Directors Ross Kauffman and Alejandro Brugués Join Award-Winning Industry Creatives on the Jury List for 2014 Miami International Film Festival, a Program of Miami Dade College’s MDCulture

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

• Enrique López Lavigne, Producer, Apaches Entertainment (Spain): After ten years working as executive producer for Sogecine, Koan Films, and his own production company, Apache Films, Lavigne joined Belén Atienza in 2008 to found Apaches Entertainment. The company has produced eight feature films – Verbo by Eduardo Chapero Jackson, Intruders by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Extraterrestrial by Nacho Vigalondo, The Impossible by JA Bayona, The End (Fin) by Jorge Torregrosa (MIFF 2013), People in Places by Juan Cavestany, and most recently, Three Many Weddings by Javier Ruiz Caldera and Open Windows by Nacho Vigalondo, both featured in this year’s Miami International Film Festival.

• Agustina Chiarino, Producer, Control Z Films (Uruguay): Chiarino was born in Montevideo in 1977. She spent time in Mexico and Barcelona before returning to Uruguay in 2007 and joining Control Z Films, where she produced the feature film Giant, directed by Adrián Biniez (Silver Bear, Alfred Bauer, and Best Opera Prima Awards at the 2009 Berlinale), Hiroshima (a 2009 Toronto IFF Premiere), and 3 (Quinzaine des Realizateurs Premiere, Cannes 2012), directed by Pablo Stoll, and Tanta Agua (Berlinale Panorama, MIFF Knight Ibero-American Competition Grand Jury Prize and MIFF Jordan A. Ressler Screenplay Award, 2013), directed by Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge. In 2011, she formed Mutante Cine along with Fernando Epstein, with the intention of continuing to produce and distribute narrative and documentary feature films in Uruguay. Mutante Cine has hosted events such as the Puentes workshop for executive producers associated with EAVE and financed by MEDIA (2012 and 2013).

• Alejandro Brugués, Director (Cuba): Brugués was born in Buenos Aires and is of Cuban descent. He graduated from Cuba’s International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños. His feature film directorial debut was Personal Belongings (MIFF, 2008). His latest film, the Cuban zombie comedy Juan of the Dead (MIFF 2012), is the recipient of 18 awards in film festivals all over the world, including Spain’s Goya Award as Best Iberoamerican Feature in 2013. He is one of the 26 directors taking part in the horror anthology The ABC’s of Death Part 2 to be released later this year.

• Ross Kaufman, Filmmaker, Red Light Films (USA): Kauffman is the director, producer, cinematographer and co-editor of Born Into Brothels, winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Other projects include the award-winning feature documentary In a Dream(Executive Producer) and the Academy Award nominated Postergirl (Consulting Producer). In 2001 Kauffman formed Red Light Films, a New York based Production Company specializing in narrative and documentary films. His latest film E-Team (with co-director Katy Chevigny), a documentary feature about three intrepid human rights workers, debuted at Sundance Film Festival 2014 and took home the Best Cinematography Award for a U.S. Documentary Feature. Projects in development include Boy Boy Girl Girl, a comedic narrative feature film about a gay couple trying to adopt a newborn baby from a drug-addicted pregnant woman and her abusive girlfriend.

• Adriana Bosch, Filmmaker (USA) : Bosch was born in Cuba. She served as series producer of Latino Americans, a six-part series on the history of Latinos in the United States, which she co-produced with WETA/Washington D.C. and aired recently to critical acclaim. Her other credits include writing and directing “The Great Fever,” a film on Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay, as well as the critically acclaimed two-hour special, Fidel Castro (2005), aired on PBS’s “American Experience.” Also for “American Experience” she made “Jimmy Carter”, a three-hour documentary biography, and served as series editor and writer/producer for American Experience’s presidential biographies “Reagan” (1998) and “Ike” (1993). She has been honored with a Hugo Award, a Christopher Award, a Peabody Award, an Erik Barnouw Award, and an Emmy Award, and has been nominated for three Writer’s Guild Awards. Bosch holds a PhD in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

