Carlos Battilana , Jean-Pierre Bekolo Obama, Richard Linklater, Sally Potter,  Annie Sundberg, Eric Watson, Jason Wishnow

Carlos Battilana

Producer

Carlos is a seasoned creative entrepreneur in the advertising, new media, film and nonprofit worlds. He successfully marries creativity, art, technology and philanthropy through his multiple creative ventures. He has produced both interactive and broadcast projects for national and international clients such as Fox, Discovery Channel, MTV, Toyota, Scion, P&G and Sanrio.
His first independent film project led to the production of the short THE BLINDNESS OF THE WOODS which has screened in about 20 international film festivals including Sundance, and won awards in the Clermont-Ferrand and Milan Film Festivals.
In 2003, Carlos started the Amauta Project (Amautalab) which has roots in Cusco, Peru and is devoted to bring infrastructure and training around film and new media to the local audiences working in conjunction with several art faculties in the US and Canada and renowned artists and media professionals from around the world. Carlos was part of the support team who created isuma.tv, a web film portal for indigenous populations of the world to distribute their local film productions. He has offices in Los Angeles, Peru & Argentina and currently resides in sunny Venice, CA.

Jean-Pierre Bekolo Obama

Director

Jean-Pierre's debut film QUARTIER MOZART received the Prix Afrique en Creation at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. His second film ARISTOTLE'S PLOT was commissioned by the British Film Institute to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema which included works by Martin Scorcese, Jean-Luc Godard, Bertolucci, George Miller.
Bekolo's new book "Africa for the Future" was recently published by Editions Dagan, Paris, 2009. He recently released LES SAIGNANTES which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and won the Silver Stallion and the Best Actress Award at Fespaco 2007 in Ouagadougou. Bekolo's video installation An African Woman in Space was an exhibit at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris in 2008. 
Bekolo studied film semiotics in Paris with Christian Metz. Bekolo has taught at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Duke University. While at The Clinton School of Public Service he has develop a media teaching method called Auteur Learning used at Philander Smith College in Arkansas. Bekolo is the Secretary General of the Guild of African Filmmakers and founding member of World Cinema Alliance.

Richard Linklater

Writer/Director

Linklater serves as the Artistic Director for the Austin Film Society, which he founded in 1985 to showcase films from around the world that were not typically shown in Austin. The Austin Film Society has given out over $930,000 in grants to Texas filmmakers and in 1999, received the first National Honoree Award from the Directors Guild of America in recognition of its support of the arts. He wrote/directed "It's impossible to learn to plow by reading books" (1988), DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993), BEFORE SUNRISE (1995), SCHOOL OF ROCK (2003), ME AND ORSON WELLES (2009); and many others. He runs a production company called Detour Film Production.

Sally Potter

Writer/Director

Sally directed her first feature, THE GOLD DIGGERS, starring Julie Christie, in 1983. After THE LONDON STORY (1986), and several documentaries, she wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated ORLANDO, starring Tilda Swinton.

This was followed by THE TANGO LESSON (1996) and THE MAN WHO CRIED (2000), starring Christina Ricci, Johnny Depp, Cate Blanchett and John Turturro. In 2004 Potter made YES, starring Joan Allen, Simon Abkarian and Sam Neill. Potter then directed CARMEN for English National Opera in Autumn 2007. Potter's latest film, RAGE (2009), starring Judi Dench, Jude Law and Steve Buscemi, was the first ever film to premiere on mobile phones. Sally Potter has a blog and message board at www.sallypotter.com.

Annie Sundberg

Producer/Director

Break Thru Films founders Annie Sundberg and Rick Stern are co-directors of the award-winning and Emmy-nominated films THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK, THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT, and the forthcoming feature about comic legend JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK, and BURMA SOLDIER for HBO, the story of a former junta member and Burmese soldier who risks everything to become a pro-democracy activist.
In 2009, they received a Sundance/Skoll "Stories of Change" production grant for their film about the innovative program YouthBuild, following three at-risk Philadelphia youths who enter a powerful year-long alternative education program to rebuild their own lives and communities. Annie developed and produced the award-winning films TULLY (2003 Spirit Award Nominee), IN MY CORNER (POV/PBS) and ONE SURVIVOR REMEMBERS (HBO).
Break Thru Films also produces and directs commercial spots and foundation campaign work. They are currently in development on a feature adaptation of THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT and a new series for the Sundance Channel.

Eric Watson

Producer

Eric Watson began his career at San Francisco State, majoring in Broadcast Communication Arts. He went on to study Motion Picture Production at the American Film Institute, and was awarded the Mary Pickford Scholarship for Excellence in Producing. Watson first met and collaborated with director Darren Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique at AFI, a union that would mark the beginning of a long and productive partnership.
In 1995, Watson moved to New York City to produce his first feature, π. The movie debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998. Released that summer, it was warmly received by a wide audience, and went on to earn Watson an IFP/West Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature.
Watson also produced REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Aronofsky's follow-up to π, which starts Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans. Requiem was named one of the Top Ten Films of 2000 by a number of national publications, including The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly.
Watson also served as executive producer on Rob Schmidt's feature début, SATURN, and producer on David Twohy's BELOW and producer on Darren Aronofsky's THE FOUNTAIN starring Hugh Jackman, Ellen Burstyn, and Rachael Weisz, and Executive Producer on the award-winning documentary MY MOTHER'S GARDEN by Cynthia Lester. His latest projects include the forthcoming WHAT'S WRONG WITH VIRGINIA written and directed by Oscar winner Lance Black and the documentary THALBERG: BOY WONDER, hosted by Robert Evans.
He is the co-founder of Infamous Pictures, a production and distribution company based in Los Angeles with several projects in development.

Jason Wishnow

Director/Curator

Jason is a New York-based film director. Wishnow is the Director of Film and Video for TED and a co-creator of TEDTalks, the web video series viewed more than 200 million times since 2006.
Wishnow has been called an "online-video virtuoso" (The New York Times, 2009), the "enfant terrible of digital film" (The Guardian, 2000), and one of the ten most influential digital filmmakers of 1999 (RES Magazine).
Wishnow's background is at the intersection of film and emerging technologies. In 1996, Wishnow founded THE NEW VENUE as the first curated showcase of movies made specifically for the Internet. In 1997, Wishnow directed one of the first documentaries shot on mini-DV, TATOOINE OR BUST, about fans camping out to see Star Wars. In 2000, Wishnow held the first film festival for the Palm Pilot, THE AGGRESSIVELY BORING FILM FESTIVAL.
Recent directing credits include music videos for The Airborne Toxic Event ("Sometimes Around Midnight," Rolling Stone's #12 Music Video of 2008) and the CinemaScope OEDIPUS, an epic retelling of the Greek myth starring vegetables (Official Selection at 70+ international film festivals including Sundance, Seattle, Sao Paulo, and Hong Kong). 
A graduate of Stanford, Wishnow has directed documentaries for UK's Channel 4, accepted invitations to speak at film festivals and new media events around the world (including Sundance, SXSW, and RESFEST), and been fired by Woody Allen's production office. For more on Jason visit www.wishnow.com