Bull
Producing Fellow and Silverman Honoree: Monique Walton
In a near-abandoned subdivision west of Houston, a wayward teen runs headlong into her equally willful and unforgiving neighbor, an
aging bullfighter who’s seen his best days in the arena; it’s a collision that will change them both.
(Co-writer/director Annie Silverstein, co-writer Johnny McAllister)

Monique Walton produced the short film“Skunk” (written & directed by Annie Silverstein), which
screened at festivals worldwide and won the top prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival – Cinéfondation. She received a BA from Yale
and an MFA in Film from University of Texas at Austin, where she is a youth mentor with the Black Media Council. Her work includes
web videos for Nickelodeon,
The Fit Cycle web series, and short documentaries for Doing Innovation, a Macarthur Foundation
funded project. She recently co-produced Jesse Klein’s upcoming feature
We’re Still Together, which will
premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Dey’Dey and His Brothers
Producing Fellow: Lisa Kjerulff
When a young man violates parole and begins trafficking guns into the neighborhood, the beautiful, fragile life of one family is
rocked, and their youngest son Da’Sean has to balance his dreams of being a dancer against the realities of living amidst
violence. (Writer/director Nick Bentgen)

Lisa Kjerulff is producer and co-writer for Anna Rose Holmer’s feature narrative The Fits (Venice
Biennale, Sundance, New Directors/New Films). Her producing credits include Zachary Shedd’s
Americana (Seattle,
Fantasia Fest) and the critically-acclaimed verité documentary
Northern Light (True/False, Visions du Reel, Hot Docs). In
addition to working as an independent film producer, Lisa has worked extensively in commercials and music videos.

Leche
Producing Fellows: Marttise Hill and Julius Pryor IV
Nina, a 9-year-old Dominican with albinism, dreams of blending in amongst her peers until a series of miraculous events put her in
the spotlight and make her the target of a jealous classmate’s witch hunt. (Writer/director Gabriella Moses)

Julius Pryor IV and Marttise Hill are filmmakers based in New York City, in the uptown
neighborhood of Hamilton Heights. As producers, they have had two films premiere at the Sundance Film Festival: Tahir
Jetter’s debut feature,
How to Tell You’re a Douchebag (2016), and Michael Larnell’s debut
feature,
Cronies (2015), executive produced by their mentor, Spike Lee. Marttise and Julius met as undergraduates
at Morehouse College, and subsequently attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where each earned an MFA in Film Production. Through
Pryor Hill Productions, a media collective co-founded by the filmmakers six years ago, Marttise and Julius develop and produce a
wide spectrum of projects across a diverse platform with an array of unique collaborators.

Monsters and Men
Producing Fellow: Elizabeth Lodge
After capturing an illegal act of police violence on his cellphone, a Brooklyn street hustler sets off a series of events that
alter the lives of a local police officer and a star high school athlete. (Writer/director Reinaldo Marcus Green)

Elizabeth Lodge is an Austin-based producer with the Department of Motion Pictures, (sibling company of the New
Orleans-based Court 13 Arts). Prior to joining the Department, Elizabeth co-produced two of Terrence Malick’s feature films:
Knight Of Cups and the forthcoming Weightless. She also co-produced A.J Edwards’ directorial debut The Better
Angels
, which premiered at Sundance in 2013. Currently, Elizabeth is producing two documentaries: Brimstone &
Glory
, an experiential film about a fireworks festival in Tultepec, Mexico; and a profile chronicling Olympic gold-medalist
Kerri Walsh Jennings during the year ahead of her 2016 Rio Olympic bid. Elizabeth began her career in investment banking before
transitioning into film.

Stupid Happy
Producing Fellow: Mallory Schwartz
In this dark comedy, sisters Jackie and Rachel Gurner are forced to reevaluate themselves, their co-dependent relationship, and for
Jackie, her own role as a mom, upon finding out their presumably deceased mother is alive and starring on a soap opera 20 years
after abandoning them. (Co-writer/director Hannah Pearl Utt and co-writer Jen Tullock)

Mallory Schwartz is the Director of Development for El Dorado Pictures where she works closely alongside Universal
Television. Among a number of projects, she currently produces the web and television series,
Alec Baldwin’s Love Ride for
TruTV, and most recently, served as Executive Producer for both ABC’s summer reboot of
Match Game and the upcoming
romantic drama,
Blind, starring Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin. Independently, Mallory has produced numerous award-winning
short films that have screened at film festivals internationally, and prior to her work with El Dorado, she spent time sharpening
her production and producorial skills at
Saturday Night Live and Broadway Video. Mallory Schwartz has her BFA from NYU
Tisch School of the Arts in Film and Television Production and a double minor in Producing and Business of Entertainment Media
Technology through the Stern School of Business.

Share
Producing Fellow: Tyler Byrne
In this cyber thriller, a disturbing video leaked from a local high school throws a Long Island community into chaos and the
national spotlight as they try to unravel the story behind it. (Writer/director Pippa Bianco)

Tyler Byrne is a New York-based producer, raised across the bridge in northern New Jersey. In 2015 he produced
Pippa Bianco’s short film “Share,” winner of Cinéfondation’s First Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Special
Jury Prize for Narrative Shorts at SXSW and an official selection of the Telluride Film Festival. He co-produced Jeremy
Saulnier’s
Blue Ruin, winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and an official selection of
Sundance, TIFF and more. Tyler has also produced Conor Byrne’s short films “Foureyes” and “Porzingod,” the
latter of which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, as well as Byrne’s commercial work, which has won multiple Cannes
Lions and garnered international acclaim. He’s producing Byrne’s upcoming feature
Oldcorn, based on a short story by Sam
Lipsyte. Tyler has a BA in Film Studies and Government from Wesleyan University.

