panel
Thursday
Opening Night Panel
Entertainment That Uplifts – A Masterclass
Thursday, June 26, 8:30PM
Stephen Galloway
Dean, Chapman University’s Dodge College; former Executive Editor, The Hollywood Reporter
Shruthi Mathur
Television writer (Disney); President, UNA-USA Los Angeles
Joseph Rosendo
Six-time Emmy Award–winning travel journalist, director, and host of Joseph Rosendo’s Steppin’ Out and Travelscope on PBS and CreateTV
Irina Szodruch
Dramaturg, creative producer, development consultant (CO International)
Cecilia “CC” W’Emedi
Senior Project Manager, International Programs at Women in Film (WIF)
Friday
Panel 1
Crossover Creators – Where Cinema Meets Influence
Friday, June 27, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Shicong Zhu
Director, writer, Head of Studio at DramaBox
Blair Bai
Creative Producer at DramaBox
AmbiKa Sanjana
Supervising Producer, WCFF; global cultural strategist
Frederick Tabiyus Nah IV
Award-winning filmmaker, music artist, CEO of Swerve Entertainment
Kevin Hissink
Multi-platinum music producer, co-founder of BOONN
Susan Brazer
CEO of LionShare Media
Ashley BeLoat
Actress and lead in vertical TV series
Saturday
Panel 2
On the Pulse – Culture in Motion and Shaping the Next Generation
Friday, June 27, 11:15 AM – 12:30 PM
Jenn Lindsay
Professor of Sociology at John Cabot University in Rome; founder of So Fare Films
Salvador Carrasco
Director of The Other Conquest; Head of the Film Program at Santa Monica College; member of the DGA
Catharine Dada
Filmmaker and professor at Loyola Marymount University and Santa Monica College
Carole Joyce
Vice-President and Director of From the Heart Productions and the Roy W. Dean Grant; Director and Producer of the Authentic Global Film Festival
Sandra de Castro Buffington
Producer and lecturer at Harvard’s Media, Medicine and Health Program
Crickett Rumley
Founder and Senior Director of the Film Festival Department at NYFA
Simone Bartesaghi
Filmmaker (RUN, Downstream), author of The Director’s Six Senses, and professor at Santa Monica College
Panel 3
Parables on Screen – The Sacred Mission of Storytelling
Friday, June 27, 5:30 PM
Pastor Chet Lowe
Senior Pastor at Calvary LIFE
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Global humanitarian, spiritual leader, and peace envoy