• Laura Kim, Founder, Inside Job: Kim’s company Inside Job provides marketing and public relations services and distribution consultation for motion pictures during production, at festivals, and for theatrical and awards campaigns. Kim is currently working on Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing, the award-winning Gloria, directed by Sebastián Lelio, and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida. Recent campaigns include Academy Award nominated films Albert Nobbs, Margin Call, Restrepo, Winter’s Bone and the Academy Award-winner for Best Documentary, Undefeated. In 2010, Kim and Paul Federbush co-founded Red Flag Releasing and have released a number of films. From 2003-2008, Kim was EVP of Marketing for Warner Independent Pictures, marketing a number of highly successful films, and prior to that was at MPRM Public Relations. Kim is a consultant for Sundance Institute, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and serves on the Board of Directors for Film Independent (FIND). Kim co-wrote “I Wake Up Screening: What to Do Once You’ve Made that Movie” with noted film critic John Anderson, which was released by Billboard Books.

• Jessica Huppert Berman, Independent Feature Producer and Head of Newstead Films: Berman studied film at Brown University and is an independent feature producer in the U.S. and Spain. She worked in the development and production of Mira Nair’s The Perez Family and Monsoon Wedding, Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley and Gus Van Sant’s Finding Forrester, among others. She has produced many of Fernando Trueba’s films, including the Latin jazz documentary Calle 54 (MIFF 2001) and The Dancer and the Thief, which was chosen as the Spanish submission to the Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2009. As David Trueba’s production partner, she has produced Soldados de Salamina (Cannes, Un Certain Regard), the Canal+ series “What Ever Happened to Jorge Sanz?” and Madrid,1987 (Sundance World Dramatic Competition and MIFF 2012). She currently heads Newstead Films.

• Dana Keith, Founder & Director of the Miami Beach Film Society (MBFS) and Cinematheque (MBC): Keith has a B.A. in Cinema Studies and a B.F.A. from UC Santa Barbara, combining his interests in cinema with art. He worked in the art department at Paramount Studios for Production Designer Robert Boyle (designer of Hitchcock’s The Birds and Marnie). His film exhibition background includes management of the Arlington Center in Santa Barbara, and theatres in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. He then lived in Europe for a decade (1982-92), working as a photographer and model/actor while independently researching and consulting. Since moving to Miami in 1993, Mr. Keith has been a consultant in film programming and exhibition at The Wolfsonian and Bass Museums. He has been named one of the “50 Most Influential People in South Florida,” one of the “Power Players Moving Florida Forward,” and recently the recipient of the Golden Orange Award, given by the Florida Film Critics Circle for “outstanding contribution to film…for tireless championing of foreign, independent, and alternative film in South Florida for over twenty years.”

• Lisa Gottlieb, Associate Professor in the Motion Pictures Program in the Department of Cinema & Interactive Media, University of Miami: Gottlieb has directed three award-winning feature films: Just One of the Guys, Cadillac Ranch and Across the Moon, as well as a number of cable and network TV episodes. While a student, Lisa wrote, produced and directed the multi-award winning short film, “Murder in a Mist”. Her most recent work includes three award-winning web series and the micro budget feature comedy, Black Friday.

• Sandro Fiorin, Co-Founder, FiGa Films: Fiorin was born in Brazil. He founded FiGa Films in Los Angeles on January 2006 with partner, Cuban-American Alex Garcia, to discover and distribute Latin American content in North America, as well as represent them worldwide. Positions at the Film Forum, Universal, and First Look Films are part of his 18-year career in the industry. He is a Programming Associate for the Latin American Film Festival at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Artistic Director of the IndieBrazil Film Festival in Los Angeles.

