JUDGING TEAM

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Yang Liu (Lizzy) is a director, producer, and writer based in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from Emerson College majoring in Film and Media Art with an MFA degree. Previously, she received her BFA degree at Beijing Film Academy. Through the global film production studies from China to the US, she has built solid theoretical and practical experiences with a deep insight into the international film market. Working as the Creative Executive at a Hollywood film production and financing company, she supervises Indie Film, Documentary, and Animation departments. She is also in charge of a young director support program as the Executive Officer of North America. 

The program is for supporting BIPOC and female filmmakers. She has written and directed several award-winning films in the past, including A Matter of Time, World Without End, and Tessellation. Her work has been nominated and won many international film festivals, such as LA Shorts(Oscar, BAFTA qualified), Holly Shorts(Oscar qualified), WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, and New York City Independent Film Festival. Currently, she is working closely with Academy Award winner Donna Gigliotti and Academy Award nominee Diane Quon in the post-production and distribution process of an award-winning documentary Wuhan Wuhan.

U.S. Navy Veteran Alicia Buckner, nicknamed "Ali" (pronounced Ah-Lee) was born and raised in New York. Before completing service honorably, she created Fôlsheart Productions established in early 2018. Ali has produced, directed, written and edited a number of films and pieces for non-profit organizations and businesses throughout the United States. She has won awards across the world for her features and short films in London, Berlin, Stockholm, Los Angeles, Toronto, New York, Kolkata, Paris, Milan and many more. Her vision is to continue to create "impact films" that get productive conversations going on issues that may be taboo. To help communities progress and engage in the thoughts and ideas that may be unfamiliar to them. She pays homage to the greats in various ways in her works. For example, making cameos in her films Alfred Hitchcock style. Her production company houses a diverse group of film lovers who understand the mission of Fôlsheart and want to help change hearts and minds together.

Christian wrote, produced and stars in the 2021 multi-award-winning short film The Virtual Connection, directed by the Emmy-nominated Billy Clift, and co-starring Mel England (From Zero to I Love You) and Antoine Perry (Waking Up with Strangers). He made his mark playing a variety of character roles in film and television. Notable networks include Discoveryand truTV. Trained in long form narrative improvisation, Christian has performed live in student productions of Dorothy Parker Improvised, Rom-Com Improvised, and TennesseeWilliams Improvised, with the Conservatory program at L.A.s Impro Theatre. A Los Angeles native, Christian enjoys hiking local trails, cooking, and tinkering around the house. He shares his adventurous life with a lawyer spouse and two rescue dogs. 

At the age of 13, Lori Mae Hernandez was the youngest female comedian ever featured on multiple major networks. She was named by Refinery 29 as one of the top ten female comedians to know. She was a semifinalist and the last comedian standing in season 11 of America's Got Talent. Simon Cowell called her the, "Next Tina Fey." She's guest starred on Disney Channel's Bizaardvark and KC Undercover, Netflix's No Good Nick, and the reboot of iCarly. She was also a cast member on Everything's Gonna Be Okay on Freeform and Hulu. Hernandez has also made three short films in the past year that are winning laurels at a multitude of festivals, and she is studying screenwriting at UCLA. She has also performed in over 50 plays and musicals in her lifetime. For example, Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird, Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, and Little Red in the musical Into The Woods. She is a comedian, actor, director, comedy writer, artist, ukulele player, and dog mom.

Lejla Subašić is a Bosnian-American video artist and writer based in Los Angeles. Her work has been screened in 23 festivals and has won the

“Best Director” category at Yucca Valley Film Fest, Vegas Movie Awards, IndieX Film Fest, amongst many others. She has written for Chicago Music Guide, Punctuate Magazine, and has an essay exhibition showcased at the Hokin Gallery in Chicago. She is currently building her body of essayistic work and working part-time as an indie film producer, video editor, and camera assistant. Her hobbies include improvising lyrics with her electronic musical gloves, reading philosophy, and dancing. 

Songhuan Li is a contemporary artist, film director and film producer，based in Los Angeles, Hollywood. Songhuan Li is also a yogi of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism (Longchen Nyingthig System). Benefiting from eleven years of rigorous spiritual practice, Songhuan Li is committed to implementing his understanding of the essence of the human spirit in his films, film theory studies and installation art: The Essence of moving image must be related to the deepest emotion, thought, desire and the soul of humanity, Which should let the audience to achieves a complete self-awareness in the present.

In the process of implementing this concept, Songhuan Li created 18 Films, the major projects are: The Trilogy of Samsara (The Conversion, Liberty, I), The Trilogy of Life and Death (The Splendid Aria, Last Dance, The Death of An Artist), The Trilogy of Dream and Poem (Dakini, Karma, Monkey and Jasmine)

So far, Songhuan Li has received more than 90 awards and selections from many
international film festivals, Include
Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, Cannes International Film Festival, Sydney International Film Festival, French Independent Film Festival, Rome International Movie Awards, Milan Gold Awards, Paris Shorts Film Awards, New York Independent Cinema Awards, Chinese American Film Festival, etc.

Lei Jia is a screenwriter and director, an enthusiastic cinephile and film scholar, and the founder of Phosphene Pictures. A Chinese native, he grew up in Beijing, and graduated
from the prestigious Central Academy of Drama with a bachelor’s degree in Film and TV Directing. His first feature screenplay,
MOM’S POSTCARD, won the Creative Screenplay Award of the Xiayan Screenplay Cup, hosted by the China Film Administration. 

To pursue filmmaking in Los Angeles, he received a Film Production MFA in 2020 from ArtCenter College of Design. His feature
screenplay THE OTHER SON is a Finish Line Script Competition Quarter-Finalist and Rhode Island International Film Festival Semi-Finalist. The Oscar-qualifying BronzeLens Film Festival
selected the short film NIGHT ENCOUNTER (2021), which he directed. He is currently completing post-production on his new
short film, AFTER.

Sadi is a Turkish-Colombian filmmaker who completed his master's at New York Film Academy focusing on feature film development. He specializes in directing and producing and has worked with several companies in The US most notably Porsche and Burning Man. 

His latest work ‘Jesters Paradise’, which he wrote, directed and produced has won 51 awards in film festivals around the globe. Currently he is working with Rebel Way Entertainment as a consultant and helps the company in developing incoming prospects and proposals.

Todd Lien is an award-winning film director and screenwriter from Taiwan who is also a working actor/singer in Hollywood. His passion in storytelling is also passed down to Asian American child artists that he teaches and manages whenever he is not on set. His goal is to increase visibility on the big screen for Asian American community AND the LGBTQ community by creating more films and stories as an artist and as an acting coach. 

Jack Denny is a Pittsburgh native/LA-based independent filmmaker and location manager. He has worked in the location department on projects like “The People V O.J. Simpson” “John Wick 3” and “9-1-1”. He has also directed shorts and music videos, with an emphasis on LGBTQIA+ stories. He latest short, Play Date, has been accepted into 7 festivals, 5 of which awarded the film “Best LGBTQ Short.” 

His films can be found at vimeo.com/troyhousefilms or on his IG page “Jack_Art_Denny”