Dylan McDermott
Dylan McDermott presents the Best Cinematography award at the 2022 All American High School Film Festival!
Dylan McDermott is an American actor. He is best known for his role as lawyer and law firm head Bobby Donnell on the legal drama series The Practice, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
McDermott is also known for his roles in four seasons (first, second, eighth and ninth) of the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story, subtitled Murder House, Asylum, Apocalypse, and 1984 portraying Ben Harmon, Johnny Morgan and Bruce, respectively. He also starred as narcotics crime lord Richard Wheatley on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime; Lt. Carter Shaw on the TNT series Dark Blue; in CBS dramas, Hostages and Stalker; and in the 1994 remake of the film Miracle on 34th Street. In 2022, he joined FBI: Most Wanted as the new lead, replacing the departing Julian McMahon.
Frankie Chiapperino
Frankie Chiapperino presenting the award for Best Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy at the 2022 All American High School Film Festival Teen Indie Awards!
Frankie Chiapperino currently serves as Creative Executive at Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Dany Garcia's Seven Bucks Productions where he helps oversee the creative, development, and execution of scripted, non-scripted, and digital projects.
Prior to Seven Bucks, Frankie worked in the non-scripted TV department at renowned Hollywood talent agency, William Morris Endeavor, where he helped manage a roster of celebrity, lifestyle, filmmaker, and production company clients.
John Legend
John Legend presenting the award for Best Original Score at the 2017 All American High School Film Festival Teen Indie Awards!
John Legend is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. Prior to the release of Legend's debut album, he collaborated with already established artists. At various points in his career, Legend has sung in Magnetic Man's "Getting Nowhere," Kanye West's "Blame Game," on Slum Village's "Selfish," and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other collaborative appearances include Jay-Z's "Encore", backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name," the Kanye West remix of Britney Spears' "Me Against the Music," and Fort Minor's "High Road". Legend played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything". For his solo work, he earned a Billboard Hot 100 number-one single with "All of Me" in 2013. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015 for writing the song "Glory" from the film Selma. He has also won ten Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In 2007, Legend received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2017, Legend received a Tony Award for co-producing Jitney for the Broadway stage.
Caroline Waterlow
Caroline Waterlow is an American producer, best known for producing the documentary film O.J.: Made in America ESPN's 30 for 30. Waterlow won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards, together with director Ezra Edelman.
Eli Roth
Eli Roth presenting the award for Best Comedy at the 2017 All American High School Film Festival Teen Indie Awards!
Eli Roth is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, first coming to prominence by directing the 2005 film Hostel and its 2007 sequel, Hostel: Part II. As an actor, his most prominent role was as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's war film Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award (Best Ensemble) and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award (Best Acting Ensemble).
Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is is a screenwriter, showrunner, producer and director best known for the American television series Lost, for which he made the Time list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010. Cuse is known for his groundbreaking cross-genre storytelling, pioneering work in interactive media, collaborative achievements, and mentorship of many screenwriters who went on to become showrunners of television series.
Henry Winkler
Henry Winkler believes there is no such thing as failure. So try, try and try again. See what he has to say about your short films.
Henry Winkler is an American actor, director, comedian, producer, and author. Winkler is known for his role as Arthur Fonzarelli in the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days. "The Fonz", or "Fonzie", a leather-clad greaser, hot rodder and auto mechanic, started out as a minor character at the show's beginning, but had achieved top billing by the time the show ended. He also starred as Sy Mittleman on Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital and starred as Eddie R. Lawson on USA Networks's Royal Pains. Winkler was also a recurring guest star on Parks and Recreation.
Dennis Paul
Most recently, Dennis Paul produced the documentary feature “The Workers Cup” which premiered as the opening night international doc at Sundance last year, and will be broadcast in PBS’s POV in June 2018 and released theatrically in the US by Passion River in July 2018. Dennis is the co-founder of the educational nonprofit REACT to FILM, which uses the best docs as part of its civics curriculum which is taught in middle/high schools across the country. He is also a judge in the documentary category for the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Diablo Cody
Diablo Cody is an American writer, producer, stripper and exotic dancer. She first became known for her candid chronicling of her year as a stripper in her "The Pussy Ranch" blog and in her memoir Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper (2005). Later, Cody achieved critical acclaim for her debut script Juno (2007), winning awards such as the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.
She is also known for creating, writing and producing Showtime's television series United States of Tara (2009–2011) and for writing and producing the films Jennifer's Body (2009) and Young Adult (2011). For the latter, she received a second nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. Her directorial debut, Paradise, was released on October 18, 2013.
