AWARDS

Frank Calo is an independent producer and director whose film The Believer, starring Ryan Gosling and Billy Zane, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. That film won at many festivals that year, including The Berlin Film Festival. It was shown nationwide and had a great box office run. His film Here & There with Cyndi Lauper and David Thornton won the Best New York Narrative In World Competition 2009 at Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival in NYC and had its official New York premier played to audiences domestically and overseas. Calo has worked with Robert De Niro (Godsend), Demi Moore, Mike Myers, Shelly Winters, Marlon Brando, and many more. His film The Cookout, distributed by Lionsgate, with Queen Latifah also had a great box office run. He also worked for two years with The Motion Picture Bond Company under Robert Bordiga, as a producer working on films throughout the tri-state area. He was one of the few and only directors who studied privately under Mr. Elia Kazan.

Homayra Sellier is the founder of Innocence In Danger (IID), is an international child protection organization, operating in nine countries (France, United Kingdom, Colombia, Germany, Switzerland, United States of America, Austria, Iran, and Morocco). Because Sellier is multilingual — fluent in Spanish, French, English, and Farsi — she selects all films submitted to TRIFF’s Human Rights and Dignity category. She has devoted her life to human rights issues. Throughout the years, Sellier’s organization has utilized television documentaries, billboard campaigns, and other media platforms to help raise awareness on human abuse. A number of the French, Swiss, and German films and visual works that she and her offices have been involved with have been nominated for the Prix Olivier Debouzy, one of France’s most prestigious awards, and short films/spots at Cannes Film Festival. Sellier was the primary inspiration for Illegitimate Advantage, a 2016 novel written by Kirk Gollwitzer, the cofounder of TRIFF. They are now actively working together to adapt the novel into a major motion picture.

Dr. Samuel Waymon joins the Tryon International Film Festival as a distinguished judge for the Human Rights & Dignity performance category in the 2024 season. An inspiration in the music realm, Sam enriches the festival with his vast experience and distinctive perspective. With a career spanning decades, Sam has left an indelible mark as a pianist, composer, singer, and performer. He is celebrated for his pioneering approach to the piano, seamlessly blending diverse musical genres. As the brother of the iconic Nina Simone, Sam co-authored many of her chart-topping songs and served as her manager, confidante, and organist for the initial 25 years of her illustrious career. He has graced the stage with legendary artists such as Miles Davis, Odetta, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Quincy Jones, Donny Hathaway, Phyllis Hyman, and Max Roach. Beyond his musical feats, Sam has made notable contributions to the film industry as a composer and actor. He composed music for Jonathan Demme's Academy Award-winning film "Philadelphia" and appeared in "Weeds" alongside Nick Nolte. His work in Bill Gunn's "Ganja & Hess" garnered acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival and is enshrined in the Museum of Modern Art's Library Archives. Recently, his composition "You've Got to Learn" was featured in Spike Lee's "Da Sweet Blood of Jesus." Sam Waymon's extensive background in music and film, coupled with his profound understanding of human rights and dignity, adds immense value to the judging panel of the Tryon International Film Festival 2024.

Screenwriter Kevin Bernhardt has had over 20 screenplays – result in produced films. His work has attracted Academy Award winners and nominees - including Donald Sutherland, John Lithgow, Nick Nolte, Djimon Hounsou, Sylvester Stallone and Dennis Hopper. Other prestigious notables have included Orlando Bloom, Kevin Bacon, Michael Caine, Ben Foster, Patrick Swayze, Chris Rock, Charlie Sheen, Dolph Lundgren, Charlize Theron, and Wesley Snipes. While working to establish himself as a writer he worked as an actor, with long contract roles on General Hospital and Dynasty, as well as leads in several films such as Hellraiser.

