Special Guests and Jurors
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Special Guests
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Victor Nunez
Victor Nunez, a founding member of the Independent Feature Project, has made a name with low-budget, non-“Hollywood” projects which gestate for as long as 10 years before being filmed. Born in Deland, Florida, Nunez received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in film at Antioch College and University of California at Los Angeles, respectively, and began his work as a filmmaker on educational and industrial shorts. His feature film debut was Gal Young ‘Un (1979), a low-budget drama, based on the short story by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, set in the 1920s about an unhappily widowed Florida woman, her young husband, and his girlfriend. His next film was A Flash of Green (1984) adapted from a John D. MacDonald novel. Once again set in coastal Florida, A Flash of Green starred Ed Harris and Blair Brown in the story of a reporter investigating a landfill development deal. Nunez used a windfall from a great-aunt to finance Ruby in Paradise (1993). Starring then-newcomer Ashley Judd, the film followed a young girl’s journey of self-discovery and coming-of-age from the back woods of Tennessee to the coast of Florida. In 1997, Ulee’s Gold became his biggest success to date and garnered star Peter Fonda a Best Actor Academy Award® nomination and a Golden Globe® Award for his role as the beekeeper struggling to find a sense of family. Nunez’s 2002 film, Coastlines, tells the tale of an ex-con who returns to his Florida hometown and becomes involved with the wife of his best friend—the town’s sheriff. This sizzling noir starred Timothy Olyphant; Academy Award-winner, Josh Brolin; Sarah Wynter; and Josh Lucas. The long pre-production period between films helped further Nunez’s reputation as a thoughtful filmmaker; although he might argue it simply takes that long to find financial support. Nunez himself has compared the search for funding with “something akin to the middle ages—we go around looking for someone to sponsor us. There are not too many castles in the South. When we do get to work, it’s like an insane gift.”
Catch Victor Nunez at the Florida Film Festival at Victor in Paradise: An Afternoon with Victor Nunez featuring, Ruby in Paradise.
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Scott Foundas
Scott Foundas, a former resident of Tampa, is the Associate Program Director for the Film Society of Lincoln Center, where he also serves as a contributing editor to Film Comment magazine and a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee. From 2003-2009, he was film editor and chief film critic for L.A. Weekly. His writing on film has also appeared in The New York Times, DGA Quarterly, and Cinema Scope. He has served on official juries at the Cannes, Sundance, Venice, and Florida film festivals. In 2010, he was named Critic of the Year by the Los Angeles Press Club.
Catch Scott Foundas at the Florida Film Festival at Victor in Paradise: An Afternoon with Victor Nunez featuring, Ruby in Paradise.
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Norman Van Aken
Legendary chef Norman Van Aken is known internationally as “the founding father of New World Cuisine,” a celebration of Latin, Caribbean, Asian, African, and American flavors. He is also known for introducing the concept of “fusion” to the culinary world in a symposium on American cooking in Santa Fe in 1988. He is the only Floridian inducted into the prestigious James Beard list of “Who’s Who in American Food and Beverage.” He is also a recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef in the Southeast honors.
The New York Times deemed his fine dining restaurant, NORMAN’S, “the Best Restaurant in Florida and Norman Van Aken its best Chef.” Similarly, the Beard Foundation nominated NORMAN’S as “The Best Restaurant in America.” Chef Van Aken has been hailed as a “culinary genius” by Johnson and Wales University and awarded an honorary doctorate. He is on the Culinary Institute of America’s “Latin Cuisine’s International Advisory Council.”
In 2006, he was honored as one of the “Founders of the New American Cuisine,” alongside Alice Waters, Paul Prudhomme, and Mark Miller at Spain’s International Summit of Gastronomy Madrid Fusion event. Chef Van Aken oversees his highly acclaimed restaurant NORMAN’S at the Ritz-Carlton, Grande Lakes, Orlando, and consults for Norman’s 180, located in Coral Gables, Florida.
