OFFICIAL JURY

JURY PRESIDENT – PAUL CALDERÓN

Paul Calderón has worked with such film luminaries as directors Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Alan Taylor, Abel Ferrara, Sidney Lumet, and actors: Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken, Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, among others. TV credits include: Law & Order, Law & Order, Lie to Me, Blue Bloods, The Black Donnellys, Miami Vice, Third Watch, New York Undercover, The Equalizer, Lights Out, Hostages, Welcome to America, The Blacklist, Blindspot, Boardwalk Empire, Fear the Walking Dead and currently on Amazon’s hit series “Bosch” as Detective Jimmy Robertson. Paul is a recipient of an Audelco and OBIE award for his stage work, which includes a production of “Cuba & his Teddy Bear” at the Longacre Theater in 1986; opposite Robert Deniro.
In 1994, he co-founded the LAByrinth Theater Company, where he directed productions starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Rockwell, John Ortiz, David Zayas and Stephen Adly Guirgis. In 2015 he co-founded the Primitive Grace Theater Ensemble, of which he is a current co-artistic director.

(From Left to Right)

HEATHER RAE

A film and television producer and narrative change activist, Heather Rae produced Academy Award nominated Frozen River, received the Piaget Producers Award and has been recognized as Variety’s Producer to Watch. Rae produced Netflix Originals Tallulah starring Ellen Page and Allison Janney and Dude from Blacklist winner Olivia Milch, Sundance highlight The Dry Land starring America Ferrera, and festival darling I Believe in Unicorns from director Leah Meyerhoff. More recently Rae produced Bull, which premiered in Cannes and Amazon series Outer Range starring Josh Brolin. As a filmmaker Rae directed the acclaimed documentary Trudell, which tells the story of movement leader and poet, John Trudell. Formerly Rae ran the Native Program at the Sundance Institute and recently Rae began an overall producing deal with Amazon Studios.  As a speaker and social critic Rae is working from both her settler and indigenous heritage to deepen the dialogue of reconciliation and responsibility in the Americas.

ROBIN WEIGERT

Robin recently recurred on HBO’s Big Little Lies as Dr. Amanda Reisman and reprised her Emmy-nominated role of Calamity Jane in HBO’s Deadwood: The Movie. Prior, she starred in the AMC series Dietland and recurred on Hulu’s Castle Rock and Epix’s Berlin Station. Her recent film credits include a supporting role in Bombshell and lead roles in Sundance favorites Concussion and Take Me to the River, along with a list of smaller roles in bigger budget films like The Good German, Mississippi Grind, Pawn Sacrifice, The Sessions, and Synecdoche, New York. Robin has played a wind range of roles on television shows such as Sons of Anarchy, American Horror Story, Jessica Jones, Fearless and Angels in America.
Robin’s career began in the theatre. After receiving Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel award nominations for her comedic turn in Richard Nelson’s play Madame Neville, Robin was cast in Noises Off on Broadway and Mike Nichols’ Seagull in Central Park. Frequently returning to the theater, as she did to play the Angel in Angels in America at the Signature and Brooke in Other Desert Cities at the Mark Taper, the wide variety of characters Robin has played have earned her a reputation as a chameleon.

TARYN MANNING

Taryn Manning is an artistic phenomenon Actress/Singer/Songwriter/DJ & Entrepreneur. She starred in Orange is the New Black as the controversial religious zealot Pennsatucky. Amongst her other recent works was the coming of age independent drama film A Light Beneath Their Feet which received critical acclaim. Another previously noted performance was in the Sundance Film Festival nominated Low Down starring Glenn Close and Elle Fanning. She has had pivotal performances in The Experimenter starring Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder and #Horror starring Chloe Sevigny. Her upcoming films, in various stages of production include: Crabs in a Bucket, The Gateway, Pooling to Paradise, The Latin from Manhattan, and Above The Line. Manning has also graced the screen in cinematic hits such as Hustle & Flow and was nominated for a SAG Award for 8 Mile. Not only a force in film, Manning has been favored in roles on televisions’ major hitters: Hawaii 5-0, Melrose Place, The Practice, Boston Legal, Burn Notice, CSI: Miami, Sons of Anarchy and Law & Order: SVU, just to name a few. Manning has a history of Billboard Chart Topping hits including her 2012 solo release “Send Me Your Love,” which went #1 on Dance Club Play and Boomkat’s “The Wreckoning” and “What U Do 2 Me,” which remixes climbed to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. Manning has dived personally into directing and producing her own content with her latest projects, GLTCHLFE Records and her production company Rainbows and Unicorns.

ELI ROSEN

A native Yiddish-speaker raised in the Hasidic community of Brooklyn, Eli now serves as the managing director of New Yiddish Rep as well as a Yiddish cultural consultant for film and television. Past credits include producing, translating and appearing in Hanoch Levin Squared, as well as appearing in Waiting for Godot, Awake and Sing!, the NYT Critic’s Pick God of Vengeance, and Rhinoceros (in his own critically-acclaimed Yiddish translation), as well as his own one-man-show The Drunk Cantor, based on the monologues of Maurice Schwartz. Film/TV credits include the Netflix hit series Unorthodox, Minyan, and The Binding of Itzik (upcoming). www.elirosen.net