Festival Judges
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Mathilde Dehaye
Mathilde was raised in a multicultural environment, surrounded by her Russian grandfather, German grandmother, and Belgian parents. While growing up in the small city of Liège (Belgium), she took dancing classes for over a decade, trained in improvisation, and performed in a few plays throughout the years, coached by professional comedians. Two months after graduating from high school, she took a leap of faith and made her way to New York City to pursue her dreams. She first studied Meisner at The Acting Studio under James Price, then completed a "One Year Acting for Film Conservatory" at The New York Film Academy, and finally graduated with a "Two Year Acting Conservatory" diploma from The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. As of 2019, she's been portraying Amity in the J.J. Abrams & Stephen King series, Castle Rock. Believing she's a full storyteller, Mathilde finds much joy and inspiration in her writing. She won The Strasberg Works Award with her full length play Snow White & The Beast, tapped for production Off-Broadway, directed by Renoly Santiago (Hackers; Con Air; Daylight). She then wrote, produced, and played the lead in Rhythm in Me, a short film which ended up at The Cannes Short Film Corner as well as at The Palm Springs International ShortFest. |
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Ariel Lavi
Ariel is an International Film Producer, Screenwriter and actor. He studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Film&Theatre Institute and studied screenwriting at few universities in UK . He produced films all over the world- the US, Mexico, Nigeria, Dubai, Canada and so on. He is the owner of Lavi Company in Miami, FL. His films won 46 awards, 26 nominations and were screened in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas, Alabama, Oregon, Ottawa, Toronto, Paris, London, Rome, Florence, Chile, Copenhagen, Belgrade, Nicosia, Bhutan, Sweden, South Korea, Athens, Nigeria, Croatia, India, Taiwan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Kosovo, Indonesia, Sydney, Singapore, Mauritius. He has been interviewed in Radio Stations and Magazines all over the world- the US, China, UK, Caribbean, Italy, Dubai, Japan, Canada, India. |
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YUKILYNN MCELVAIN
Before Yukilynn knew what acting or directing or producing was all about she fell in love with reading aloud in class which caused her to come out of her shell and explore a world of creativity that would follow her throughout her life. When she was eight years old she was so gripped by watching the actresses in "Steel Magnolia's". She fell asleep watching "Mary Tyler Moore" , "Dick Van Dyke" and " I love Lucy" on Nick at Night. She loved this world and wanted more than anything to be a part of it.Yukilynn's pilot "Off Leash" was the 2013 first place winner of the pilot competition at The Sunset Film festival and she is happy to participate this year as a judge as she has admired the films chosen in previous years. Yukilynn is currently living in North Hollywood,California with her husband and producing partner David Lloyd Smith. http://offleashshow.com/ |
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Ornella Chiossone
Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, Ornella traveled to Madrid, Spain to attend the Istituto Europeo di Design. She worked with Spanish fashion designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, and contributed to Modem Editions in Paris. In 2013, Ornella flew to New York City where she continued to work as a costume designer. She received a certificate in Costume Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and has worked on major TV Shows, designed feature films, TV commercials and the music video "It's My Brown Skin" for musician Helado Negro. |
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Abhijeet Devadiga
Being an upcoming cutting edge,hi-tech & with a natural perspective of film making Abhijeet Devadiga, reserves significant source in providing production coordination support by all terms either it be natural way of narrating a script, to a optimistic way of cinematography, to a major support to the team to come up with the best film. The idea and the concept of showing the film turned out phenomenal success & helped him enter the platform to present his way of film making to convince the audience with live situations. |
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Elysia Rotaru
As a leading professional in her craft and a well-recognized member of the artistic community, Elysia Rotaru is an established Actor, Voiceover actor, coach, and award-winning filmmaker. She is known for her work on “Arrow”, “Supernatural”, and alongside Danny Trejo in the feature film “Dead Again in Tombstone”. Most recently can be seen in the new feature film “Cold Pursuit” starring Liam Neeson, Elysia has lent her voice to hundreds of projects, and was the voice of the “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2018”. She is an award-winning filmmaker for the short film “FWD”, and “The Wall” and you can keep up with her on Instagram & Twitter @elysiarotaru and her IMDB. Elysia represented by RED Mgmt, Sutton, Barth & Vennari and Industry Ent. |