The Festival Theme is “Kids Changing the World One Audience at a Time.” All filmmakers will use the power of the media to deliver a life-lesson; an important message; encourage positive change or address an issue that matters to them. Each entry will be judged on it’s originality, production value, storytelling and the delivery and impact of their message.
We’ve all experienced the magic of the movies. We’ve been swept away to become pirates, super heroes, damsels in distress, space aliens and adventurers in foreign lands. Each film will bring opportunities to the young filmmakers, ages 9-19, while delivering important messages to the viewers.
Film Festival Judges:
Amy Dean Kennedy-Biography
Amy Dean Kennedy is an accomplished film and television executive, producer and screenwriter. She began her career in Los Angeles as an assistant to mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and worked her way up to Vice President of Development and Production for Simpson Productions, a subsidiary of Simpson/Bruckheimer Films. In her tenure at Simpson/Bruckheimer her credits include: Armageddon, Enemy of the State, Gone in 60 Seconds, Coyote Ugly, Remember the Titans, Veronica Guerin, Bad Company and
Bad Boys 2.
In 2004, Amy moved to New York and into television where she served as a senior Director of Development at Oprah Winfrey’s Oxygen Network. Overseeing the development and production of several original movies and television series, Amy also served as creator and Executive Producer of the prime-time special Repo Girls, as well as several pilots for the network.
In 2009, Amy founded Old Alabama Entertainment where she is assembling a slate of film and television projects to produce, including a pilot she is co-writing with Mimosa Jones (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip).
Amy is a graduate of the School of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts at Florida State University where she sits on the Dean’s Council Board of Alumni. In addition to her role as a film and television executive, Amy wrote and directed the International Award-Winning short film, Ethan’s Tuesday. She has optioned scripts to major Hollywood production companies and is a member of the Writers Guild of America.
She lives in New York with her husband, John, and two children, Jack and Corinne.
Billy Hall-Biography
Billy Hall serves as vice president of programming for TNT and TBS. In this capacity, he is responsible for scheduling for the networks, scheduling for VOD and broadband and managing the programming department and budget.
Hall came to TNT from Fox Movie Channel, where he served as vice president of programming and production, having also served as director of programming for FX. He helped launch fXM: Movies from Fox, then re-launch the network as Fox Movie Channel, working on scheduling and programming, on-air promotion and off-air event strategies for the network.
Prior to joining Fox Cable Group, Hall worked as coordinator of programming for the Health and Sciences Network. He also worked at Lifetime Television, Walt Disney Studios, Disney Channel and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Hall holds a bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in communications, cinema and photography from Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. He currently sits on the Board of Governors for the Southeast Chapter of NATAS.
Justin Martin-Teen celebrity judge
Justin began his television & film career doing national television commercials and guest roles on shows such as Cold Case, Bernie Mac, Malcomb In The Middle, Judging Amy and Drake & Josh. His film credits include principle roles in The Express, The Soloist, A Raisin In The Sun, High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Black Water Transit. Justin has also starred on Broadway as Young Simba in The Lion King.
** ADDITIONAL JUDGES TO BE ANNOUNCED **
