With Fredericka Meek, Jennifer Marie, Saurav Mohapatra, and Neha Shah in conversation with Tony Gapastione

Meet some of our film fest filmmakers for 2024

Meet actors/writers MaryLynn Suchan (@marylynn_suchan) and Poonam Basu (@iampoonambasu) of the short film MY DEAREST ELIZABETH (@mydearestelizabethshort) which was selected to screen at our Film Festival!!!

Tony Gapastiones shares some thoughts on evaluating when to say HELL YES or HELL NO to a project.

After completing multiple short films together Tony Gapastione and Darryl Merquillo breakdown things learned and share LIVE feedback on set life.

Actress, producer, writer and director Cylla Senii (@cyllasenii) is a versatile and daring artist who shines both on and off screen as an actress, producer, director, and writer. Her series SITUATIONSHIPS, which she created, wrote, directed, produced, and starred, made its first debut on BET and is now available on Tubi & Amazon. SITUATIONSHIPS is currently in development for television with Monami Productions. Cylla is a member of the Producers Guild of America. Cylla is a graduate from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts and Journalism in Advertising with an emphasis in Film Studies and Music Business. In New York City, she’s sharpened her acting and improv skills by studying at Terry Schreiber Studios and the UCB Training Center. Currently, Cylla received the Cornell University Women’s Entrepreneurship certificate. In her spare time, she loves to travel, dance, read, and spend time with her loved ones. She reps her Liberian-Chinese-Trini background proudly and holds down Queens, New York where she was born and has a love for the deep southern city of Warner Robins, GA where she spent her youth!

Avril Z. Speaks

Ever wondered how to handle those awkward moments at a film fest talk back?

Tony Gapastione gives some tips on what TO DO and WHAT TO AVOID.

Read it here: https://bravemaker.com/film-fest-panels-dos-and-donts/

This episode is an important listen for actors and filmmakers of all kinds.

Brooke M. Haney (they/she) is the creator of The Actor's Warm Down, editor of The Intimacy Coordinator's Guidebook: Specialties for Stage and Screen, and one of the first 50 intimacy coordinators recognized as qualified by SAG/AFTRA. They specialize in staging authentic representation of queer intimacy and work in TV/Film and Theater. Catch their work on CBS, Paramount+, Peacock, HBO, Amazon Prime and more. www.brookemhaney.com

Giovannie Espiritu's identity is inherently political: A bisexual, once-undocumented immigrant Filipina mom who spent time in a Biblical doomsday cult as a teen. Her first short film, “Ultra-Feminist,” got an Honorable Mention at Outfest:Fusion, and her second film, “ALLY 3000,” won over 12 awards at film festivals mainly in scriptwriting and social justice. Her newest short doc film, “Legacy,” won the Hyundai Evolve Innovation Award is in the film festival circuit. It has exhibited at the OutMuseum, and will be showing in the New Americans Museum in San Diego. Most of her work has taken aim at dismantling the patriarchy, healing generational trauma, and exposing systems of bias with humor. Her IRL and reel life mantra is to “Break Hearts Wide Open and Create More Moments of Joy.” As an actor, she was once nominated alongside Academy Award nominees Alfre Woodard and Amy Irving for Best Supporting Actress, but she didn’t know what to do with that information other than put it on her business card.