Filmmaker of the Month

Miriam McSpadden first picked up a camera when she was 19 years old while studying theater in undergrad. Her work has been featured on outlets like NBC, ESPN, and PBS. Her work over the last decade has won her 8 Mid-South Emmy awards. Brian Beckman’’s journey started when he founded a non-profit that now employs 24 Rwandans who use soccer to work with kids who are experiencing homelessness. He has always had a deep passion for telling marginalized stories and has honed his craft over the last 15 years by partnering with individuals within underrepresented communities to ensure filming and storytelling is empowering for all involved. Go On, Be Brave is Miriam and Brian’s debut as co-directors on a feature documentary film. 

Award-winner director and producer, Harriet Marin Jones grew up in different countries in Europe. Through the years, she wrote and directed two high budgets short films, followed by her first feature film, “Epouse-Moi” distributed by Gaumont. “King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones,” her first documentary, has won 18 awards including Best Documentary at the 2023 Breck Film Fest.

Josh Berman started his career in the New York City production scene while earning a degree in Film from Dartmouth College. Josh followed his passion for snowsports to Colorado and has been directing award winning outdoor and action sports films for the past two decades. His first feature doc, Full Circle won the 1st Place Audience Award and Best Adventure Film at the 2023 Breck Film Festival. 

Ashley Avis is an award winning filmmaker, best known for writing, directing, as well as editing Disney’s BLACK BEAUTY starring Oscar winner Kate Winslet and Twilight’s Mackenize Foy. Her most recent documentary feature, WILD BEAUTY: MUSTANG SPIRIT OF THE WEST played Breck Film Fest 2022 and was recently named as a top tier awards contender for the Oscars 2024 by Variety.

Dan’s latest drama-fantasy short ALL THAT GLITTERS starring Sophia Myles and Alec Newman played Breck Film Fest 2022 and has garnered over 50 international film festival selections and 32 awards. Dan studied photography and graphic design before pursuing his passion for cinema and directing his first short FINDERS, KEEPERS while studying at the New York Film Academy. This micro-budget Hitchcockian film-noir picked up numerous awards on the film festival circuit…

Arcadi Palerm-Artis was born and raised in Mexico City. He has written and directed three narrative short films, which received awards and recognition in Mexico and internationally. Arcadi’s feature film debut, Oliver and the Pool (Oliverio y la Piscina), played Breck Film Fest 2022.

Blankenship & Bernhardt’s film Refuge won Best Human Spirit Award at the 2022 Breck Film Festival. Since then, it has gone on to win several other festival awards and was featured on “USA Today’s List of Movies You’ll Want to Watch in 2023.”

Director, writer and producer Holly Morris’s most recent documentary, Exposure (2022), tells the story of “ordinary” women from the Arab World and the West who team up to attempt a harrowing over-ice expedition to the North Pole.

Marny Eng and EJ Foerster co-directed Gringa, which had its world premiere at our 2022 Festival and won the Audience Award!

His film A Stranger at the Gate was screened at Breck Film Fest – ‘22 AND is an Oscar Nominated film.
Seftel, who faced anti-Semitism as a child, has been deeply connected and committed to this subject matter.