Writer, producer and teacher. Born in Madrid, the son of film director Carlos Saura and film teacher and journalist Adela Medrano, brother of film director Saura Medrano.Either as executive of the film companies LolaFilms and Iberoamericana Films, or as executive producer for the film production companies Zebra Producciones and La Fiera Corrupia, Antonio Saura has produced many films in recent years, including Carlos Saura's Salomé (2002) (Best Artistic contribution Montreal 2002), Antonio He...

Clay Epstein is President of Film Mode Entertainment, a worldwide sales and production company he launched in March 2016 which aims to present 10-15 theatrical titles a year.Prior to founding Film Mode, Epstein spent several years at Arclight Films as Senior Vice President, Sales and Acquisitions. While there, he represented such feature films as Dog Eat Dog, Paper Planes, Predestination, and Last Knights.Before joining Arclight in 2012, Epstein worked at The Little Film Company where he serv...

Danicah Waldo is a writer, director, and producer based out of New York City. She got her 10,000 hours directing and producing narrative short films for the Applause New York YouTube channel, which now sits at over 1.5 million subscribers and 1 billion views.In 2021 she took a leap to join LIT Videobooks, a startup production company making documentary versions of nonfiction books. She now acts as Director of Production, directs all of the live-action elements of the videobook, and has built ...

Tanna Marie Frederick is an American stage and independent film actress who rose to prominence for her title role in Henry Jaglom's Hollywood Dreams, for which she received the Best Actress Award at the 2008 Fargo Film Festival.

Angeline Walsh is a filmmaker and writer from Cleveland, Ohio. Specializing in period pieces, she has a passion for unusual histories and an interest in portraying what connects people across time. Her most recent projects as a writer-director include "The Haunted Woman," an adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's classic short story The Yellow Wallpaper, and "The Coroner's Assistant," a historical dark comedy series set in late Victorian England.

Access Entertainment is a boutique sales agency dedicated to guiding filmmakers and television producers to reach their greatest distribution potential. Before Access, DuBow managed Lightning Entertainment as Executive Vice President and transitioned the company to its corporate owners at the time, Larry Flynt Publications. DuBow was also at First Look Studios as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Distribution and served as President and CEO of Modern Entertainment, a wholly-owned, Los Ang...

After earning a degree in Theatre and Philosophy at the University of Texas, Ms Spencer moved to New York City, where she attended NYU and The Actors Studio Playwright/Director's Unit, which was run by Elia Kazan and Arthur Penn. She wrote and directed plays in New York City, and was a member of Circle Rep Lab. She also wrote and directed plays in London and Los Angeles, and is a published poet. Her first film, Little Noises, premiered at Sundance. Her second film, Faces On Mars (aka: Wake Up...

As Co-Founder and President of American Cinema International, Chevonne began her professional journey as the President of International Sales at Quest Entertainment. Over the spans of 10 years, she successfully oversaw the production and sales of more than 176 feature films and two popular television series. In 2000, Chevonne established American Cinema International. In less than a decade, ACI produced 20 feature films, securing international sales and prime-time broadcasts on platform such ...

In this episode Leslie breaks down the Upfronts in Hollywood.  What are they and why are they so important?

With over 30 years in the animation industry, Tony Bancroft has been creatively involved in almost every position making an animated film, video, commercial, or short film. His animation and directing skills have been sharpened and honed while working at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Sony Pictures, his own animation company, Toonacious Family Entertainment, and currently, as an independent contractor working with Disney, Warner Brothers, and many more. Bancroft was accepted into the...

Ken Kwapis has been a motion picture and television director for four decades. He directed eleven feature films, among them A Walk In The Woods, Big Miracle, He’s Just Not That Into You, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Kwapis helped launch nine television series, including The Larry Sanders Show, The Bernie Mac Show, and The Office. He earned an Emmy nomination for directing the “Gay Witch Hunt” episode of The Office. He also earned an Emmy nomination for his work as a...

