Judges
Brock LaBorde is a writer and producer who’s developed films and content for studios such as Dreamworks, Sony, WWE, and Viacom. He’s created original TV shows, digital series, and commercials for brands such as VENN, Quibi, MTV, Comedy Central, AT&T, and Intel. His recent projects include the award-winning gun violence documentary, 91%; and the animated pilot, SpaceWorld - which marks his third project with cult film icon Tommy Wiseau. Currently, he’s designing a video game, ARBO: Arena Tactics, and developing its IP into a graphic novel for ReBlink Studios. He served as a judge for the Southern Screen Film Fest for 3 years, and is honored to serve as a judge for The Comedy Film Fest.
Chinwe Okorie is a multi-genre writer and director who crafts stories rooted in reality and elevated by witty and absurdist observation. In 2021, the Austin Chronicle nominated Chinwe for Best Austin Filmmaker along with Richard Linklater and Robert Rodriguez. Her directorial voice is bold, mature, and exceptionally brave.
Her film LOVEBITES was hand-selected by Issa Rae to be distributed by her production company Hoorae Media and her follow up film ELEPHANT!, a dark comedy about mental health in teens, premiered at the 2022 Austin Film Festival. This achievement led to recognition as a Top Writer to Watch by MovieMaker Magazine. She is currently writing the feature-length version of ELEPHANT! with plans to make it her feature directorial debut and directing her fourth short film CYCLES.
Elíaz Rodriguez is a Mexican-American writer/director originally from Chicago whose comedy and magical realism work has been screened at 100+ film festivals, including SF Indie Fest and Straight 8 at the British Film Institute. At Austin Revolution Film Festival, the top-rated festival of Film Freeway, he was named a “Hall of Famer” in 2021. He recently finished a 5-year self-discovery journey where he lived throughout Mexico, New Orleans, Austin, and Brooklyn. He is developing films about embracing his Mexican ethnicity for the first time in his 30s and de-assimilation from American first-generation paradigms.
Jazmyne Moreno is a film programmer at the Austin Film Society, where she’s best known as the mind behind Lates, a weekly series showcasing cult films for the arthouse crowd. She is Lead Programmer of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival and a contributing writer on Warped and Faded: Weird Wednesday and the Birth of the American Genre Film Archive. Her work has been profiled by Austin Chronicle, Sightlines, and Current. She is reasonably tall at 5’6.
Mohit Jaswal is an award winning filmmaker based out of Austin, TX. His comedic short film Butt Fantasia played at some fancy festivals such as Slamdance Film Festival and Fantastic Fest. He produced the feature film Make Popular Movies and directed Night On Sixth. He currently edits for Powerhouse Animation on the only slightly funny Tomb Raider series upcoming on Netflix.
Meghan Ross is an Austin-based writer, director, producer, and comedian who was selected for 2022 Women at Sundance Adobe Fellowship, Sundance Episodic Lab 2021-2022, and 2022 NewNarratives grant from NewFilmmakers LA & Warner Bros. Discovery’s OneFifty for her half-hour comedy Here to Make Friends (also her personal tagline). Her shorts made The New Yorker’s Best Shouts of 2020 list, she was nominated for The Webby Awards for If You Ever Hurt My Daughter, I Swear to God I’ll Let Her Navigate Her Own Emotional Growth, featuring narration by Jon Hamm, and her writing has appeared in Reductress, VICE's Broadly, TV Without Pity, The Toast, and other defunct but beloved sites. She hosted the late night show That Time of the Month for 5 years, the Instagram Live show No One Asked For This for 2 pandemic years, and is currently Head of Creator Success at Seed&Spark. Most importantly, Meghan’s an aspiring stage mom to her rescue pit-lab, Dreidel.
Panelists, Hosts, Special Guests
Yola Jean Lu is a comedian, actress and writer based in Austin, Texas. She has been lucky enough to have performed stand up in Seattle's Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival and Los Angeles' Comedy Comedy Festival. She is one of the co-founders of Texas' only all-Asian improv troupe, Y'all We Asian— who have won multiple honors, including at the B. Iden Payne Awards and the Critic's Pick in the Austin Chronicle's “Best Of”. Yola is also the 2022 Austin Chronicle Best Actress winner. When Yola isn't performing stand up around town, or improv with her all-female troupe, Garage, she is making and writing films. Yola is the creator & star of the web series, “uncomfortable”, which has amassed over a million views. She recently finished her short film, Patsy, which she produced, wrote and starred in.
Brian Villalobos is a multi-award-winning bilingual actor whose work has spanned more than 100 film, television, commercial, and stage productions, in collaboration with such artists as Jesse Plemons, Zachary Levi, Richard Linklater, and Shaquille O'Neal. He can be seen on Netflix, HBO Max, Showtime, as well as in theaters soon in Roadshow Attractions' ACCIDENTAL TEXAN, starring Thomas Haden Church, Rudy Pankow, and Carrie Anne Moss -- not to mention here at The Comedy Film Festival, in the Texas premiere of Peter Curtis Pardini's MAN GOES ON RANT. He has been married to fellow actor Akasha Villalobos since 2007, and lives in Texas with his family, a phalanx of pets, and a borderline obsession with Paul Verhoeven's Robocop (1987).