Steven Esteb is a versatile filmmaker who has worked as an actor and a Hollywood screenwriter, and director of commercials, music videos, documentaries, and features. His film Hate Crime won both Best Feature and Human Right & Dignity categories in the 2016 Tryon International Film Festival. Other films include Dirty Politics, a dark comedy starring Judd Nelson, Beau Bridges, and Howard Hesseman; and Baller Blockin, a rap film for Universal starring Lil Wayne that hit #1 on the Billboard charts in DVD and video sales eventually going quadruple platinum. Esteb has been represented by top agencies like ICM and Paradigm as a screenwriter and has worked as a script doctor, coach, and screenwriting teacher. He is currently teaching film and screenwriting at Loyola University in New Orleans. He lived and worked at an AIDS hospice for two years while making the feature length documentary Living With… A Film About Love and AIDS. It premiered at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and traveled the world, contributing to the opening of new AIDS hospices, his proudest accomplishment. Esteb studied film production in the graduate program at Boston University and has a degree in political science. He now lives in rural Louisiana, his adopted home, with his wife and two children.

Jeff L. Lieberman is an Emmy- and WGA-nominated director, writer, and journalist, and founder of Re-Emerging Films. His latest documentary, Bella!, about Congresswoman Bella Abzug, earned a 2024 WGA nomination and won the 2022 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize, featuring interviews with Barbra Streisand, Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, and more. His previous films include The Amazing Nina Simone, praised by The New Yorker and The New York Times, and Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria, an Oscar-qualifying documentary. Lieberman has held senior roles at CNN, CBS News, and VICE, and is currently developing his first narrative feature, My Harlem.

E. Vincent Martinez is a Cuban-born, Atlanta-based mixed-media artist, filmmaker, and educator. Raised in Miami, he earned a BFA from Barry University, where he focused on ceramics and photography. He went on to deepen his exploration of lens-based media, completing an MFA in Photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). In 2001, he earned a Master of Art Education (MaEd) from Georgia State University. Martinez's creative work often centers on storytelling through visual and material culture. His 2023 documentary Bringle: A Tale of Two Makers—a portrait of 87-year-old identical twin artists—was selected for screening at the Tryon International Film Festival. He is currently in production on a new documentary profiling trailblazing blacksmith and internationally acclaimed artist Elizabeth Brim.

Julia Fowler is an actress, writer, and producer known for her Southern charm and storytelling. She is the creator of the Southern Women Channel, a YouTube series that has garnered over 30 million views and was featured on The Today Show. Her comedic essays, Talk Southern to Me (2018) and Embrace Your Southern, Sugar (2020), have been endorsed by Dolly Parton, Delta Burke, and Andie MacDowell. A South Carolina native, Julia is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of South Carolina with a BA in Theatre and Dance. She has appeared on Broadway and in national tours, including Annie Get Your Gun and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Julia has also written for Netflix’s Country Comfort, adapted the novel Whistling Past the Graveyard into a screenplay, and is developing a faith-based film titled Tenacious.

Sam Sokolow is a two-time Emmy-nominated television producer and founder of Nice Media Studios, an independent TV studio based in Los Angeles and Toronto. He oversees development and production of scripted television and films, including acquiring and packaging IP, managing physical production, and guiding projects from concept to screen. He is best known as the Executive Producer of GENIUS, the acclaimed National Geographic series he developed from book to screen. Each season explores the life of a different icon—Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, and Aretha Franklin—and has earned multiple Emmy nominations. Sam is also a dedicated mentor and educator, teaching at Boston University’s LA program and guest lecturing at top film schools.

Calo is a bicoastal actor, MoCap performer, and voice actress who spent her childhood on film and television sets with her parents. She began acting at the age of seven, and has since enthusiastically followed her passion. She studied and performed with theaters such as the moscow Art Theatre Company, New York Stage and Film, as well as with acclaimed international director, Adolf Shapiro. In the voice over realm, she has worked on a myriad of animated series, anime, films, and video games. She can be heard as Salene Crow in Wasteland 3: The Battle of Steeltown, Cheng Chen in the popular mobile game, Seven Knights 2, Stella Loussier in Gundam Seed: Destiny, Pokemon, and more.

