Anika Noni Rose, Samuel D. Hunter and More Among Jury for Shorts Program at Inwood Film Festival

The Inwood Film Festival has just announced the jury for its Short Shorts program as part of its inaugural Short Film Festival in Inwood, NYC, on March 2 and 3, 2016 at Casandra Hall. In a neighborhood bereft of cinemas or theaters, the small but mighty Inwood Film Festival is honored to have such a revered, diverse, and accomplished collection of storytellers on its first jury.

Short Shorts (also known as Program A) will feature thirteen short films; each of which will be competing for a "Woody Award" for Best Short Short Made in Inwood and Best Short Short by an Inwood Filmmaker. The selected winners by jury will also receive a cash prize of $500. Program A will be screened on Wednesday, March 2 and Thursday, March 3 at 9:00pm. The winners will be announced directly following the final screening on March 3.

In addition, non-adjudicated Program's B and C will collectively feature thirteen Long Shorts made in Inwood or made by Inwood filmmakers. Each film in the Long Shorts exhibition are eligible for a "Le Prince Founder's Award," which is given for exceptional filmmaking. Programs B and C will be screened Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00pm, and Thursday, March 3 at 7:00pm, respectively.

Single ticket admission for all programs are available online at inwoodfilmfestival.nyc and at the venue box office beginning at 6:00pm on March 2 and 3, 2016. Single ticket admission per program is $15. A Festival Pass for unlimited program admission is available for $30.

Casandra Hall is located in Inwood, New York City at 4020 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10034 (between 214 Street and 215 Street). Please note, the venue is not ADA accessible.

The mission of the Inwood Film Festival is to celebrate and showcase Inwood through the moving image. Everyone from amateurs to Oscar winners have been encouraged to participate in this year's Short Film Festival by submitting films made in Inwood, or by Inwood filmmakers. Founded by local Inwood residents Todd Cerveris, Jason Minter, and Aaron Simms, the Inwood Film Festival is a home-grown community platform to promote and celebrate the neighborhood of Inwood and its residents. The Inwood Film Festival is fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) public charity.

JURY BIOGRAPHIES:

Karl Gajdusek. Karl Gajdusek is a San Francisco native, now living in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons. Karl is the co-writer of the Tom Cruise, Joseph Kosinski film Oblivion, co-creator and Executive Producer of ABC's LAST RESORT with Shawn Ryan, and Executive Producer of the 2016 Netflix series Stranger Things. His film Trespass was released in 2011, The November Man in 2014. He has worked on the remake of The Mechanic, the Liam Neeson film Unknown, and he has adapted the Graphic Novel The Last Days of AMERICAN CRIME for Radical Pictures. Karl was a Story Editor on the Showtime show Dead Like Me. His latest endeavors include a science-fiction series, The Spark at HBO, and an adaptation of the Gary Shteyngart Novel Super Sad True Love Story with Shteyngart and Ben Stiller at Showtime. As a playwright, Karl's plays have been produced in New York and across the country. They include Greedy, FUBAR, Fair Game, Silverlake, Malibu, and Waco, Texas, Mon Amour. Karl has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. in playwriting from the University of California at San Diego.

Jackson Gay. Recent projects include Jen Silverman's The Moors (Yale Rep). Upcoming projects include Suzanne Vega's An Evening with Carson McCullers (Rattlestick), Grounded by George Brant (Alley Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing adapted with Kenneth Lin (Cal Shakes). Recent: These Paper Bullets! Adapted from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing by Rolin Jones with music by Billie Joe Armstrong (Atlantic Theater Company, Geffen Playhouse, Yale Rep - Critics Pick Time Out NY, Best Production and Adaptation LA Sage Awards, Best of 2015 Time Out Los Angeles, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Best Production and Best Director); I Saw My Neighbor On The Train And I Didn't Even Smile by Suzanne Healthcote (co-production New Neighborhood / Berkshire Theatre Festival); Elevada by Sheila Callaghan (Yale Rep); The Insurgents by Lucy Thurber (Labyrinth Theater Company); 3C by David Adjmi (Rattlestick/piece by piece/Rising Phoenix); Lucy Thurber's Where We're Born - 2014 Obie Award winning The Hilltown Plays (Rattlestick); Rolin Jones's The Jammer (Atlantic Theater Company) and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic and Yale Rep, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Outstanding Production of a Play); A Little Journey (Mint Theater Company, Drama Desk nomination Outstanding Revival of a Play). Jackson is a founding member of New Neighborhood. She is the Director of Artistic Programming for Fuller Road Artist Residency and teaches directing at Columbia University School of the Arts and Yale College. BFA University of the Arts. MFA Yale School of Drama.

