Forum Speakers
Kelly Bouma
Role: Editing Mentor
Film Forum Panel: BASE Film Production Training Session
Kelly Bouma is a multi-disciplinary artist and producer based in Missoula, MT. Since completing her MFA in Acting at the University of Montana, she has worked with Bare Bait Dance company and on various film projects with her favorite collaborator, Mike Steinberg. You can see Kelly in Le Pigeon and We Burn Like This as part of this year’s MTFF.
Jared Broxterman
Role: Actor
Film Forum Panel: For Actors in MT Film
Jared Braxterman is a Montana local with over 10 years of Montana film experience and education. After living in his car in LA with 20 network shows under his belt, he opted to move home to teach professional film training to the Montana Film Community. Montana Acting Studio and Casting was founded by Mother and son, Jared Broxterman and Cammy Maughan, with over 25 years experience on and off set and is intended to organize actors and actors resources across the state.
April Charlo
Role: Comedian, MOMedian, and storyteller
Film Forum Panel: Supporting Indigenous Stories in Film
April Charlo is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and lives on the Flathead Reservation. She is a full-time mom to her son Chief, she is a co-founder, an activist for Indigenous rights, and dabbles in ranching. She is Co-Founder of Snqʷeyłmistn "The place where you do your best" which provides culturally relevant homes for foster children on the Flathead Reservation. April is a Comedian, MOMedian, and storyteller.
Jesse Desrosier
Role: Blackfoot Language / Historical supervisor, SOOYII
Film Forum Panel: Supporting Indigenous Stories in Film
Jesse DesRosier Assinaipooyii (Cree Speaker) born in the month of the big snow. I was given my Blackfoot name by my great-great grandmother Mary Ground. Jesse is a graduate of the Cutswood Immersion School in 2003. From there Jesse served his country in the United States Marine Corps from 2007-2011. In May 2017 he completed his BA from the University of Montana in Native American Studies while co-founding Sacred Roots Society, a group focusing on revitalization of indigenous language. Jesse teaches the Blackfeet language at the Cutswood Immersion School, as well as Blackfeet Community College. Artwork has always been a passion and Jesse has been a Ledger artist since 2015; incorporating traditional designs with contemporary themes. Jesse enjoys telling stories through his artwork and incorporates both traditional and contemporary styles. Jesse is a proud husband and father of four and resides on the Blackfeet Reservation.
Lynn-Wood Fields
Role: Filmmaker
Film Forum Panel: Supporting Indigenous Stories in Film
Lynn-Wood Fields is an Award winning filmmaker, producer, and editor. She graduated with her MFA in digital filmmaking from the University of Montana. She has gone on to produce multiple films including recent projects with Ivy and Ivan MacDonald and April.
Marshall Granger
Role: Editor, WE BURN LIKE THIS
Film Forum Panel: Visual Storytelling
Marshall Granger is an editor and storyteller from Montana, based in Los Angeles. He produced and edited the feature film WE BURN LIKE THIS, which had its world premiere at the 2021 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and screened in competition at Deauville American Film Festival in France. He discovered his love for connecting images and sounds while working at the Roxy Theater, studying new and classic films and creating trailers for each film series. His determination to help bring challenging, emotionally resonant stories to the world led him to become an Editing Fellow at the AFI Conservatory. He lives in Glendale, CA with his fiancé and his two cats, Violet and Lucy.
Avela Grenier
Role: Producer & Editor, REWIND
Film Forum Panel: Visual Storytelling
Avela brings a background in design to her role as a producer and editor. Her editing work spans short form campaigns, episodic series, and documentary film. She has produced shows for NatGeoWild, History Channel, and Smithsonian Channel. Avela edited and produced the award-winning feature documentary, REWIND (Independent Lens, PBS) and received a 2021 EMMY® nomination for Outstanding Documentary Editing.
Ciara Griffin
Role: Make-up Artist
Film Forum Panel: Special Effects Wound Tutorial & Demos
Ciara Rose Griffin is an international makeup artist and member of IATSE 488. She recently returned to her home state of Montana after a decade in New York City where she worked in a variety of genres including film, TV, music videos, theatre, editorial, runway, bridal, events, and headshots.
