
Filmmakers
MARK LOBENE (Executive Producer/ Supporting) After many successful years as a Vice President of technology firms, and two that became public companies, Mark Lobene is a full-time actor and producer. Mr. Lobene has appeared in numerous theater productions in New York, is a voice-over artist, and acts in television and film, most recently with Doug E Doug in “The Interview” due to release in 2015. “Mother of the Week” is his first comedic film as both an actor and Executive Producer. www.marklobene.com
JENNIFER JILES (Lead Actor, Producer, Original Story, Writer, Casting Director) is an Emmy Award-winning comedic actress who’s worked with such stars as Tim Conway, Tom Poston, Samantha Eggar and Carl Reiner. She is also perhaps one of the best known Ex-Radio City Rockettes because of her critically-acclaimed Off Broadway solo show, “KICKING & SCREAMING, The Musical!” about her years at The Music Hall. Ms. Jiles most recently starred in and is the Executive Producer of the short film “The Waiting Room” by Debra Markowitz, and she is the 2 time Best Actress winner for the multi-award winning short film “Mother of the Week”. She’s been on the web series “Small Miracles” starring Judd Hirsch, and has appeared in the films “Flat Brim”, “Hey, You Never Know” and “Restaurant” starring Adrian Brody, as well as on television, including “100 Centre Street”, “Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns.” Jennifer can be heard and seen in numerous commercials (TV & radio), narrates children’s, young adult, non-fiction and fantasy genre audio books, and is the proud Mom of two adorable boys. www.jenniferjiles.com
ADRIENNE PAXTON (Producer, Festival Submission Contact) is a Two-Time Emmy Award -winning television producer, an artist, owner of Adrienne Paxton Jewelry Design, and co-founder of New Art City NY, where she produces art shows, and performances. She has worked on various TV shows and specials including: Good Day New York, and the 10pm News on WWOR where she was Executive Producer. She was awarded the Broadcast Media Award from The New York State Society of Anesthesiologists for Excellence in Communications for several stories she produced on pain management. Adrienne Paxton Jewelry Design launched in 2012, and her jewelry has been featured in the retail store, Montemartre, in the Shops at Columbus Circle. She has sold her designs at the Atlantic Antic, New York City’s oldest and largest street fair, and displayed both her jewelry and artwork as part of the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit. She has aslo been commissioned to produce several paintings for private collections. In 2014, she co-founded New Art City NY, established to help give exposure to emerging artists, photographers, musicians, poets, performers and writers. She co-produced a group art show in Brooklyn, held a solo art show of her own in Manhattan, and coordinated solo art shows for several other artists. www.adriennepaxton.com
LEE DAVIS (Director) Born and raised in the Northeast Bronx, Lee Davis credits his love of filmmaking to his father taking him to the movies at a young age. After graduating from Fordham University in the Bronx,Davis worked at Tower Records in the village a job that afforded him the opportunity to work on films while still drawing a salary. A chance meeting with Spike Lee in Tower Records turned into the opportunity of a lifetime. Davis apprenticed with Spike Lee at 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks on such films as Malclom X, Crooklyn, Jungle Fever and Mo Better Blues. FollowingDavis’ short film A Gut Feeling in 1999 starring Saul Williams and Ruben Santiago-Hudson, executive produced by Spike Lee and produced by Shan Browning and John Murchison. The film premiered at the Noosa Film Festival in Australia, Urban-world Film Festival in New York, and was seen nationwide on The Sci-Fi Channel.
In 2000 Lee Davis was named as one of Variety Magazine’s Top Ten Screenwriters To Watch. That year he wrote and directed 3AM , developed by The Sundance Institute. The Showtime Original film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and starred Danny Glover, Pam Grier, Michelle Rodriguez, executive-produced by Spike Lee. The film garnered Davis two cable nominations including Best Director. In 2001 Lee Davis wrote & directed Flicker a Hi-Def long form short film for the Sci-Fi Channel. That year Miramax purchased his original screenplay, Dance On Two. In 2003 Davis served as a screenwriter advisor at the prestigious Oaxaca (formerly Sundance) Screenwriting Lab in Mexico, to Latin American screenwriters. In 2004 Davisdirected Christmas At Waters Edge, starring Keisha Knight Pulliam, Pooch Hall, and Tom Bosley. In 2013 Davis directed West Side Girl an 11 minute short film for the artist Bilal. In 2009 Lee Davis directed Romance Is Served, a documentary that is an “intimate entertainment experience” about romance in Los Angeles. The film premiered at the 2009 Belize Film Festival and received the award for Best Documentary. 2009 marked the theatrical release of Davis’ documentary hoop reality which chronicles the lives of schoolyard legend Arthur Agee, and Patrick Beverley, a prolific high school scorer. In 2007 Davis directed The King & I, a film component of the Los Angles presentation of Susan Lori Parks prestigious “365 plays in 365 Days.”
HAI-TAO WU (Director of Photography) is a versatile and award-winning filmmaker with nine years of experience working in narrative, documentary, commercial, and news programs. His expertise includes: Directing, Producing, Shooting, Editing, and Writing for Documentary and Narrative; Large Sensor Digital Cinematography, Slow Motion Cinematography; Live Broadcast (Satelite Video, LiveU), Steadicam Operator; Interior/Exterior Lighting for Film and Video, Green/Blue Screen Lighting and Compositing.
