SFTV in Conversation: Spring 2020
In this spring’s SFTV In Conversation series, hear directly from industry pros as they offer strategies and insights for new film graduates.
February 12, 2020 | Life After Film School: Film Festivals
Everyone knows that film festivals can catapult a film into the spotlight and launch a creator’s career, but first you gotta get in, and how that works is less clear. A panel of programmers from a range of festivals will give you the inside scoop on what they’re looking for in submissions and how to make the festival circuit work for you.
Meet the Panel
Dilcia Barrera, Programmer, Feature Films | Sundance Film Festival
Dilcia Barrera is a Film Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival. For over a decade, Dilcia has worked for film festivals including tenure as Programming Director for LALIFF, a Sundance Shorts Programmer and Senior Programmer at AFI FEST, and has collaborated with programming teams at OUTFEST and the LA Film Festival. Most recently, she was LACMA’s Film Curator and was invited to curate two new shorts categories for NYFF54. She has served on juries at the Berlin International Film Festival and SXSW. She was featured in IndieWire’s “20 Latin Americans Making a Difference for American Independent Film Today” and ScreenDaily’s “Future Leaders 2019: Programmers and Curators to Watch” list.
Jacqueline Lyanga, Artistic Director | Film Independent
Jacqueline Lyanga is the Artistic Director of Film Independent in Los Angeles. Prior to working at Film Independent, Jacqueline was the Director of AFI FEST presented by Audi, the American Film Institute’s (AFI) annual international film festival in Los Angeles for eight years, from 2010 to 2018. Jacqueline has been a guest and moderator of industry panels at the Berlinale, the Cannes Film Festival, the Forbes Women’s Summit and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and has been a member of the grants review committees for the Austin Film Society, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has served on international film festival juries at festivals such as the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the JIO MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival (U.S. Dramatic Features), SFFILM and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Clay Pruitt, Head of Acquisitions and Programming | Seed&Spark
Clay Pruitt is the Head of Acquisitions & Programming at Seed&Spark. He began his career at the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program and went on to work with WME, Outfest Los Angeles, the Palm Springs International Film Festival & ShortFest, AFM, and for the Film Independent / US State Department partnered program, Global Media Makers. As a writer/producer, Pruitt has worked with a number of emerging and established filmmakers on a range of short film and episodic projects, including the documentary United Skates, which won the Audience Award at Tribeca 2018 (now available on HBO), and the Dekkoo original series I’m Fine. He was a 2018 Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow with the narrative feature Bell, and was awarded the annual Sloan Producing Lab Grant.