Samuel D. Hunter. Samuel D. Hunter's plays include THE WHALE (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, GLAAD Media Award, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play), A Bright New Boise (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), The Few, A Great Wilderness, Rest, and Pocatello. His newest plays, Lewiston and Clarkston, are set to premiere in the 2015/2016 season. He is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship, a 2012 Whiting Writers Award, the 2013 Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, the 2011 Sky Cooper Prize, the 2008 PONY/Lark Fellowship, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Idaho. His plays have been produced in New York at Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Clubbed Thumb and Page 73, and around the country at such theaters as Seattle Rep, South Coast Rep, Victory Gardens, Williamstown Theater Festival, Dallas Theater Center, The Old Globe, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, Marin Theater Company, and elsewhere. His work has been developed at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, Seven Devils, and PlayPenn. A published anthology of his work, including THE WHALE and A Bright New Boise, is available from TCG books. He is a member of New Dramatists, an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, a member of Partial Comfort Productions, and was a 2013 Resident Playwright at Arena Stage. A native of northern Idaho, Sam lives in NYC. He holds degrees in playwriting from NYU, The Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Juilliard.

Anika Noni Rose. Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose will be starring in History Channel's adaption of Roots as Kizzy. The mini-series event will premiere this Memorial Day. She will also have a guest arc in the Starz hit series Power as LaVerne Thomas airing this summer. Anika has previously starred alongside Denzel Washington in the Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Her outstanding performance not only earned her numerous rave reviews, but also a Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle nominations. On the big screen, Anika starred as 'Lorell Robinson' in Dreamgirls which went on to receive an AFI ensemble award, as well as SAG award nomination for outstanding cast. In addition, the Dreamgirls soundtrack received a Grammy Award nomination. Anika voiced 'Princess Tiana' in Disney's The Princess and The Frog, featuring the first African American Disney 'Princess.' The film received three Oscar nominations and Anika became the youngest inductee to ever be honored as a Disney Legend. Anika starred as Whoopi Goldberg's daughter in the Lifetime movie, A Day Late and a Dollar Short as well as the feature film Half of a Yellow Sun, which premiered in theaters last May. Anika's many film credits include: Imperial Dreams, For Colored Girls and the comedy feature Just Add Water, Additional film credits include, As Cool As I am and the animated feature Khumba, where she voiced the character Lungisa. Anika won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Caroline, or Change. She starred in in Deborah Allen's Broadway revival of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, opposite James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad. She has also received The Theater World Award, The Clarence Derwent Award, a Drama Desk nomination, the Los Angeles Critics' Circle Award, an Ovation Award and an Obie Award. She received her MFA from American Conservatory Theater and holds an honorary Doctorate from Florida A&M University.

Eric Schaeffer. After driving a cab in his hometown of New York City for 8 years in his twenties, Eric exploded on the film scene with his debut film, MY LIFE'S IN TURNAROUND, (1994, ARROW RELEASING) to rave reviews. Eric's follow-up, IF LUCY FELL (1996) concerned 29-year-old New York therapist who, after her most recent romantic meltdown, makes a pact with her male roommate to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if she hasn't found love by 30. Sarah Jessica Parker, Ben Stiller, and Elle Macpherson starred alongside Eric, who wrote, directed and produced the hit romantic comedy for TRISTAR. He fulfilled the same multi-hyphenate in his next two films: FALL (1997, MGM) and WIREY SPINDELL, (2000, WINSTAR) respectively. In Eric's subsequent film, NEVER AGAIN, two fifty-somethings (Jill Clayburg and Jeffrey Tambor) that have sworn off falling in love again meet in a gay bar and rediscover themselves. Eric wrote and directed this romantic comedy for FOCUS FILMS. In 2002, Eric then made MIND THE GAP in 2004 starring himself, Elizabeth Reiser, Charles Parnell and Alan King. THER'RE OUT OF THE BUSINESS is a quirky romantic comedy he made with Donal Ward, the sequel to their first film MY LIFE'S IN TURNAROUND. IFC FILMS released it theatrically in 2011. Eric's film AFTER FALL, WINTER, a dark, edgy romantic drama-comedy set in Paris opened theatrically in NYC Jan 2012 and FILMBUFF released it on digital platforms as well. His most recent film, BOY MEETS GIRL (Wolfe Releasing), has won 40 "BEST" awards at festivals worldwide and was released theatrically in February, 2015 to glowing reviews. It is now on Netflix.

Darren Lemke. Darren Lemke writes screenplays. Some get made. Most don't. Among the ones that did: Shrek Forever After, Jack the Giant Slayer, Turbo, Goosebumps. He hopes to add Shazam to that list.