Officers
Patricia White,
President
Associate Professor of English Literature and Chair of Film and Media
Studies at Swarthmore College
Kathryn F. Galan,
Secretary
Executive Director, National Assc. of Latino Independent Producers
Helen D. Reavis, Vice President
Attorney and Co-Managing Partner,
Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP
Taina Bien-Aime,
Vice President Executive Director, Equality Now
Marian Masone,
Treasurer
Managing Director of Festivals and Associate Director of Programming, The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Barrie Pribyl,
Emeritus
Organizational Development Consultant
Debra Zimmerman,
Ex Officio
Executive Director, Women Make Movies
Board
Claire Aguilar,
Vice President of Programming
Independent Television Service (ITVS)
Vanessa Arteaga, Executive Producer, Jaman
Tina DeFeliciantonio, Director/Producer, Naked Eye Productions, Ltd.
Phoebe Eng, Executive Director, Creative Counsel & Vice Chair, Ms. Foundation for Women
Leslie Fields-Cruz,
Grants Manager,
National Black
Programming Consortium
Michelle Halsell,
CEO and Co-Founder, Missing Pixel
Caroline Libresco, Senior
Programmer, Sundance Film Festival
Esther Robinson, Filmmaker and Producer
WMM Staff
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Claire Aguilar
Vice President of Programming, Independent Television Service (ITVS)
Claire Aguilar is the Vice President of Programming at the Independent Television Service (ITVS), which funds, promotes and distributes independently produced programming to public television. At ITVS, she oversees all aspects of program initiatives, including programming strategy, funding calls, peer panel review and funding recommendations. She co-curates the Independent Lens series, a new series of independent programming on PBS which premiered in February 2003. She came to ITVS from KCET/Hollywood as Manager of Broadcast Programming, where she programmed the station’s schedule and managed programming acquisitions. From 1984 to 1991 she was a film programmer at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, one of the nation’s leading exhibition venues for international, documentary and classic Hollywood films. She has curated for the American Film Institute, the Los Angeles Asian American Film and Video Festival, and the Wexner
Center for the Arts in Ohio. She has served as a programming consultant and
panelist for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Rockefeller
Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Fellowships in the
Arts and other media and funding organizations. She holds a Bachelor of Arts
in Communications Studies and a Master of Arts in Film and Television
Studies from UCLA.
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Vanessa Arteaga
Executive Producer,
Jaman
Vanessa Arteaga is a ten-year film industry veteran working in content
development and distribution. Vanessa is currently the Executive Producer for
Jaman - an online film community for people passionate about world cinema -
where she is charged with strategic acquisitions for the company and plays a
role in online audience development, marketing and community outreach. Prior to
Jaman, Vanessa served as a senior development executive with Wellspring Media,
formerly known as a leading theatrical film, television and video distribution
company with an acclaimed independent film library. Following the 2006
acquisition of Wellspring by The Weinstein Co., Vanessa was the acquisitions and
development consultant for LIME Media, a Revolution Company. She served as
Executive Producer on such projects as the documentary Unknown White Male
(theatrically released in 2006), a film that chronicles the mesmerizing journey
of a man who spontaneously loses his memory and has no recollection of his past.
The film was chosen as one of the fifteen Academy Award finalists for Best
Documentary with coverage in the New York Times, which hailed it as a
‘thought-stirring documentary… that gets you to thinking about how our lives are
built from wisps of memory and markers of memory like photographs.’ She also
served as an Executive Producer on the feature-length documentary film
Tarnation and secured it as a co-production for Wellspring. The film went on
to receive worldwide acclaim, including the award for Best Documentary by the
National Society of Film Critics; the award for Best Documentary at the Los
Angeles Film Festival; the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and
the Emerging Filmmaker Award by the International Documentary Association.