John Howard
Role: Comedian, BASE Coordinator, Roxy Staff
Film Forum Panel: BASE PA Training
John Howard graduated with Bachelors in Media Arts from The University of Montana. John has been on and off the road doing comedy for the last 12 years. John is the CoFounder/ Director of Missoula's HomeGrown Comedy, which consists of a Monthly Open Mic Showcase and an Annual Comedy Competition. Recently, John worked with the Camp Horror Film Festival at the Roxy Theater, reigniting his love for filmmaking. For the last five years, he has been the BASE Coordinator, a program of Summit Independent Living.
Gina Lavery
Role: Senior Vice President, Econsult Solutions, Inc.
Film Forum Panel: Crew Survey
Gina Lavery is Senior Vice President and Principal of Econsult Solutions, Inc. (ESI). Gina has led a range of projects for ESI, primarily focused on urban planning, real estate, and transportation—particularly where these areas intersect with economic development. This work has included economic and fiscal impact studies to support major development projects, advisory services on incentive programs for private and public sectors clients across the US, and supplying market insights for clients making real estate decisions. Ms. Lavery received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and European History from the University of Pennsylvania and earned a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from Penn’s Weitzman School of Design.
Taylor Lennox
Role: Camera Assistant, Roxy Projectionist
Film Forum Panel: Training and Knowledge for AC's with hands-on camera instruction
Taylor Lennox was born and raised alongside the Blackfoot River outside Missoula, MT. A graduate of UM School of Media Arts, Taylor has worked as a Camera Assistant in film and television around the world, but particularly loves working on films back home in Montana. Taylor is currently back at UM getting a Master's Degree in Economics and working as a projectionist and manager at the Roxy Theater. Latest Credits: Broke, Beast, Mickey and The Bear, We Burn Like This, & Ballad of Lefty Brown.
Ivy MacDonald
Role: Filmmaker
Film Forum Panel: Supporting Indigenous Stories in Film
Ivy is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe of Browning Montana. She graduated from the University of Montana in 2017 with a BFA in Digital Filmmaking. Over the last four years she has produced and directed work for ESPN, ACLU, and is currently working on her first feature length documentary titled WHEN THEY WERE HERE.
Scott McGehee
Role: Director, MONTANA STORY
Film Forum Panel: A Conversation with David Siegel & Scott McGehee
Siegel & McGehee have been collaborating as a writing, directing, and producing team since 1990. They both spent most of their childhoods in Southern California, eventually crossing paths after college in the Sierra Nevada mountain town of Big Creek. David had been pursuing painting at RISD, and Scott was studying Japanese film at Berkeley, but history intervened, and shortly thereafter they began making films together in San Francisco. In 2005, they moved their operation to New York, where they have been living and working ever since. Their films include Suture (1993), The Deep End (2001), and What Maisie Knew (2013).
Daniel Molloy
Role: MT Filmmaker
Film Forum Panel: How to be an Extra
Daniel Molloy is a 6th generation Montana based filmmaker and instructor. A passion for all things film related has given Daniel the opportunities to teach film production courses on the Hi-Line of Montana to Duy Tan University in Da Nang, Vietnam- Daniel also works plenty in film and television production. Daniel has worked primarily as a 2nd 2nd AD on independent feature films and as an Assistant Location Manager on big budget television and streaming shows. Latest credits as 2nd 2nd AD: Mickey and The Bear, Beast, Murder at Emigrant Gulch, Broke, Mending The Line. As Assistant Location Manager:Yellowstone and Y:1883
John D. Nilles
Role: Owner, Treasure State Studios
Film Forum Panel: BASE PA Training
John D. Nilles is a 5th generation Montanan, filmmaker, film educator, & co-owner of Treasure State Studios. In his over 20 years of experience, John has written/directed/produced countless short films, commercials, corporate videos, documentaries, music videos, & feature films. Website: www.JohnDNilles.com
Toby Poser
Role: Director, HELLBENDER
Film Forum Panel: Festival Circuit Wisdom
Toby Poser, John Adams, and their daughters, Lulu and Zelda make films under the creative marquee of Wonder Wheel Productions: HELLBENDER. (Shudder/AMC Networks, 2022); The Deeper You Dig (2020, Dark Sky Films and Arrow Video); Halfway to Zen (2016); The Shoot (2014); Knuckle Jack (2013); and Rumblestrips (2012). For each they've employed the same DIY ethic: they write, direct, produce; they shoot, edit, act, and compose. The family lives in the Catskill Mountains of New York. www.WonderWheelProductions.com
Jeri Rafter
Role: Producer, Multiple Selections
Film Forum Panel: Crewing Up for your Indie Film
Jeri Rafter is a 5th generation Montanan with a passion for making films in and about Montana. Her latest producing credits include Butcher's Crossing starring Nick Cage and Broke with Wyatt Russell. She is a graduate of the Media Arts Program at the University of Montana and currently resides in Potomac, Montana. Latest Film Credits: Butcher's Crossing, Broke, Daughter of a Lost Bird, Mickey and the Bear, Ted K , We Burn Like This, Sooyii , and Ballad of Lefty Brown.
