Join NYWIFT for our inaugural 2022 NYWIFT Tech Talks discussing digital advances and the people behind these new inventions
We’re proud to host our inaugural NYWIFT Tech Talks in partnership with Company 3 and Entertainment Partners (EP). A 4-day virtual conference with media professionals revolutionizing the tech industry and how it’s helped our industry and everyday life adjusting to the current world.
DATE
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
TIME
4-6pm ET
PRICE
One day: $15 members / $30 non-members
Four-day Pass: $50 members/ $100 non-members
Welcome Speaker:
Alex Cirillo is a producer, director, and the Co-Founder of Big Vision Empty Wallet. She serves as the VP of Special Events on NYWIFT’s Board of Directors and the Advisory Board for the WGA & MOME’s Made in NY Writers Room Fellowship. In her 13 years in the industry, she has produced 11 feature films, which have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Palm Springs and Bentonville film festivals.
She is currently producing The Captain, ESPN’s new 6-part documentary about Derek Jeter and the NY Yankees, directed by Randy Wilkins and EP’d by Spike Lee, slated for release in 2022.
Opening Keynote Conversation
with Jackie Lee, Chief Revenue Officer, Company 3
Moderated by NYWIFT Board Member, Okema Moore
As Chief Revenue Officer at Company 3, Jackie Lee works closely with motion picture studios, independent producers, and other Company 3 clients to provide post production services that best meet their projects’ creative, technical, budgetary, and delivery requirements.
Lee joined Company 3 in 2004 as Executive Producer for Digital Intermediate (DI) Services and quickly moved up to VP of Feature Services and subsequently to Chief Revenue Officer. She has facilitated post production on countless features, ranging from studio blockbusters to independents and documentaries. She has played a significant role in developing advanced workflows, services, and efficiencies to serve the rapidly-changing technology available to filmmakers. Lee has taken a lead role in ensuring that Company 3 is always ahead of the technological curve. She has been proactive in educating the filmmaking community about approaches and workflows that maximize the benefits of these developments and avoid potential problems.
Okema T. Moore (Moderator) is an Emmy Nominated, PGA producer and rising director. She produced the narrative 2019 ABFF winner Little Apple, and The Future is Then which was a Tribeca NOW 2019 selection. She has directed and produced branded content for Lifetime, Netflix, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, FOX, and Disney/Marvel. Her most recent work includes docs The Color of Care (OWN), UNLADYLIKE(PBS/American Masters) and Klutch Academy (BET), as well as culinary hits The Kitchen and Beat Bobby Flay (Food Network). She Showran and Directed her first series in 2021, Hella Late! with Hollie Harper(BRIC TV), and was a fellow for Minority in FILM’s inaugural Branded Lab for directors, while running the Black TV & Film Collective’s Black Producer Fellowship. Okema also serves on the boards of The Black TV & Film Collective and New York Women in Film & TV.
The Future of Film Production
What does the future of filmmaking look like? With emerging technologies advancing daily, we speak with creators and showcase what has been done during the pandemic to continue working on new content. COVID did not deter creators from completing their work. We will discuss with filmmakers how they’ve adapted to challenging times and dig into some of the pros and cons of shooting during a pandemic.
Speakers include Emily Branham (Director, Being Bebe), Jendra Jarnagin (Cinematographer), Michele Stephenson (Filmmaker) and Alla Kovgan (Filmmaker).
Moderated by NYWIFT Board Member, Sibyl Santiago.
Panelists
Emily Branham is a filmmaker captivated by artists. Her first feature documentary, Being Bebe, premiered at Tribeca Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at Provincetown International Film Festival. Her award-winning short films have screened at IDFA, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Rooftop Films, and broadcast on the Documentary Channel. She directs and produces short documentaries for clients including Lincoln Center, AT&T, and JP Morgan, and works as a post-production and visual effects producer for clients including David Yurman, Mercedes, Adidas, and Google. Originally from Minneapolis, Emily studied Radio/TV/Film at Northwestern University and lives in New York City.
Jendra Jarnagin is an award-winning and in-demand director of photography, who has spent the last 25 years trailblazing across the world of entertainment. The NYU Tisch School of the Arts graduate has photographed a wide range of projects including feature films, episodic television, online series, commercials, music videos, documentaries, virtual reality, and art films. Her recent DP work, Asking For It, was a 2021 Tribeca Film Festival selection. Jendra’s cinematographic talents can be seen in Entangled (2018), TRI (2016), The Opposite Sex (2014), and In Between Men (2010-2013). Jendra’s talents have led her to be featured in publications including American Cinematographer, having even graced the covers of Moviemaker and the magazine of the Polish Society of Cinematographers. At the start of her career, Jendra’s passion for lighting led her to work as a gaffer and electrician as a side job for 10 years. Her work has been showcased at the Whitney Museum, the UN, and numerous film festivals worldwide including Sundance, Tribeca, and the Camerimage International Festival of Cinematography. Jendra’s work and passion for travel has brought her to 27 countries, and she enjoys sharing her experiences and inspiring others as a speaker, panelist and instructor all over the world. Jendra is represented by APA, and you can see her work on her website www.jendrajarnagin.com
Portrait by Margarita Corporan
Filmmaker, artist and author, Michèle Stephenson, pulls from her Panamanian and Haitian roots and her experience as a human rights lawyer to think radically about storytelling and disrupt the imaginary in non-fiction spaces. She tells compelling, deeply personal stories that are created by, for and about BIPOC communities that reimagine and challenge the status quo. She is a three-time Emmy Award nominee and winner of Tribeca and Sundance Festival Jury Prizes and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. Her book, Promises Kept, written with co-authors Joe Brewster and Hilary Beard, won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Stephenson is also a Guggenheim Fellow and a Creative Capital artist.
(Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for ZFF)
For the last two decades, Alla Kovgan has divided her time between Europe and the US working with dance and film collaborations on screen, VR and in theatre. She also brings a strong record as a documentary director/writer/editor. Her film Nora has received 30 awards in every genre and was broadcast worldwide. She co-directed/wrote/edited an Emmy-nominated Traces of the Trade (Sundance, PBS), Movement Revolution Africa (ZDF/ARTE) and edited My Perestroika (Sundance, PBS). Her first 3D VR piece with Finnish music duo Puhti Devil’s Lungs won Grand Prix at the Vienna Shorts Festival, which made her an artist-in-residence at Vienna’s Museum Quarter 21 in 2019. Her most recent film Cunningham (2019, France/Germany/US), an award-winning 3D feature documentary (Toronto, NYFF, BFI London, IDFA) about legendary American choreographer Merce Cunningham, has been released theatrically and distributed in 35 countries. It is the very first independent documentary in 3D by a woman director.
For over 30 years, Sibyl Santiago (Moderator) has been involved in film, television and stage production in the US and Asia, working with major studios such as Regal Films, Star Cinema and ABS-CBN Global. As President of Sitting Cat Productions, Sibyl has had several films released including the film Sam with Executive Producer Mel Brooks. She is an active member of NYWIFT and the Producers Guild of America where she is Co-Lead of the AAPI Working Group as part of the One Guild Initiative. She also remains an active member of SAG-AFTRA and has appeared in several film, stage, television, and Off-Broadway productions in New York City. Sibyl is a recipient of The Outstanding Filipino Americans in NY — Arts & Culture Award at Carnegie Hall. She is in development on a few projects and working on the release of the documentary Nomad Cowboys, where she received the p.g.a. mark. Sibyl serves her 12th year as the Executive Director & Head of Programming for the SOHO International Film Festival.
Join the conversation on social media:
#nywift | @nywift
NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
