"Eggspert" Advisors

 

Josyln Barnes, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, L’Ouverture Films

A veteran screen-writer and producer, Josyln comes to the film industry with a deep experience in international development including food security, trade and the impact of electronic communications. She’s the author or co-author of 12 commissioned screenplays including the epic Tousssaint and the award-winning film Bàttu, directed by Cheikh Oumar Sissoko (Mali), which she also associate produced with British Screen and EMET Films. Since co founding Louverture Films with actor Danny Glover, she’s executive produced the award-winning feature Bamako, the music documentary Africa Unite and the Sundance Award Winning Trouble the Water.

Michelle Byrd, President, Run It By Byrd Inc

Michelle Byrd is a veteran media executive. She is currently Co-President of Games for Change, a community of those who support and make social impact games. Digital games are widely used and played to address pressing issues, producing sustainable and positive impact on our society. Games for Change brings together organizations and individuals from the social impact sector, government, media, academia, the gaming industry and the arts to grow the field, incubate new projects and provide an open platform for the exchange of ideas and resources. As Co-President, Michelle leads on institutional relationship and partnership efforts, along with fundraising, business affairs, financial management, and communications strategy. She co-leads on the strategic vision of the organization and oversight of all programmatic initiatives. Prior to joining Games for Change in summer 2010, Michelle served for 12 years as the Executive Director of the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers in the US.

Rachel Chanoff, Founder and Director of The Office: performing arts + film

Rachel’s been working in performing arts and film for 25 years. Currently she’s the curator of performing arts and film for MASSMoCA, director of programming at the ’62 Center for Theater and Dance at Williams College, chairman of the New York Jewish Film Festival selection committee, consultant to the Feature Film Program for the Sundance Institute, curator of Family Programs at Symphony Space and artistic director for 92YTribeca and Celebrate Brooklyn!, New York’s longest running free outdoor performing arts and film festival. She is a founding member of the Working Films board.

Heidi Cullen, Director of Communications, Senior Research Scientist and head of Princeton’s think-tank Climate Central

Dr. Heidi Cullen is a senior research scientist with Climate Central, a research and communications organization headquartered in Princeton, NJ. Climate Central is non-profit, non-partisan network of scientists and journalists dedicated to educating the public about the science and solutions to global warming. Dr. Cullen currently provides reports on climate for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and ABC News. Before joining Climate Central, Dr. Cullen helped create Forecast Earth on The Weather Channel, the first weekly television series to focus on issues related to climate change and the environment. Dr. Cullen worked as a research scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO. She received a bachelor's degree in engineering/operations research from Columbia University and went on to receive a doctorate in climatology and ocean-atmosphere dynamics at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.

Lisa Heller, Vice President of Documentary Programming at HBO

Lisa develops, programs and promotes HBO and Cinemax documentaries. She has served as programming executive on various award-winning films including: The Black List, The Gates, Thin, 51 Birch Street, Born into Brothels, King Gimp, Baghdad High, Capturing the Friedmans, My Flesh and Blood, Unchained Memories: Readings From the Slave Narratives, The Journalist and The Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl. Prior to joining HBO, she worked as executive producer on the critically acclaimed PBS series P.O.V., where she was responsible for programming as well as broadcast-related initiatives designed to expand the role of independent documentaries in public life.

Scott Kirsner, Founder & Editor of the blog “Cinematech”

Scott Kirsner spends his days and nights studying and translating the ways in which new technologies are changing the entertainment industry. Author of “The Future of Web Video: New Opportunities for Producers, Entrepreneurs, Media Companies and Advertisers,” published in 2006 and updated by popular demand, Scott also writes a monthly “Entertainment 2.0”column for the Boston Globe. His writing on New Tech has also appeared in The New York Times, Variety, Wired, Fast Company, Hollywood Reporter, Salon, San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle and Newsweek.