Chef Norman Van Aken has published four books: Feast of Sunlight 1988, The Exotic Fruit Book 1995, Norman’s New World Cuisine 1997, and New World Kitchen 2003.
“Norman Van Aken is the Walt Whitman of American Cuisine” —- Charlie Trotter
Catch Norman Van Aken at the Florida Film Festival at Swamp Cabbage Culture, Sweet Tea, and Pie: Florida Food Discussion and Tasting and Floridian Feasting: A Native Tribute..
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Scott Jones
Scott Jones, a nationally recognized food and wine expert as well as the former Executive Food Editor of Southern Living magazine (1999 to 2010), is currently president of JONES IS HUNGRY, a culinary media company focused on custom culinary content, television production, brand representation, and culinary education. Jones has been featured on dozens of television shows, from Cooking with Paula Deen to Food Network Challenge. He left a career in Hollywood to pursue his love of food and wine. In doing so, Scott completed a Culinary Arts degree at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, where he graduated with honors. In addition, Scott holds a degree in magazine publishing and journalism from the University of Mississippi, and is the author of the Southern Living Wine Guide and Journal. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with his wife, Deanna, and their two daughters, Tallulah and Augusta.
Catch Scott Jones at the Florida Film Festival at Swamp Cabbage Culture, Sweet Tea, and Pie: Florida Food Discussion and Tasting.
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Gary R. Mormino
Gary R. Mormino is interested in all aspects of Florida and is working on a book devoted to the interconnectivity of the history of Florida foodways and culture. Mormino holds the Frank E. Duckwall Professorship in history at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, where he directs the Florida Studies Program. He has taught at the University of South Florida since 1977. His writing ranges across continents and time periods. His books include The Immigrant World of Ybor City and Spanish Pathways in Florida, 1492-1992. From 1980 to 1981, he taught as a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Rome. He has received fellowships from the Roosevelt and Huntington Libraries, as well as the Rockefeller Study Center at Bellagio. The Florida Humanities Council named him Humanist of the Year in 2003. His latest book, Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams, was published in 2005, and his essay on community in Florida received the Charlie Award from the Florida Magazine Association for the best article of the year. His current projects include a study of Florida and World War II.
Catch Gary R. Mormino at the Florida Film Festival at Swamp Cabbage Culture, Sweet Tea, and Pie: Florida Food Discussion and Tasting.
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Bob Morris
A fourth-generation Floridian, Bob Morris is the author of five novels set in Florida and the Caribbean, along with several collections of essays. His novel Bahamarama was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Mystery Novel. In addition to contributing to numerous food and travel magazines, including Islands, Caribbean Travel & Life, Bon Appétit, Orlando Home & Leisure, and Edible Orlando, Mr. Morris also teaches Creative Non-Fiction at Rollins College.
Catch Bob Morris at the Florida Film Festival at Swamp Cabbage Culture, Sweet Tea, and Pie: Florida Food Discussion and Tasting.
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Tim Keating
Tim Keating oversees a talented staff in the on-stage kitchen at the award-winning Flying Fish Cafe at Disney’s BoardWalk. The nationally recognized chef most recently was executive chef at the Biltmore in Coral Gables, FL., and prior to the Biltmore, he was executive chef for eight years at the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston, Texas. Throughout his career, his restaurants have received numerous awards, and Keating was nominated for the prestigious James Beard Foundation awards for the American Express Best Chef—Southwest in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. He also is a founding member of the Chefs Collaborative, a nationwide group that supports local farmers and inspires their customers to choose nutritious and sustainable foods.
Catch Chef Tim Keating at the Florida Film Festival at Floridian Feasting: A Native Tribute.
