Introducing our panelists for day one of Female Voices Rock Film Festival, Saturday 5 December 2020:
ALISON MANN | BUILDING A CAREER IN ANIMATION
Alison Mann is the vice president of creative/strategy at Sony Pictures Animation. In her role, Mann is responsible for managing the development and talent for the studio’s feature film, international and series-based projects, collaborating with business affairs, recruiting, and the creative team to foster new relationships with key creatives within the animation industry. As an artist, Mann always knew she wanted to work in animation. She began her career at Nickelodeon as a finance department intern while attending Columbia College in Chicago. After graduating, she was offered the amazing opportunity to continue working with Nickelodeon/MTV as their recruiter/coordinator of talent relations.
Through her 17 years in the industry, she gained experience in TV, film and gaming while working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Zynga, Disney Interactive, Paramount Pictures Animation, and Illumination Entertainment. Mann is the co-founder and CEO of the BRIC Foundation, an organization set up to solve how to create new access points for women and people from underrepresented groups so they can excel at creative leadership and to enable culture change through engaging and empowering talent. As creative and supporter of talent, Mann is passionate about storytelling and identifying and working with inspiring creators that can continue to elevate the animation industry.
Event time: 9:00AM PST | 12:00PM EST | 6:00PM GMT / CENTRAL
Get a full film festival pass or register for Building a Career in Animation here.
GETTING REPRESENTATION AS A CREATIVE
10:15AM PST | 1:15PM EST | 7:15PM GMT / CENTRAL
TRACY KOPULSKY | MANAGER, MXN ENT
Tracy Kopulsky, a native Angeleno, is a manager at MXN Entertainment. After graduating from the Radio/TV/Film program at Northwestern University, Tracy started her career at William Morris Endeavor before making her way to MXN. As a manager, Tracy works with filmmakers and writers in both TV and film, with a particular emphasis on elevated genre and smart, edgy comedy. Her credits include TULLY, QUEEN & SLIM, BIG TIME ADOLESCENCE, THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY as well as the upcoming DATING AND NEW YORK and NIGHTBOOKS.
HALLE MARINER | AGENT, APA
Hailing from the Midwest, Halle graduated from Columbia College Chicago in film business before moving out to LA. Previously, she worked in film sales for Shoreline Entertainment and Preferred Content. Currently, Halle works at APA as an agent in the Scripted Literary Department. As a honoree of Colour Associates 2019 Next Up List, Halle’s goal is to advocate for writers and directors who are underrepresented in the film world.
Event time: 10:15AM PST | 1:15PM EST | 7:15PM GMT / CENTRAL
HEATHER RAE | SHIFTING THE NARRATIVE AND RESPONSIBLE STORYTELLING
Heather Rae has worked as a producer and executive for more than twenty years. She has been named one of Variety’s Ten Producers To Watch and winner of the Paiget Producer Award for her work as a producer on the feature film Frozen River. The film also won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, two Gotham Awards and was nominated for two Academy Awards, and seven Spirit Awards, winning two. Rae also produced such films as The Dry Land starring America Ferrera which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Magic Valley starring Scott Glenn and Kyle Gallner, and Sundance hit Ass Backwards, written by June Raphael and Casey Wilson (Bride Wars) who star alongside Alicia Silverstone, Vincent D’Onofrio, Brian Geraghty and Jon Cryer.
Rae also produced festival darling I Believe in Unicorns from writer/director Leah Meyerhoff, Netflix Orifinal Tallulah, which was written and directed by writer Sian Heder (Orange is the New Black) and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Rae recently wrapped on Olivia Milch’s Blacklist script, Dude, starring Lucy Hale, Austin Butler, Alex Wolff, and Alexandra Shipp and is currently in production on Akicita, the documentary feature directed by Cody Lucich about the story of Standing Rock.
For Six years Rae ran the Native Program at the Sundance Institute. She has sat on the Board of Trustees for the Sundance Institute and advised to such organizations as The Rockefeller Foundation, IFP, Film Independent, The Ford Foundation, The Tribeca Institute, and First Americans in the Arts. Rae is working with both her settler and indigenous heritage to deepen the dialogue of reconciliation and responsibility in the Americas.
Event time: 11:45AM PST | 2:45PM EST | 8:45PM GMT / CENTRAL
Get a full film festival pass or sign up for Shifting the Narrative and Responsible Storytelling here.
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: CLOSE-UP
1:00PM PST | 4:00PM EST | 10:00PM GMT / CENTRAL
QUYEN TRAN | CINEMATOGRAPHER
Quyen Tran is a Los Angeles-based cinematographer who prioritizes story above all else. Tran's latest feature, PALM SPRINGS, starring Andy Samberg and J.K. Simmons, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and broke the record for highest selling Sundance film. The picture was released by HULU where it remains their top-streaming title. Prior to that, Tran shot the pilot for the Peabody Award winning Netflix drama UNBELIEVABLE with director Lisa Cholodenko and starring Kaitlyn Dever, Toni Collette and Merritt Weaver.
