Dragon*Con Film Festival: Panelists

Panelists ◊ 2009

Here you'll find our panelists who will be discussing all aspects of independent film. Come on back for the next few weeks as we add more.

Dr. Bob Blackwood
Dr. Bob Blackwood took early retirement from Wright College, in 2000, where he taught film study, photography, science fiction, and other literature and English courses. Blackwood has done a variety of critical writing on films, film criticism and journalism, and photojournalism.

Blackwood and Dr. John Flynn, dubbed "The Film Doctors" at the World Science Fiction Convention in Toronto, conducted a survey of WorldCon members of the Top 10 Science Fiction Films and created a book on those ten films, Future Prime: The Top Ten Science Fiction Films. Blackwood's book, From the Silent Era to The Sopranos: Italian American Gangsters in Trend-Setting Films and Television Shows, was released in 2006.

Currently, Blackwood is the president of the International Press Club of Chicago and is on the committee for the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame Awards. He and John Flynn are working on another book about James Bond films.

Steven and Whitney Boe
Steven and Whitney Boe are the founders of Imaginal Cells FilmWorks in Los Angeles, California. They have written, directed, and produced a number of award-winning independent films including Ugly on the Inside, Nudity Required, The Hannah Virus, and Adrianne: a Dog-umentary.

As a 2-person team they have a wide range of experience from the business side of running a production company to the technical aspects of shooting and editing independent films. Before stepping behind the camera, the Boes acted in theatre, commercials, film, and television. Whitney appeared in shows including Cold Case, L.A. Dragnet, Philly, and Hollywood Safari. Steven’s roles in film and television include Wild Bill, The 60’s, L.A. Law, and most notably as Cam Cutler in the Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! Movie.

Steven and Whitney are appearing at Dragon*Con this year to promote their latest project: the feature film Mythic Journeys, which contains the Hi-Def stop motion animated short film The Bone Orchard, also a selection in this year’s Dragon*Con Short Film Festival..

Hunter Cressall
Hunter started working in the film industry as a production assistant in Hollywood. He moved on to prop master and art director before becoming a production designer, working on over thirty-six features including Legion, Skeletons, Foreign Correspondents, and Alien Arsenal. When he wasn't working on features, Hunter also designed special hand props and miniatures for both film and television.

In 1999, Hunter left Hollywood to take a position as a Director at a turn-key HD production company in Birmingham, Alabama, shooting and directing television commercials and corporate videos. He has now moved on, becoming a successful, and extremely busy freelance.

In his free time, Hunter still writes and directs his own short films with his amateur film group, Killer Bones.

Jeff Ello
Jeff Ello (aka "Jello") is a technologist and filmmaker, specializing in digital production and special effects techniques for film and commercial projects. Jeff adapts technologies from a wide range of disciplines to achieve visual products that would otherwise be impossible or too expensive for independent budgets.

Jeff is a 3d animator by training, and has enjoyed a digital career that spans a wide array of information technology and visual disciplines. He is constantly investigating and experimenting with emerging technologies. But, as Jeff says, the most fun is to grab a camera and "just go shoot something".

Dr. John L. Flynn
Three-time Hugo-nominated author and critic Dr. John L. Flynn has written 13 books, countless short stories, articles, reviews, and two screenplays. He's a member of the SFWA and has been a regular contributor and columnist to dozens of SF magazines. He sold his first book, Future Threads, in 1985. His other film-related books include Cinematic Vampires (1992), Phantoms of the Opera (1993), The Films of Arnold Schwarzenegger (1993), Dissecting Aliens (1995), and War of the Worlds: From Wells to Spielberg (2005).

John has appeared on television (including the Sci-Fi Channel and Russia's RTR Television), was featured in the documentary Finding the Future (2004), has spoken on the radio, and been a guest at national conferences. He and Dr Bob Blackwood (together known as The Film Doctors), produced Future Prime: The Top Ten Science Fiction Films in 2006.

Matt Green
After spending over 15 years in the special FX business as both a lab technician and an effects coordinator, Matt green moved into the film directing realm in 1999 with the independent film Severed, following it with Vicious (2001), Bloodbath (2002), and Loaded Dice, all starring horror legend Tom Savini. Matt is currently in post production on Zombie Invasion his latest Directorial effort. He also continues to do both physical and creature effects on films all over the south east.

Lloyd Kaufman (President, Troma Films)
What can (or should) one say about Lloyd Kaufman? Producer, director, writer, actor, president of an independent studio, madman, Lloyd Kaufman is film. He worked on Rocky but would rather make The Toxic Avenger. In a time of cookie-cutter movies, Lloyd created a world of truly memorable films. If you've seen Class of Nuke 'Em High, Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, or Tromeo and Juliet, you remember what you've seen. These are not bland films that vanish in the mire of a hundred other films. They stand out, and that is Troma. Fifty percent camp, fifty percent horror, Lloyd's films combine laughs, gore, sex, and the type of silliness that Hollywood has begun to copy.

Voltaire
Voltaire is often described as a modern day renaissance man: a singer/performer, creator of comic books, animator, and toy designer. For the film festival, we'll leave most of his accomplishments to others, and instead dwell only on his filmmaking.

Inspired by the films of Ray Harryhausen, Voltaire began animating at the age of ten on a super8 camera. At that time, he says, "no three dimensional object was safe. My brother's action figures, my sister's dolls, silverware, etc. If it was missing, chances were that it was in the basement in front of my camera." Voltaire has created dozens of animated spots for MTV, The Sci-Fi Channel, and many more (including most recently Fangoria TV).

Voltaire has recently returned to the land of film with a series of stop-motion shorts that are presently making the festival circuit. Each film is about a minute long, weird as hell, and narrated by a well known singer (Blondie's Deborah Harry, The Psychedelic Furs' Richard Butler).