“Benny Loves You” is Karl’s debut feature, inspired from the comedy horror short “Eddie Loves You” which won multiple awards on the indie horror festival circuit. Since then Karl’s other shorts have been shown at Screamfest, Frightfest, the New York City Horror Film Festival and in 2011 “Negative Image” won best short at Shriekfest and also Master Of The Scream at Cinefantasy.

Filmmaker Zach Gayne was born and bred off the countless racks of VHS rentals and the heyday of the Toronto International Film Festival. He is a featured writer for ScreenAnarchy.com with a reputation for in-depth interviews from a plethora of narrative and doc filmmakers, actors, and musicians. Zach’s feature film debut, States, an ensemble road movie inspired by the works of Jack Kerouac and the films of Richard Linklater, is set for both theatrical and digital release in 2019.

Tom Colley:
Tom Colley is a filmmaker and cinematographer who grew up in Dallas Texas. He received a BFA from MICA in Baltimore Maryland where he produced the groundbreaking documentary “12 O’Clock Boys”. Tom cut his teeth in production on documentaries, television and commercial work in Baltimore and DC before moving to Los Angeles where he has made a career for himself as a union camera operator. When not operating camera or directing photography for network television shows he is developing and directing indie scripted projects.

Danny Isaacs:
Danny graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in film theory & rhetoric, and although he understood how to tell a story, he had no clue how to make a movie. So he did what any good jewish boy would do: he became an attorney. Since law school, he reignited his flame for filmmaking and learnt his craft by shadowing industry friends on film sets. He has written & directed several award winning shorts, web series and sketch comedies. Immortal is his first venture into drama.

Jon Dabach:
After attending UCLA film school, Jon was fortunate enough to find a niche in the market creating animation and pilots for Mtv, G4tv and VH1. After a successful run of it for a couple years Jon settled down made the crazy decision to have four kids. 8 years and one vasectomy later Jon has turned back to filmmaking as an excuse to get out of the house and has found himself at home both writing and directing with actual actors instead of cartoon characters this time around.

Rob Margolies:
Rob Margolies has been an icon to ULB indie films since 2007 after graduating from Chapman University where he was mentored by William Friedkin. Rob has written, directed and produced feature films including She Wants Me, Lifelines, Roommate Wanted, Never Heard, I’d Like to Be Alone Now, Weight, Yes, and Immortal. Look out for many other films in pre-production.

Prior to writing the script for Swing Low, Teddy Grennan spent five years in animation world writing (and re-writing) his script Holy Cow! For Nickelodeon and various other studios including Prana. He wrote and produced 4 web pilots for Eyeboogie from 2008-10 and in 2011, he sold The Second Act to Fox Searchlight with Ad Homimen to produce, Teddy as Executive Producer. Most recently, Teddy produced indie features Among Ravens and Coming Through the Rye.

Teddy is also known for founding the Sun Valley Film Festival that just completed its 8th consecutive year in March 2019

MITCHELL ALTIERI, writer / director
Rep: Greg Pedicin, GERSH| LA

Mitchell Altieri’s first feature, the comedy Lurking in Suburbia, was discovered by senior Sundance programmer Trevor Groth. It went on to earn domestic & international buzz through the festival circuit, and released in 2006. As part of the horror duo, The Butcher Brothers, he wrote and directed The Hamiltons (Lionsgate), April Fools Day (Sony), The Violent Kind (Sundance Premiere) and The Thompsons (Lionsgate, UK). Taking a break from horror, Mitchell wrote and directed the psychological thriller Holy Ghost People (SXSW Premiere) released in 2012. With his next two films, he curved into horror comedy writing and directing A Beginner’s Guide to Snuff (Lionsgate) and The Night Watchmen (Winner of over 25 best picture awards/released by Gravitas). Currently, he is putting the final touches on his new film Star Light to start the festival circuit summer 2019.

Select FESTIVALS:
Sundance, SXSW, Fantastic, Fantasia, Frightfest UK, Sitges, ScreamFest LA, Dead by Dawn, Brussels Int’l Fantasy Fest, Monsterpalooza, Neuchatel Int’l Fantastic, SF Int’l, Another Hole in the Head, Berlin Fantasy Fest

