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Indie filmmakers have a lot of hard decisions to make: work with talented friends or invest in tested talent, fundraise to really give it a sheen or shoestring it through, or how to meet in the middle. Filmmakers from our competition lineup will go over how to lead a team, what film school teaches you and what it doesn’t, tips for producing and marketing micro to low-budget films, and how working in different fields of filmmaking helps you navigate the challenges of the craft.
Moderated by our head of festival programming Selin Sevinc, panelists include Seanne Winslow (Director, The Falconer), Drea Bernardi (Producer, The Oxy Kingpins), Liz Cardenas (Producer, 7 Days and Burros), and Therese Shechter (Director, My So-Called Selfish Life).
Seanne Winslow
Seanne Winslow makes movies that entertain, enchant, and inspire. Before co-writing/co-directing The Falconer, she executive produced The Lego Movie. Seanne is currently writing a TV show for a major studio, a script for Netflix, and preparing to direct Ilona, which is inspired by her childhood in a German castle.
Drea Bernardi
Drea Bernardi is a producer and writer, known for The Oxy Kingpins (2021), Free Parking (2019), and Ocularpation: Wall Street (2011).
Liz Cardenas
A 2019 Film Independent Spirit Award nominee, Liz Cardenas is a producer, writer, director and actress from Dallas. Recent and notable producing credits include Augustine Frizzell’s Never Goin’ Back (Sundance ’18), starring Maia Mitchell, Cami Morrone and Kyle Mooney; David Lowery’s A Ghost Story (Sundance ‘17), starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck (both distributed by A24); and Daniel Laabs’ Jules of Light & Dark, an IFP Narrative Lab film, which received a SFFILM and two Austin Film Society grants.
Therese Shechter
Therese Shechter is an award-winning filmmaker and speaker, and the founder of the Brooklyn-based production company Trixie Films. Her work fuses humor, activism, and personal storytelling to disturb what's considered most sacred about womanhood. Her previous films, including How To Lose Your Virginity (2013) and I Was A Teenage Feminist (2007), have screened from Rio de Janeiro to Istanbul to Seoul, and her work is in the collections of over 300 universities, non-profits, and libraries. In her spare time, Therese co-created and co-hosted the podcast Downton Gabby, a 'funny, feminist and foul-mouthed' dissection of every episode (and movie) of the TV phenomenon Downton Abbey.
Indie filmmakers have a lot of hard decisions to make: work with talented friends or invest in tested talent, fundraise to really give it a sheen or shoestring it through, or how to meet in the middle. Filmmakers from our competition lineup will go over how to lead a team, what film school teaches you and what it doesn’t, tips for producing and marketing micro to low-budget films, and how working in different fields of filmmaking helps you navigate the challenges of the craft.
Moderated by our head of festival programming Selin Sevinc, panelists include Seanne Winslow (Director, The Falconer), Drea Bernardi (Producer, The Oxy Kingpins), Liz Cardenas (Producer, 7 Days and Burros), and Therese Shechter (Director, My So-Called Selfish Life).
Seanne Winslow
Seanne Winslow makes movies that entertain, enchant, and inspire. Before co-writing/co-directing The Falconer, she executive produced The Lego Movie. Seanne is currently writing a TV show for a major studio, a script for Netflix, and preparing to direct Ilona, which is inspired by her childhood in a German castle.
Drea Bernardi
Drea Bernardi is a producer and writer, known for The Oxy Kingpins (2021), Free Parking (2019), and Ocularpation: Wall Street (2011).
Liz Cardenas
A 2019 Film Independent Spirit Award nominee, Liz Cardenas is a producer, writer, director and actress from Dallas. Recent and notable producing credits include Augustine Frizzell’s Never Goin’ Back (Sundance ’18), starring Maia Mitchell, Cami Morrone and Kyle Mooney; David Lowery’s A Ghost Story (Sundance ‘17), starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck (both distributed by A24); and Daniel Laabs’ Jules of Light & Dark, an IFP Narrative Lab film, which received a SFFILM and two Austin Film Society grants.
Therese Shechter
Therese Shechter is an award-winning filmmaker and speaker, and the founder of the Brooklyn-based production company Trixie Films. Her work fuses humor, activism, and personal storytelling to disturb what's considered most sacred about womanhood. Her previous films, including How To Lose Your Virginity (2013) and I Was A Teenage Feminist (2007), have screened from Rio de Janeiro to Istanbul to Seoul, and her work is in the collections of over 300 universities, non-profits, and libraries. In her spare time, Therese co-created and co-hosted the podcast Downton Gabby, a 'funny, feminist and foul-mouthed' dissection of every episode (and movie) of the TV phenomenon Downton Abbey.
