May 7, 2022
at The James Ward Mansion

Born in Paris, France, Sarah Verstraete has been a producer in NYC at Neymarc Visuals (www.neymarcvisuals.com) since 2011. She has produced award-winning short films, TV and online commercials for renown brands (Pepsi, BB&T Bank, Volvic, Chevrolet, Nestea), and has produced the prototype of a Super Bowl commercial for Dannon, which aired in front of 100 million people during the third quarter of the Super Bowl in 2012.

Recently, she produced “Happy Valentine’s Day”, which received a Vimeo Staff Pick, got shortlisted at Cannes Lion 2018, and received awards from multiple international film festivals.

She has an uncanny ability to scale to projects needs and is experienced in complex productions requiring 360 green screens, rain, light and wind gags, special effects and visual effects. Her knowledge of the advertising industry and experience in film production, make her an insightful guest speaker, panelist or festival jury member. She has spoken at Princeton University, Fordham Law School, and is scheduled to speak at Montclair State University.

Joe Cruz is a Ph.D. candidate in Mass Communications at Penn State University. Although his research mainly concerns issues of digital citizenship and online political engagement, he also explores how cinema contributes to the dissemination of political ideologies. He has published about Latin American cinema, as well as various film reviews. Prior to pursuing a Ph.D., Joe held positions in banking and corporate communications, while managing a community theater group in Puerto Rico. He holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast media and communication studies from Kean University, and a master’s in communication and information studies from Rutgers University.

David Schoner is currently the Associate Director for the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission. He produced 2 award winning independent films (A Dangerous Place, Murder Reincarnated, that are distributed by outlets such as Screen Media, Netflix, Blockbuster, York Ent). He also has set up feature film screenplays proposals which have awarded/recognized by organizations such as Producers Guild Of America, IFP, Panasonic Digital Filmmakers Award. In his spare time, David raises funds and is involved in various educational and child related charitable endeavors.

Kathleen Kelly is a professional actress, producer, director and college drama professor. She currently teaches Acting at Kean University. Kathleen has also taught at Rutgers University and The Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre in NYC. She has produced and directed Off Broadway. As an actress, she has worked Off Broadway and regional theatre.

Justin LaDeau is a composer, pianist, arranger, and music educator whose original music has been featured on national television, in international film festivals including the Festival de Cannes, and at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

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Justin is adjudicating music composition for the Best Original Score category.

Award-winning composer and sound engineer Justin Rosin has written concert pieces and scored independent films, shorts and commercials. His passion is to collaborate using instruments and technology to create inspiring and evocative music. Mr. Rosin thoroughly believes that music is a universal language that can effectively communicate any human emotion through any artistic medium. Mr. Rosin started his Master’s of Music Composition Program in Fall 2016 at one of NYC’s top music conservatories, Mannes School of Music, where he studied with renowned composer Dr. Lowell Liebermann. Mr. Rosin was chosen as the primary film composer for the student thesis films and graduated in May of 2018.

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Justin is adjudicating music composition for the Best Original Score category.