JUDGING TEAM
JOHN WAYNE S.III - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER & WRITER
John Wayne S. III (JW) is an award-winning producer, director, and writer with over two decades of experience in the entertainment industry. Raised on the south side of Chicago and now residing in Houston, Texas, with his daughter, JW has produced nine feature films and directed three, amassing over 15 million streams. His journey began as a production assistant on George Tillman's Scenes for the Soul, igniting a lifelong passion for storytelling. JW’s career expanded into the music industry, where he collaborated with Grammy-nominated producer Steve "Silk" Hurley and rose to become a record label president twice, managing artists and producers while cultivating a keen understanding of the global entertainment landscape.
As the founder of Londyn Town Pictures, JW has masterfully blended his expertise in film and music, producing over 200 music videos and delivering critically acclaimed feature films such as Red All Over, Ebony Hustle, Plugged, and Ebony Hustle 2: Ballistic Protection. With a slate of film, animation, and television production and development projects, JW continues pushing creative boundaries, crafting compelling narratives that resonate with audiences worldwide. His commitment to excellence and innovation solidifies his status as a visionary in the industry, captivating hearts and minds through his unforgettable storytelling.
ALICIA BUCKNER - DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
U.S. Navy Veteran Alicia Buckner, nicknamed "Ali" (pronounced Ah-Lee) was born and raised in New York. Ali studied architecture at Hampton University in Virginia before enlisting in the United States Navy. Before completing service, she created Fôlsheart Productions which was established in early 2018. While operating Folsheart Productions she completed her BFA in filmmaking. She graduated Summa Cum Laude giving the commencement speech for her class. Her vision is to continue to create "impact films" that get conversations going. To help communities progress and engage in thoughts and ideas that may be unfamiliar to them or taboo. She has produced, directed and written several feature films, a number of short films for non-profit organizations and commercials for businesses across the United States. Her films can be found on Amazon Prime Video and AppleTV. Ali has won 37 awards domestically and internationally for her films for categories of Best Director, Best Producer and Best Film. Her production company (Folsheart Productions) houses a diverse group of film lovers who understand the mission of Folsheart and want to help change hearts and minds together. Ali is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree as a fellow at the American Film Institute.
EUGENIA TEMPESTA - ACTRESS,SONGWRITER\PRODUCER
Eugenia Tempesta is an actress, songwriter, and producer born in Italy raised around Europe and based in the United States since 2012, first in New York City, then in Los Angeles. Eugenia is best known for having acted in films such as 'Zoolander 2' (directed by Ben Stiller), 'Tales of Mexico' (directed by Oscar-Nominee Carlos Bolado), 'L'Ispettore Coliandro' (directed by Manetti Bros.), and Il Premio' (directed by Alessandro Gassmann). For her performance in 'Tales of Mexico', Eugenia was shortlisted by the Mexican Academy as Best Supporting Actress. As a songwriter, Eugenia is the lead singer of the dream-pop duo 2 STORY CABIN and is releasing the band's new EP 'Odd Future' at the beginning of 2023.
FRANCESCA RAVERA - ACTRESS
Originally from Italy, Francesca Ravera is a N.Y.C. based, award-winning actress. Off-Broadway she has played the lead in Constellations by Nick Payne at Gene Frankel Theatre, and Blackbird by David Harrower at the New Ohio Theater, Two Rooms by Lee Blessing at Access Theater, North of Providence, by Edward Allan Baker, and The Nina Variations, by Steven Dietz, at Chain Theatre. She also starred in two productions at Urban Stages Theatre: Espresso by Lucia Frangione, and The Way We Get By, by Neil LaBute, which, following its successful run, embarked on a tour in Italy.
Francesca has acted in the feature film Ulysses: a Dark Odyssey, and she played the lead in Claire, a dramatic short film, for which she received ‘Best Actress’ awards from numerous festivals including Oniros Film Awards, Care Awards, Diamond Film Awards, Best Actor Awards festival, Milestone Worldwide Film Festival, Mindfield Film Festival Albuquerque and Five Continents International Film Festival. She starred in several short films, including Creature of the Night directed by Kaya Tone; Osiris, a Sci-Fi directed by Tamara Hansen and Windows to Nowhere, another film by Tamara Hansen.
She is currently working with Urban Stages Theatre on several outreach programs, in collaborations with Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library. Upcoming: Big Feelings, a theatrical performance and immersive experience.
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LINDSEI BARROS - FILMMAKER/SCREENWRITER/ CREATIVE
Lindsei Barros is a creative in advertising during the day and a movie director and screenwriter at night. She's been living this double life for quite some time now in New York City, where she met her best mates and created the female-only collective called Salt Films NYC.
STELLA SACCA' - ACTRESS/SCREENWRITER/PRODUCER
Born in Rome, Italy, and based in New York, Stella is an actress, playwright, screenwriter and producer. She has been working in Theater since the age of 16 as an actress and started writing and producing when she was 23 after graduating in Languages at the University Roma Tre. Among all her productions, she was awarded for several plays including “How To Become Widows Without Affecting the Criminal Record", “There It Comes The Light, “My Birthday", “Lions Don’t Hug". She also co-wrote, acted and co-produced the short movie L’Appuntamento (The Date), awarded with the Golden Globe in 2013. She is currently writing her first feature film in English and she is working on her first direction of the Off Broadway play Lions Don’t Hug, selected at the New York Theater Festival and on stage at the end of January 2020. In 2018 she founded the blog Ninablablà.
