Filmmaking Confidential

Mink Stole is best known for her work in the films of John Waters. Her film career began as a party guest in Waters' film Roman Candles. Since then, she has appeared in all of John Waters' feature films from Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Desperate Living, Cry Baby, and Serial Mom (opposite Kathleen Turner) to name a few. She has appeared in a number of films and television shows, such as Stuck! directed by Steve Balderson, and is the lead singer of Mink Stole and Her Wonderful Band, of which musicians Kristian Hoffman, George Baby Woods, and Brian Grillo have been members.  www.FilmmakingConfidential.com

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Desh Amila is a documentary filmmaker and serial entrepreneur. Originally from Sri Lanka and migrated to Australia in 2000. With a desire to inspire, Desh is on a mission to educate, entertain and enhance the lives of those he connects with. Currently he is the founder and CEO at This is 42 and is about to release his second feature film, Better Left Unsaid, a documentary that examines political extremis. In 2018, he released his film called Islam: Future of Tolerance. It featured Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz and became the #1 iTunes download worldwide (Documentary Category).

In 2011, Desh founded Think Inc. a first of its kind ‘edutainment’ company that tours intellectuals throughout Australia and New Zealand. The company featured speakers such as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, historian of science Michael Shermer, political activist Dr Cornel West, and the late social-political critic Christopher Hitchens. Desh has had quite the walk of life and loves to push social and political boundaries.

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Marek Probosz is a preeminent film, television and stage actor in his native Poland, and likened across Eastern Europe as "the DeNiro of Poland,” Probosz has more than 50 starring roles to his credit. Many of his films have competed in key international festivals including Venice (Jerzy Skolimowski’s 30 Door Key, 1991), Cannes and Karlovy Vary (Jirí Svoboda’s award-winning End of the Lonely Farm Berghof, 1984) and San Sebastian (Frantisek Vlácil’s The Shadow of the Ferns, 1984). Probosz’s theatrical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Salome, which he wrote, directed and starred in, was cited by the Czech National Critics Poll as the No. 2 artistic event of 1986, after Sir Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning film Gandhi (1983) and ahead of Ingmar Bergman’s Oscar-winning Fanny and Alexander (1982).

In 1987, Probosz came to the United States at the invitation of American Cinematheque. Since that time, he has collaborated with such Academy Award winners and nominees as F. Murray Abraham, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Don Cheadle, Katharine Hepburn; cinematographers Conrad Hall, Ryszard Lenczewski and Matthew Libatique; composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek; directors Darren Aronofsky, Todd Field, Agnieszka Holland, Scott Silver and Andrzej Wajda; costume designer Theodor Pistek and art director Ewa Braun.

Probosz’s film and television career spans roles in Polish, Czech, German, French, Italian and American productions and co-productions. In the United States, he most recently guest-starred on CBS' Scorpion. He has also had guest-starring roles on ABC’s Scandal, CBS’ Numbers, NBC’s JAG and USA’s Monk. He received strong reviews from The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety for his portrayal of Roman Polanski in the 2004 CBS miniseries Helter Skelter.

From 2004-2009, Probosz portrayed the first homosexual character featured on Polish national television, Grzegorz Gorski, in the highly rated Polish drama L Like Love. In 2006, Probosz starred as the Polish WWII hero Witold Pilecki in The Death of Captain Pilecki, which garnered the Special Jury REMI Award at the 2007 WorldFest-Houston International Independent Film Festival and had screenings at consulates, universities and embassies throughout the world. In 2012, he recorded the audiobook The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, about Pilecki, for Audible.com, which received an IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Award in 2013 and a Prose Award in 2012.

Probosz is the author of two books published in Poland: The novel Eldorado (2009) and Call Me When They Kill You (2011), a collection of short stories.

In 2011, Probosz was awarded the Mortui Sunt Ut Liberi Vivamus Bronze Medal in London and the Gold Medal Knight of Humanity in Auschwitz for his portrayal of Witold Pilecki and in recognition of his outstanding services in sharing Pilecki’s ideals of heroism beyond religion, race and time around the world. In Spring 2017, Probosz starred as Pilecki in a multimedia stage production of The Auschwitz Volunteer at American Jewish University and UCLA.

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Sally Kirkland is a film, TV, and theater veteran since the 1960s and is probably best known for the film "Anna," for which she garnered the Best Actress Oscar nomination and won the Best Actress Golden Globe, the Independent Spirit Award, and the LA Film Critic's Circle Award. Sally has appeared in over 200 films.

