Cindy Lou Adkins created and produced An Unlikely Weapon, the award-winning documentary about her late brother-in-law, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams. The film was on the short list this year for an Academy nomination. Ms. Adkins was the Associate Producer on another award-winning documentary, Blues by the Beach, about a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. David Mamet is quoted as saying, “This is a very, very important film.” Ms. Adkins was also the Associate Producer on the controversial documentary Brother Minister: The Assassination Of Malcolm X. While attending Virginia Commonwealth University, Cindy Lou landed her first acting role in Louis Malle’s My Dinner With Andre. The film was shot in Richmond and premiered at the Biograph Theatre. She then went on to appear in other feature films including Disturbia and Bad Santa, as well as numerous television episodes and commercials. Currently, Ms. Adkins is developing a reality show and is beginning work on a new documentary.

Rick Alverson is a filmmaker, musician and carpenter. He has released 10 records on the renowned independent label Jagjaguwar, most recently as the founding member of the band Spokane. The Builder (2009), his first feature film, was shot chronologically over the course of a year, in Far Rockway Queens, the Catskills and Richmond, VA, where he currently lives. He has just completed work on his second feature, New Jerusalem, again shot in Richmond, which stars The Builder’s Colm O’Leary and Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie “Prince” Billy).

Jordan Brady barely graduated from Meadowbrook High School in 1982. After two years of scholastic failure at Virginia Tech, he dropped out and took the open mic stage in the basement of Matt's British Pub. With mentors like Richmond comic Brett Leakea, Jordan began a 12-year career as a stand up comedian. “I AM COMIC” is his fifth feature film he's directed and, besides being his most recent film, it is his most personal film to date.

Jem Cohen is a New York-based filmmaker/media artist whose works are built from his own ongoing archive of street footage, portraits, and sound. His films and installations often navigate the grey area between documentary, narrative, and experimental genres. Benjamin Smoke, co-directed with Peter Sillen, was selected for festivals including Berlin, Edinburgh, Melbourne, London, and Vancouver. Instrument, the feature-length documentary made with the band, Fugazi, premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival and was chosen for the 2000 Whitney Biennial. Cohen has had retrospectives at venues including the NFT in London, Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (BAFICI), the Gijon Film Fest (Spain) and the Oberhausen Film Fest (Germany). He did a series of collaborative films and installations with Patti Smith for her recent show at the Fondation Cartier in Paris. Cohen has worked extensively with musicians including Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Fugazi, Vic Chesnutt, the Ex, Terry Riley, Elliott Smith, R.E.M., Sparklehorse, and the Orpheus Orchestra. He has received grants from organizations including the Guggenheim, Creative Capital, Rockefeller, and Alpert Foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Paul Harrill’s narrative films and documentary videos have screened on five continents at film festivals, museums, and on television. Venues have included the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, and the Sundance Film Festival, where Harrill’s short film Gina, An Actress, Age 29 was awarded the Jury Prize. Harrill’s work has been supported by the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and the Aperture Film Grant (among others), and by residencies at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Harrill has taught courses in digital video production at Virginia Tech since 2006. In addition to his teaching and filmmaking, Harrill maintains a popular weblog, selfreliantfilm.com, which discusses issues surrounding the art and practice of do-it-yourself regional filmmaking. He is the producer and co-cinematographer of the documentary For Memories’ Sake, directed by Ashley Maynor.

Happily romping through their 18th year of musical adventures, 2005 Theresa Pollak Prize winners for Excellence in the Arts Hotel X continue their sonic explorations of groove with vigor. Seven albums over the years are soon to be joined by a much-anticipated eighth, and ongoing collaborations with stellar musicians like Grammy-nominee Cheick Hamala Diabate from Mali keep exciting and expanding the process.

Horse Archer Productions was founded in 2005 by Sean Kotz and Chris Valluzzo, two Virginia natives and current residents of the New River Valley. Before forming the company, Kotz taught writing, literature and film at Virginia Tech and Valluzzo completed the director’s certificate program at the New York Film Academy and worked heavily in the DC Metro indie scene. Their first feature film, Hokie Nation, hit theaters in 2007 and propelled the company on to three more documentaries in two years – The Henry Reed Legacy, Why Old Time? and Virginia Creepers. Future projects include documentaries on Highwoods String Band, pro-wrestler Jimmy Valiant and in fall of 2010, they anticipate the release of Hi There Horror Movie Fans, a documentary about the Bowman Body.

Ashley Maynor is a documentarian whose films and new media works have been exhibited around the country. Maynor is also engaged with building communities through video partnerships, empowering youth and communities to tell their own stories. Maynor’s creative work, outreach, and research have been supported by the Southern Humanities Media Fund, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Maynor has taught workshops as a video facilitator for Scribe Video Center’s Precious Places Project and as a guest artist in the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge’s Artists in Schools program. She is the co-founder and program director of Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg Stories Youth Video Workshop and organizes Southwest Virginia’s annual Home Movie Day celebration. Maynor joined the Virginia Tech Cinema Program in Fall 2008 as a Visiting Assistant Professor.

Celia Maysles was born and raised in New York City and graduated with a degree in Hispanic Studies from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. Her first feature film, Wild Blue Yonder, about her personal search to learn more about her father, famed verite filmmaker David Maysles, premiered in November 2007 and was “one of the most talked about documentaries at IDFA” (Variety). Wild Blue Yonder continues to play on international television and is being exhibited in universities around the world. She has also worked as a producer, developer, and real people recruiter for Corra Films since 2004, working on projects including the feature documentary Jack, VH1 pilot “Proof,” MTV’s “True Life: I’m Amish,” and The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan.

Peter Schilling Jr. is a Minnesota-based novelist and film critic. His work has appeared in The Rake magazine and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, as well as his own blog, The Bug, mudvillemagazine.com/bug. He is the author of the acclaimed novel, The End of Baseball, and is currently at work on both a graphic and conventional novel.

Rich Shydner, writer and interviewer for I AM COMIC, was a stand-up comedian, headlining favorite of all the comedy clubs in the 80’s and 90's with numerous guest spots on The Tonight Show with Carson and Leno as well as The Letterman Show. He has had his own HBO and Showtime specials and has been a comedy writer for Rosanne and Jeff Foxworthy. His recent book, I Killed, garnered great reviews and a lot of attention within the comedy community. He is currently writing a book on the history of comedy.

Barr Weissman is a documentary film director, editor and producer. Since 1998 he has produced and edited the documentary segments for the National Memorial Day Concert, broadcast live on PBS each May. He has directed and edited several biographical films for the Kennedy Center Honors (including most recently films on The Who, Mel Brooks and Bruce Springsteen). Barr edited and helped produce several independent documentaries; including the Academy award winning film, The Stonecarvers, Mr. Justice Brennan, and the feature Finding Our Voices. In addition, he has produced and edited films for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, NBC, PBS, and others. His work has been recognized by the Emmy’s, received awards at film festivals worldwide, and screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A native Washingtonian, Mr. Weissman produced and independently distributed two critically acclaimed documentaries about the city – Home: The Langston Terrrace Dwellings and A View From The Street: The Art Of Lily Spandorf. He lives in Takoma Park, MD with his wife, three wonderful daughters, and dog, Skidoo, who is almost trained.

Bridging the Festivals: French director Héléna Cotinier, French producer Annie Miller and production manager and Richmonder Isaac Regelson appear courtesy of a partnership with the VCU-UR French Film Festival, March 25-28, 2010. For more information visit www.frenchfilm.vcu.edu.