2021 FIlmmaker workshops and panels
John gray | friday (10/1) at 1:00pm
Filmmakers Roundtable | Friday (10/1) at 3:00pm
Denis nielsen | Saturday (10/2) at 11:00Am
Carlos Carrasco | Saturday (10/2) at 1:00pm
Gedde WATANABE & Anna keizer | saturday (10/2) at 2pm
Biographies of our Guest Filmmakers
CARLOS CARRASCO | IN PERSON
Born in Panamá City, Panamá, Carlos has appeared as an actor on Broadway and Off Broadway in New York City, as well as appearing at many of the country's regional theaters. He appeared on Broadway in the Circle-In-The-Square's production of "The National Health” and has appeared at The Hartford Stage Co., Shakespeare & Co., Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, The Arizona Theatre Co., The Folger Theatre and The American Shakespeare Theatre. Off- Broadway he appeared with The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, INTAR, Theatre for a New Audience and The New York Shakespeare Festival.
Mr. Carrasco has co-starred in such feature films as "Speed," "Blood In...Blood Out," “Turnover,” “Parker,” ”One Man's Hero," "The Burning Season" and "The Fisher King." On television he has been a guest on many prime time series, including “Insecure,” “CSI,” "Star Trek: Deep Space 9," " ER,” "Seaquest," "Hunter," "The Equalizer" and the made for television movies "As Good As Dead" and "Have You Seen My Son?”.
Mr. Carrasco has been active in the non-profit sector, serving for six years as Executive Director of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors, serving for three years on the Theatre panel for the New York State Council on the Arts and currently producing a Latin American film festival, The Panamanian International Film Festival, now entering its seventh season.
As filmmaker, Mr. Carrasco has produced and directed five short films, from the documentary “Art Galleries and Back Alleys,” celebrating the East Los Angeles Artists Collaborative Self-Help Graphics to the more recent “One” and “Disarm” tackling the difficult issues of police and school shootings.
OCtober 2, 2021 - 1:00pm - courtyard marriott - meeting room
John Gray | VIRTUAL
John Gray is a New York based writer-director-producer. He created the long running hit CBS series GHOST WHISPERER, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, as well as writing and directing many award winning and critically acclaimed movies for television, such as MARTIN AND LEWIS, starring Sean Hayes and Jeremy Northam, the Emmy nominated A PLACE FOR ANNIE with Sissy Spacek, the Emmy nominated mini-series HAVEN with Natasha Richardson and Anne Bancroft, HELTER SKELTER with Bruno Kirby, and many others. He has directed dozens of episodes of series across the broadcast and cable spectrum, and was also the producing director of the CBS series RECKLESS. He has written and directed several studio and independent feature films, including the award winning WHITE IRISH DRINKERS, starring Stephen Lang and Karen Allen, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. His acclaimed short films have played and are playing in film festivals all over the world, including the Cannes Short Film Festival. His short film FRENCH KISS has notched 6.3 million views to date on YouTube.
Friday October 1, 2021 - 1:00pm - courtyard marriott - meeting room
Denis NIELSEN | VIRTUAL
Despite sharing his name with a Scottish serial killer from the 1980s (see Dennis Nilsen…), Denis Nielsen is a Brazilian screenwriter, graduated from ECA-USP with an MFA in feature film screenwriting by Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles, as a Fulbright Scholar, from 2010-2013.
He is the writer of feature films such as Netflix’s ‘Get the Goat!’ (2021) and Warner's ‘The Awakener’ (2019), as well as hit TV dramas “3 Percent" (Netflix, 2016-2020), ‘The Fare’ (AXN/Turner 2015), and animated shows Oswaldo and Haunted Tales (for Wicked Kids) (both for Cartoon Network, 2014-2017).
As head writer, Denis has worked on the final season of Netflix’s sci-fi distopia “3 Percent” (2020), as well as the second season of hit Netflix drama “Sintonia” (2021), and the eight-episode biopic of Brazil’s most infamous rockstar from the 1970s, “Raul Seixas: Walking Metamorphosis” (Globoplay, currently in development).
As a music lover and a documentary enthusiast, Denis has also written and directed feature music documentaries ‘Sailing Band’ (which premiered in cinemas in 2018), and ‘Hillbilly Symphony’ (2019), which has won him awards across (weird) film festivals in the U.S.
