the Closing Night film at the The Prince Music Theater. Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:
Michael Feighan is an insurance executive whose real vocation is cinephilia. Movies are his true obsession, though he is also an avid student of opera, theater, music and the visual arts. He is an experienced head of jurors, having served in that capacity for other film festivals. His involvement in film festivals in Philadelphia has lead to his interest in attending others all over the world, including Venice, Transylvania and Santa Barbara in 2008 and 2009. He regularly sees over 200 theatrically-released films each year.
Marilyn Schaffer is professor emeritus at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. She has studied the history of film, specializing in international films, and is a member of the Film Society at the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford. She participates in various international film festivals annually, including Palm Springs, and views over 150 films per year.
Nicole Shiner is the Director of Operations & Government Affairs at the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. She has been with the film office for five years and was previously employed by both the Pennsylvania Legislature and U.S. House of Representatives. She earned dual degrees in English and Communication Arts from Ursinus College and has over 18 years of theatrical training. Nicole is honored and very excited to be serving on the jury for the festival for the first time.
Rodney Whittenberg, an Emmy Award-winning composer, is a unique presence in the arts community. As owner of Melodyvision, he works as a composer, film and video producer, editor and educator with numerous local and national scores to his credit, including music for the horror film Return to Sleepawaycamp (for which he also served as associate producer), as well as festival winners In Sickness and Electile Dysfunction. His TV credits include programs airing on A&E, HBO, Family, Oxygen, PBS, NBC and the TNT networks.
James Breckenridge (SAG, AFTRA, EQUITY) is founder and director of The PlayCrafters Group, specializing in helping writers develop scripts for film and theatre. He teaches screenwriting at Bryn Mawr Film Institute and is a regular presenter at the L.A. Screenwriting Expo where he has been named a Star Speaker. He received his MFA from Temple University and has performed extensively in film, television, radio and on the stage. He divides his time between Philadelphia and New York.
Joe Kim is the Festival Director for the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF) and an independent filmmaker. In October 2008, he founded the festival to celebrate the works of Asian American filmmakers and to bring those films to a new and emerging audience in Philadelphia. He earned a degree in film at Temple University and has had his work screened at the Philadelphia Film Festival. This year PAAFF will take place October 8-11, 2009.
Nancy Resnick is a lifelong resident of Philadelphia and works as an employee benefits consultant for a firm in King of Prussia. Nancy’s addiction to film started early; it was easy to see all those Saturday matinee double features growing up next door to the Jackson theater. More recently, Nancy has attended several international film festivals and is thrilled to be on the jury of the Philadelphia CineFest 09.
Nancy Katz Colman’s devotion to cinema gradually dawned on her in elementary school, when she would come home to sit and watch old movies on TV instead of going outside to play. She parlayed that passion into an undergraduate degree in film at Wesleyan University under the excellent tutelage of renowned scholar Jeanine Basinger, and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Film Studies at UCLA. Nancy has published film reviews for various newspapers and magazines, and is a member of the selection committees for the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival and One Film Philadelphia.
Judy Gelles is a Philadelphia artist working in photography and film. Her documentary, From Philadelphia to the Front, was the first documentary to focus on Jewish American World War II veterans. The film has been shown worldwide and was the 2005 Audience Favorite at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films. Her work is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She is represented by Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia.
Seymour Levin is a documentary filmmaker from the Philadelphia area. He’s worked on several notable projects including Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation and A World of Discovery for the Philadelphia Museum of Art. As the son of Holocaust survivors and a certified Gestalt counselor, he is particularly drawn to projects that promote social justice and healing. His award winning feature length documentary, Hard Coal: Last of the Bootleg Miners, reveals the crushing injustices faced by independent coal mine owners.