She splits her time between features and television, having shot multiple pilots and series for HBO, Netflix and FX including: CAMPING, HERE AND NOW and the upcoming FX/HULU series A TEACHER. Tran is currently prepping a new Netflix limited series with John Wells, MAID, in Victoria, B.C.
CAROLINA COSTA | CINEMATOGRAPHERS: CLOSE-UP
Selected as one of American Cinematographer’s Rising Stars of 2018, award-winning cinematographer Carolina Costa, AMC has traveled the world photographing critically-acclaimed feature films, documentaries, shorts and commercials. Costa most recently lensed Tara Miele’s Wander Darkly, starring Diego Luna and Sienna Miller, that premiered this year at Sundance. Originally from Brazil, Costa studied at the University of the Arts, London, where she was mentored by Sue Gibson, the renowned first female president of the British Society of Cinematographers.
Costa then moved to Los Angeles and earned her Masters in Cinematography from the American Film Institute. Her AFI thesis film Way in Rye went on to compete at Camerimage in Poland, followed by her AFI alumni short Contrapelo which premiered at Tribeca before being shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
AVA BENJAMIN SHORR | CINEMATOGRAPHERS: CLOSE-UP
Ava Benjamin Shorr is a Director of Photography who also happens to be a transgender woman. She was raised by a Mormon mother and a Jewish father in Portland, Oregon. Her early passion for cinematography was stoked by skateboarding videos and art-house cinema. Technical prowess, photographic experimentation, and identity are all a fixture of her work.
The feature documentary, Disclosure (executive produced by Laverne Cox), premiered at Sundance 2020 and was released by Netflix. Equal, a four episode series for HBO Max featuring Samira Wiley, Jaime Clayton, Keiynan Lonsdale, and Cheyenne Jackson, is slated for a 2020 release as well. Ava was included on a list of “Mind Blowing Women Cinematographers” by Emmy Rossum, awarded an ASC Vision Mentorship with Rachel Morrison, ASC (Black Panther, Mudbound), and has a documentary about her that premiered on Nowness and is currently making its way through the 2020 festival circuit.
Event time: 1:00PM PST | 4:00PM EST | 10:00PM GMT / CENTRAL
STUNT WOMEN
2.30PM PST | 5:30PM EST | 11:30PM GMT/CENTRAL
FULL FESTIVAL PASS | SINGLE EVENT LINK TBC
KATHY JARVIS | STUNT PROFESSIONAL
Kathy Jarvis has been a Stunt Professional since 1994, when she earned her SAG card on a Disney feature film. As an athlete who earned a collegiate alpine ski racing scholarship and who has competed in sports such as gymnastics, skiing, soccer, track, a career in stunts was a clear calling. Kathy trained to become a rally and car control instructor and has raced cars and trucks in the Rally America, Baja 1000, and National Dirtcar series. Kathy is also a spiritual seeker who has spent many years studying Ayurveda to become a certified Vedic Master. Tapping into the same awareness she naturally strives to balance between her two passions of adrenaline driven sports and meditation and spiritual practices, she founded the Femmefatale Experience.
As a Stunt Coordinator and DGA Director Kathy constantly pushes for more women and people of color on her shows, working with the writers and directors to change the “he” to “she” and with the A.D. teams, heads of departments and Background Casting to push for diversity by creating meetings to discuss and implement diversity and inclusion. Kathy’s goal is to create change as she engages in every aspect of her life.
Tamiko Brownlee | STUNT PERFORMER/ACTRESS
Born and raised in San Antonio, TX to a Japanese mother and South African father. Tamiko grew up doing taekwondo and participated in various sports - volleyball, softball, gymnastics and dance. She's always loved martial arts and has trained in muay thai, northern shaolin kung fu, wushu and boxing. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree from University of Washington, Tamiko moved to Los Angeles to follow her dreams in entertainment. Currently she's working as a stunt performer and actress in everything from movies, television shows, music videos, video games, commercials and print.
Li Jing | STUNT CHOREOGRAPHER
Master Jing Li has worked at Hollywood since 2002 as an award-winning action actress and stunt fight choreographer on films such as Deadpool 2, Pacific Rim, and Rush Hour 3, as well as countless Chinese film productions including Double Blade and Legendary Amazons. She has collaborated with actors such as Nicole Kidman, Amber Heart, Jessica Chastain, Kendra Lamar, Jackie Chan, and Donnie Yen, and has been featured on the cover of many US Kungfu magazines. Jing began her Wushu career at the age of 6 and is now one of the world’s leading female martial arts experts having won over one hundred gold medals in Chinese and international tournaments. Her natural talent of martial arts and passion to teach and mentor students inspired her to start her own school, Wushu Action Star Academy.
As the Master of her Academy, she has not only successfully coached established Hollywood actors and thousands of distinguished athletes, but has also inspired her students to become more confident and disciplined in their practice and everyday lives. Some of her students have gone on to become Hollywood stunt choreographers in their own right, and have worked on films such as Deadpool 2 and John Wick 2.
Event time: 2.30PM PST | 5:30PM EST | 11:30PM GMT/CENTRAL
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