Feisty and hard-working, Sally has made an indelible mark on Hollywood history. Born in New York City, her mother was the fashion editor at Vogue and LIFE magazine. Sally began her career on the off-Broadway circuit and trained under Lee Strasberg.

Sally's first director in 1964 was Andy Warhol in "13 Most Beautiful Women." In 1968 she became the first nude actress in American history performing in "Sweet Eros" by Terrence McNally.

Her notable films include: "The Sting," "The Way We Were," "Coming Apart," "Cold Feet," "Best of the Best," "Revenge," "JFK," "ED TV," "Bruce Almighty", "Coffee Date" and "Archaeology of a Woman". In the past couple of years she has starred in "Buddy Solitaire", "Gnaw" and "The Most Hated Woman in America" co-starring with Melissa Leo and Peter Fonda. She was nominated for Best Actress in a TV movie by the Hollywood Foreign Press for "The Haunted- A True Story." Her television credits include: guest starring on "Criminal Minds," recurring on "Head Case" and "the Simple Life." She guest starred on "Resurrection Blvd," and in the TV movie, "Another Woman's Husband." Sally had a recurring role on "Felicity," starred on the TV movie, "Brave New World," "Song of Songs" and was a series regular on the TV show "Valley of the Dolls."

Sally is also an exhibited painter, poet, renowned acting coach and ordained minister in the Church of The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA).

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Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hollywood Pleasant Gehman is a true renaissance woman: best-selling author and journalist, international dance performer and instructor, punk rock historian, blogger, Tarot card reader, and a critically acclaimed actor, musician and painter. A Hollywood icon, her multi-disciplinary creative output is nothing short of staggering.

During the 1970's, she was one of the first punks in Los Angeles, documenting the music scene she helped create in her fanzine Lobotomy, which lead to her writing for mainstream music and entertainment publications. From the age of 16 onwards, Pleasant worked as a journalist and cultural commentator with literally thousands of articles published nationally and internationally on everything from the arts and entertainment to Hollywood stuntwomen, sex workers and homeless teenage runaways. She has worked as a staff writer for LA Weekly, Los Angeles Magazine, Variety, And The Hollywood Reporter and often free-lanced for Billboard, Spin and Rolling Stone. Her alternative city guide book The Underground Guide To Los Angeles spent nine weeks on The LA Times Best Sellers List.

In the early 1980's, Pleasant collaborated with producer/director Max Tash on a script based on her all-girl band The Screaming Sirens, called The Runnin' Kind (which she also starred in) released theatrically by MGM in 1989. The Screaming Sirens toured extensively throughout North America and released two albums on Enigma Records, Fiesta and Voodoo, as well as many singles. Concurrent with The Screaming Sirens, Pleasant and life-long friend Iris Berry founded The Ringling Sisters, a writing and spoken word group made up of female lead singers from popular LA bands. The Ringling Sisters soon morphed into a band, and were signed by Ode/ A&M Records, releasing the spoken word and music LP Sixty Watt Reality, produced by Lou Adler.

Under the stage name Princess Farhana; Pleasant has been an icon in the fields of belly dance and burlesque since the early 1990's. She is the author of The Belly Dance Handbook, considered by many to be the definitive resource. She has headlined both belly dance and burlesque festivals all over the world, appearing to perform and teach in Egypt, Turkey, Australia and China, toured many times across Europe and The UK, Mexico and Canada as well as throughout the USA. As a belly dancer, she has judged numerous competitions, and appeared on the covers of every belly dance trade publication. As a burlesque artist, she has been featured on the covers of numerous mainstream publications and on the cover of the London, UK Sunday Review's feature on American Burlesque.

Under the names Pleasant Gehman and Princess Farhana, she has acted and danced in music videos-for Madonna, Ricky Martin, Margaret Cho, and many others- and network television shows, including The Nanny. She was the principle dancer in comedian Margaret Cho's touring burlesque show, The Sensuous Woman and also appeared dancing and being interviewed in segments in Margaret Cho's DVD Assassin and her television series The Cho Show.

Pleasant's memoirs, short stories and poetry have been widely anthologized and many works were recorded on her spoken word CD Ruined. Additionally, she has written and recorded many music CDs and spoken word tracks, including Blacklite Sleaze, a collaboration with noted house music producers Peace Division, which became a hit in Europe and The UK, entering the British Charts above Madonna. She is one of the many authors featured in Under The Big Black Sun: A Personal History Of LA Punk, compiled by curators John Doe and Tom De Savia. The book also features Exene Cervenka, Henry Rollins, members of The Go-Go's and several others involved in the late '70's Los Angeles punk scene.

