Short

Niels Bourgonje (1980) is an award-winning short film and commercial director based in Amsterdam. Niels graduated with the short thriller BURN, which was selected for several international film festivals winning numerous awards. Since then, his short films have consistently been selected for Academy Award qualifying festivals like Palm Springs ShortFest, Seattle International Film Festival, HollyShorts International Film Festival, Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, Odense International Film Festival, Izmir International Short Film Festival, Brussels Short Film Festival and Leuven Kortfilm. His most recent films, TURN IT AROUND and SWIPE, garnered over one hundred film festival selections. Niels signed with WME after the premiere of his new short SWIPE. His latest films are WOODLAND CEMETERY and BARRIER. He is currently developing his feature debut.

Frank H. Woodward is an award-winning producer, director, and writer with over 30 years experience in film and television production.

His feature documentaries are fueled by a deep love of sci-fi, horror and fantasy. His first documentary was the award winning "Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown". This chronicle of the life, work and mind of author H.P. Lovecraft featured interviews with Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter and Guillermo Del Toro.

His other documentary work includes the critically acclaimed "Men In Suits", a look at the art of creature suits and the actors that bring those characters to life including Doug Jones, Tom Woodruff, Jr. and the original Godzilla, Haruo Nakajima.

As a screenwriter, Frank wrote the sequel "Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort" for Fox and the SyFy Original Movie "Black Forest". He was also an executive producer on the SyFy International film "Firequake".

In the world of short films, Frank has written and directed "Balloon" and "Pinata" (Parts One & Two of the unofficial Birthday Trilogy). He also collaborated with director Jack Bennett on the Jaws spoof, "Quint In '58" which was featured on Bite Size Horror.

Frank continues to explore new frontiers for independent filmmakers in these uncertain times through his podcast Film Sense (available on LibSyn and iTunes).

Virat Pal is an Indian writer/director based in Los Angeles. A graduate in Advertising from Mumbai University, Virat began his career in marketing and sales working for Google, before making the transition to films.

After completing his education from UCLA where he did a professional program in Screenwriting and Cinematography, he wrote and directed his first short DOXPARA - a 14 min Science fiction film that premiered at FilmQuest Film Festival in Utah. Virat followed this short with his first feature - RECAPTURE - a micro budget noir thriller made on 16mm black and white film that he directed, wrote and produced. Virat's third film was a proof-of-concept horror short titled THE BELLS. The film went viral on YouTube last year and has since garnered more than 4 Million views.

FACELIFT is Virat’s fourth film in the last 4 years, the inception of which took place when he accidentally stumbled upon a commercial for a cosmetic product online.

Scott was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area where he was introduced to film-making at a very young age. Shooting movies on his parent's 8mm camera, Scott developed a love for classic monster films and creature features which broadened his understanding of what was possible in the world of cinema. In 2006 Scott received his B.A. in Political Science from St. Mary's College of California and subsequently realized he should have picked something else.

He is the founder and owner of Monster Tale Films and co-host of The Dad's Doomsday Guide Podcast.

LIZ FANIA WERNER
Director / Writer
Liz earned an MFA from the University of Southern California’s Writing for Screen and Television program.
She went on to work as a staff writer on the one-hour drama series RPM MIAMI, which aired on the Mun2 network, and to pen a feature adaptation of BABYLON SISTERS, a novel by Oprah Book Club selected author
Pearl Cleage. Most recently, her feature script, KIN, won the PAGE Award Silver Prize in the Horror-Thriller category. Liz lives in Los Angeles where she is currently working with co-director Carlos Montaner on the feature film version of Into the Uncanny Valley.

CARLOS MONTANER
Director / Cinematographer
Carlos was raised in Madrid and earned an MFA in cinematography at the American Film Institute. He has shot multiple independent films, including FRIENDS AND LOVERS starring Robert Downey Jr. for
Lionsgate. He has also photographed over a hundred commercial campaigns and has pitched, directed and
photographed many others, including the San Francisco Super Bowl spot for ESPN.

Mark Andrews is an Academy Award Winning director of Brave the 2012 Pixar animated film. He’s worked on numerous Pixar films as Head of Story, Incredibles, Ratatouille as well as being part of the Pixar senior creative team. He Co-directed and Co-wrote the live action blockbuster, John Carter of Mars for Disney Feature. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his short animated film One Man Band. He’s received an Emmy for his writing and storyboard work on Star Wars Clone Wars the Animated series, as well as an Annie award for storyboarding on Iron Giant. He is a versatile filmmaker, writer, director and visionary, lending his talents and skills on several other animated feature films and TV series like Samurai Jack, which he wrote and story boarded five episodes, and the New Adventures of Johnny Quest. He’s been a force of Nature in the Animation industry for twenty-six years working at the biggest studios in Animation and Live action. He graduated CALARTS in 1993 with a BFA in film.