Judge Bios
Lisa Cortés
Lisa Cortés, Producer, is a veteran of both the film and music industries. Most recently, she was Executive
Producer of the film Precious. In 2010, the film won two Academy Awards (Actress in a Supporting
Role) and (Adapted Screenplay), five Independent Spirit Awards and five NAACP Awards. Additional
producer credits include The Woodsman, Shadowboxer, Tennessee and Sangam. In late 2009, Cortés
started her own production company, Cortés Films. Her prior experience producing and working
closely with other filmmakers and talent has already attracted several projects now in development.
Scott Currie
Scott Currie has over 28 years of motion picture production experience. Scott served has production and location manager for over 500 national and regional television commercials. Since 1987, Scott has worked on over 24 feature films in varying capacities from Production Assistant to Supervising Producer. Several notable films on which he worked include Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia, Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys, M. Night Shaymalan’s Wide Awake, and Greg Hoblit’s Fallen. Scott’s principal asset to any production is his skill with script breakdown, scheduling, budgeting and production execution. In addition, Scott has extensive, hands-on experience guiding films through the post production and theatrical distribution. Scott served as the Theatrical Distribution Manager on both 13th Child and Malevolence.
Jenny Deller
Jenny Deller is a writer, director, and producer living in Philadelphia. Her first feature-length
screenplay, Future Weather, received the 2009 Showtime Tony Cox Award for Best Screenplay. With
support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Deller directed Future Weather in Summer 2010 with
actors Amy Madigan and Lili Taylor. Deller has been directing theater and film since attending high
school at the Illinois Math & Science Academy.
Sabine Hoffman
Sabine Hoffman has edited and consulted on narrative films and documentaries for 20 years. Credits
include Rebecca Miller’s films Personal Velocity, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, starring Daniel Day-
Lewis, and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, starring Robin Wright and Blake Lively. She edited Morgan
J. Freeman’s films Hurricane Streets and Desert Blue, Rodney Evan’s Brother To Brother and Ryan
Piers William’s The Dry Land. Sabine also serves as a mentor for Reelworks, a Brooklyn based youth
filmmaking program and on the Advisory Board of the Woodstock Film Festival.
Kirsten Johnson
Kirsten Johnson works as a director and a cinematographer. She is currently editing a documentary she shot and directed in Afghanistan called I Dream Them Always. In the last year, as the supervising DP on Abby Disney and Gini Reticker’s series, Women, War and Peace, she traveled to Colombia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. She shared the 2010 Sundance Documentary Competition Cinematography Award with Laura Poitras for “The Oath”. She shot the Tribeca Film Festival 2008 Documentary winner, Pray the Devil Back to Hell and the Warner Independent/Participant Pictures Darfur Now. Her cinematography is featured in Farenheit 9/11, Academy Award-nominated Aslyum, Emmy-winning Ladies First, and Sundance premiere documentaries, This Film is Not Yet Rated, American Standoff, and Derrida. A chapter on her work as a cinematographer is featured in the book, The Art of the Documentary. Her feature film script My Habibi was selected for the 2006 Sundance Writer’s Lab and Director’s Lab and is the recipient of an Annenberg grant. Her previous documentary as a director, Deadline, (co-directed with Katy Chevigny), premiered at Sundance in 2004, was broadcast on primetime NBC, and won the Thurgood Marshall Award.
Ian Markiewicz
Ian Markiewicz is an independent filmmaker, artist, and university instructor interested in exploring the potency of independent media as a tool for social and environmental advocacy, cultural confluence, artistic vision and collaboration, and emotive storytelling. Ian teaches courses in film production and screenwriting at The University of the Arts and Temple University in Philadelphia and works as a freelance filmmaker in a range of capacities on projects and productions throughout the greater Philadelphia area. He spends most of his summers teaching students from around the world at the New York Film Academy programs in Paris, France, Budapest, Hungary, and Harvard University. Ian holds a B.A. in Film Studies from the University of Arizona and an M.F.A. in Film and Media Arts from Temple University.
Ted Passon
Ted Passon is an award-winning filmmaker and artist living in Philadelphia. Named an “Upcoming Artist to Watch” by the Philadelphia Weekly, Ted has exhibited his work in film festivals and galleries around the US and abroad; including: The Oberhausen Film Festival, The New York Underground Film Festival, The Seattle Film Festival, The Institute of Contemporary Art of Philadelphia, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts SF, Museo Tomayo Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City, and Gallery Revisited in LA. In 2009 he produced and performed in Inside the Mattress; a live music and video performance project with Tender Forever (K Records) for the Whitney Museum and the French Institute Alliance Francais in NY. In 2006 he was invited to compete in the PDX Film Festival Invitational also known as “The World Championship of Experimental Film”. He has won over six awards at various film festivals and has toured nationally with his work.
Ted has also directed music videos for artists such as: Kimya Dawson, Dr. Dog, Plastic Little, and Sweatheart. His music video for Plastic Little’s track “Dopeness” was named “One of the Best Music Videos of 2007” by both GBH.tv and “The Reel” UK industry magazine.
Ted is a member of the Space 1026 art collective a co-founder of the Small Change Experimental Film Screening Series. He co-runs All Ages Productions out of Philadelphia and is currently the Executive Producer of the Activity TV Channel on Comcast.
Jason Pinardo
Jason Pinardo has over 24 feature films to his credit. His latest project, PENNHURST (starring, and directed by Michael Rooker) is slated to be released this fall. He also just signed on to Executive Produce THE ACADEMY, the first in a slate of five low budget indies – a co production between his company, Primary Pictures. and StoneBrooke International. He past works include films such as THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST (starring Neil Patrick Harris) and BAFTA-nominated filmTHE ROAD (starring Viggo Mortensen). Jason is a member of both the Directors, and Producers Guild of America, and is currently represented by Agent Laura Siegel and Attorney Justin Wineburgh.
Michael Schweisheimer
Michael Schweisheimer, owner and Executive Producer of Primitive World Productions, is an award
winning Philadelphia-based filmmaker with 18 years experience behind the camera. He has been
involved in the creation of over 100 films and videos ranging from corporate training and promotional
projects to music videos and feature films. Michael founded Primitive World Productions in 2000 with
an emphasis on nonprofit organizations, helping them to convey their missions to the public through
video communication. Michael holds a degree in film and media arts from Temple University’s School
of Communications and Theater.
Vineet Verma
Vineet Verma, an independent filmmaker and animator with more than 10 years of international
experience in 2D and 3D animation. His animated characters have come to life in cartoon series
like WordWorld, which is broadcast on PBS Kids and won a 2009 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding
Children’s Animated Program, in Alpha and Omega, produced by Lionsgate and Crest Animation
Productions, and in many other U.S. and international animation films. An artist at heart, Vineet
believes in experimenting with different forms and mediums to express his stories, which lead him to
move steadily from 2D classical animation to 3D animation and now to live action film making.
Jeremy B. Warner
Jeremy B. Warner is an editor. He recently completed editing the latest installment for the upcoming
documentary series, Hick Town. The series follows Mayor John Hickenlooper on the trail to become
the Governor of Colorado and is directed by the late filmmaker, George Hickenlooper. Currently,
Jeremy B. Warner is working on a documentary film about the Hollywood Palladium. He is also in
preproduction for a feature film he will be directing later this year. In addition to his professional work,
Jeremy B. Warner teaches editing and production courses at California State Fullerton and National
University.