Wellington Almeida | Curator of Short Film Programming

Wellington Almeida is a Berlin-based filmmaker and programmer. He is the co-founder and programmer of Soura Film Festival, a queer film festival focused on the MENA region and works as a collaborator for the selection team at the Berlinale (Forum section). He has contributed to Obvious magazine and The Huffington Post as a culture writer and was also part of the Brazilian and Portuguese editorial staff at Tumblr. Currently he is covering film festivals in Europe for the online portal Cinema7Arte

Phil Miller | Curator of TV Pilots and Webseries

Phil Miller, based in Los Angeles, has a fervent interest in festival programming, distribution and VOD platforms.  He’s worked in the realms of both independent film distribution and public relations and serves a current position as the Distribution Operations Coordinator for SP Releasing LLC working to get their library of films and new releases onto various VOD platforms including Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Vudu and Freevee.  His programming experience includes the DTLA Film Festival and Outfest LA as part of their assistant programming team since 2018.  

Henry Priest | Co-Founder

Over the past 30 years Henry Priest has served the entertainment industry as an actor, writer, casting director, consultant and producer of film, TV and live events. Mr. Priest’s work has been showcased in some of the most prestigious film festivals, notably Canne, Tribeca and AFI Fest As a casting director, he has cast international commercials for Nike, Adidas and California Produce. Currently, Mr. Priest serves as the Executive Producer of Production for the National High School Coaches Association where he is developing sports-related film-TV projects that represent stories from student athletes across the country.

Greg Ptacek | Festival Director, Co-Founder

In a career spanning four decades, Greg Ptacek has worked in marketing- PR executive positions with major Hollywood, studios, notably Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal. However, it’s been his passion for independent film that has defined his career. He is the former head of communications for the American Film Market. He co-founded the Silver Lake Film Festival (Los Angeles) in 2000 and co-founded DTLA Film Festival in 2008. He also served as Festival Director of the Artivist Film Festival (Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro). A journalist by profession, he a former staff writer for The Hollywood Reporter, and author of six nonfiction books on varying subjects for major publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Random House and HarperCollins.

Suad Sarajlic | Chief Technology Officer

From the moment Suad Sarajlic encountered his inaugural Windows 95 computer he was captivated. He rapidly absorbed all the knowledge he could about the device recognizing its immense potential. Fueled by this enthusiasm Suad pursued and completed Humber College’s Multimedia and Design Program. With seven years of industry experience under his belt he established 101 Keys a company dedicated to providing web design/development and marketing solutions to clients. Suad has collaborated with a diverse range of businesses both small and large across Canada and the United States. As the Chief Technology Officer for the DTLA Film Festival website over the past eight years he has consistently refreshed and enhanced its content and design to deliver a distinctive user experience.

Carolyn Schroeder | Director of Programming

An award-winning filmmaker with the vision of an artist and the resourcefulness of an entrepreneur, Carolyn Schroeder has succeeded in arguably the toughest sales job in the world: the independent financing, making and distributing of feature films. She has packaged more 30 documentary and feature films in the United States and internationally, arranging for their development, casting, financing, marketing and/or distribution. Recently, she produced for Canal+ the biopic documentary, “From Watts to Watts: A Portrait of Filmmaker Charles Burnett.”