Alysia Reiner
Alysia Reiner is an American actress and producer. Reiner is best known for playing Natalie "Fig" Figueroa in the Netflix comedy drama series, Orange Is the New Black (2013–2017) for which she won a SAG award for her role as part of the ensemble cast.
Reiner starred in and produced the financial drama, EQUITY, which was bought at Sundance by Sony Pictures Classics and was released nationwide. It is now being developed into a TV series by Tri-Star and ABC. Reiner has appeared in several Off-Broadway plays and won an Obie Award for her performance in An Oak Tree. In Sideways, the critically acclaimed comedy-drama film, Reiner played Christine Ergarian, where she won her first ensemble cast SAG award. She plays D.A. Wendy Parks in the ABC crime-legal drama TV series, How to Get Away with Murder and Sunny in the F/X comedy Better Things. In 2016, she also appeared in Season 4 of Masters of Sex on Showtime, as Lilian Izikoff on Rosewood, and Fiona in Michael Showalter's TBS series Search Party.
Josh Schwartz
Josh Schwartz became the youngest person in network television history to create and run a series when “The O.C.” premiered on FOX in 2003. He launched two additional series in 2007, “Gossip Girl” for The CW and “Chuck” for NBC. Schwartz created a fourth series in 2009, but turned to the web rather than a broadcast network for his “Rockville, CA.” In 2010, he and longtime friend and colleague Stephanie Savage launched Fake Empire, an entertainment company that develops and produces television series and motion pictures. The company has a first look feature deal at Universal Studios and a first look television deal at ABC Studios where he is executive producing the upcoming “Astronaut Wives Club,”“Hart of Dixie,” and “The Carrie Diaries.”
On the features side, Fake Empire has a 2-year first look deal with Universal Pictures, under which Schwartz and Savage will write and produce the live-action adaptation of Monster High® slated for an October 7, 2016 release date. The film is based on Mattel’s billion dollar doll franchise with 120 characters related to Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Mummy, Medusa and other creatures from horror and sci-fi movies and fantasy fare. Fake Empire produced Universal’s “Endless Love,” which was released February 2014 starring Alex Pettyfer and Gabriella Wilde.
Chole Bennet
Chloe Bennet is an American actress and singer. She is best know for the ABC Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Brianna Brown
Award winning Minnesota born actress Brianna Brown has starred in numerous high profile roles throughout the years. She is most recognized for her role on the hit series Homeland on Showtime and as the "love to hate" villain Dr. Lisa Niles on ABC's Emmy award winning General Hospital. Brianna was a regular during season one of the hit series Devious Maids on Lifetime. Brianna is an Ambassador for the National Women's History Museum and a managing director for her production company Brown Rose Productions. Brianna founded "The New Hollywood" Women's Goal Group Inc. to encourage women in the entertainment industry to achieve their personal and professional best as well as be positive role models within the entertainment industry.
Bobby Roth
Bobby Roth was born and raised in Los Angeles. He studied philosophy and creative writing at UC Berkeley before graduating with a BA in Cinema from USC in 1972. He went on to film school at UCLA, where he received his MFA in Motion Picture Production in 1975. Since then he has directed more than eighty episodes of television, twenty-five TV movies, and thirteen feature films. He was a founding member of the Independent Feature Project and the first Co-Chairman of the DGA’s Independent Feature Committee. His films have won countless awards and have been exhibited in over 100 international film festivals. He also teaches film seminars throughout the world. He still resides in Los Angeles, actively working in the entertainment industry.
Stephanie Savage
As the co-creator and executive producer of the hit CW drama series “Gossip Girl,” Stephanie Savage kept millions of viewers hooked on the exploits of young Upper East Siders ‘Serena’ and ‘Blair.’ The pop culture phenomenon, which wrapped its sixth season in 2012, was a trendsetter from the very beginning. And before “XOXO,” there was “Welcome to the O.C., Bitch,” the popular FOX series “The O.C.,” which followed the exploits of young Southern Californians living in Newport Beach. Savage wrote the iconic episode, “The Best Chrismukkah Ever” in 2003, and two years later began writing exclusively for the series where she eventually became an executive producer. Along the way, she also produced the series’ successful soundtrack CDs. In 2010, she and longtime friend and colleague Josh Schwartz co-founded the entertainment company Fake Empire, which develops and produces television series and motion pictures, web content, music and literature. The company has a first look feature deal at Universal Studios and a television first look deal at ABC Studios. Savage serves as executive producer on the company’s series “Hart of Dixie,” “The Carrie Diaries,” and the upcoming “Astronaut Wives Club” which she is also writing. The show is based on Lily Koppel’s book of the same name. Set in the 1960’s, it tells the story of the women who stood behind some of the most recognized astronauts in America’s history.