• Silvia Iturbe, Managing Director, Latido Films: Iturbe started her career in Sogepaq, in the DVD/Video department. She then moved to El País as Product Manager, developing Marketing Promotions linked to audiovisual product. In 2006 she joined Latido Films as Managing Director, becoming responsible for the company’s development. She has been invited to many production and coproduction events as a specialist in international markets. Since 2011, she has been an invited teacher of international sales classes in the Master in Audiovisual Business Administration at Carlos III University in Madrid.

• Camille Neel, Head of International Sales, Le Pacte: Neel worked as a marketing executive and a television and international sales agent at BAC Films. In 2007, he was named head of BAC’s International Sales Department. In 2011, he joined Le Pacte as head of International Sales.

• Diana Salcedo, Acquisitions Manager, Moviecity/Fox International Channels Latam: Salcedo’s team at Moviecity/Fox International Channels Latam is responsible for the acquisitions of films for Moviecity’s six premium channels and FIC Latam’s four basic channels.

• Ryan Kampe, Founder, Visit Films: Kampe spent a number of years in International Distribution at Focus Features before founding Visit Films. With Visit Films, he has been responsible for the worldwide sales and development of a number of important American independent and international films that have premiered in festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, and Toronto from filmmakers as diverse as Harmony Korine, Werner Herzog, the Duplass Brothers, Valérie Donzelli, Joe Swanberg and David Robert Mitchell.

• Bernardo Britto
• Xiaoda Chen
• Ling Jiang
• Jesse Miller
• Wei Nie
• Wei Qi
• Julian Yuri Rodriguez
• Xiaokun Wu
• Xinxun Wu
• Han Zheng

• Diliana Alexander
• Rachel Bleemer
• Nicolas Calzada
• Tatyana Chiocchetti
• Luis F. Hernandez
• Ileana Orozo
• Jacqueline Proctor
• Kevin Sharpley
• Lisa Sloat

• Andres Castillo
• Trevor Lafargue
• Jaie Laplante
• Xavier Romani
• German Verdi

• Zoe Brown
• James Paul Duran
• Raychel Lean
• Anna M. Xigues

• Gustavo Andújar, Director of the Father Felix Varela Cultural Center: Andújar is the Director of the Father Felix Varela Cultural Center in Havana, the Director of the Cuban Catholic magazines Espacio Laical and Ecos and a member of the Commission for Communication of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is also a Vice President of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication, and Chairman of the SIGNIS Cinema Desk. He has served on SIGNIS and Ecumenical juries in international film festivals in Amiens, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Havana, Hong Kong, Mar del Plata, Venice, Washington DC and Zanzibar, among others.

• Jose Rodriguez, Professor, South East Pastoral Institute: Rodriguez earned his MD degree in Havana, specializing in Neurology. Later he obtained his MA in Pastoral Ministry for Hispanics from Barry University. Formerly a professor in the Catholic Seminary in Havana, he is currently a professor at the South East Pastoral Institute (SEPI) in Miami, FL, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses. With the Archdiocese of Havana he was a member of the founding editorial board of a leading Cuban Catholic magazine, the monthly Palabra Nueva, and also a video producer and writer with the Media Department of the Archdiocese. He collaborates with the Cuban Catholic magazine Ecos.

• Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, Founding Director, Whitehead International Film Festival: Suchocki is the founding director of the Whitehead International Film Festival held in Claremont, California, and now in its 14th year. A member of Interfilm and SIGNIS, she has served on film juries in Montreal, Berlin, and Washington D.C. Professor Emerita at Claremont School of Theology, she has published a number of books on theology, as well as a number of articles and reviews on film. Her first book on film is now finished, and it is being considered for publication.

Jessica Wade Pfeffer, Jessica Wade Inc., +1 305-804-8424, jessica@jessicawadeinc.com

Tere Estorino +1 305-237-3949, testorin@mdc.edu
Sue Arrowsmith, +1 305-237-3710, sue.arrowsmith@mdc.edu

Alejandro Rios, +1 305-237-7482, arios1@mdc.edu

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