(Festival Director) J.J. Kandel is a producer, director and actor. Kandel is the Founder and Managing Partner of STAGE TO SCREEN NYC. Stage to Screen films include Sparring Partner, Still Happy, 10 K, Good Luck (In Farsi), and The Mulberry Bush. J.J. is the founder of THROUGHLINE ARTISTS, and co-founder of the SUMMER SHORTS festival of new American short plays® presented at 59E59 Theaters in NYC, for 13 consecutive seasons. Screen directing credits include Sparring Partner by NEIL LABUTE (with CECILY STRONG, 2022 Tribeca Festival); Stage directing credits include True Love Will Find You In The End by NEIL LABUTE (World Premiere); Lucky by SHARR WHITE (World Premiere); In This, Our Time... by ALEXANDER DINELARIS (World Premiere); and Wedding Bash by ANDREW LEEDS and LINDSEY KRAFT.

As an actor, J.J. Kandel's film and television credits include 10 K (2017 Santa Barbara International Film Festival) and The Mulberry Bush written and directed by NEIL LABUTE (2016 Tribeca Film Festival); Chuck with LIEV SCHREIBER and NAOMI WATTS; Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker (Best Picture 2010) both directed by Academy Award® winner KATHRYN BIGELOW; We Need To Talk About Kevin; Billie & Billy (DIRECTV); and Law & Order (NBC). New York theater credits include Falling Short directed by Academy Award® and Golden Globe® winner ALEXANDER DINELARIS; The Killing (World Premiere) by WILLIAM INGE; Sundance directed by MATTHEW PENN; Intermission by WILL ENO (World Premiere); and The Great Pretenders directed by BILLY HOPKINS with AMY IRVING. J.J. Kandel is an actor member of Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City, SAG-AFTRA, and Actors’ Equity Association.

(Lead Programmer) Warren Etheredge is a Storyfinder™, a successful producer, published author, staged playwright, veteran festival programmer and much sought-after public speaker. He has conducted over 3,500 interviews. As a writer, Warren recently scripted Downwind (d. MARK SHAPIRO & DOUGLAS BRIAN MILER) which bowed at Slamdance 2023 and Thread (d. CAROLINE KAYE) which will hot the festival cirucit later in 2023). As a producer, credits include Personhood (d. JO ARDINGER), Furever (d. AMY FINKEL), Hapa (d. ABBY ALISHIO), Last Requests (d. COURTENAY JOHNSON), The Lost Mariner (d. TESS MARTIN), Even The Walls (d. SAMAN MAYDANI & SARAH KUCK), Every Beautiful Thing (d. SONYA LEA) and the webseries, The Enchanted Kitchen w/SASHA GRAHAM. [Sharp-eyed readers will note Warren now only produces works created by women, with an exception made for GEOFF MARSLETT’s The Phantom 52 that premiered at Sundance in 2019.] He teaches screenwriting and filmmaking at the University of Washington and Cornish College for the Arts. He is one of the founding faculty of TheFilmSchool and The Red Badge Project , helping combat veterans work through PTSD and other issues by teaching them the art of storytelling. He has hosted multiple television series including The High Bar , his Emmy®-nominated television series devoted to “raising the bar.” He served as the VP of Curation & Acquisitions for TOM SKERRITT’s start-up, Triple Squirrels (formerly Heyou) Media and as the Chief Storytelling Officer for Enthrall Sports. He is the Co-founder and Curator for the Walla Walla Movie Crush , shorts programmer for The Seattle Jewish Film Festival and BendFilm Festival and Director of Film Programming for the Gesa Power House Theater .

(Programmer) Tim Harms was a producer on the 2019 Academy Award® winning Live Action Short Skin. He has worked with a number of established and emerging writer/directors, including NEIL LABUTE, producing his feature film Some Velvet Morning, starring STANLEY TUCCI, and serving as Executive Producer for LaBute's Billy & Billie, a half-hour TV series featuring ADAM BRODY. Harms has also worked with LEE TOLAND KRIEGER, producing his feature film debut, The Vicious Kind, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Screenplay. Harms also produced SABASTIÁN SILVA feature Fistful of Dirt, which filmed in Puerto Rico two months after hurricane Maria devastated the island and premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. He was a producer on the East Hampton set Sister of the Groom, starring ALICIA SILVERSTONE, and most recently reteamed with LaBute to produce his feature House of Darkness, starring JUSTIN LONG and KATE BOSWORTH.