Best in Fest

 Alec Bantivoglio is a comedy writer from Philadelphia with a passion to make people laugh. In the Spring of 2023 I graduated from Chapman University with a Master’s in Television Writing and Production. While there, he created and was the show runner for Xander, a fantasy-comedy web-series, crewed by many of my fellow Chapman students. Over the last 2 months Xander has won several awards and we are getting ready to premiere at Dances With Films New York.

From line producing to lighting design Leslie and Maritza dive deep into what it really takes to perfect your craft in Hollywood.

Gail Gilbert was an award-winning film editor before going back for an MFA in Writing for the Screen + Stage at Northwestern University. Now she is fully launched in a new career as writer/director, thriving on creating stories that push the envelope in critiquing modern life. Her work challenges stereotypes of ageism and shows that life is equally wild and crazy all the way to the end.

Irina

The world of Irina Maleeva jettisoned into the cinematic spotlight when she was discovered by the legendary Federico Fellini at age 15 and would go on to perform in three of his highly-acclaimed movies: Satyricon; Spirits of the Dead; and Roma. Later Maleeva was chosen for the lead part of Jessica in the film, “The Merchant of Venice” playing opposite Orson Welles’s Schylock. The film was also directed by Orson Welles “This was the best time of my life”, remembers Irina. For many years part of the film was lost. When finally recovered, it premiered in Los Angeles at the Egyptian Theater in 2017.

Carlyle

Carlyle King is an actress and voice artist who worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise and on the feature film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. As an actress, King appeared in an episode of Seinfeld (1991, with Jason Alexander and Tucker Smallwood), the television drama Grass Roots (1992, with Corbin Bernsen, Joanna Cassidy, John Glover, Tim O'Connor, and L. Sidney), the television drama Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story (1994, with Michael Cavanaugh, Robert Pine, Ellen Geer, Peggy Roeder, Lilyan Chauvin, and Jack Shearer), and the short drama The Son (2007).

Chloe Burns graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in Film & amp; Media Studies. After graduating, Chloe wrote, produced, and acted in The
Adventures of Botfly, an award-winning web series, and the short film, The Thing About Miller House, which showed at film festivals throughout Kansas City. In 2021, Burns founded Bull Skull Productions, under which she produced the short documentary
The Wallace Project, and the six-episode web series Trauma Bonded.

As an actress, she has been featured in roles at the University of Southern California and the ArtCenter College of Design. She has studied at Warner Loughlin Studios and Lesly Kahn Studios in Los Angeles, and uses writing and producing to explore complex
stories and create challenging, dynamic roles for herself.

Currently a student at the University of Southern California, Linjie “Susu” Huang had a long and winding road before following her dream of making films. Born into a traditional Chinese family, Linjie endured twenty years pursuing their values
like being practical and doing something more success driven. But instead she decided
to unleash her inner voice and pursue her passion for filmmaking. She’s particularly
interested in telling stories that examine the basis of our relationships.

Growing up in a result-driven culture, I always looked at the grand prize ahead of me. I
missed so many great moments of my life and ignored the lovely relationship I had with
my beloved family and friends.

Chasing Jupiter is a story that depicts a stressed girl who only cares about her grand
reward, but discovers her lost connection with her animal friend. I hope Chasing Jupiter
reminds everyone that there is more to life than just grand prizes!

Marlene Sharp is a creative and business-savvy entertainment multi-hyphenate who originally hails from New Orleans but is now a (San Fernando) Valley girl. Firmly ensconced in LA life, Marlene is top dawg at Pink Poodle Productions. Clients include Rainshine Entertainment, BoredPanda.com, WeFixYourScript.com, ToonBo, and The Center for Learning Unlimited. Prior to Pink Poodle, Marlene served as Director, Production at LEVEL-5 abby, home of YO-KAI WATCH and other hit video game-based franchises. 

Formerly, as Producer, TV Series, at Sega of America, Marlene worked on much more than Teen Choice Award-nominated Cartoon Network series SONIC BOOM. In fact, her Hedgehog duties took her to the heights of nerd-dom as an official San Diego Comic-Con 2017 panelist.

As a freelance journalist, Marlene concentrates on pop culture for noteworthy fan destinations, such as Gamasutra.com, DOGTV, ToonBarn.com, Geekified.net, and CultureSonar.com. As a short film auteur, she has snagged recognition at Austin Comedy Film Festival, Kids First! Film Festival, Canine Film Festival, and San Luis Obispo Film Festival. Marlene is the proud winner of the 2019 LA Shorts International Film Fest Script Competition (an Oscar- and BAFTA-qualifying fest), at which her backdoor sitcom pilot received a staged reading courtesy of The Groundlings. 

After dazzling Dallas, Texas with street performing and experimenting with professional wrestling (which was brutal) and stand-up comedy (which was even more brutal), Bob was 'drawn' into the Los Angeles animation industry.

Bob worked for Cartoon Network, Disney TV, and Nickelodeon. He co-executive produced two seasons of the Misfortunes of Being Ned for the Annoying Orange YouTube channel.

Bob has written and sold projects to Cartoon Network and Disney and co-executive produced, wrote and designed Prank Boy for DreamWorks TV.

He has done everything in the animation industry from storyboarding, animating, designing, writing, directing, and producing.

Most recently, Bob helped oversee the delivery of 156 episodes of an animated series for DreamEast Pictures.

To sharpen his comedy roots, Bob performed improv at The Groundlings and wrote sketch comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade.

As a father of three, including a child on the Autism Spectrum, Bob's sensibilities naturally lean toward creating engaging, inclusive and dynamic content in

family entertainment.

Welcome to the Best OF Best in Fest!