2019 PANEL OF COOL
MATT GRADY
is the founder of
Brooklyn-based
indie distribution
company Factory
25, an indie film
distribution company launched in 2009
with the mission of “keeping physical
media alive.” Recently named “One of
the Most Influential People in Brooklyn
Culture,” by Brooklyn magazine, Grady
was formerly director of production at
Brooklyn-based Plexifilm.ERIC ALLEN
HATCH is many
things besides
one of your favor-
ite Twitter person-
alities, with north
of 15,000 followers. A film program-
mer, critic and consultant based in
Baltimore, Maryland, Hatch was Director
of Programming for the Maryland Film
Festival from 2007 to 2018. He’s also a
co-founder of Beyond Video, a Baltimore-
based non-profit video store.BING LIU
is a Chicago-
based director and
cinematographer
named by Variety
as one of 10 docu-
mentary filmmakers to watch in 2018. His
film Minding the Gap won acclaim, includ-
ing a Special Jury Award at Sundance and
a nomination for Best Documentary Feature
at the 91st Academy Awards. Liu was also
a segment director on America to Me,
a 10-hour doc series spotlighting inequities
in America’s education system.JILLIAN MAYER
is a Miami-based
visual perfor-
mance artist
and moviemaker
whose work has
been featured at SXSW and Sundance. She’s
worked with Borscht Film Festival collabo-
rator Lucas Leyva, creating such short films
as “Kaiju Bunraku,” which was picked up
by The Criterion Collection to be paired with
Mothra vs. Godzilla on the Criterion Channel.
In 2017 Mayer voiced a robot in the sci-fi
feature Everything Beautiful Is Far Away.90 percent of its 230-plus screenings
coming from submissions. “Flip to any page
of the catalogue and you’re guaranteed to
find something great to watch,” promises
a panelist. The submissions are filtered for
diversity, with a minimum 50 percent ratio
of women (or non-conforming) moviemak-
ers and a minimum 45 percent ratio of mov-
iemakers of color for the final lineup. You’ll
likely spend free moments in a food coma,
dancing to live music pumping through
a historic mansion, or taking in the view of
the Mississippi. “You’ll fall more in love with
the city while casually meeting brilliant film-
makers,” the panelist says. “Festivals can
sometimes be an overwhelming experience,
but NOFF makes it easy.”
OAK CLIFF FILM FESTIVAL
June 2020 / Dallas, Texas /
oakclifffilmfestival.com
“Oak Cliff has quickly become the most fun
fest in Texas,” proclaims a panelist. “Sorry,
SXSW.” An analog fest in the best sense of
the word, OCFF was created to spotlight
the burgeoning Dallas moviemaking com-
munity and to promote Oak Cliff’s rich his-
tory by utilizing Dallas venues such as the
Texas Theatre (where Lee Harvey Oswald
was apprehended after assassinating JFK).
That theater is the principal location for the
OCFF, and it projects in 16mm and 35mm.
The OCFF’s proprietors have greeted
almost all out-of-town moviemakers and
jury members with airfare and free lodging.
Says one panelist: “OCFF is filmmaker-run,
champions top-notch work in a relaxed
atmosphere, and feels connected to both
its neighborhood and the nationwide film
community, attracting an audience that
skews younger and hipper than the aver-
age general-interest fest.” This year’s
edition included a rare screening of
Yasujirō Ozu’s 1933 silent film Dragnet Girl
with live musical accompaniment.PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL
January 2-13, 2020 /
Palm Springs, California / psfilmfest.org
Described by a panelist as a “rubberneckers’
fantasia” where celebrities come to “prac-
tice their charmingly off-the-cuff, improvisa-
tional teary acceptance speeches,”
the festival is more than just a dry run
for Oscar night. It offers a curated, mature
programming slate: 12 days of narrative,
documentary and short subjects from over
60 countries courtesy of (until earlier this
year) Artistic Director and moviemaker
Michael Lerman. Our panelist summarizes
the task of the curation team: to deliver
an engaging, inspiring program while also
“throwing parties in air museums.”REGARD (SAGUENAY
INTERNATIONAL SHORT
FILM FESTIVAL)
March 13-17, 2019 / Saguenay, Québec,
Canada / festivalregard.com/en
This Oscar-qualifying event “has somehowbeen flying under the radar for over two
decades,” says a panelist. “The fact that
it’s located in a remote, former industry
town and takes place in the middle of win-
ter in Québec might explain why.” The fes-
tival, which recently celebrated its 23rd
year, showcases over 200 works from the
Québec area in the genres of documen-
tary short, youth short, animated short,
Canadian short, and more. The fest offers a
cabaret nightly and networking breakfasts.ROOFTOP FILMS
May 17-August 24, 2019 /
Brooklyn, New York / rooftopfilms.com
“Talk about a festival punching way
above its weight!,” a panelist exclaims.
Artistic Director Dan Nuxoll’s baby holds
its Summer Series screenings outdoors
in “exotic places like hotel rooftops and
Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery,”
a panelist adds. Rooftop eschews juries
and awards in favor of setting aside $1 for
every ticket sold and offering cash grants
and equipment/service grants to alumni
moviemakers. Of its off-beat programming,
a panelist explains, “Not every film is for
everyone, and that’s exactly why Rooftop is
always on my radar. There are always a few
films their team digs up that seem to have
slipped by unnoticed at other festivals.”
Shouting out its “enthusiastic participants
and beer-y, mingle-y after-parties,” a pan-
elist lauds the fest’s commitment to “the
old-fashioned communal spirit of moviego-
ing—brought back, here, with a vengeance
in this age of algorithmically-bespoke solo
cellphone binge-views.”SAN FRANCISCO
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
April 10-23, 2019 /
San Francisco, California / sffilm.org
The longest-running film festival in the40 SUMMER 2019 MOVIEMAKER.COM