To Our Panelists

Posted on March 2nd, 2012

Although all of us here are Fusion are devishly good looking, sometimes, even beauties like us can make mistakes. We adore our panelists. Here are some featured on the site, but not in the program.

DANI MELIA Dani Melia has worked at Big Beach for the past five years, she started off as an assistant to the producers on films including Sunshine Cleaning, Away We Go and Jack Goes Boating. Currently a Production Executive at the company, Dani most recently worked on Safety Not Guaranteed which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. She received her B.F.A. in Film Production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

CELINE RATTRAY President of Maven Pictures, a New York-based film development, production, and financing company. Previously worked as the President of Mandalay Vision, where she produced the award-winning The Kids Are Alright, was a founding principal of Plum Pictures, and was Director of Marketing & Business Development at HBO where she helped develop HBO on Demand. Selected for Crain’s New York’s “Forty Under 40” list of young executives. Graduated with a first class degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford University.

MELISSA WELLS Melissa Wells is a Motion Picture Lit agent at United Talent Agency in New York City. Melissa graduated from Columbia in 2003 with a major in Film Studies. Upon graduating she began working for writer/director Marc Lawrence as his assistant on his directorial debut TWO WEEKS NOTICE, starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock, followed by MISS CONGENIALITY 2. She then worked for producer Jennifer Todd on the films PRIME and ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. In 2007, Melissa and Marc Lawrence started the New York based production company, Banter Films. During her time with Banter she was a Co-Producer on MUSIC & LYRICS, starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, Co-Producer on DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, and she developed multiple other film projects. Melissa joined the New York office of UTA in the fall of 2011, where she represents writers and directors for film.

MYNETTE LOUIE A New York-based independent film producer, Mynette Louie produced Marshall Lewy’s CALIFORNIA SOLO (Sundance 2012), Tze Chun’s CHILDREN OF INVENTION (Sundance 2009), co-produced Andrew Bujalski’s MUTUAL APPRECIATION (SXSW 2005, Top 10 films of the year–EW, Village Voice, Film Comment, Artforum, etc.), and was the consulting producer on Olivia Silver’s ARCADIA (Berlinale 2012). She is currently in post-production, pre-production, and development on several narrative projects. Louie was a fellow of the 2008 Rotterdam Lab, 2009 Sundance Creative Producing Lab, and 2010 Berlinale Talent Campus. She is on the Program Advisory Committee of the IFP and Selection Advisory Committee for the Sundance Labs, and was named by Ted Hope as one of “21 Brave Thinkers Of Truly Free Film.” Mynette previously worked at the Hawaii Film Office, where she authored the state’s production tax credit, and in business development and marketing at SportsIllustrated.com, Jupiter Research, and Time Magazine. A native New Yorker, Mynette graduated from Harvard University, where she studied Chinese literature and film.

ANNE CAREY Anne Carey is a New York based independent producer. Currently housed at Epoch Films, she is collaborating with Epoch Film’s founder Mindy Goldberg to expand Epoch’s film and television division. Epoch films produced Phil Morrison’s “Junebug” for which Amy Adams was nominated for an Academy Award. Carey is currently executive producing Liz Garbus’s documentary “Fragments” financed by Studio Canal. Carey produced Anton Corbijn’s “The American”, written by Rowan Joffe and starring George Clooney released through Focus Features in Fall of 2010. In 2008 Carey produced “Adventureland,” written and directed by Greg Mottola and starring Ryan Reynolds, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. “Adventureland” was released through Miramax in April 2009. In 2007 Carey produced “ The Savages”, written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, released by Fox Searchlight “The Savages” garnered two Oscar nominations. That year, Carey also executive produced Oscar-winner Alan Ball’s feature film directorial debut, “Towelhead”. Carey’s other notable film credits include “Friends with Money”, “The Ex”, “Thumbsucker”, “The Door in the Floor” and “The Laramie Project”. Carey founded the New York City production company This is that, Inc. in 2002; prior to that Carey was a producer and head of Development at Good Machine, Inc. Carey began her career at the William Morris Agency as the Director of Literary Development sourcing literary material for the agencies top film and television clients.

ARIANNA BOCCO VP Acquisitions at IFC Films, where she works she picked-up include Cannes Grad Jury Prize-winnder Gomorrah, and Cannes Palmed’Or winners 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 Days and Hunger. Perviously held positions as SVP Acquisitions at Miramax Film and VP Acquisitions at New Line Cinema. Appeared on Crain’s New York Business’ 40 Under Forty list. Graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.