ALBERT MASSIAH (Assistant Director)
FREDERICK STROPPEL (Writer) is a screenwriter and playwright who has had his work produced throughout the world. Theater work includes his full-length comedy Fortune’s Fools, produced off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theaterin 1995, and his musical Tales From The Manhattan Woods, based on “Die Fledermaus”, staged by Opera NY in 2004 at the Wings Theatre. Other plays include Actor!, The Christmas Spirit, The Hunter’s Moon, and Small World, which will be staged at Penguin Rep in the coming year. For film, he has written the screenplays for A Brooklyn State of Mind, Dark Side of Genius, and the short filmGlacier Bay, which has won over a dozen festival awards including Best Screenplay. He is the creator of the comedy web series Suburban Legends, for which he was written and directed all 22 episodes. He is also a veteran children’s television writer, having served as the head writer for Oswald and Wow Wow Wubbzy!, both for Nickelodeon. He is the co-writer of Lucky Me, a memoir by Sachi Parker, the daughter of Shirley MacLaine, which was published by Gotham/Penguin Books. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America East. His website is www.frederickstroppel.com.
NICHOLAS GULDNER (Editor, Sound Editor, Sound Mixer) An upstate New York native, he earned his Bachelors degree from Binghamton University in 2007 in experimental cinema. He now is a freelance editor, shooter, and sound recordist. In 2011, his short horror film PIDGE took home the Best Narrative Fiction Award at the Finger Lakes Film Festival. He has been the sound recordist on the award winning feature films Hank and Asha as well as Alive Inside. He currently heads the production of the documentary web series Meet the Theatre in collaboration with TDF. Nick also specializes in: Location Sound Mixing& Recording, Shooting, and Editing for Documentary and Narrative.
STEVE POLLAK/DUDE OF LIFE & CHARLIE DE SAINT PHALLE (Original Theme Song Writers) Steve Pollak, best known by his stage name Dude of Life, is a musician and lyricist, who has co-written numerous Phish songs, including “Suzy Greenberg”, “Fluffhead”, “Slave to the Traffic Light”, “Run like an Antelope”, “Sanity”, “Crimes of the Mind”, “Dinner and a Movie”, and most recently, “Show of Life”. Dude of Life became involved with Trey Anastasio when they attended The Taft School (where they fronted a band called Space Antelope) and later at the University of Vermont. Dude of Life has appeared on stage at Phish concerts numerous times, and he has released two studio albums: Crimes of the Mind (recorded in 1991), which featured Phish as his backing band; and the 1999 release Under the Sound Umbrella with a different backing band, featuring appearances by Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman. Steve lives in Croton onHudson with his wife and three children.
Charlie de Saint Phalle has been writing lyrics and music with Mr. Pollak for a number of years, as well as arranging, editing, and looping for various other artists. He is a founding member of the Fluid Druids Band with Dave Coats, Mo Haroche, Monty Freeman and the one and only Dude of Life!!! Charlie generally prefers the company of trees, flowers and animals to people, and tends to the trees of mysterious millionaires. Nevertheless he’s compelled for years to throw myself in front of crowds to play his bass or guitar and sing songs. He’s toured the East Coast and Midwest including The Kennedy Center and The Circle in the Square Theater in high school musical productions and lives with his wife and two daughters and a gaggle of Rotweillers off a goat path in the woods.
ROBERT KESSLER & ETHAN NEUBURG (Original Score Composers) composed scores for “Freedom: The History of US,” a 16-part PBS series, “America’s Heritage,” a PBS documentary; “Voyager: The Grand Tour,” for NASA; LITTLE MISS SPIDER: LOST AND FOUND” for Callaway & Kirk narrated by Susan Sarandon, and the short animated film “The Wheatfield” narrated by Stephen Lang that was presented at The Salute to the States night at the Gettysburg Visitor’s Center for the 150th Anniversary. They have also composed music for CBS Network Sports as well as a 300 piece music library for Harper Audio.
Robert Kessler is a composer, sound designer and producer/director of voice recordings
through his company Kessler Media Productions, Ltd. For film and television, Mr.
Kessler has produced narration recording for ICE AGE and ICE AGE 2, ROBOTS,
BOLT, TARZAN II, THE MUPPETS and THE MUPPETS MOST WANTED, National
Geographic Television, The History Channel, and for audio books he composed the
theme music for President Clinton’s Grammy Award- winning title MY LIFE and
produced and directed the Grammy Award-winning title STILL ME with Christopher
Reeve and the Grammy Nominated title BELOVED with Toni Morrison. He served as sound designer for the Academy Award-winning animated film BUNNY, as sound editor and mix consultant on both The American President (for PBS) and The Road to 9/11 (for PBS). In the field of audio publishing, Robert Kessler has been involved in the production of more than 2000 audiobooks. As an ADR recordist, he has worked with major talent in the film industry including Richard Gere, Glenn Close, Michael Douglas, Chevy Chase, Stanley Tucci, Chazz Palminteri, among others. Prior to forming Kessler Media Productions, Kessler worked for the New York City Opera, ICM Artists and Carnegie Hall. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Arts Administration from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vassar College where he majored in music. Robert Kessler studied jazz piano with Jaki Byard and Andrew LaVerne.
Arranger / composer and bass player Ethan Neuburg is special editor of music songbooks at Alfred Music Publishing, formerly Warner Brothers Music Publications. Neuburg has arranged the songbooks for many musical greats including John Williams, Dave Brubeck, John Lennon and Led Zeppelin. He has also arranged and edited music folios and scores for many Movie and Broadway productions including all of the Harry Potter movies, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the musical’s Ragtime, The Book of Mormon and Kinky Boots. He is also the editor of George and Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter musical folios, and special liaison to their estates.