Anna Darrah

director of development & distribution

Anna is an experienced film buyer, negotiating with and licensing over 800 films in her 12 years working for Gaiam and Spiritual Cinema Circle. She has been an active player on the festival circuit and currently advises filmmakers on custom distribution strategies. Anna is also a filmmaker who produced two documentaries that aired on The Sundance Channel, and directed a music video and the short film THE MATTER OF MAGIC. She is currently working on a feature length documentary about Helen Schreider (www.THEHELENMOVIE.com) while producing and directing episodes for the new ZILLOW.COM series, HOMEMAKERS. Anna has enjoyed jurying and participating in film festival panels and workshops here and abroad and is currently offering a Film Distribution Workshop co-­taught with Jilann Spitzmiller. Anna authored a chapter in Swimming Upstream: A Lifesaving Guide to Short Film Distribution, and has published articles on topics as diverse as motherhood and film distribution.

Jilann Spitzmiller

HEAD OF PRODUCTION

Jilann is an award-winning filmmaker and educator with credits including SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and picked up 11 festival awards. Jilann's work has been shown on outlets such as NBC, PBS, BBC, Sundance Channel, Starz/Encore, Canal + and Aljazeera. She co-directed and co-produced CRITICAL CONDITION which aired on POV as a special broadcast in partnership with the McNeil/Lehrer Hour. Her new film, STILL DREAMING, premiered at DOCNYC and is slated to air on PBS in 2017. She has also created two critically acclaimed doc projects for National PBS, HOMELAND, and CIRCLE OF STORIES. She was a field producer, cinematographer and writer for 2 seasons of the popular Discovery Health Channel series, MEDICAL DIARY and was a field producer and writer for the NBC documentary series, LIFE MOMENTS. She is the co-founder of DocuMentors and frequently teaches doc workshops and consults privately on all aspects of documentary producing and directing.

Alessandra Dobrin Khalsa

HEAD OF POST PRODUCTION

Alessandra an award winning producer, editor and director based in Santa Fe, NM. She has been the lead editor and producer on noted television specials and series, documentary and narrative films, trailers, music videos, and commercials, editing for major networks including, NBC, CBS, ABC, MTV, VH1, and BET. She is currently producing the feature film TUCUMCARI (starring David Dastmalchian and Kiele Sanchez). She produced and edited the feature length documentary MY MOTHER’S GARDEN, which has become an audience and critic favorite of the domestic and international festival circuit, and aired on MSNBC as a 1 hour special. Alessandra was lead editor on the TV Special ELVIS BY THE PRESLEYS, also released as a longer form DVD along with a companion CD & book. Other notable music projects include the intro to THE BEATLES’ GET BACK & DON’T LET ME DOWN; two videos aired on MTV & VH1 for their newly released album, Let it be Naked, the TV Special ELVIS LIVES, and VH1's VIBE AWARDS. Alessandra’s articles have been published in The New York Times and InCulture Parent. She is currently Professor of Post Production at The Santa Fe University of Art & Design.