Currently, “Rensga Hits!”, a comedy created by Denis about the backstages of the ‘sertanejo music’ in Brazil is in development for Globoplay, while he also writes a new Netflix feature comedy, and creates alongside co-writer Pedro Aguilera (‘3%’, ‘Omniscient’) an original sci-fi show for Rian Johnson’s production company T-Street.
Just be careful when googling his name because, despite having done his best to surpass his nemesis’ fame, Denis Nielsen has only killed people in fiction (so far…)
OCtober 2, 2021 - 11:00Am - courtyard marriott - meeting room
Gedde WATANABE | VIRTUAL
Gedde Watanabe was born in Ogden, Utah and moved to San Francisco at the age of 18 to begin a career in music and theater. He lived in an artist commune called Project Artaud, earning his living as a street singer accompanying himself on guitar. Becoming serious about acting, Gedde enrolled at American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) and performed with several renowned theater companies such as Teatro de Campesino, The Bread and Puppet Theater, and The San Francisco Poverty Theater, where he became a company member.
He was discovered while singing on the streets of Chinatown and flown to New York where he was cast in Stephen Sondheim’s original Broadway production of “Pacific Overtures” directed by Harold Prince. He continued his theatrical work at The New York Shakespeare Festival under the legendary producer Joseph Papp, appearing in such productions as “Dispatches,” “Under Fire,” “The Music Lesson” and “Poor Little Lambs.” He also performed at La Mamma Theater and at The Brooklyn Academy where he was directed by Andrew Vajda in “Sansho the Bailiff” and by Emily Mann in “Oedipus.” He studied with Kristin Linklater and Peter Cass of The Working Theatre, Julie Reilly, and Geraldine Page. He directed productions of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Joan of Arc” and “Winterset” at The East Coast Ensemble. Appearing in over 30 plays, he also was a regular on “Sesame Street” for four years playing the artist Hiroshi.
It wasn’t until he began his movie career, however, that he received international attention. Starting with the hit film, “Sixteen Candles,” Gedde went on to make “Volunteers” with Tom Hanks and two films directed by Ron Howard: “Gung Ho” with Michael Keaton and “Ed TV” with Ellen DeGeneres. Other movies he appeared in include “Gremlins 2,” “Vamp,” “Slakers,” “Perfect Alibi,” “Boys on the Side,” “Nick and Jane,” “Booty Call,” “UHF,” “Mulan,” “Guinevere,” “Two for the Money” and “Alfie.” He has made numerous guest appearances on television shows such as “Grand,” “L.A. Law,” “Seinfeld,” “Newhart,” “Murphy Brown,” “Mad About You” and “Home Improvement.” Watanabe had his own series with “Gung Ho” and was a regular on “ER” and “Down Home” with Judy Ivy.
Now living in Los Angeles, Gedde is member of the resident company of East-West Players, the Asian-American theater group, recently starring in their productions of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and “Pippin.” He also teaches acting there. His production company, A Thousand Cranes, is dedicated to developing Asian-American stories for film and theater.
OCtober 2, 2021 - 2:00pm - courtyard marriott - meeting room
Anna Keizer | VIRTUal
Anna Keizer is a screenwriter and filmmaker who hails originally from the Chicago area. She received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts where she wrote her master’s thesis "Defining Archetypes: How the Teen Films of John Hughes Have Created the Adolescent Characterizations of Today." Anna has also completed a Professional Program Certificate in Writing for Television from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television.
Anna has received several notable honors for her screenwriting, including being an Academy Nicholl Fellowships Quarterfinalist, Austin Film Festival Script Competition Second Rounder, National Lampoon + Stage 32 "Search for Comedy Gold" Finalist and WeScreenplay TV Pilot Screenwriting Contest Quarterfinalist.
SHE HAD IT COMING, the feature for which Anna was a Second Rounder at the Austin Film Festival, was also read as a selection for the Breakthrough Reading Series, an organization that highlights work created by female and diverse voices. Since that reading, the pages showcased have been made into a short, the directorial debut of actor Gedde Watanabe, which is now running the festival circuit. The film has been chosen as an Official Selection of 21 film festivals so far and has received additional acclaim as a finalist or winner 13 times during its fest run, including being selected as Best Dark Comedy at both the Portland Comedy Film Festival and
Women's Comedy Film Festival in Atlanta.
Anna also co-hosts the podcast ‘80s Movie Montage where she and her husband, Derek, review the decade’s greatest films.