Tarnation was also nominated for Best Documentary of the year for both the
IFP Gotham Awards and the IFP Spirit Awards. Vanessa managed the company’s
content development strand, tracking documentaries and lifestyle programming in
the production/post-production phase, ultimately securing and packaging them as
a co-production property for distribution through Wellspring’s theatrical,
television and home entertainment channels. Prior projects include Devil’s
Playground, and Fashion Victim: The Killing of Gianni Versace for
Cinemax, Mama Africa for PBS, Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied
for American Masters, Who is Alan Smithee? for AMC, Howard Hughes: His
Movies and His Women for TCM and several pledge programs for PBS.
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Taina Bien-Aime, Vice President
Executive Director, Equality Now
Taina Bien-Aime is currently Executive Director of Equality Now, an
international human rights organization working for the rights of girls and
women. She holds a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law and a
Licence in Political Science from the University of Geneva/Graduate School of
International Studies, Switzerland. She also practiced international corporate
law at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton from 1992 to 1996 and was Director of
Business Affairs/Film Acquisition at Home Box Office from 1996 to 1999.
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Tina DeFeliciantonio
Director/Producer
Naked Eye Productions, Ltd.
Tina DiFeliciantonio is a director/producer whose critically acclaimed work has been screened and broadcast in countries throughout the world. Her independent documentaries have garnered numerous top honors, including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary and two National Emmy Awards. In addition to her own films, Tina has worked on a number of independent docs and features, including Mira Nair's
Kama Sutra.
Support for her work has come from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Film Institute, Independent Television Service, Rockefeller Foundation, Women In Film Foundation, California Council for the Humanities and New York State Council for the Arts. Tina has participated on various panels and juries, and, is a member of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
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Phoebe Eng
Vice Chair, Ms. Foundation for Women
Executive Director, Creative Counsel
Phoebe Eng has built strategic partnerships at the intersection of media,
communications, and advocacy for over 15 years with partners such as Working
Mother Media, Cox Communications, a range of Fortune 100 companies such as
Procter & Gamble, IBM, and JP Morgan Chase, Dell Computers and Hewlett Packard,
foundations and public agencies. Eng is a Co-Founder Emeritus of the national
think tank, The Opportunity Agenda, and is now head of Creative Counsel, a media
and communications group that taps the potential of the media, arts and creative
communities for social justice causes.
Eng sits on the Advisory Board of Working Mother Media’s Best Companies for
Multicultural Women initiative, which produces an annual best practices list,
and is the Vice Chair of the Ms. Foundation for Women, where she also helped
conceptualize a fund aimed at elevating the voices of women, especially women of
color, in public policy. Eng directed the The Social Change Communications
Project, a research initiative exploring the role of media and communications in
social justice advocacy. Eng received the New York City Mayor’s Innovator Award,
the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Medal, and a Distinguished Service Award from NYU
School of Law. Eng started her career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney in
New York, Paris, and Hong Kong. She is the author of Warrior Lessons: An Asian
American Woman’s Journey into Power (Simon & Schuster) and contributed the
forward to Yell-oh Girls!: Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and
Growing Up Asian American, by Vickie Nam. back to top

Leslie Fields-Cruz
Grants Manager, National Black Programming Consortium
Leslie A. Fields-Cruz has worked in the independent film and
theatre-in-education communities as an actor, producer, director, educator, and
administrator. She served as the Membership Director at AIVF, supervised student
productions at New York University's Television Center, and is currently serving
as the Grants Manager at the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC). She
has also worked for the Creative Capital and the Rockefeller Foundations
administrating the Multi Arts Production (MAP) Fund. As the Artistic Director at
City Lights Youth Theatre she produced and/or directed several plays and
musicals including "Susannah and the Star Thing" by Susan Birkenhead, "Best
Friends" by William Holt and Aaron Hagin, "The Wrestling Season" by Laurie
Brooks, and the US premiere of "Sparkle Shark" by Philip Ridley. She continues
to serve as an artist/teacher having just recently led a 6-week workshop in
beginning acting at the Playground Theatre in White Plains. Mrs. Fields-Cruz
holds an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University, received her Acting
training at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and holds a BA in
Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She has served as an
panelist/evaluator for ITVS, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs
(Cultural Challenge), and ART/NY's Nancy Quinn Fund. She is married and the
happy mother of two beautiful girls.
