Officers
Patricia White,
Chair
and
President
Professor and Chair
of
Film and Media Studies,
Swarthmore College
Leslie Fields-Cruz,
Vice President
VP Operations and Director of Programming,
National Black Programming
Consortium
Caroline Libresco,
Vice President
Senior Programmer, Sundance Film Festival
Kathryn F. Galan,
Secretary
Executive Director, National Assc. of Latino Independent Producers
Tina DiFeliciantonio, Treasurer
Director/Producer, Naked Eye Productions, Ltd.
Board
Claire Aguilar,
Senior Vice President of Programming
Independent Television Service (ITVS)
Vanessa Arteaga, Executive Producer,
Jaman
Phoebe Eng, Executive Director,
Creative Counsel & Vice Chair, Ms. Foundation for Women
Marian Masone,
Managing Director of Festivals and Associate Director of Programming, The
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Nicole
Page, Partner, Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP
Esther Robinson,
Filmmaker and Producer
Barrie Pribyl,
Emerita, Organizational Development Consultant
Debra Zimmerman,
Ex Officio
Executive Director, Women Make Movies
 WMM Staff
Page
Claire Aguilar
Senior Vice President of Programming,
Independent Television Service (ITVS)
Claire Aguilar is the Senior 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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Marian Masone
Managing
Director of Festivals and Associate Director of Programming, The Film Society of
Lincoln Center
Marian Masone is Director, Festivals and Associate Director, Programming for the Film Society of Lincoln Center, producer of the New York Film Festival. A member of the selection committee for New Directors/New Films, which is presented with The Museum of Modern Art in New York, she is also on the programming committee of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. She organizes new and retrospective series, as well as the on-going programs Independents Night, Green Screens and Image Innovators at the Film Society's Walter Reade Theater and moderates lectures and panel discussions there. She has served on advisory boards for the Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema, the Hamptons International Film Festival and the NY Expo of Short Film & Video, and is a member of the board of directors of Women Make Movies. She has curated the Festival of Independents in Philadelphia, New American Media Makers at Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, and has served on juries and panels at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Black Maria Film Festival, the San Francisco Film Festival, the Nashville Film Festival, the Hamptons Film Festival, New York State Council for the Arts, the Princess Grace Foundation, Creative Capital, the PBS series P.O.V.and others. She is also a member of the Preservation Committee of New York Women in Film and Television and as such serves on the panel that selects films for restoration and also programs the annual Women in Film Preservation Fund program at the Walter Reade Theater. She has been a guest lecturer at Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, as well as the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. She has a B.A. in theater from Marymount Manhattan College and an M.A. in cinema studies from New York University and writes on film and media for various publications.
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Tina DiFeliciantonio, Treasurer
Director/Producer
Naked Eye Productions, Ltd.
From cinema vérité to impressionistic documentaries, Tina DiFeliciantonio’s critically acclaimed work has been screened and broadcast in countries throughout the world.
With her partner Jane C. Wagner, she has tackled a wide range of subjects—such as teenage sexuality, child abuse, war time rape, LGBT civil rights, social justice, sustainable energy, art and science—garnering dozens of top honors, including two National Emmy Awards and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary.
Having worked in countries throughout the world, including Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh, India, Japan, Australia, China, England, Mexico and Turkey, DiFeliciantonio will soon be heading off to Bosnia for a PBS/Wide Angle Special. Other works-in-progress include a film on the survivors of foreign torture, and, a documentary on a female indie filmmaker circa 1910.
DiFeliciantonio’s films have been seen on PBS’s P.O.V., Sundance Channel, Showtime, TLC, SciFi Channel, USA Networks, HBO and foreign television. Support for her work has come from organizations such as the American Film Institute, National Endowment for the Arts, Independent Television Service, Women In Film Foundation, The California Council for the Humanities and New York State Council for the Arts + The Sundance Documentary Fund.
DiFeliciantonio is member of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and currently serves on the boards of Women Make Movies and Independent Filmworks Inc.
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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 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.
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Leslie Fields-Cruz,
Vice President
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. Galán has been NALIP’s Executive Director for nine years. She has established NALIP as the preeminent national Latino media organization, transforming it from an NCLR special project to a substantial advocacy and professional development organization. Kathryn has overseen 9 national conferences, and created NALIP’s signature programs: the Latino Producers Academy, Latino Writers Lab, Latino Media Market, Latino Media Resource Guide, and “Doing your Doc: Diverse Visions, Regional Voices.” She is responsible for all staffing and day-to-day management, millions in corporate and foundation fundraising, publicity strategies and branding, plus regional programs and chapter development. She has worked as an independent producer (French Kiss,
Squanto, and Daybreak) new media consultant, and studio executive. She was head of production for Atlantic Entertainment Group, and a production vice president at Walt Disney Studio’s Hollywood Pictures. Then, she ran Meg Ryan’s Prufrock Pictures, and her own consultancy firm, EKR Strategies. She is a graduate of Amherst College and did initial media studies in video art at SUNY Buffalo, then Masters studies in film history and criticism at UCLA, specializing in World Cinema.
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Caroline Libresco,
Vice President
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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Nicole Page
Partner,
Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP
Nicole Page is a graduate of Cornell University (B.A. 1990) and the Law School
of the University of Pennsylvania (J.D. 1993). Nicole is a Partner at Reavis
Parent Lehrer LLP where she specializes in entertainment, intellectual property
and employment law (www.rpl-law.com). Nicole is also Head of Business Affairs at
Engel Entertainment, Inc., a New York City based film and television production
company (www.engelentertainment.com).
Nicole and her colleagues counsel filmmakers, producers and feature film and
television production companies in connection with issues ranging from film
financing, rights acquisition, production agreements, exploitation of ancillary
rights, content licensing, clearance, distribution and an array of related
matters. Nicole serves as production counsel and negotiates theatrical,
broadcast and home video distribution deals for many film and television
productions. She also represents commercial photographers as well as directors,
performers, writers and others in the arts and entertainment industries.
Nicole regularly lectures and writes on legal issues in the arts and media. She
has appeared on panels at SXSW, Slamdance, The Hamptons International Film
Festival, The World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, IFP and
RealScreen, among other festivals and conferences. Over the years, Nicole has
also worked with colleagues including Heidi Reavis to provide relevant and
topical information to filmmakers (such as through NYWIFT) and in counseling and
supporting filmmakers in the WMM fiscal sponsorship and distribution programs,
and has participated in workshops sponsored by WMM for its filmmakers.
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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 ,
Chair and President
Professor and Chair of Film and Media Studies,
Swarthmore
College
Patricia White is Professor 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 the co-author with Timothy Corrigan of
The Film Experience, and she's published many book chapters and essays
in such journals as Screen and Cinema Journal. Critical Visions in Film
Theory, co-edited with Timothy Corrigan and Meta Mazaj, is forthcoming.
She is writing a book on global women's feature filmmaking in the
twenty-first century. She is a member of the editorial collective of
Camera Obscura, the leading journal of feminism, media, and culture.
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