MASSIMILIANO MAUCERI - DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER
Born and raised in Florence (Italy), Massimiliano is a film director and screenwriter, and founder and director of New York Movie Awards. He had a degree in film directing at the Immagina Film School of Florence. Between 1995-2003 he worked as assistant director, editor, camera operator, for more than 20 music videos and commercials (Gucci, Tim, Gas Jeans, UnoAerre Jewellery, Piaggio, Coop, etc). In 2000 he has taught film directing at Immagina Film School of Florence. Between 2000-2003 he has edited and conducted the movies column for Interpuntonet magazine. He has been a Jury member for: Roma Fiction Fest, London Indie International Film Festival, World Music & Independent Film Festival (Washington D.C), New York International Screenplay, Tulipani di Seta Nera Festival in Rome. He wrote and directed nine short films and one commercial and he wrote four feature-length screenplays. He won 144 awards (47 first places) around the world: 89 awards (31 first places) with his short films and 55 awards (16 first places) with his feature-length screenplays.
DEVI MORGAN - ACTRESS
Devi started her career appearing on all the NYC soap operas, as well as roles in major feature films such as Godfather II, Death Wish and Network. She trained at Herbert Berghof Studios and Lee Strasberg Institute. During this time she worked as well at Paramount Pictures as Senior Publicist and was in charge of screenings and premieres. She organized interviews with the NY based Foreign Press and would spend the day with the likes of Shirley MacLaine, Jamie Lee Curtis and other notable celebrities. Returning to acting after raising children, Devi has appeared in several short films. Her award winning short comedy, LIKE DAUGHTER, LIKE MOTHER is currently on the film festival circuit
JEREMIE DAMEME - FILMMAKER/ EDITOR
Born in Paris, Jeremie studied music from an early age which led him to attend school to become a sound engineer. While there, he discovered that his true interest lay in the making of film and further studies in cinema. With a keen eye for detail and his background in music, he immediately began working as an editor in Paris.
In 2013 looking for a new challenge, he moved to NYC to become a filmmaker, where he has since worked on many diverse productions, including CNN, Warner media, Roc Nation, commercial videos (Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, LVMH, etc.), fashion (Tom Ford, ELLE, Vogue, Fashion Week) and many others.
His most recent project, a short film called "A year of Sundays" starring Juliet Doherty.
GEORGE KOSTOPOULOS - FILMMAKER & COMPOSER
George Kostopoulos is a New Jersey born composer, pianist and filmmaker, living in New York City since 1988. He graduated from Kean College in 1979 with a degree in classical music. The Bay Brass performed his “Prelude & Fugue in Dm” in December 2003 at their annual Christmas concert in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. A movie buff from an early age, he eventually took a year-long filmmaking course in 2014 at the New York Film Academy where he wrote and directed his thesis film, “Rumi’s Rumba”, which shortly afterwards got accepted onto the IndieFlix platform. These days, he is mostly producing artsy music videos while working on his piano technique.
JIAOYANG LI - POET & MULTIMEDIA ARTIST
Jiaoyang Li is a poet and multimedia artist based in New York City. Having graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London and New York University with poetry- focused BA and MFA in Creative Writing, she also researched Devising Theatre and Choreography at London International School of Performance Art in Berlin, and Interactive media and design at Tisch ITP Department. She extends her literary practice into textile sculpture, interactive-audiovisual-VR installations, site-specific performances, public interventions and collaborative projects. Her work has been exhibited at the New York Live Art Center, Chashama Gallery, the Immigration Artist biennial, Performa Biennial, Artyard Center, Milan Modern Art Center, Milan A60 Art Space, Los Angeles Design Festival, Womenswork.art gallery, Indie Film Festival, DC Chinese Film festival, Athens International Video Poetry Festival, Helios poetry film festival and more. Her literary work has been featured by Gulf Coast, 3:AM, Datableedzine, Blackbox manifold, Chinese News Magazine, Spittoon Magazine, Enclave Poetry, Voice and Verse poetry magazine, Asymptote, Los Angeles Book Review, Chinese News Magazine, Beijing Contemporary Art Center, and elsewhere. She is the 2021 fellow artist at The Performance Project@USS and the 2021 cultural pilot selected by the British Council. She has received grants and support from New York Foundation for the Arts, British Council, Breadloaf conferences and others. She was the poet-in-residence at Chanorth residency program. She is the co-founder of Accent Society(https://accentaccent.com/)
PATRICIA VASCONCELLOS - JOURNALIST & DOCUMENTARIST
Patrícia Vasconcellos is a Brazilian journalist and an award-winning documentarist. She is the US correspondent for Brazilian TV network SBT - Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão. Patrícia began her career as an anchor in 2001 before joining SBT in 2008. As Latin American correspondent, she covered South and Central America for six years. Now based in New York City and Washington DC, Patrícia covers the White House, politics, economy and American culture. Her documentary about the 2020 BLM protests and police response “Curfew in NYC” received multiple awards including best short film from New York Film Awards, best director for short films from New York International Film Awards and Honorable Mention from New York Movie Awards. In 2021 she won the Professional Excellence Prize Award from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the U.S. Patrícia is a recipient of the Chevening Award, a scholarship funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to outstanding emerging leaders from all over the world. She gained her master´s in TV Journalism from University of London.