On the features side, Fake Empire has a 2-year first look deal with Universal Pictures, under which Savage and Schwartz will write and produce the live-action adaptation of Monster High® slated for an October 7, 2016 release date. The film is based on Mattel’s billion dollar doll franchise with 120 characters related to Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Mummy, Medusa and other creatures from horror and sci-fi movies and fantasy fare. Fake Empire produced Universal’s “Endless Love,” which was released February 2014 starring Alex Pettyfer and Gabriella Wilde.
David Dodds
From professional motion graphics to character animation, David Dodds holds a strong passion for bringing stories to life. He currently works as a motion graphics artist, and also teaches his craft at UCLA and through his own online learning platform. Throughout his 10 year career in motion graphics work, David has worked with brands such as Disney, NFL, Netflix, Hulu, Marvel, and more. In addition, David Dodds is a published author of the book, Hands-On Motion Graphics with Adobe After Effects CC.
John Oliver
John Oliver presenting the award for Best Comedy at the 2022 All American High School Film Festival Teen Indie Awards!
John Oliver is a British comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor and television host. Since 2014, Oliver has been the host of the HBO series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He has received widespread critical and popular recognition for his work on the series, whose influence over US culture, legislation, and policymaking has been dubbed the "John Oliver effect".
Oliver won three Primetime Emmy Awards for writing for The Daily Show and was the show's guest host for an eight-week period in 2013. In addition, Oliver co-hosted the comedy podcast The Bugle with Andy Zaltzman, with whom Oliver had previously co-hosted the radio series Political Animal, and hosted John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show on Comedy Central from 2010 to 2013. For his work on Last Week Tonight, Oliver has won fourteen Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards and was included in the 2015 Time 100. He has also acted on television, most notably in a recurring role as Dr Ian Duncan on the NBC sitcom Community, and in films, notably voice-over work in The Smurfs (2011), The Smurfs 2 (2013), and the 2019 remake of The Lion King.
Andrew Jenks
Festival founder Andrew Jenks is an award-winning filmmaker that has lived and filmed all over the world. At age 19, Andrew moved into an assisted living facility in order to capture the true essence of this often overlooked community. What started as a simple, low-‐budget documentary turned into an international hit. ANDREW JENKS, ROOM 335, starring Jenks and a group of elderly facility residents, went on to win top prizes at a number of domestic and international film festivals. The film premiered in theaters and on television around the world. HBO released the film domestically in January 2008 to rave reviews and critical acclaim.
At 21-years-old, ESPN financed Andrew’s second film, THE ZEN OF BOBBY V, which tracked Bobby Valentine, an American baseball coach who has become a national icon in Japan. The film premiered at the 2008 TriBeca Film Festival.
In 2010, Jenks created MTV’s WORLD OF JENKS, focusing on stories not normally told: from a young homeless woman, to a physically abused football star, to a young adult with Autism. Jenks imbeds wholeheartedly into disparate lives and in the process pioneers a new style of storytelling for the millennial generation. The series launch garnered over 5 million viewers, marking MTV's highest rated series launch ever. Season 2 of WORLD OF JENKS expanded to hour long episodes, as Jenks followed three subjects over the course of a year.
2013 has proven to be a busy year for Andrew. He launched the largest high school film festival in the country, The All American High School Film Festival, at the AMC Theaters in Times Square; made an 8 episode web series for GANT clothing, It's About A Girl; and is currently working on a documentary for ESPN due out soon, a feature documentary for The MAC AIDS Fund due out in September and an untitled feature documentary on Ryan Ferguson.
Karyn Parsons
Karyn Parsons is best known as the character “Hilary Banks” on the long-running television show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” Today, she is the founder of Sweet Blackberry, an award-winning series of children’s animated films and books sharing stories of unsung black heroes in history. The films feature narration from such notable talents as Alfre Woodard, Queen Latifah, Chris Rock, and Laurence Fishburne. They have been screened on HBO and Netflix and are enjoyed by schools and libraries across the country. Karyn has also authored the Sweet Blackberry picture books Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight and Saving The Day, which tells the story of how Garrett Morgan invented the traffic signal. Karyn’s debut novel, How High The Moon, was released in March 2019, her latest novel, Clouds Over California, hit bookshelves in July 2023, and Little, Brown recently acquired Parsons’ new novel, Blue Beach – her YA debut - and is scheduled for a summer 2025 release.