Cara Mertes, Director of the Documentary Film Program at the Sundance Institute

Cara Mertes is Director, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, overseeing the activities of the Documentary Film Program and Fund, including granting between $1 and $2 million per year to independent documentarians globally, directing three Creative Documentary Labs at Sundance Resort, supporting documentary programming and panels at the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance Creative Producers Summit, curating work-in-progress screenings with partnering museums and festivals and other initiatives of the DFP. She has inaugurated several creative partnerships, including STORIES OF CHANGE: Social Entrepreneurship in Focus Through Documentary, a $3 million, 3 year partnership between the DFP and the Skoll Foundation which has funded 10 films on social entrepreneurs meeting today’s global challenges. The Good Pitch is a partenrship between the DFP and the UK Channel Four Foundation. The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture has partnered to support Arab documentary filmmakers working in the Middle East. The DFP also launched DocSource at www.sundance.org/docsource, a website connecting independent documentary filmmakers and human rights stakeholders worldwide. She is also a key programmatic strategist for Sundance Institute.

Mertes was previously Executive Director of American Documentary, Inc. and Executive Producer of P.O.V., PBS’ acclaimed independent documentary showcase from 1999-2006, where she was recognized with eight Emmy Awards, three George Foster Peabody awards, two duPont-Columbia Awards and three Academy Award nominations, most recently as Executive Producer for NERAKOON: BETRAYAL. Mertes is Executive Producer of over a dozen independent documentaries, including STREET FIGHT; MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY; BOYS OF BARAKA; and TWO TOWNS OF JASPER. She is a graduate of Vassar College, BA, and Hunter College, MA. A long-time New Yorker, she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

Marni Rosen, Executive Director, Jennifer Altman (JAF)

The Jennifer Altman Foundation is a small private foundation focused on environmental health and justice and mind-body health work. Through her work with JAF, Marni also directs the Barbara Smith Fund, the Bet Lev Foundation and the Environmental Health programs of the Upstream Fund and the StarFire Fund. In addition, she advises the Marisla Foundation on their Global South grantmaking in environmental health and justice. Prior to joining the foundations in 1999, Marni was the Associate Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Network (California) and lived in Kenya for three years where she served as NGO Liaison for a major United Nations conference, the City Summit. Marni has served on the Boards of a number of grantmaker affinity groups and non-profit organizations, and currently serves as Co-chair of the Health and Environmental Funders Network.

Alyce Myatt, Director of Media Arts, National Endowment for the Arts.

Alyce Myatt is the Director of Media Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts. She previously served as the founding executive director of Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media after working as a consultant to independent media organizations and the philanthropic community. As a consultant her clients included the Center for Digital Democracy, the Council on Foundations, Free Speech TV, the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, Emerson College, TVE Brasil, the Heinz Endowments, and the Annie E. Casey and Skillman Foundations. Prior to her return to consulting, she was vice president of programming for PBS and was a program officer for media at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Over the years she has provided program development, production and planning services to a variety of clients in television, radio, and digital media. Her production credits include the Smithsonian Institution, Nickelodeon, and the ABC News magazine, "20/20."

Lourdes Portillo, Independent director/producer/writer

Mexico-born and Chicana identified, Lourdes is a veteran independent filmmaker whose award-winning body of work strives to broaden the spectrum of Latino and Chicano representation. With themes ranging from state repression to AIDS, Portillo’s films include: Despues del Terremoto, the Oscar-nominated Las Madres: The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead, The Devil Never Sleeps, Corpus: A Home Movie for Selena and Señorita Extraviada. She’s currently in production on a narrative feature about a modern day Don Quixote: a woman filmmaker who loses her way in her quest to make the perfect film. A recipient of a 2008 U.S. Artists Fellowship, Lourdes teaches filmmaking in the Northern California UC system.

Thuy Tran, Program Officer, United States Artists

Thuy Tran is the program officer for United States Artists, a grantmaking organization dedicated to supporting America’s finest living artists working in a diverse array of disciplines. Thuy manages the nomination and selection process for the USA Fellowship program in which each year 50 different artists are awarded an unrestricted grant of $50,000. Prior to joining USA she worked at the LA County Art Museum and was a national advance and political campaign consultant for Vice President Al Gore.