B.J. Graf (aka Beverly Graf) lives in Los Angeles with her family and a menagerie of four-footers. Her near-future-mystery-novel, GENESYS X, featuring Detectives  Eddie Piedmont & Shin Miyaguchi, will be published 11/10/2020 by Fairwood Press and is available for pre-orders now at www.fairwoodpress.com, www.amazon.com, www.b&n.com, and an independent bookseller near you.  In her alternate identity Dr. Graf is an Adjunct Professor who teaches Film Studies and Classical Mythology at...

Giovanni Labadessa Award winning film producer and storyteller, founder of Lumiere Lab a boutique film production company working since 2010 to tell stories that entertain, edify and build more understanding and empathy for others. Passionate about strengthening the independent film ecosystem as whole, in 2018 I co-founded Nòt Film Fest, a film festival and non-profit that connects audiences to storytellers whose work champions creativity, uniqueness and innovation while fostering film and...

Rick Markovitz is a partner in Weissman/Markovitz Communications.  WMC forges connections between people, brands and media to convey powerful ideas. Grounded in the business of storytelling, we know how to use the right tools and channels in today';s complex social media environment. With decades of entertainment marketing and communications expertise, and an industry-wide network of resources, we help countless clients succeed in creative, effective and profitable brand-building...

Luca was born in a little town in the north of Italy, Castelfranco Veneto, 30 minutes far from Venice. After high school, he moved to Milan to study communication at the University without an exact idea of what I wanted to become.  Luca became an assistant to a television director who was managing some live broadcast shows for SKY Italy and wanted some help.  After the first tv gigs, Luca learned to operate the camera, consequently the mayor editing systems to finally be able to create my own...

Everything you ever wanted to know about how to get your movie distributed, but were afraid to ask. This is the Best in Fest Best Of Distribution episode.

In 1962, while he was doing pre-production work on The Greatest Story Ever Told, Stevens was recruited by Edward R. Murrow to serve as director of the Motion Picture and Television Service, a division of the United States Information Agency.[10][11] At age 31, Stevens moved from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., where as director of the service, he produced roughly 300 short documentary films per year.[11][12][7] One of the films Stevens commissioned was Nine from Little Rock, which followed...

Director/screenwriter Jace Anderson most recently directed her first feature film, The Long Game, which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February 2024. Based on a short story by New York Times-bestselling author Janet Fitch, the film stars Kathleen Turner, Jackie Earle Haley and newcomer Sekai Abeni. It is a “femme fatale origin story,” a contemporary neo-noir that tells the tale of young actress Holly Sloan and her entanglements with failed con man Richard...

Nicolas Dozol first studied dance at the Conservatoire de Lyon and at the Rudra Béjart school-atelier in Lausanne (Maurice Béjart's school). He still dancing as an extra dancer in the Opéra de Paris ballet. He then continued his studies in cinema at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français (CLCF) in Paris. Nicolas directed one feature film and numerous short fiction films, as well as documentaries and commercials. He seeks to shape imaginary experiences while trying new ways of filming...

Steve Stockman is president of LA-based Custom Productions, Inc. and a producer, writer and director of over 250 commercials, web series, short films, music videos, and TV shows. Steve is also the creator of How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck: The Video Course. The course is based on his book How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck, the world’s best-selling book about directing and cinematography. It’s used as a text worldwide in middle through graduate schools. It’s available in 9 languages,...

With 20 years of legal experience in the entertainment industry, Nina Ameri has established herself as a well-known, and respected attorney, with deep connections and relationships within the entertainment industry. Over the years, Nina has utilized her skills to support clients in several entertainment industry-specific practice areas including, entertainment transactions, trademark and copyright law, business entity formation, and more. Nina provides personalized, hands-on representation...

Veteran filmmaker Julia Verdin is a multi-hyphenate - she is known as an accomplished producer, award-winning Director and has written a number of screenplays. Having been in the film business for 30 years, Julia has established herself as one of Hollywood's leading independent producers, with over 36 critically acclaimed feature films produced to date. She founded and has been running Rough Diamond Productions since 1995. Some of the memorable, acclaimed theatrical releases and top film...

Take a look back at some of the best moments of behind the scenes Hollywood talk with the Best of Best in Fest Part 2

Take a look back at some of the best moments of behind the scenes Hollywood talk with the Best of Best in Fest.