Ed Burns
Ed Burns talks about our 2014 Festival!
Ed Burns is an American actor, film producer, writer, and director best known for appearing in several films like Saving Private Ryan (1998) and One Missed Call (2008). Burns made his directorial debut with movies such as The Brothers McMullen (1995), She's the One (1996) and Sidewalks of New York (2001). In 2013, Ed judged our Drama and Made in NY categories and was also an essential part of our Awards Ceremony, offering valuable insights to all attendees.
Brittany Snow
Brittany Snow was last seen starring in Universal’s franchise hit Pitch Perfect 2 alongside Anna Kendrick, directed by Elizabeth Banks. Her past film credits include a handful of versatile roles such as starring role in Fox’s John Tucker Must Die, New Line’s Hairspray, and Lee Toland Krieger’s critically acclaimed The Vicious Kid (which was an Official Sundance Selection 2011 and nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards), and more recently, starring in Maggie Kiley’s Dial-A-Prayer. Her television credits include FX’s drama NIP/TUCK created by Ryan Murphy, Fox’s coming of age comedyBen And Kate, Neil LaBute’s Full Circle for DirecTV, Harry's Law with Kathy Bates, Call Me Crazy alongside Octavia Spencer, and will next seen on Comedy Central’s Workaholics. In 2015, Brittany launched a TV/Film Production company Pun Intended Productions with partner Courtney Knowles her co-founder in The Love is Louder Movement. They are currently in preproduction on The Love Is Louder documentary with Andrew Jenks directing for Something Kreative Productions.
Opal Bennett
Opal has been a Programmer since 2014, joining DOC NYC in 2015 and POV in 2020. Beginning as a volunteer for the first Sundance London Film Festival, she now curates year round. Opal is on the programming teams for Athena Film Festival and DOCNYC, and is a Program Consultant for The March on Washington Film Festival. She is the Shorts Producer at American Documentary's POV. A Columbia Law grad, Opal holds a Masters in Media Studies from the LSE, and received her B.A. from New York University.
Colin Cunningham
Co-Starring as the twisted but lovable T.C. alongside Ruth Negga and Dominic Cooper in AMC's "Preacher," Colin Cunningham has built a reputation as a true chameleon.
For 5 Seasons, Cunningham starred alongside Noah Wyle and Will Patton in the Steven Spielberg / Dreamworks produced series "Falling Skies," for TNT. Cunningham played "John Pope," the rogue survivor of the alien attack that has hit the world.
He is also infamously known as the mischievous ring master Julian Slink in SYFY's "Blood Drive." The New York Times lauded, "The real attention-getter here is Colin Cunningham... It's hard to make an impression in a series that is so insane, but Mr. Cunningham manages it." His work has been recognized by the Hollywood Reporter, the New York Times, TIME magazine and Rolling Stone.
Recurring as "Wallace Kane" on ABC's "Stumptown" with Coby Smulders, Cunningham and has won critical acclaim on shows such as "Da Vinci's Inquest" [CBC], and "Living in Your Car" for HBO Canada. On the big screen, Cunningham teamed up with Catherine Keener in Courtney Moorehead Balaker's "Little Pink House" [Dada Films], has been pursued by Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Sixth Day" [Columbia Pictures], and put his life on the line for Jennifer Garner in "Elektra" [20th Century Fox]. He has also appeared in multiple Indie favorites, including comedic turns in "Best In Show" with Christopher Guest [Warner Bros.] and "Breakfast With Scott" [Regent Releasing].
In 2009, Cunningham made a name for himself as a director, when he [along with actor/producer Madison Graie] made the short-list for an Academy Award Nomination for their film "Centigrade". The film [in which Cunningham also starred] took over two dozen "Best Of" awards and nominations, and in addition to being considered for an Oscar, it became the first short film in iTunes history to break the Top Ten in Feature Downloads, finding itself right alongside such Hollywood blockbusters as "Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".
The film hit numerous Top Ten Lists, including the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Jackson Hole International Film Festival, the Montreal World Film Festival, Short Film Corner [Cannes], Best of Shorts Film Festival [France], and Canadian Film Center [CFC]. Centigrade enjoys the notoriety as one of the most successful short films ever made and is currently being developed into a project for television.
Danny Rose
Danny Rose talks with AAHSFF in 2013 and shares his advice to young filmmakers.
Danny Rose has been producing episodic television for the last 20 years, enjoying a reputation of delivering quality and consistently high-rated entertainment with much sought-after talent including directors, writers, singers, authors and actors. Danny currently serves as an Executive Producer on the hit CBS drama series Scorpion, currently in season 3.