Diana De Rosa is a seasoned equine journalist, photographer, and media producer with over 40 years of experience covering the global equestrian world. She has reported from more than 30 countries and has been credentialed for nine Olympic Games, numerous World Equestrian Games, Pan American Games, and World Cups. Her work encompasses writing, photography, public relations, and media production. De Rosa is the Worldwide Equestrian Correspondent for EQUUS Television Network and co-organizer of the EQUUS Film Festival, which showcases equine-themed films across the U.S. She is also the owner of Press Link PR and Diana De Rosa Photography. In addition to her journalistic endeavors, she is a part-time actress and a member of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). Her contributions to the equestrian community have earned her recognition, including awards for her photography and media coverage.

Born to American and Nicaraguan parents, Cookie’s life has been a never-ending adventure. Raised in New Orleans, spending half her childhood in Nicaragua, the world has always been her oyster. A successful model and prolific partier in New York City, she turned to Journalism in her 20s, hired by CBS News to run their news bureau in Managua, Nicaragua covering the controversial civil wars in Central America. Stephen Kinzer (former bureau chief of the New York Times) writes: “During the 1980s and 1990s, Cookie Hood was the driving force behind the most successful television coverage of Central America that appeared anywhere in the United States.” Dan Rather called her his “Secret Weapon”. She ended up breaking some of the biggest stories of the 80s, eventually working with 60 MINUTES to uncover several earth shattering aspects of the Iran-Contra scandal. That story is now a hit podcast for iHeart Radio, titled JOURNALISTA, starring Cookie, and will soon be a series for television. She is still making waves and kicking ass, and excited to work with the Tryon International Film Festival to bring the next great stories to audiences around the world.

Erika Arlee is an award-winning director and multi-faceted filmmaker with accomplishments as an acclaimed screenwriter, cinematographer, and co-founder of the independent, female-forward production house, Honey Head Films. Her feature directorial debut, A Song For Imogene, won multiple awards on the festival circuit before going on to secure a distribution deal with Buffalo8. In addition to her work as an auteur, Erika teaches a recurring screenwriting workshop and has held an adjunct professorship at UNCW in the Film Studies Department.

Kristi Ray is a multi-hyphenate creative who’s been making waves in the independent film scene for the past fifteen years. She began her acting career onstage at just six years old, starring in her first feature film 12 years later. Classically trained at Lee Strasberg in NYC, her work as a leading lady gravitates toward dynamic characters and strong, compelling, female-centric stories. Kristi Ray has won several awards for her work in cinema, including Best Actress in a Feature, Best Supporting Actress, Outstanding Performer of the Year along with many other nominations. With small-town roots and an insatiable desire for growth, she has lived and worked in all seven of America’s major production hubs; eventually settling in the burgeoning film city of Wilmington, NC. A fearless Libra and self-made entrepreneur, in 2016 she co-founded Honey Head Films – an award winning, female owned production house with a mission-driven approach to narrative filmmaking. As a creative producer and actress she is intentionally moving the needle forward for marginalized voices in cinema – both in front of and behind the lens. She stars in a number of features including the latest Honey Head narrative, A Song For Imogene, which boasts a 100% above-the-line female team and exceptional crew made up of 70% women. In addition to a full time career in film, Kristi Ray is a programmer and judge for multiple festivals and continues to push the boundaries for high quality, female-centric stories.

Jazelle is an actor at heart, a digital marketer by trade, and an entrepreneur by nature. during her acting years, she taught herself marketing to promote herself as an actor. this was when she was recruited for Columbia University’s pilot digital marketing boot camp. with the analytic skills to match her artistic brain, she ran marketing for some of the biggest acting schools in NYC, finally building Creative Meets Marketing.