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Greg Baker
Greg Baker’s culinary journey began at 16, slinging hash at a diner in Clearwater, Florida. While much of his career was built in the ‘90s in Portland, Oregon, his heart—and his taste buds—have always been firmly rooted in Florida. In March 2010, Baker and his wife/business partner, Michelle Baker, opened The Refinery in Tampa. An urban oasis of sorts, The Refinery sits on a busy stretch of road in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood and is one of the brightest spots in the area’s blossoming foodie culture. From this haven, Baker creates a new menu for the restaurant every week that incorporates the flavors of Florida and the South, mixed with classical French technique all the while keeping in mind Tampa’s rich cultural history. In 2010, Baker was named Best Chef in Tampa Bay by the Tampa arts and culture publication, Creative Loafing.
Catch Chef Greg Baker at the Florida Film Festival at Floridian Feasting: A Native Tribute.
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Shorts Jury
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Neal Block
Neal Block is the Head of Distribution at Magnolia Pictures and has released such fine and varied films as I am Love, Let the Right One In, and Man on Wire. Upcoming sure-fire hits include T_he Troll Hunter, 13 Assassins,_ and Hobo with a Shotgun. Neal is also responsible for bringing the Oscar®-nominated Short Films to theaters nationwide every February. Prior to Magnolia, Neal worked in distribution for Palm Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films/IDP.
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Eric Kohn
Eric Kohn is the lead film critic for indieWIRE. His writing has also appeared The New York Times, New York magazine,_ New York Press, The Wrap, Moving Pictures_ magazine, Filmmaker, Moviemaker, Variety, and several other outlets. Born in Texas and raised in Seattle, he holds bachelors and masters degrees in cinema studies from NYU and currently resides in Brooklyn with his girlfriend, two cats, and a projector.
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Erin Owens
Erin Owens is the Vice President of Arthouse Films, an independent distribution and production company specializing in documentary film. She runs theatrical distribution soup to nuts, handling everything that is required for a theatrical release. Her recent releases include Academy Award® nominee Waste Land and Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. Previously she was Director of Marketing at THINKFilm and Director of Publicity at Palm Pictures. She’s also worked in development at Plum Pictures and in exhibition at Madstone Theaters. She was named to Billboard Magazine’s “Top 30 Under 30” in 2006.
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Documentary Feature Jury
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Jeff Deutchman
As Acquisitions Manager for IFC Entertainment, Jeff Deutchman has discovered and acquired some of the most critically-acclaimed independent films of the last five years, including documentaries The Art of the Steal, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975; genre films The Human Centipede, We are What We are, and Kidnapped; and American indie breakthroughs Medicine For Melancholy, Afterschool, Daddy Longlegs, and Cold Weather. IFC Entertainment distributes these films through its three distribution labels: IFC Films, Sundance Selects, and IFC Midnight. Jeff joined IFC’s acquisitions department after having previously worked in their marketing department, and before that, in distribution for Samuel Goldwyn Films. He also recently directed a feature documentary, 11/4/08 – a vérité collage of footage shot all over the world on the day Barack Obama was elected President. The film had its world premiere at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, was released theatrically in 20 cities, and is currently available on various web platforms through Cinetic Filmbuff. Jeff earned his Bachelor of Sciences degree from Northwestern University where he studied film history and theory.
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Tricia Regan
Tricia Regan is an award-winning director, producer, and cinematographer of documentary film and television. She is the recipient of Primetime Emmy Award nominations for directing and cinematography, and the winner of a Primetime Emmy for Best Documentary for her feature length film Autism: The Musical, which she directed, produced, and shot, and which premiered on HBO. Regan’s film work has been theatrically distributed and broadcast on five different continents and in at least six different languages. Her credits include A Leap of Faith, which was her first film, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1996. The film was narrated by Liam Neeson and was theatrically distributed and televised on PBS. Soldiers Pay (2004), which she co-directed with filmmaker David O. Russell, was also theatrically distributed and had its television premiere on IFC. Regan’s television work includes directing, producing, and shooting for ABC, Fox, NBC, MTV, VH1, A&E, Lifetime, and TLC. The winner of two Cine Golden Eagle Awards, The Aurora Award, the Strive Award, the WIN award, The Voice Award, and nearly a dozen film festival awards internationally, Ms. Regan has a masters degree from NYU and lives in New York City.