Danny started his broadcast network career in New York City after attaining a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts on the successful show Spin City with Michael J. Fox. After the first 3 seasons, Touchstone TV (now ABC Studios) moved Danny to Los Angeles to run development and produce with writer/show runner Bill Lawrence. One of their first pitches was purchased and Danny went on to produce all 182 episodes of the nine-seasoned, Emmy-nominated Scrubs with Zach Braff. He also produced all six seasons (102 episodes) of Cougar Town with Courteney Cox until 2015.
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart is an American actress and model. Born in Los Angeles to parents working in show business, Stewart began her acting career in 1999 with uncredited roles and a minor character appearance in several films. She gained notice in 2002 for playing Jodie Foster's daughter in the thriller
Panic Room, which garnered her a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Feature Film. She went on to star in Speak (2004), Catch That Kid (2004), Zathura (2005), and Into The Wild (2007), for which she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. She received widespread recognition in 2008 for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga film series (2008–12), which grossed over $3.3 billion worldwide.
Stewart has appeared in a wide variety of films, including Adventureland (2009), The Runaways (2010), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), On the Road (2012), Camp X-Ray (2014), Still Alice (2014) and Equals (2015). She won the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2010 and was awarded the Milan International Film Festival Award for Best Actress in 2011 for Welcome to the Rileys (2010). In 2015, she received critical acclaim for her role opposite Juliette Binoche in Clouds of Sils Maria, for which she won a multitude of accolades, including the César Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first American actress to win a César Award. She starred in Personal Shopper (2016), written for her by director Olivier Assayas, who had worked with her in the previous film.
Stewart was listed as the highest-earning female actress in the Vanity Fair "Hollywood Top Earners List of 2010," with an estimated earning of $28.5 million. In 2011, she was named number one on Forbes' list of "Hollywood's Best Actors for the Buck." Forbes also named her as the highest paid actress in 2012, with total earnings of $34.5 million.[5] She is the "face" of Chanel and Balenciaga fashion brands.
Toni Myers
Toni Myers most recently produced and directed acclaimed 2010 space documentary “Hubble 3D,” narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. Prior to that, she served as a producer, editor and co-writer for director Howard Hall’s 2009 underwater IMAX® 3D adventure “Under the Sea 3D,” narrated by Jim Carrey. She previously teamed with Hall in the same capacity on the highly successful “Deep Sea 3D,” which won Best Large Format Film awards at the prestigious WildScreen and Jackson Hole Natural History film festivals, and has grossed nearly $97 million.
David Alan Basche
David Alan Basche is one of a handful of actors who can "do it all." He's been a series regular on many TV comedies and dramas, but has also worked for Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Paul Greengrass, Shawn Levy, Robert Zemeckis, Michael Patrick King, Gary Winick, George Nolfi and more. He's flirted with Julia Roberts, stolen Tom Cruise's wife, berated Brooke Shields, married (and divorced) Debra Messing, and snubbed Sarah Jessica and Mr. Big. But don't let his screen credits fool you: he's a trained theatre actor with serious on-stage chops. For example, he and the legendary Eli Wallach did a smash hit two-character play in New York, playing eight shows a week for over a year. And his memorable star turn in the powerful play "SnakeBit" had the NY Times saying "Basche is sensational in the role, a brash and sensitive bull-in-a-psychic-china shop."
Robert Wuhl
Robert Wuhl is an American actor, comedian and writer. He is perhaps best known as the creator and star of the television comedy series Arliss (1996–2002) and for his portrayal of newspaper reporter Alexander Knox in Tim Burton's Batman (1989).
Rachel Nichols
Rachel Nichols is an American actress and model. Nichols began modeling while attending Columbia University in New York City in the late 1990s. She transitioned into television and film acting in the early 2000s; she had a part in the romantic drama film
Autumn in New York (2000) and a one-episode role in Season 4 of the show Sex and the City (2002).
Her first major role was in the comedy film Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003). She had the main role in the crime drama television series The Inside (2005). Nichols gained recognition playing Rachel Gibson in the final season of the action television series Alias (2005–2006) and for her role in the horror film The Amityville Horror(2005).
Nichols' first starring film role was in the horror-thriller P2 (2007). She had a supporting role in the coming-of-age film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008) and appeared in Star Trek (2009). She starred in the action film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and also in the sword and sorcery film Conan the Barbarian (2011). She played lead roles in the television series Criminal Minds(2010–2011) and Continuum (2012–2015). She starred in the 2011 movie A Bird of the Air.