2012 FEATURES JURY

SUNIL PERKASH is an independent producer whose credits include Disney's smash hit ENCHANTED (executive producer), which grossed $340 million worldwide; the supernatural thriller PREMONITION (producer), starring Sandra Bullock and Julian McMahon, for Tri-Star Pictures; and the New Line Cinema romantic comedy BLAST FROM THE PAST (executive producer), starring Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone. He most recently produced the blockbuster SALT starring Angelina Jolie, which grossed $300 million worldwide. Perkash is currently developing a sequel to SALT at Columbia Pictures, as well as TIMELESS at Relativity Media with Phillip Noyce set to direct and Liam Hemsworth to star.

GARY SHAPIRO - Over the course of his career, which spans over four decades, Gary Shapiro held various executive marketing and distribution roles at Columbia Pictures, MGM, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Beacon Pictures. He initially specialized in the United States and Canada and later managing the marketing of major Hollywood studio films and independent films worldwide. Several years ago, Shapiro began consulting with various film and entertainment industry firms. He has been a U.S. special consultant to one of Europe's most important publishing and media companies, Axel Springer AG of Germany, working on The Golden Camera Awards for the last three years. Shapiro has been a contributing lecturer at The Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood and is a longtime member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on The Foreign Language Film Selection Committee.

JONATHAN REIMAN heads production and development for YRF Entertainment, the US production company founded and owned by Yash Raj Films, India's most prolific and iconic studio. YRF Entertainment's CEO, Uday Chopra, started the LA-based company in November to develop, produce, and finance films for the American and global market. The company launched by producing THE LONGEST WEEK, starring Jason Bateman and Olivia Wilde. Previous to YRF Entertainment, Reiman served as Director of Development at RKO Pictures. He began his career working at Michael Eisner's Tornante Company and then went on to Management 360 followed by the Mark Gordon Company. Reiman graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Visual & Environmental Studies.

2012 SHORTS JURY

HANNAH SIMONE currently stars on FOX's hit series, "New Girl", opposite Zooey Deschanel. Simone hosted HGTV Canada's popular design show "Space for Living" before moving onto Canada's largest music channel, MuchMusic. After MuchMusic, Simone moved to Los Angeles where she hosted two seasons of "WCG: Ultimate Gamer" for the SyFy channel. Simone recently completed production on "H+", the second Warner Premiere Digital Web series made in conjunction with Dolphin Entertainment and produced by Bryan Singer. Born in London, Simone grew up living abroad and participating in local theater productions in Saudi Arabia, India, Greece and Canada. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, she majored in International Relations and Political Science before going on to work as a human rights and refugee officer with the United Nations in London.

IQBAL THEBA currently stars as Principal Figgins on FOX's hit series, "Glee." Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Theba first studied civil engineering and then went back to college and majored in acting. After a short stint in New York, Theba moved to Los Angeles in 1991 to pursue his acting career. He was the first South Asian to have appeared in dozens of mainstream national commercials in the 90s such as McDonald's, AT&T, American Express and Tostitos Chips. Theba has appeared in recurring roles on "ER" and "Married...with Children" and also guest starred in such TV series as "Arrested Development," "Friends," "The West Wing," "Seinfeld," "Weeds," and "Nip/Tuck," to name a few.

NICHOLAS BRUCKMAN is a New York-based commercial and independent film producer. He produced the feature film VALEY OF SAINTS, which won the World Dramatic Audience Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Bruckman directed and produced the feature documentary, LA AMERICANA, which won Best Documentary at the New York and Los Angeles Latino Film Festivals, broadcast worldwide on networks including National Geographic and Al Jazeera, and was used nationwide in U.S. immigration reform advocacy. His work has been supported by numerous foundations including NYSCA, Cinereach, the Fledgling Fund, National Geographic and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. In 2010, he was a Film Fellow of the New York Foundation for the Arts.

2012 DOUMENTARY JURY

KRISTIN FEELEY is Associate Director of the Documentary Film Program at Sundance Institute. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College, Feeley spent two formative years researching the U.S. welfare system at a reputable public policy research firm in New York City. This experience led to an extended stay in the birthplace of socialism, Glasgow, Scotland. There she received a Masters of Philosophy in Media Studies focusing on early American documentary film. Since then she has worked at several international film festivals and arts non-profits before moving to Los Angeles to work for the Sundance Documentary Film Program.

DAVID MAGDAEL is founder and president of David Magdael & Associates, Inc whose client roster includes numerous Academy Award® winning and nominated films, winners and standouts from Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and South by Southwest, as well as studio projects and television broadcast films for Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal, Sony/Columbia, HBO, Fox Searchlight, Focus Features among many others. Recent film projects include: IF A TREE FALLS; BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER'S JOURNEY; THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975; ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN; JOSÉ é PILAR; POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD; WASTELAND; and THE INTERRUPTERS. With expertise in Asian American and Asian media, marketing and publicity, Magdael is also the co-director for the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and has served on the Advisory Board for the Film Independent Los Angeles Film Festival.

KATHERINE FAIRFAX WRIGHT is the co-director, editor, and cinematographer of the feature-length documentary CALL ME KUCHU (2012), which tells the story of the last year in the life of the first openly gay man in Uganda. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award for Best Documentary as well as the Cinema Fairbindet prize, and took second place in the Audience Award. Wright produced GABI ON THE ROOF IN JULY (2010), which premiered at Cinequest, and won Best Narrative Feature and Best Actress at the Brooklyn Film Festival. Weaned on a school of vérité filmmakers, Wright has worked closely with Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Nelson Walker III, and Fellipe Barbosa. She is a 2012 Chaz & Roger Ebert Directing Fellow, and an alumnus of the Film Independent Documentary Lab and the Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.