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Kathryn F. Galan, Secretary
Executive Director, National Association of Latino Independent Producers
Kathryn F. Galan is the Executive Director of the National Association of Latino
Independent Producers, a national non-profit arts services organization
dedicated to the support and development of Latino and Latina film, television
and documentary makers. Now an independent producer, she is Executive Producer
of EARLY BIRD SPECIAL, a low-budget black comedy directed by Mark Jean ("7th
Heaven") that stars Anita Gillette and Max Perlich, and is also working on a
number of other features in progress. Previously, Ms. Galan produced FRENCH KISS
with Meg Ryan and Working Title Films, and for two years, partnered with Ryan in
Prufrock Pictures at Twentieth Century Fox to develop and produce feature films
that examined contemporary themes and issues. Between 1989 and 1993, Ms. Galan
was Vice President, Production for Walt Disney Studio's motion picture division
Hollywood Pictures and prior to that spent seven years at Atlantic Entertainment
Group in acquisitions, purchasing the rights to distribute foreign and
independent films in the U.S. and Canada. She eventually moved into the role of
Senior Vice President, Production, supervising the production and development of
hip low-budget, high-quality features, and worked on over twenty movies there.
Ms. Galan graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College in 1980 as an English
major. She moved to Los Angeles to study film and television history, aesthetics
and critical theory at UCLA. She grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is the
mother of a son Wynn Vicente, born in 1995. She is a past board member of the
AFI Third Decade Council and now serves on the Boards of Directors of the
International Documentary Association and Women Make Movies.
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Michelle Halsell
CEO and Co-Founder, Missing
Pixel
Michelle Halsell is the CEO and a Co-Founder of Missing Pixel. A producer and
a filmmaker, Michelle brings over 12 years of experience in building teams and
leading projects in exploring new technologies and interactive story telling.
Throughout her career, she has developed and led projects for ITVS, the
Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB), NEH, and Star Schools Grants for the
U.S. department of Education. In addition her work as a visual artist has
premiered in projects at The Kitchen and 651 Arts. Her ongoing collaborations
with award-winning filmmakers, musicians, and Tony nominated performers over the
years has led to the development of web sites, CD-Roms, DVDs, digital video
projects and interactive installations. Through Missing Pixel, Michelle
continues her goals to create media that explores and tests pre-existing
boundaries of new media while reflecting both diversity and innovation. She is
equally committed to developing new audiences and addressing issues of
accessibility at all points in the production process. Ms. Halsell received her
Masters Degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York
University. She has presented to audiences ranging from Harvard University to
PBS Annual conferences in San Francisco and Nashville. Ms. Halsell teaches
graduate seminars in Interactive Documentary production and Technology and
Social Activism at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
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Caroline Libresco
Senior Programmer, Sundance Film
Festival
Since 2001, Caroline Libresco has been Senior Programmer for the Sundance
Film Festival, where she selects features in all sections, focusing on
documentary and international, and acts as conduit between artists and industry.
She serves on the leadership team for Sundance’s new Creative Producing
Initiative. Previously, she was an executive at ITVS, the San Francisco Film
Festival, and the SF Jewish Film Festival. She produced the award-winning
documentary, SUNSET STORY; the featurette BARRIER DEVICE; associate-produced the
HBO documentary CAT DANCERS; and was developing producer on THE GRACE LEE
PROJECT. She co-wrote and produced FANCI’S PERSUASION, directed by Charles
Herman-Wurmfeld. Caroline founded “Planet Cinema,” annually presenting an
environmental sidebar at the Seattle Film Festival. She serves as consultant to
Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership and U.S. Delegate for the Zurich Film
Festival. Caroline holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. in History of
Religion from Harvard, and an M.F.A. from UCLA Film School.
