FILM COMPETITION JURORS
U.S. DRAMATIC FEATURES COMPETITION
CRAIG CHESTER
A pioneering actor in Queer Cinema, Craig Chester scored an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role in the drama SWOON and has appeared in many Outfest favorites including GRIEF, FRISK, I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, and KISS ME, GUIDO. Chester has appeared as an actor on TV in “Sex and the City,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and in the ABC movie OUT OF DARKNESS with Diana Ross. Chester's memoir, Why the Long Face? The Adventures of a Truly Independent Actor, was published by St. Martin's Press in January 2003. The feature film ADAM & STEVE, which he wrote and starred in, marked his directorial debut.
MIA RIVERTON
Actress-writer-producer Mia Riverton most recently produced and costarred in the critically-acclaimed film RED DOORS, which will be theatrically released in September 2006. RED DOORS won Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival, a Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting at CineVegas, and the Audience Award and Grand Jury Award for Screenwriting at Outfest 2005. Other feature film acting credits include THE LAST RACE, RECOIL and CEO, by renowned Chinese director Wu Tian-Ming. Recent TV appearances include “One on One” and “Strong Medicine”; recent stage work includes “Voices We Remember” at the Geffen Playhouse and the Ovation Award-winning musical “bare.”
ERNEST HARDY
Ernest Hardy writes about film and music from his home base of Los Angeles. His criticism has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vibe, the LA Weekly, the LA Times, the reference book 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, the hip-hop anthology, Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide and Tupac: A Thug Life, among others. A Sundance Fellow, he’s sat as a juror for the Sundance Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and Los Angeles Outfest. He’s also co-programmed Fusion, the Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival. Blood Beats Vol. 1: Demos, Remixes & Extended Versions, a collection of his criticism, was published by Redbone Press in May 2006.
INTERNATIONAL DRAMATIC FEATURES COMPETITION
MATTHEW FOX
Matthew Fox is a filmmaker, a blogger and the director of the Outsiders Film Festival in Liverpool, UK. His short film, LUCKY BUGGER, and two other short films he wrote, SPACEBOY and THE P-P-P-PICK UP, have screened at Outfest and he has twice served on the Teddy Award jury at the Berlin International Film Festival. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, Matt has worked in the theatre, taught screenwriting and written a book with Aaron Hicklin, the new editor of Out magazine. Matt is 36, single and blogs weekly at www.outsidersfilmfestival.com.
ROBERT HAWK
Robert Hawk has had his own business - ICI (Independent Consultation for Independents) - for 13 years, and been on the independent film scene for 23 years. He has served on many festival juries, including the Teddy Award jury (Berlin 2002), and is on the advisory board of Outfest's Legacy Project. Producing credits: TRICK, SLAUGHTER RULE, CHASING AMY and BALLETS RUSSES. His hundreds of consulting credits include: URBANIA, TRANSAMERICA, THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK, THE LARAMIE PROJECT, GAY SEX IN THE '70s, EDGE OF SEVENTEEN, THE DEEP END, COMMON THREADS, THE CELLULOID CLOSET, BIG EDEN and ANOTHER GAY MOVIE. www.filmhawk.com
DORIS YEUNG
Doris Yeung was born in 1977 in San Francisco, and raised in Hong Kong, SAR and California. She has written and directed films in China, Europe and the US and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and the Beijing Film Academy with degrees in Art History and Directing. She is also a working film curator, and has curated films for various film festivals and exhibitions around the world. She has resided in Amsterdam since 2002 and is currently the head programmer and director of the Cinemasia Film Festival Amsterdam.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES COMPETITION
SHANNON KELLEY
Shannon Kelley is Associate Director of the Documentary Film Program of the Sundance Institute. He is the former Director of Programming of Outfest, and of the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico. He has served as a panelist at festivals including the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, South By Southwest, and LA Shorts Festival, and a juror at NewFest, Cinematexas, the Worldwide Short Film Festival (Toronto) Vidarte (Mexico City), the Huesca International Film Festival (Spain), and of the PlanetOut Queer Short Movie Awards. He recently curated the web-based presentation "Visions of LA in the Age of AIDS" for KCET Radio’s Website (www.kcet.org). His film criticism appears in The Advocate.
JENNIFER MORRIS
Jennifer Morris is the Director of Programming for Frameline, the producers of the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival and the monthly screenings series Frameline at The Center. She started out at as a volunteer at Frameline serving champagne on opening night in 1988. Jennifer has programmed the festival for the last 11 years and also manages the Frameline Film & Video Completion Fund that will award $40,000 in grants to LGBT filmmakers in 2006. She helped to create and manage the Wells Fargo/Frameline Youth Filmmaker Workshop and the new Generations Film Workshop: Youth and Elders Making Movies Together.
J. KAREN THOMAS
Originally from Nashville, actress/singer-songwriter J. Karen Thomas has guest starred in over 20 TV shows including Criminal Minds, Crossing Jordan, NYPD Blue, Ally McBeal and Ellen. She appears in two shorts at Outfest this year, SARANG SONG (directed by Tamika Miller) and PROM-TROVERSY (directed by Leanna Creel), also currently airing on LOGO. In 2007 Thomas will appear in two features: ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE, directed by Jamie Babbit, and ON THE LOW, directed by Luther M. Mace. J. Karen and life partner Colette Divine also appear in Chris Paine’s documentary, WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?, which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. www.jkarenthomas.com.