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Join Steve for a dialog with New York Times #1 Bestselling Comic Book and television writer Amanda Deibert. Amanda is currently writing for the animated series He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe for Netflix. Her comic book writing includes DC Super Hero Girls, Teen Titans Go!, The Doomed And The Damned, Wonder Women of History, Flash Facts, Wonder Woman ’77, Batman and Harley Quinn, Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman, and Love is Love (NYT #1 Bestseller) for DC Comics, stories in John Carpenter’s Tales for A Halloween Night volumes 2, 3, 4, 5 , & 6 for Storm King Comics among others. Other TV credits include work for CBS, SyFy, OWN, PIVOT, HULU and 4 years as writer for former Vice President Al Gore’s international climate broadcast, 24 Hours of Reality.

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Legendary director Lloyd Kaufman is president of New York-based production and distribution company Troma Entertainment, which he and partner Michael Herz founded in 1974 shortly after they graduated from Yale University. Troma is a bastion of true independence with a strong consumer brand through a visionary body of work that has had a huge impact on pop culture and today's mainstream filmmaking. New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick recently wrote that Mr. Kaufman has been cited as a major influence by Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino and Takashi Miike, among others. Other writers and directors who have cited Mr. Kaufman as a major influence include Sam Raimi, James Gunn, Kevin Smith and Eli Roth, to name a few. In addition, Mr. Kaufman has mentored many young independent filmmakers and Troma movies or releases have given numerous now-famous talent their first start in the film industry, including Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Costner, Oliver Stone, Marisa Tomei, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Jenna Fisher. Other major figures whose first work appears in a Troma film include Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman and Carmen Electra.

In addition, Mr. Kaufman has been honored by various international film festivals and Troma retrospectives across the globe, including the San Sebastian Film Festival, the British Film Institute, the Cinematheque Francaise, the American Cinemetheque, the Chicago International Film Festival and the UCLA Film Archives. Fluent in French and able to "get around" in Mandarin, he has also served on the Board of Trinity School and ECO, the environmental foundation.

TROMA NOW! http://watch.troma.com/
Instagram @tromateam @watchtromanow @unclelloydkaufman
Twitter @Troma_Team @watchtromanow @lloydkaufman

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The Enigma, completely tattooed from head to toe in blue jigsaw puzzle pieces, is a legendary performer cultivating audiences for over 20 years around the globe.  A founding member of Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, The Enigma has toured with Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Korn, and opening for David Bowie. His Prime Time television acting debut came in 1995 on the X-files.  His feature film acting debut came in 2005's Firecracker starring opposite screen legend Karen Black and rock star Mike Patton (Faith No More and Mr. Bungle).

Coming from a background of classical piano and stage magic, The Enigma's live show includes the best possible traditional stunts.  Being an innovator of the bizarre, The Enigma also produces stunts none has ever seen.  All of the original music backing the show and the odd humor allow audiences to breathe and adds to The Enigma as an identifiable character. The Enigma has been on the cover of many tattoo magazines, setting the example for extreme body modification.  Featured twice in National Geographic Magazine, 1995 and 2004, The Enigma gets hard news stories about his shows published in advance of his debuts.  The Enigma has not stopped covering new ground, breaking into the comic book arena as well as monster truck rallies and school anti bully lectures.

When you think of extreme, wild, out of this world entertainers, The Enigma stands out as the leader of his art form.  He is an historic legend in body modification, circus sideshow, and tattooing, and leads the pack in that “do it yourself” renaissance style.  As a refined talent of over 20 years in the business you can see that he continues to amaze and inspire.  The Enigma's cult status and huge following will grow organically over the years as he constantly gives to the art world.

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Emmy winning Cinematographer Hanuman Brown-Eagle visits with Steve about motion picture photography and his interest in light and space.  Hanuman also offers insight and tips about the best cameras, lenses, and the importance of the Close-up.  As a Director of Photography and Cinematographer, Hanuman has filmed more than 300 commercials in over 50 cities from Los Angeles to New York.  He’s also filmed more than 60 short films and music videos as well as numerous features.  His work has garnered over 40 awards and has been screened at festivals worldwide, including the Cannes Film Festival in France.

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 www.FilmmakingConfidential.com

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