN, Bacardi, and many others. Pete is repped by the Sheldon Prosnit Agency in Beverly Hills.
Stephen Eckelberry
Stephen Eckelberry was first introduced to the Macon Film Festival when his film, Nina & the Mystery of the Secret Room was show at the 2009 festival. The film, which he wrote & directed, won accolades at several film festivals, including the Hollywood and the Portuguese Fantasporto Film Festival. Stephen's first short film Going Home won the Golden Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival for best short over fifteen minutes. Going Home also played at Denver, Bumbelshot, Cannes Women in Film, Hermosa Beach and the Mill Valley film festivals. First Degree, Eckelberry's first feature film as a director, premiered at the Austin Film Festival, was nominated for a best acting award at the Method Fest, and nominated for Best Director at the Nashville Film Festival. He recently completed Double Duty, a TV movie comedy starring Tom Sizemore and action star Mimi Lesseos, which chronicles the adventures of a female marine trying to adjust to civilian life. The film premiered on The Showtime Networks in December 2009. As a producer he made My Brother the Pig, starring Scarlet Johansson and Eva Mendes for Nickelodeon Pictures, and Malaika for HBO Kids. For Big Screen Entertainment, he was co-producer on Forget About It, starring Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch, and a producer on Babysitter Wanted, which was accepted at the prestigious Sitges International Film festival and had it's theatrical release in February 2009. Stephen lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Karen Black, and their daughter Celine, who is attending college at the Art Center of Pasadena.
Cynthia Gottshall
Cynthia Gottshall (Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1985) is a Professor of Media Studies at Mercer University. She teaches courses in media criticism, film aesthetics and analysis, and digital storytelling. As a result of her interest in digital storytelling she has produced Her Daughter's Eyes, a story about the adoption of her daughter and how her daughter's eyes came to life as a connection formed between them. Cynthia has also produced Kitchen Talk, a story of how baseball forms a bond between four generations of women in her family. As an academic, she has also taught at Southern Methodist University and Northwestern University. Prior to teaching at Southern Methodist University, she worked as an associate producer of public affairs programming for a television station in Chicago.
Bill Block
Bill Block is a multi-award winning writer/director. His fictional short film "The Drummer" has been receiving accolades and top honors on the worldwide film festival circuit, including two wins for 'Best Screenplay', four wins for 'Audience Favorite' and seven wins for 'Best in Show'.
He began his writing career as a commercial copywriter but found his true calling as a storyteller for stage and screen. He writes screenplays for a number of genres, including comedy, action and romance. As a director, Bill expands his horizons to stage productions as well as film and television.
He recently completed a feature length script about struggling musicians inspired by his award-winning short and is now putting the finishing touches on a big budget action/adventure yarn set in the South Pacific.
Recently, Bill was named President of Development of 24:7 Films, a new film production company with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Bangkok.
John Preston
John Preston is a professional actor who grew up on Macon's theater stages. The son of Ray Preston and Pam Preston, and brother of 2009 MaGa Special Guest, Carrie Preston, John has performed in dozens of plays with world-reknown theaters, including New York's Shakespeare in the Park, Yale Repertory Theater, Florida's Asolo Theater, Indiana Repertory Theater, Alabama Shakespeare, Georgia Shakespeare, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, and the Denver Center Theater. John's television work includes several commercials, a guest starring role on Law and Order and indy films, Feet of Clay and the 2009 MaGa Special Screening, Ready? OK!
Thanks to our 2009 Jurors:
Kay Beck
Kay Beck (Ph.D., Emory University, 1973) is an Associate Professor and Director of the Digital Arts and Entertainment Laboratory (DAEL), a core facility that facilitates collaborative work between film/video producers, graphic designers, computer scientists, performing artists and others interested in cutting edge digital content. Under her direction, DAEL has collaborated with digital media professionals at Turner Broadcasting, Coca-Cola, Riverwood Studios, and Crawford Communications, among others. Beck is active in the cultivation of enhanced media content in the State of Georgia. Under the guidance of both Democratic and Republican governors, she has served on the executive committee of the Georgia Film Board. She has also served on the Advisory Board of Image (Georgia's independent media organization) and on the Regional Advisory Panel for the Urban Communications Group.
Michael Chaney
Michael Jackson Chaney's films and time based media installations have been exhibited internationally. His short films have been included in numerous national and international film festivals including the Black Maria Film Festival, The International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Savannah Film Festival, The Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, The Virginia Film Festival, and The Cannes Short Film Corner. Currently he is a professor of Film and Television and Sound Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, USA. Prior to teaching he worked as a television producer in New York City for clients such as Hearst Publications, the Seagram Company, and the New York Times. He has been a consultant and special events programmers for the Savannah Film Festival since it's inception in 1998.
Chad Darnell
Chad Darnell grew up in Norcross, Georgia, and worked as an actor in the Atlanta theatre scene before moving to los Angeles in 2000. He recently finished producing a documentary on breast cancer research. He also works as a freelance writer in Los Angeles and is developing a pilot with Hazy Mills. As a casting director, he has worked on such television shows as ALIAS, CROSSING JORDAN, COLD CASE, JUDGING AMY and CSI: MIAMI; and feature films including SPIDER-MAN, THE BLACK DAHLIA, CATWOMAN, DOMINO, and WHITE OLEANDER. He is currently writing a book based on his recent experience with cancer entitled "Monster in My Pants."
Cindy Hill
The first movie Cindy Hill made was on the hand-cranked 8mm film camera her grandfather gave her when she was a kid. She was active in the local theatre scene throughout her teens and after graduating from Macon's Central High School she went on to study Film and Theatre Production at the University of Alabama and Georgia State University. She then embarked on a 10-year career in filmmaking that took her from Atlanta to Savannah and Los Angeles. She worked in casting and production on more than 20 films and TV movies including "The Gift," "Remember the Titans," "The Gingerbread Man," "The War," "Mama Flora's Family," "Miss Evers Boys," "The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," and "Hefner: Unauthorized." She returned to Macon in 2001 and worked as a short and long format marketing producer for 13WMAZ-TV. She now serves as the Grant Writer and Marketing Coordinator for Macon Arts, the organization coordinating and promoting more than 100 artists and 45 arts organizations in Central Georgia. A playwright at heart, she continues to be active in the local theatre scene and wrote and directed "21 Years: Dying and Living with AIDS," with Theatre Macon's Youth Actors Company last spring and hopes to debut the film version of "21 Years" at MAGA in the near future.
Harry Musselwhite
Harry Musselwhite is executive director of the Rome International Film Festival. Active in the independent film community, Harry is also a juror and guest curator for the Santa Fe Film Festival. He is a prolific screenwriter, his "Martha Berry" having recently been named a semi-finalist for Hollywood's Kairos Prize. As an actor he has appeared in works ranging from J. Michael Moncrief's "Tea in Hell" to CBS television's legendary series "Rescue 911." He is Senior Lecturer in Music and Director of Choral Activities at Berry College in Rome, Georgia.
Chris Pearce
Chris Pearce is an animation filmmaker working from a background in experimental film and commercial animation training. He studied experimental film production at the University of Colorado at Boulder and received his MFA in Electronic Inter-media from the University of Florida in Gainesville. His work embraces the practice of collage as well as a tradition of narrative filmmaking. He teaches animation and film production courses at Universities in the Denver area.
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