CIFF 2021 Grand Jury
Peter Menzies Jr., ACS - Chairman of the Board
Australian Cinematographer, Peter Menzies Jr., is known for his diverse and critically acclaimed body of work spanning feature films, commercials television movies and mini-series - including the recent HBO limited series, The Time Traveler's Wife for Director, David Nutter.
Peter's films include; Shooter, A Time to Kill, The Incredible Hulk, The General’s Daughter, Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Four Brothers, The 13th Warrior, Peter Rabbit 1 & 2, The Great Raid, Disney's The Kid, Clash of the Titans, All Eyez on Me, and Die Hard with a Vengeance.
Peter is a member of the Int'l Cinematographers Guild, the Australian Cinematographers Society and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an award winning Australian Film and Stage Director, Producer, and Writer and has directed operas in Italy, the USA and Australia.
Bruce has directed more than 30 feature films including Driving Miss Daisy, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1989. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director for Tender Mercies and a Best Screeplay Oscar for Breaker Morant. Other films include The Robe, Crimes of the Heart, Double Jeopardy, Bonnie and Clyde, Paradise Road, Mao's Last Dancer and Mr. Church.
Bruce is a Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is a former film advisor to the Arts Council of Great Britain.
Benny Boom
Director, Benny Boom exploded onto the music video scene in the mid 90's and has brought his innovative storytelling and edgy visuals to over 200 music videos for artists such as Nicki Minaj, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ciara, Akon, Keyshia Cole, 50 Cent, John Legend and Busta Rhymes. Benny is a five time BET Award nominee.
In addition to directing music videos with more than a billion views, Benny directs commercials, TV Movies and episodic dramas including The Equalizer, City on a Hill, Black Lightning, NCIS: Los Angeles, All American, Tales, Ambitions and Empire. Benny directed the feature films Next Day Air and the long awaited Tupac Shakur Bio-pic, All Eyez on Me.
Warren Drummond
Warren Drummond was born and raised in Jamaica Queens, New York and attended the High School of Art & Design and The School of Visual Arts.
Warren's storyboard career began in the early '90s with films like Above. the Rim and 2nd Unit work on Die Hard with a Vengeance and The Devil's Own. Now based in LA, Warren is one of the industry's premier storyboard artists whose credits include A Beautiful Mind, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Nightcrawler and Ad Astra. His TV work includes NCIS: New Orleans, Marvel's Agents of Shield and Grey's Anatomy.
Warren made his directorial debut in 2018 with the short film, Unknown Caller, starring his son Josh Drummond. Warren is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Bill Farmer
Bill Farmer is an award winning voice actor, comedian and impressionist. Bill is best known for being the voice of Disney’s Goofy since 1987. In addition, Bill has voiced the characters of Pluto, Horace Horsecollar, Practical Pig, and Sleepy as well as numerous other character voices in tv shows, video games and feature films including Space Jam, Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, A Bug's Life and A Goofy Movie.
Bill was named a “Disney Legend” in 2009, and is the on-camera host of the Disney+ original series, It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer.
Will Gluck
Will Gluck is a Los Angeles based Director, Producer and Writer, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Will's production company, Olive Bridge Entertainment has partnerships with Sony Pictures Entertainment and One Television.
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Will directed Easy A and wrote, directed and produced the feature films, Friends with Benefits, Annie, Peter Rabbit and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. Will has directed numerous television shows including "The Michael J. Fox Show” on NBC.
Will has written and produced a number of TV series and movies including Encore for Disney, Woke for Hulu, Sneakerheads for Netflix, Moonbeam City, The McCarthy's, Grosse Point, Luis and The Loop.
Derek Hill
Texas native, Derek R. Hill transitioned from Dallas theater into television and film in the
early 80's as a Set Decorator and Art Director working with Directors including Oliver Stone, Sean Penn and Kevin Costner.
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As a Production Designer, Derek has earned Emmy nominations for his work on House, Hatfields and McCoys and Ozark seasons 1 and 2. He also earned ADG nominations for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean-Curse of the Black Pearl, Community, Hatfields & McCoys and Bonnie & Clyde.
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Additional credits include The Magnificent Seven, All Eyez on Me, Lifetime movie, Surviving Compton:Dre, Suge and Michelle, the TV series The Right Stuff and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. Derek is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Paula Huidobro
Born in Mexico City, Paula Huidobroisa is a Cinematographer who studied at the London International Film School and the American Film Institute.
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Paula's feature credits include Gardens of the Night, Tallulah, Oh Lucy!, The Widle Wedding & Coda.
Paula received an Emmy Nomination in 2018 for her work on Bill Hader's dark hitman comedy, Barry, for HBO. The same year Paula made the list of Variety's 10 Cinematographers to watch and was asked to join the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. She is also a member of the ICG and the Mexican Society of Cinematographers.
Alex Kalymnios
Alex Kalymnios is an English Director, Producer and Screenwriter. Alex started her career at the BBC Director’s Academy and works Internationally.
Alex has directed episodes of Impulse, Titans, The 100, S.W.A.T., Timeless, Quantico, Once Upon a Time, The White Princess, Scott & Bailey, EastEnders, Waterloo Road, Hollyoaks, Hollyoaks Later, The Cut, Becoming Human and the TV pilot, Close Up.
Alex directed the mini-series Three Families and TV Movies, Cleveland Abduction, and Love you to Death. Recently Alex completed a spy series for Netlix starring Noah Centineo.
Hunt Lowry
Hunt Lowry has produced over 30 films and is the CEO/President of Roserock Films, located on the Warner Bros. lot.