David Siegel
Role: Director, MONTANA STORY
Film Forum Panel: A Conversation with David Siegel & Scott McGehee
Siegel & McGehee have been collaborating as a writing, directing, and producing team since 1990. They both spent most of their childhoods in Southern California, eventually crossing paths after college in the Sierra Nevada mountain town of Big Creek. David had been pursuing painting at RISD, and Scott was studying Japanese film at Berkeley, but history intervened, and shortly thereafter they began making films together in San Francisco. In 2005, they moved their operation to New York, where they have been living and working ever since. Their films include Suture (1993), The Deep End (2001), and What Maisie Knew (2013).
Brooke Swaney
Role: Filmmaker
Film Forum Panel: Festival Circuit Wisdom
Brooke Pepion Swaney (Blackfeet/Salish) works to tell Indigenous stories. Presently, she is on the festival circuit with her first feature-length documentary, DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD, funded by Vision Maker Media and the winner of the New York Women In Film and Television Award for Best Female Director, Documentary at the 2021 Woodstock Film Festival. Her script along with co-writer Angela Tucker made the inaugural Indigenous List as part of the Blacklist. She has been a Woodstock/White Feather Arts Fellow, a NATIVe Fellow at the European Film Market/Berlinale, a 2014 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellow, and a 2013 Time Warner Fellow through the Sundance Institute. OK BREATHE AURALEE, her NYU graduate thesis film, screened at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and has TV distribution with FNX (First Nations Experience, a PBS affiliate). Brooke’s experience also includes producing BELLA VISTA (Rotterdam 2014), Vision Maker Media funded short film and new media project SIXTY FOUR FLOOD (PBS & PBS digital), and the first season of the podcast ALL MY RELATIONS (Matika Wilbur & Dr. Adrienne Keene).
Alana Waksman
Role: Director WE BURN LIKE THIS
Film Forum Panel: Festival Circuit Wisdom
Alana Waksman is an Ashkenazi writer, director, producer, and first generation descendant of Holocaust survivors from Poland. She is an alum of the USC School of Cinematic Arts MFA in Film & Television Production, and Connecticut College BA in Theater and English. As an actor, she trained at Shakespeare & Company, Berkshire Theater Festival, St. Petersburg Dramatic Arts Academy in Russia, and The O'Neill National Theater Institute where she studied under Colman Domingo. Alana has written and directed a number of short films and music videos, most notably BLACKOUT, written by David Haskell, received the Audience Award at the LA Shorts Fest, and Best Actor and Best Cinematography at the Women’s Independent Film Festival. WE BURN LIKE THIS, Alana's award-winning feature debut which she wrote, directed, and produced, is executive produced by Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer Neda Armian (RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, THE LOVING STORY, MURDER AT MIDDLE BEACH). The film premiered at the 2021 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, internationally premiered at Deauville American Film Festival, screening in competition, and is currently in the festival circuit.
Allison Whitmer
Role: MT Film Office Commissioner
Film Forum Panel: State of Film in Montana
For the past 20+ years, Allison has been involved in filmmaking, beginning with The Horse Whisperer, a Robert Redford classic, as well as the adaptation of the Native American breakthrough novel, Winter in the Blood. More recently, Certain Women brings the everyday stories of Montana women to life. She brings the knowledge of her own pioneer grandparents and a love of open spaces and augments it all with degrees in Media and Theatre Arts and Consumer Economics from Montana State University. Her worldwide clients have included Paramount, Valentino, Virgin Records and Italian Vogue. She actively promotes historic preservation and youth education. Allison serves as commissioner for the Montana Film Office.
