PANELISTS:
Nick Czerula, Director / Director of Photography (Concord, NH)
Coming from urban New Jersey and now residing in rural New Hampshire. Nick has worked as DP, Second Unit DP, and First Assistant Camera on feature and short form films as well as national ad campaigns. His experience on different size productions, both large and small budget, gives perspective of just how important teamwork is or more importantly, the team you work with. Today, Nick runs Cz Video Productions, an integrated visual platform production company. Nick helps clients articulate their message and showcase their products through branded documentary and commercial advertising video. With a team of dedicated professionals, Cz Video Productions brings artistic articulation of who companies are and why their brands matter. Beyond this, Nick has done a range of documentary projects that draw audiences into worlds previously unknown and unexplored. Cz Video Productions works with clients of all sizes, for-profit companies and community-based organizations, to help them let others see who they really are.
Anna Belmonte (Amesbury, MA)
Anna Belmonte is a new director based out of Northeast Massachusetts. Ever since gaining the dexterity to weild a VHS camcorder, she's been creating, curating and telling stories - however, in early 2020 she saw her screenwriting and directorial debut on "Summer," a comedy short. With a BFA in Art Therapy and a leg in the world of Special Makeup Effects, Anna's free-spirited approach to filmmaking opens a doorway for absurdity, creative spontaneity, and unexpected technique. Anna works as a camera assistant and editor in New Hampshire, and looks forward to getting into pre-production for the next comedy, dramedy, mocumentary and horror projects already underway.
Deniz Demirer (New York City)
Polish-born filmmaker—actor, cinematographer, writer and director. His unusual blend of intimacy and hardscrabble urban existence has never yielded the stories one might expect. Demirer’s filmography includes five feature films as writer and director including Nocturnal Jake (2009), Not I (2010), American Mongrel (2014), Ezer Kenegdo (2016) and Chinaroom (2016). And over a dozen short films, most recently Simon’s Agony (2020). His work as a filmmaker and actor has been exhibited at the Mill Valley Film Festival, Portland Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Moscow International Film Festival, Varna International Film Festival, Syracuse International Film Festival, among many others. Demirer was cinematographer on the award-winning short film Forest Born, of which the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins wrote, “The film was extremely well made. I particularly liked the night work! So simple and effective.”
Sam Sorich (Chicago, IL)
Sam Sorich is a DP and Director from Chicago, who like many began his love of filmmaking at a young age making skate videos, short films, and DIY special effects with friends in the neighborhood. This lifelong passion has taken him around the globe as a documentary filmmaker and producer. In 2015, he started a production company, Glass Darkly Films, to focus his passion on full-length documentary and narrative work. In 2017, he began a project called 8beats, bringing together over 100 filmmakers from across the U.S and Canada to produce an anthology feature film, including a debut short film, “Seau de Sang” to be included in the anthology. The film will be released at the end of 2020. www.8beatsmovie.com
George Simon (San Diego, CA)
George Simon is a professor of film production at John Paul the Great Catholic University in San Diego, CA. His most recent projects include the award-winning short film Almost Home (2019) and The Scar (2020) which is just beginning its festival run. In 2019, George and his wife founded Isle3, a production company that specializes in crafting commercially viable works of art.