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Marian Masone, Treasurer
Managing
Director of Festivals and Associate Director of Programming,
The Film Society of
Lincoln Center
Marian Masone is Managing Director of Festivals and Associate Director of
Programming for the Film Society of Lincoln Center, producer of the New York
Film Festival. She is a member of the selection committee for the New
Directors/New Films Festival, which is presented with The Museum of Modern Art
in New York. She curates the New York Video Festival and is on the programming
committee of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. She organizes
new and retrospective programs, as well as on-going series such as Image
Innovators at the Film Society's Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. In
addition she is on advisory boards for the Boston International Festival of
Women's Cinema, the N.Y. Expo of Short Film & Video, and the Hamptons
International Film Festival. She previously curated Philadelphia's Festival of
Independents, presented programs of American media makers at the Museo Reina
Sofia in Madrid, and has served on various juries and panels including Art on
Film at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Black Maria Film Festival, NYSCA,
and the Hamptons International Film Festival. She has a B.A. in Theater from
Marymount Manhattan College and an M.A. in cinema studies from NYU and writes on
media for various publications.
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Helen D. ("Heidi") Reavis, Vice President
Attorney,
Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP
Helen D. ("Heidi") Reavis is co-Managing Partner of
Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP, founded over fifteen years ago
and with lawyers located in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ms. Reavis' practice
concentrates primarily on intellectual property law and media transactions, and employment
law, discrimination actions and dispute resolution. The firm's practice also includes commercial
litigation, company and partnership matters, government relations, land use and real estate, and
individual business affairs. A graduate of Smith College, Ms. Reavis earned a graduate certificate
at the University of Lund in Sweden, and her law degree from the University of Chicago. She has
served actively on several not-for-profit boards including Women Make Movies, the Friends Seminary
School, and the Women's City Club of New York (serving as co-counsel). Ms. Reavis is a member of
the Women's Forum and has been a guest lecturer at New York University and the University of
California (Irvine), and a contributor or moderator on numerous panels for law, not-for-profit and
other professional organizations. Ms. Reavis was also a production executive on the award-winning
feature documentary, A Walk to Beautiful, on the subject of child-birth injuries in developing
nations. A Walk to Beautiful has been featured or won awards at over 25 film festivals, and won
the coveted International Documentary Association award for Best Feature Documentary.
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Esther Robinson
Filmmaker and Producer
Esther Robinson is an award winning filmmaker and producer. Her
critically acclaimed directorial debut "A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and
The Warhol Factory" took top prizes at The Berlin, Tribeca and Chicago
film festivals and is currently in international theatrical release. Other
producing projects include the film Home Page (by acclaimed filmmaker Doug
Block), the digital satellite release of The Last Broadcast to 5 cities,
the award winning PBS series Alive From Off Center and serving as the Director
of Film/Video and Performing Arts for the Creative Capital Foundation
(1999-2006). Additionally, Esther has a philanthropy consulting practice
(clients include The Ford Foundation, Chicken and Egg Pictures and The Fledgling
Fund ), is a technical advisor on the "Shifting Sands – Art, Culture and
Neighborhood Change" initiative (this initiative recognizes neighborhood-based
arts and cultural organizations as unique stakeholders in poor neighborhoods
experiencing economic and demographic shifts and is funded by the Ford
Foundation and managed by Partners for Livable Communities) and she is the
founder of ArtHome a non-profit business that helps artists and their
communities build assets and equity through financial literacy and
home-ownership. Esther has a film and television degree from NYU's Tisch
School of the Arts.
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Patricia White, President
Professor, Swarthmore
College
Patricia White is Associate Professor of English Literature and Chair of Film
and Media Studies at Swarthmore College where she teaches Feminist Film and
Media Studies among other courses. She was an intern and later a staff member at
Women Make Movies. She's the author of Uninvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and
Lesbian Representability and she is a member of the editorial collective of
Camera Obscura.
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