Filed under: Announcements

Fusion 2012 Finalists!

Posted on February 28th, 2012

With submissions having come to a close, being screened, reviewed, judged, decided upon and chosen, we now have our Fusion Film Festival 2012 Finalists decided by faculty and industry judges.

Fusion would love to thank our brilliant participants and finalists for the amazing work they have submitted this year. Without all of these talented people, Fusion wouldn’t be plausible and we always appreciate submissions.

Undergraduate Film

My Ketchup Smiles
Directed by: Eliza McNitt
Cinematography by: Oliver Anderson

Obscure Night
Directed by: Joe Felong
Cinematography by: Sara Eklund

The Ninth Train
Directed by: Eliza McNitt and Oliver Anderson
Cinematography by: Oliver Anderson

Knockers
Directed by: Diana Snyder
Cinematography by: Bobby Johnson and David Sabshon

Graduate Film

Reprise
Directed by: Shripriya Mahesh
Cinematography by: Pepa Avila Del Pino

Salam Ghourba (Farewell Exile)
Directed by: Lamia Alami
Cinematography by: Edna Luise Biesold

Join The Dots
Directed by: Jessica Lux
Cinematography by: Daniel Stafford-Clark

So Over You
Directed by: Karen Odyenic
Cinematography by: Kit Pennebaker

Sight and Sound

Ms. Sheridan
Directed by: Lauren Ciaravalli
Cinematography by: Michael Litwak

The Eye
Directed by: Lauren Young
Cinematography by: Dennis Hu

10 Rings
Directed by: Lea Jackson
Cinematography by: Will Mayo, Casey Sincic, and Jon Hess

Docs In The Works

Little Limbs
Directed by: Maximillain Stentrom

Reporting on the Times: The New York Time and The Holocaust
Directed by: Emily Harrold

To The Moon
Directed by: Emma Thatcher

Kougie and Me
Directed by: Eliza McNitt

Neither Here Nor There
Directed by: Ema Yamazaki

Undergraduate Short Screenplay

Try Outs
Written by: Lauren Ciaravalli

The Perfect Man
Written by: Shannon Brown

Star Crossed Lovers
Written by: Nesma Bensalem

Graduate Short Screenplay

Oh Lucy!
Written by: Atsuko Hirayanagi

Now Or Neverland
Written by: Jason Stefaniak and EJ An

The Disobedience
Written by: Jean-Baptiste Breliere and Marina Sinitsyna

Undergraduate Feature Screenplay

Shenanigans
Written by: Alyssa DiMari

Alone Together
Written by: Christina Tellez

Capacity
Written by: Xueche Guo

Graduate Feature Screenplay

I’ll Tell You No Lies
Written by: Bianca Ursillo

Michaela
Written by: Luisa Parnes

Falling Into Place
Written by: Lily Mercer

Music Videos

“Be The One” – Moby
Directed by: Mandy Madelstein

“They Call Us Animals” – Free Blood
Directed by: Catrin Hedstrom

“NYU Film Rap” – Hila the Kila
Directed by: Hila Perry

We here at Fusion would like to congratulate our 2012 participants and finalists for their amazing work and for contributing to another successful year at Fusion Film Festival!

Filed under: Announcements, Finalists

All New Calendar!

Posted on February 15th, 2012

Check out the brand spanking new official calendar for Fusion 2012′s Events! Your google calendar just got a lot more filled up!

Created by our very own Lauren Ciaravalli.

Filed under: Programming

Welcome!

Posted on February 14th, 2012

Welcome one and all, male and female, young and old to the official website for Fusion Film Festival.

Fusion Film Festival is a student run festival featuring works from New York University’s top female filmmakers, writers, and directors with a collaborations from both genders.

Fusion offers free events annually to celebrate the films and their creators, check out our events page for this year’s schedule. Remember, they’re all free! Come meet industry pros and engage in conversation about not just film, but television industry as well.

Be sure to check out our sponsors, they’re the ones who help make this all plausible!

Filed under: Announcements

We Love Our Sponsors!

Posted on February 7th, 2012

Here at Fusion we adore, love, worship, praise, admire, cherish, revere, exalt, and appreciate our Sponsors because THEY are the ones who help make all the magic happen.

We would like to thank our current sponsors Luna Bars and Baked By Melissa, and we would also like to welcome our newest sponsors Pop Chips and Doughnut Plant. Not only to all these people help make Fusion delicious but keep our guests and audiences happy.

More sponsors are coming on their way and we welcome them with open, ecstatic arms!