Advisory Board
Godfrey Cheshire
This film critic's interest in movies took hold very early on and developed quickly throughout his youth. In 1978, after a jaunt around Europe, he parlayed his interests into a broad arts criticism career, which he practiced at the Raleigh, North Carolina alternative weekly The Spectator. In 1991, Godfrey moved to New York City, focusing on movies within the pages of New York Press. Godfrey has served on the short film jury at Sundance as well as shared panel discussion stages with the likes of Ethan Hawke and Roger Ebert at Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival. The most prominent of his passions was, and still is, the Iranian cinema, a book about which he is currently writing. Most recently, he has written and talked about the impending switch from film to digital technology.
Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Esposito began his motion picture career with an appearance in "Taps," starring Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise and George C. Scott. Esposito is probably best known for his charismatic roles in five Spike Lee films - "Do the Right Thing," "School Daze," "Mo' Better Blues," "Jungle Fever" and the acclaimed "Malcolm X." His other film credits include Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth," Tim Robbins "Bob Roberts," "Fresh," "Cotton Club," and "King of New York" among others. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the actor's recent credits include "The First Wives Club," "Nothing to Lose," "The Maze," "The Usual Suspects," "Klash," "The Keeper," Wayne Wang's "Smoke," "Blue in the Face" and "Reckless." On stage, Giancarlo has appeared in numerous productions, receiving an Obie Award and a Drama Desk nomination for "Distant Fires," and another Obie Award and Theater World Award for his performance in "Zooman and the Sign." Giancarlo's other stage credits include "Sacrilege" with Ellen Burstyn, "Trafficking in Broken Hearts," "Don't Get God Started," "Merrily We Roll Along," "Seesaw" and "Lost in the Stars," among others. Esposito's television credits include guest-starring roles on "NYPD Blue," "Chicago Hope," and "Miami Vice" and a starring role in his own highly-acclaimed series "Bakersfield P.D." Esposito has appeared in over a half-dozen made-for-tv movies, including NBC's "Five Desperate Hours," the PBS series "Roanoake" and the PBS movie "Simple Justice."
Kaye Ferry
A twenty year resident of the Town of Vail, Kaye is an active member of the Vail community and an avid film enthusiast. She is the Executive Director of the Vail Chamber and Business Association, a ski instructor, Chairman of the Vail Liquor Board, and writes a weekly column for the Vail Daily.
Darren Foster
Darren Foster is the Co-Founder and former Director of The Vail Filmmaker Project (VFP) and has worked with the Vail Film Festival since its inception in 2004. In June 2006, Darren launched Film Scribe (www.filmscribe.com), an online resource dedicated to supporting screenwriters worldwide. Film Scribe is currently working with the Colorado Film Institute to provide educational opportunities for screenwriters and filmmakers throughout the year. Darren is also an active screenwriter and screenwriting instructor. He is currently on faculty at the Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe (SCSFe) and the prestigious Lighthouse Writers Workshop. He has taught classes at the University of Colorado, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and many other film festivals and educational institutions. He has had screenwriting articles published in Hollywood Scriptwriter, MovieBytes and others. Darren is currently under contract writing a feature film scheduled to start principle photography this fall and will be directing his own film in Summer 2006.
Gill Holland
Nominated for the Spirit Award for Producer of the Year 1998, Gill's producing credits include the Fox sit-com "Greg The Bunny", Morgan J. Freeman's triple Sundance award-winning "Hurricane Streets" (MGM); his follow-up "Desert Blue"(Samuel Goldwyn), starring Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, and the then-unknown Kate Hudson; Rob Tregenza's "Inside/Out" (Cannes 1997); John-Luke Montias' "Bobby G. Can't Swim" (winner AFI 1999, Best Film and Best Director); Tom Gilroy's award-winning "Spring Forward" (starring Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber and on many critics' top ten lists for 2000); and Tim Kirkman's Spirit Award and Emmy-nominated documentary "Dear Jesse" (Cowboy Booking). Other films include Kirkman's follow-up "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me", Jamie Yerkes' "Spin the Bottle" and "Pagans", Kipp and Adam Marcus's "Let It Snow" (AFI winner starring Bernadette Peters), Mikey jackson's "Shooting Vegetarians" (with French star Elodie Bouchez), Arthur Flam and Diane Doniol-Valcroze's "Kill By Inches", Tim McCann's "Revolution #9", Larry Blume's comedy "Martin and Orloff" (starring the Upright Citizens Brigade) and two shorts by famed Norwegian artist Per Fronth. He is a half-Norwegian, half North Carolinian reformed lawyer and adjunct professor at NYU Graduate Film School. He was a juror at Sundance in 1999 and for the Academy Awards, Student Division 2002. Gill worked for three years at the French Film Office after a brief stint at October/USA Films. He is working on a movie about the Wright Brothers and a TV series based on Interpol.
Adam Kassen
Adam Kassen is co-president of Trigger Street Independent. Adam partnered with his brother Mark Kassen, two-time Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, and producer Dana Brunetti to form Trigger Street Independent, a fully-funded production company. After co-founding Shades of Gray Productions with his brother Mark, Adam secured overall deals with MTV Networks and Fox Studios. At Fox, Adam wrote, directed, and executive produced the pilot "Slogan." Other directing, writing, producing credits include "Faking It" for RDF Media/TLC, "Wife Swap" for RDF Media/ABC, "Flummerfelt Brothers" for MTV Networks and "The Take" for Fox. He also produced the film Trigger Happy for IFC Productions, and the plays "Little Willy" and "Perfect." In addition, Adam wrote and directed The Short Shot Experiment, an ongoing program that allows three unknown directors to make short films. Adam also directed and executive produced IFC's hit series "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman." Along with his brother Mark, Adam recently produced "Mr. Gibb," starring Tim Daly and Hayden Panetierre, "The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang," starring Justin Long, and "Doris and Bernard," currently on HBO, starring Ralph Fiennes and Susan Sarandon.
Mark Kassen
Mark Kassen is co-president of Trigger Street Independent. Mark Kassen partnered with his brother Adam Kassen, two-time Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, and producer Dana Brunetti to form Trigger Street Independent, a fully-funded production company. On stage, Mark performed in the broadway production of The Last Night of Ballyhoo and the off-Broadway production of Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight. Mark played the lead in TV movies such as NBC's "The Secret" and "Growing Up Brady," guest starred on CBS' "Cybill" and NBC's "Third Watch," and starred in the film Trigger Happy, an IFC production. He also wrote and performed in multimedia projects Perfect and Little Willy. Mark co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced The Short Shot Experiment, and Slogan. Other producing credits include "Roommate Wanted" for Comedy Central, "1st Amendment Project" for the Sundance Channel, the film Trigger Happy for IFC, and the new Ed Burns film Looking for Kitty.
Rod Slifer
Rod Slifer serves on the Boards of Public Service Company of Colorado and Alpine Banks of Colorado. He is a partner in Slifer Smith & Frampton in Vail, Colorado. He is involved in several development projects ranging from golf course communities to residential and commercial projects. Mr. Slifer is very involved in community affairs, serving on several local, county and state boards and commissions.