Peter Pardini is a director and writer based in Austin, Texas. His 2017 film Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago, about the legendary rock group Chicago, premiered on CNN and won best feature awards across numerous festivals. He has directed numerous commercials, shorts and several feature films including 2020’s Rolling Thunder starring Wes Studi and Joe Mantegna.
JJ Pollack works as a freelance editor and director in Austin, with work featured on ESPN+, Gunpowder & Sky’s DUST channel, Film Shortage, and Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture. He was awarded a grant from the Other Worlds Film Festival to make his last short, Jettison, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival and made its LA debut at HollyShorts. JJ is currently in pre-production to direct his first feature, a two-hander chamber dramedy, after industry vets read his script and raved "Why is this a movie? Feels more like a play." and "This is the least marketable idea anyone's ever had."
Isaac Morantus, a Dominican filmmaker, has made significant contributions to both the Dominican and American film industries. He's acclaimed for his editing work, notably winning the “La Silla award” for Best Editing in 2021 for La Bruja and being nominated again in 2022.
As a director, Morantus created the successful HashtagLol YouTube channel as a producer, director and actor, known for its comedy content. His short film Who Gives a S***! won Best Comedy at the "Best Film Awards" in 2023, earning him further recognition, including Honorable Mentions at prestigious festivals. Morantus's extensive experience includes roles as an editor, writer, director, first assistant director, and DIT technician. He's also been a teacher of Editing and Acting at Fenix Legendario Studios SRL.
His notable projects include editing El Vendedor de Arte (2023) and La Otra Lucha (2022), and serving as DIT for various films, including Kanaval (2023) and "0+" (2023).
Based out of Austin, Jacob Clark is a filmmaker and the proud owner of Visible Horizon Films. With a versatile portfolio, he contributes to the creation of an array of content, ranging from engaging YouTube videos and compelling Social Ads to thought-provoking documentaries and captivating narrative films, including Comedy Specials. At the heart of Jacob's creative journey is his unwavering passion for storytelling in all its forms. Whether it's crafting narratives or delivering impactful messages, Jacob excels in leveraging the art of filmmaking as a powerful communication tool. Currently, he has two narrative shorts and a feature documentary in the post-production phase, while simultaneously spearheading the development of two exciting YouTube series. Jacob Clark is a storyteller at heart, bringing creativity and purpose to every project he undertakes.
Jamie Campbell is a screenwriter, actor, and nationally touring stand-up comedian. His album, Tell Me You’re Proud of Me, debuted at #1 on Amazon’s comedy charts, and he is honored to have his critically-acclaimed stand-up special, Big Dad Energy screening at The Comedy Film Festival. . His performances have earned numerous accolades including "Best of Fringe" honors in Kansas City, Tucson, and Washington D.C., "Best Stand-up or Variety Performance" by San Antonio's Bexar Stage, and Chicago's "Best Stand-Up Comedian" by The Chicago Reader. As an actor, you may recognize him from NBC’s Chicago Fire, The Pop Network’s Hollywood Darlings, or Ty Burell’s Boondoggle, which was nominated for a primetime Emmy. In addition to his performing career, Jamie is an award-winning screenwriter who recently won the grand prize at the Dallas International Film Festival for his script Sneakerhead, which is being produced by Event Horizon Films and Torfoot Studios.
Programmers
Bryan Connolly is a filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. He has written for Adult Swim (The Suplex Duplex Complex) and recently directed the award winning comedy feature MAKE POPULAR MOVIES. He has been on juries and led panels at Fantastic Fest and the Olympia Film Festival.
Graham Young is a filmmaker and part-time gameshow host working in the Austin area. He has worked on Austin area feature films such as Ultimate World and Lucky Doug, as well as the documentary short, The Superlative Light, which was a nominee for the Grand Jury Award at SXSW.
Born in rural Kansas, Graham's daddy was a rattlesnake, and his mama wore a six-gun.
Patrick Neese has directed, produced, operated Steadicam, edited, animated, written, and acted in short films, web series, podcasts, feature films, live shows, and so much more.
Crew
Liz Steelman is a marketing professional. She spent too much money in the Chicago improv scene in the early 2010s. She can recognize a lot of people in commercials now. She has never made or even seen a movie.
Alice Nelson is a student in Austin who’s passionate about TV-production and film editing. She is a writer who creates and edits horror/comedy shorts with her friends, does production gigs with TBN and A&E, and will continue involvement in local theatre projects. She spends her free time talking to her cat, recording outside noises, and watching comedy TV.
Tiernan O'Rourke is a seasoned film festival technician and event production specialist based in Austin, Texas. Over the course of the last fifteen years he has ensured that thousands of films have had stellar premiere experiences at theatrical venues across the capitol city. When he's not running or attending festivals, you can likely find him lending a hand on the set of an independent feature or trying to start up another very important podcast about sandwiches.
Eric Rousseau is a filmmaker who splits time between Austin, TX & Charlotte, NC. He prides himself on being able to jump into any role on a set. His feature film, Lucky Doug, played at a dozen festivals between 2021-2023, and won numerous awards.