Judges
Brock LaBorde is a writer and producer who’s developed films, TV shows, digital series, and commercials for Dreamworks, Sony, WWE, VENN, Quibi, MTV, Comedy Central, AT&T, and Intel. His recent projects include the award-winning gun violence doc, 91%; and the animated pilot, SpaceWorld (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 Comedy Film Fest judge for a second time.
Chinwe Okorie is a writer-director known for witty, reality-rooted storytelling. Nominated for Best Austin Filmmaker in 2021, her films LOVEBITES (selected by Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media) and ELEPHANT! (Austin Film Festival 2022) earned her recognition as a Top Writer to Watch by MovieMaker Magazine. She’s developing ELEPHANT! as her feature debut.
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.
Bryan Connolly is a filmmaker and writer. Make Popular Movies. Hunky Boys Go Ding Dong. The Suplex Duplex Complex. None of these have won Oscars.
G-Su Paek is a Korean-American actor known for his work in independent films like Somebody Up There Likes Me (2012), 7 Chinese Brothers (2015), Call Me Brother (2018), and Lucky Doug (2022). He has appeared in TV series such as Crunch Time and HBO’s The Leftovers. A writer and performer in the 2020 CBS Showcase, he also co-founded award winning improv troupe "Y’all We Asian". His work spans film, television, voice acting, and live comedy, with festival appearances at San Francisco Sketchfest, Dallas Comedy Festival, and more.
Isaac Morantus is a Dominican filmmaker, writer, director, actor, editor, and producer.
He edited La Bruja (2021) and El Vendedor de Arte (2024), winning two La Silla Awards for Best Editing, making him the youngest editor and the first from the Cibao region to earn this honor.
As a writer-director, his short ¡Que importa esa M*****! (2023) Was selected for twelve national and international festivals, garnering awards in Texas, Spain, and London, along with the La Silla Award for Best Dominican Short Film (2024). He also won Johnnie Walker’s Keep Walking Films contest with his short film Camina Ven (2024), a project that showcases Dominican identity beyond stereotypes.
Morantus has built his career in both the Dominican Republic and the U.S., including stints in Los Angeles and New York. His films explore Dominican culture through comedy, blending humor with emotional depth and offering an innovative voice that has revitalized the genre.
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.
Crew
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.
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."
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.
John Gholson is a writer, actor, and cartoonist. His on-screen acting credits include locally-shot comedy favorites like Zero Charisma and Make Popular Movies, as well as work for Adult Swim, Shudder, Nerdist, and NBC/Universal. You can see him soon in a horror-comedy feature film based on the work of comic book provocateur Johnny Ryan and in an upcoming Netflix sketch comedy series. He is a cat person.