Hot Clip
Producing Fellow: Vincent Reyna
A week after their best friend’s fatal confrontation with a cop, three Southeast Los Angeles skaters spend 24 hours chasing
dreams, making trouble, and trying to survive in a community on the verge of exploding. (Writer/director César Cervantes)

Vincent Reyna is a filmmaker from Bell, California. After completing the Inner-City Filmmakers program in Los
Angeles he went on to pursue a B.A in Film and Media studies with a minor in Philosophy at the University of California Santa
Barbara. Throughout college he was a leader within the student production sphere and held numerous positions on a handful of short
narratives and documentaries. In 2014 he shot a period piece titled
Washita, an official selection of the 24th Annual Reel
Loud Film Festival: the film condemns brutality against Native Americans, and was fully supported by the Caddo Nation of Binger
Oklahoma for its preservation and utilization of authentic Caddo actors, tools, makeup and costume, and original music. Vincent is
currently in the early stages of preproduction working as lead actor and producer for his first independent feature film
Hot
Clip
, written and to be directed by César Cervantes.

For Ahkeem
Producing Fellow: Iyabo Boyd
For Ahkeem follows Daje Shelton, a 17-year-old Black girl from North St. Louis, as she strives to graduate from the
nation’s only court-supervised public high school. Daje fights for her future as close friends are killed, her
sixteen-year-old boyfriend is pulled into the prison system, and nearby Ferguson erupts after the police shooting of Michael Brown.
Through Daje’s intimate first-person account,
For Ahkeem explores the complex web between juvenile justice,
education, and race in America today. (Co-directors Landon Van Soest & Jeremy Levine)

Iyabo Boyd is a Brooklyn-based independent film producer, writer/director, and entrepreneur. She’s
previously held positions at Chicken & Egg Pictures, Tribeca Film Institute, Hamptons Film Festival, IFP, and has served on
juries for DOC NYC, the IDA Awards, and Cinema Eye Honors. She produced the fiction feature
Sun Belt Express which
premiered in Paris at the Champs-Elysée Film Festival in 2014. In 2015, Iyabo founded Feedback Loop, a documentary consulting
organization, and started Brown Girls Doc Mafia, a collective of women filmmakers of color working in documentary. Iyabo graduated
from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a BA in Film & Television in 2006, and is a 2016 Impact Partners Creative Producing
Fellow.

The Industrial Musicals Movie

Producing Fellow: Amanda Spain
This is the story of one of Capitalism’s strangest creations and the comedy writer obsessed with rescuing this hidden world from
obscurity. (Director Dava Whisenant)

Amanda Spain brings over 15 years of creative producing experience with her to the The Industrial Musicals
Movie
, executive produced by David Letterman. She recently produced and directed two documentaries for ESPN: a ”30 for
30” short called
Wrestling the Curse and another short for their Versus series about basketball star Manute Bol,
entitled
Son of South Sudan. She is also producing the feature-length documentary A Secret Legacy, which explores
the consequences of the CIA-led war in the Congo. In 2013 Amanda started Giving Voice Films, a company dedicated to producing
compelling documentaries for both the large and small screen.

13th & Locust
Producing Fellow: Leah Natasha Thomas
13th & Locust is an intimate and in-depth multi-part series that will shed new light on the most contested and
divisive death row case in modern American history, the trial of Mumia Abu Jamal. (Director Ted Passon)

Leah Natasha Thomas started her career at Revolution Studios and served as the former Director of Industry
Relations for Ghetto Film School. She recently produced
25 To Life, winner of the CNN Grand Jury Prize at American Black
Film Festival 2014 (Netflix), and
3 1/2 Minutes, winner of the Special Jury Award for Social Impact, Sundance 2015
(Participant Media, HBO). She is currently producing
America Divided, a four-part documentary series focused on inequality
in America, executive produced by Norman Lear, Common, and Shonda Rhimes. She is the 2016 recipient of the NYU – Critical
Collaboration Fellowship. She holds a BFA in Drama and Politics and an MA in Art and Public Policy from NYU Tisch School of the
Arts.

Charm City
Producing Fellow: Danielle Varga
As Baltimore and the nation struggle to come to terms with the bitter legacy between the police and the community,
Charm City will go behind the scenes as citizens and police officers reckon with one another. At a moment
that is fraught with increased violence, pervasive fear, and a deepening divide,
Charm City will take viewers beyond the
television news to explore what has become so chronically broken between police and communities.(Director Marilyn Ness)

Danielle Varga is a documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. She most recently co-produced Kirsten Johnson’s
feature
Cameraperson, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016. She was an associate producer on Johanna
Hamilton’s
1971 and archival producer on Matt Wolf’s Teenage, both of which premiered at the Tribeca
Film Festival. She has worked on a number of independent feature documentaries, as well as films for PBS’s American
Experience and Frontline series.