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Michael Tuckman
A veteran of the independent film industry for nearly fifteen years, Michael Tuckman began his career at The Cinema Guild, where he was hired to start the company’s theatrical distribution division. Tuckman went on to serve as Vice President of Theatrical Sales for THINKFilm, handling the planning and implementation of all theatrical release strategies, including the breakout successes of Oscar®-winning and nominated films including Spellbound, Born into Brothels, Taxi to the Dark Side, and Murderball, as well as the box office smashes The Aristocrats, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, and T_hen She Found Me_. He now operates his own distribution services company, mTuckman media, which provides theatrical booking services to independent film distributors including Paladin, Elephant Eye, Variance, Tribeca Films, and Entertainment One, while also releasing films directly with filmmakers under their own banner. Most notably, he handled the Zipporah Films releases of Frederick Wiseman’s La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet and Boxing Gym.
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Narrative Features Jury
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Cliff Dorfman
Cliff Dorman wrote on Season Two of Entourage, for which he was nominated for a WGA Award. After leaving the show he was given a blind script deal at Paramount Television for a spec pilot he wrote entitled Five Towns, which was later used on the show as the title of Johnny Drama’s fictional TV series. He went on to co-create shows for FX, MTV, ABC, ABC Family, and currently has The Line in development at HBO, which he co-created. On the movie front, he co-wrote and co-storied Warrior, slated for a September release, and penned Criminal Empire for Dummy’s, which is set to start production this year. He also co-wrote a comic book for DC Comics called The Watchdogs, a video game for Sega entitled Full Auto 2, consulted on Dead Space for EA Games, and penned a column for a year in the magazine LA Confidential named “Cliff’s Notes.” When Dorman’s not writing, you can find him holed up somewhere deep in the valley with lots of ammo, arms, canned goods, water, and his three Schutzhund-trained Dobermans.
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Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell started hosting the public radio program The Treatment in 1996 (now nationally syndicated to 15 markets) and was also the entertainment critic for NPR’s Weekend Edition. Mitchell was a film critic for The New York Times; The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he won the 1999 AASFE Award for criticism; The Detroit Free Press; LA Weekly; and California magazine. In 1993, he was nominated for a Writer’s Guild of America award for his contributions to The AFI Achievement Award Tribute to Sidney Poitier. Mitchell is a Visiting Lecturer on African and African American Studies and on Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University and has given the prestigious Alain Leroy Locke lectures for the African American studies department, also at Harvard. A graduate of Wayne State University with a degree in English literature, Mitchell hosted the Independent Focus interview program for the Independent Film Channel and now hosts Under the Influence, an interview program for Turner Classic Movies. He created, produced, supervised the editing, and conducted all of the interviews for the award-winning Black List documentaries seen on HBO. He also edited the transcripts and wrote the introduction for the Black List book. Mitchell was editor-at-large for Spin magazine, and has also written for Interview, Esquire, and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. He is currently editor-at-large at Interview magazine.
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Connie White
Connie White has been working in the independent film business for over 20 years, first as an innovative programmer and co-owner for the historic Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1987-2001. Currently, she programs and books films for the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts, as well as for other quality U.S. art cinemas in Salt Lake City, Omaha, and Washington DC, among others. In 1992, White co-founded the Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema which ran for 11 years. Since 1999, she has served as the Artistic Director of the Provincetown International Film Festival. In 2002, White and her husband Greg Kendall created Balcony Releasing, a boutique theatrical distribution company for independent documentary features. In 2000, she was honored with the “Image Award for Vision and Excellence” from Women in Film and Video, New England. She served on the jury for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and is a programming consultant for the Sundance Institute’s Art House Project.
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