Lee Cummings is a filmmaker based in California with more than 20 years of experience as a Producer, Director, Director of Photography, Script writer and Editor. In 2009, Cummings orchestrated his first full-length feature film to be distributed by a global film distributor. Cummings founded 505 films, with a focus on music videos, Full Circle Entertainment with a focus on
films, and has progressed to being the founder of Str8forward Media, a full service production and media company (film, pilots, commercials, internet content, etc.). As Founder and President of
Str8forward Media, Cummings has directed commercials and film projects for clients throughout the Bay Area, including The Travel Channel, MythBusters, and Burts Bees. Cummings’ mentorship from Eric Blakeney (creator of “21 Jump Street”, discovered Johnny Depp) has helped him work with other prominent filmmakers such as Jeffrey Allard (“Texas Chain Saw Massacre” starring Jessica Biel), Mitchell Altieri (Butcher Brothers, “April Fool’s Day”), and Scout Taylor-Compton (“Halloween” film by Rob Zombie) amongst many others. Cummings is currently awaiting the release of his directorial feature film STAR LIGHT (spring/summer 2019), in pre-production for two films scheduled for 2019 production along with working alongside Blakeney this spring for a TV show pilot based on Blakeney’s experiences in Hollywood. Cummings holds a BA in Theatre from UC Davis. Besides building his company and creating content, Cummings ensures he gives back to the community by tutoring young filmmakers and consulting with home grown companies in his community, such as “Insert name of Company”

Lisa Ovies is an award winning director, producer and actress currently residing in Vancouver, Canada. She originally trained at Vancouver Film School in 2002 for documentary film, production and screenwriting; as well as received a scholarship in 2006 to Columbia Academy of Broadcasting where she excelled in her field. In 2008 she began pursuing her love of acting by attending the full time program at Vancouver Academy of Dramatic Arts and in June 2011, she launched the film company I No.Films. Since then, she received a full scholarship to Women in the Directors Chair to train in the art department, and received a scholarship to Chicago Second City where she spent the better part of the summer of 2014 working on her improv and sketch writing. In 2014 she also had her directorial debut with the comedy ‘I Wanna Date U’ and her feature film “Taking My Parents to Burning Man” (producer) took home audience choice awards at the Sonoma International Film Festival, the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Maui Film Festival. She recently directed her first feature film, the comedic slasher ‘Puppet Killer, which has already won awards for best first time director, best horror and honorable screenplay

Director Statement: 

Chad Ferrin

Born in a small Minnesota town straight out of a David Lynch film, Chad Ferrin spent his formative years on a farm. The brutal winters, social isolation and exposure to violent animal slaughters influenced the predatory and survivalist themes he would later explore cinematically.

In 1988, Ferrin sold his home in Minnesota to finance his first film, UNSPEAKABLE. Lloyd Kaufman, president of notorious genre production house Troma Entertainment, took a personal interest and distributed the film. After a multi-year relationship producing, writing and directing for Troma, Ferrin sold his 1968 1/2 Ford Mustang to finance his independent hit, THE GHOULS. Called “Haskell Wexler’s MEDIUM COOL revisited”, hailed by Variety and a winner of numerous international festival awards, THE GHOULS was an underground commercial and critical success.

Ferrin immediately followed up with EASTER BUNNY, KILL! KILL!, a film teeming with dark humor and social commentary in the vein of Russ Meyer and Dario Argento. In 2009, SOMEONE’S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR took the festival circuit by storm with tried-and-true psychedelic grind-house style.

In 2015 Ferrin was hired to bring the acclaimed graphic novel THE CHAIR to the screen. The success of that collaboration with producer Robert Rhine of Girls and Corpses Presents was followed up on the Fantasia Festival hit PARASITES, which Rhine Executive Produced and also co-starred. Rhine next hired Chad Ferrin to direct Exorcism at 60,000 Feet. They look forward to more film projects in the future.

Director Jason Axinn is a graduate of USC’s Cinema-Television School. He has directed/edited over 150 short films for clients including The Black Eyed Peas, Funny or Die and The Upright Citizens Brigade. He’s worked with James Gunn, Will.i.am, OKGO, Matt Besser and Phil LaMarr, and directed commercials for Microsoft, Sega and Verizon, plus several TV pilots. TO YOUR LAST DEATH is his first feature.

Director Statement: 

Co-WRITER / Co-DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Daniel Woltosz is a Los Angeles based writer, producer, and director focused on stories that explore the adventurous nature of the human spirit, while often testing the physical and psychological survival limits of his characters. He graduated from CSU Long Beach with a B.A. in Film Production, and has produced many award-winning short films and music videos. Before his directorial debut, “Do Not Reply”, Daniel produced the 11-time award- winning feature film Santiago (2011).

Co-WRITER / Co-DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Walt Woltosz
Walt has been involved in several projects over the years as a technical advisor (“Right to Die” with Raquel Welch and Michael Gross, “Hugo Pool” with Alyssa Milano, Patrick Dempsey, Sean Penn, and Robert Downey, Jr.), as an executive producer (“Santiago”), an appeared on-screen in the documentary “Hawking” about Stephen Hawking. He is a pilot in both fixed-wing multi-engine aircraft and helicopters.