Hunt’s feature credits include; A Time to Kill, Donnie Darko, First Knight, Revenge, A Walk to Remember, What a Girl Wants, A Cinderella Story, Instinct, My Life, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood , Disney's The Kid, and The Last of the Mohicans.
Originally from Oklahoma, Hunt is a member of the Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Junie Lowry-Johnson
Junie Lowry-Johnson is an eight time television Emmy Award-winning Casting Director for features and television. Her Emmy wins include Homeland, True Blood, Ugiy Betty, Desperate Housewives, Six Feet Under and NYPD Blue. In addition, Junie's work has been recognized with an additional 12 industry wins and 47 nominations. Other TV series casting credits include, Queen of the South, Deadwood, True Detective, The Killing, Big Love, In Treatment, and multiple StarTrek series.
In addition to casting more than 40 TV Movies, Junie's feature film credits include Grosse Point Blank, Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, America's Sweethearts, Cypher, Forces of Nature and La Bamba.
Victoria Mahoney
Victoria Mahoney was picked by J.J. Abrams to direct 2nd unit on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, making her the first woman to direct on a Star Wars film in the franchise's 40 year history. Victoria's directorial debut was the 2011 Golden Bear nominated Feature, Yealling to the Sky, developed through the Sundance Institute and awarded multiple fellowships including Tribeca.
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Victoria has directed numerous pilots including Red Line for CBS, and directed episodics including Lovecraft Country, I am the Night, Claws, American Crime, You, Seven Seconds and the Morning Show. Victoria is signed to direct Kill Them All for Paramount and Shadow Force for Lionsgate. She is also adapting the sci-fi novel, DAWN into a series with Ava Duvernay and Charles D. King, which she will direct.
David Nutter
David is a two time Emmy Award winning Director and Producer.
David directed nine episodes of Game of Thrones, winning an Emmy for Best Direction for "Mother's Mercy." His first Emmy win was for the "Replacements" episode of Band of Brothers. David directed two chapters of its sequel The Pacific and has also directed episodes of The Sopranos, Entourage, Shameless, X-Files, ER, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The West Wing, Homeland and The X-Files.
David's most recent project was the HBO limited series, The Time Traveler's Wife, based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger.
Mitch Paulson
A Minnesota native, Mitch was always fascinated by 3D animation. His career began as a compositor on movie trailers. He fell in love with the work and his training in fine arts and compositing allowed an easy transition into color grading. Known for his ability to utilize his tools in new and unique ways, Mitch has earned a reputation as a collaborator who loves sharing his passion for color grading with his clients.
In 2005, Mitch joined Company 3 (formerly EFILM) where he is now Co-Head of Features Color. His credits include Skyfall, Blade Runner 2049, All Eyez on Me and Rogue One. Mitch is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Mitch is the recipient of the 2021 HPS Award for Outstanding Color, Feature Film for his work on Disney's Jungle Cruise.
Kristoffer Polaha
Actor, writer, producer, author and Reno, Nevada native, Kristoffer Polaha earned a degree from the esteemed NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and quickly transitioned to professional theater in New York.
Kristoffer moved to Los Angeles and made a name for himself in TV, starring in Life Unexpected, North Shore, Backstrom and Ringer. He's appeared in more than 25 network and cable shows including Mad Men, Ballers, Designated Survivor, Get Shorty and the limited series Condor. Kris remains a backbone of the Hallmark Channel, appearing in numerous Christmas movies and the Hallmark Mystery 101 series.
Kris' feature film work includes Where Hope Grows, The Devil's Knot, Wonder Woman 1984 and Jurassic World: Dominion.
Mikael Salomon
Mikael Salomon is an Oscar-nominated and EMMY award winning Danish Director and Cinematographer.
He earned an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Cinematography for The Abyss and a second nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects for Backdraft. He is also a recipient of the Danish Academy Award. After moving to the US in 1986, Mikael went on to shoot more than 30 feature films including Always for Steven Spielberg and Far and Away for Ron Howard.
Mikael transitioned to directing and won an Emmy for Band of Brothers. Other TV credits include, Sole Survivor, The Fugitive, The Grid, & The Andromeda Strain. His feature work includes A Far Off Place and Hard Rain. Mikael is a member of the ASC and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Wes Studi
Born in Nofire, Oklahoma, Wes is a Cherokee American actor and film producer who has won critical acclaim and countless awards. Wes has appeared in Academy Award-winning films, such as Dances with Wolves and The Last of the Mohicans, and in the Academy Award-nominated films Geronimo: An American Legend and The New World. He has also appeared in the films Hostiles, Heat, Mystery Men, Avatar, A Million Ways to Die in the West, and in the television series Penny Dreadful.
An Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences member, Wes received an Academy Honorary Award in 2020, becoming the first Native American and the second North American Indigenous person to be honored by the Academy.
Dick Walsh
In his capacity as AMC Film Chairman, goal oriented business executive, Dick Walsh managed an annual budget of $5 million for strategic marketing, $25 million for marketing and a purchasing budget of $700 million. Dick is a member of the National Association of Theater Owners.
Dick served as an advisor to the Tribeca Film Festival and worked directly with the Tribeca Operations Team, including Robert DeNiro and his business partner, Jane Rosenthal. AMC was the exclusive provider of locations to the Tribeca Film Festival. During his tenure, AMC hosted several other film festivals across the country giving Dick key insights into the inner-workings of film festivals, both from a programming and operations viewpoint.