Current Judges
Thomas Verdi
As Founder and Executive Producer of The Film Fund, Philadelphia filmmaker and producer Thomas Verdi helps independent filmmakers secure funding for their projects, with over $150,000 awarded to date. He also leads Discontent Media Group, home to Unknown Nightmare and The DCP Works, and serves as Executive Director of Wellsboro Film Festival. His work has been recognized by Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, and Film Independent, and he is currently in pre-production on his feature debut, The Community, a psychological thriller he will write and direct. He is a graduate of Lehigh University.
Brodrick Haygood
Brodrick Haygood is a writer and producer with an MBA from Louisiana State University. As the founder and principal of Moon Howler, a full-service film studio located in Louisiana, he has partnered with Works Entertainment Group, Lionchase North America, Acxtus Fund Advisory, and the Louisiana Economic Development to capitalize on a studio campus and a full slate of films. Brodrick is currently producing projects with T.I., Steve Harvey, Malcolm D. Lee, Arthur Sarkissian, The Unreasnble, Bill Roedy, McKenna Marshall, John Asher, and many more.
Jason Stefaniak
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jason Stefaniak received an MFA in Film/TV Production at New York University. Stefaniak’s work has been recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association; featured on “20/20,” MSNBC, and The Huffington Post; screened at the United Nations; and viewed nearly 1,000,000 times online. He is the producer of the award-winning short film, “A Warm Spell” (World Premiere, Clermont-Ferrand), and feature film, “But Not For Me” (Official Selection, Virginia Film Festival), which co-stars Roger Guenveur Smith. Stefaniak is the Feature Narrative Programmer for the Brooklyn Film Festival and a Production Manager at Freethink. Most recently, as an IFP Made in New York Fellow, Stefaniak created and directed the Topic docuseries, “Distressed Real Estate."
Dawn Keetley
Dawn Keetley is NEH Distinguished Chair and professor of English and Film at Lehigh University. Most recently, she has published Folk Gothic (2023) in the Cambridge University Press Elements series and the co-edited collection, Folk Horror: New Global Pathways (University of Wales Press, 2023). She has also edited collections on Jordan Peele’s Get Out, The Walking Dead, plant horror, and the ecogothic. She is managing editor of the journal Horror Studies and writes regularly for a website she co-founded, Horror Homeroom.
Eli Hess
With a degree in architecture from Lehigh University, Eli Hess works as a digital designer and fabricator of furniture, sculpture, and public art for Hess Industries, LLC in Baltimore, Maryland. The group responds to public calls for artists to design and build monumental, interactive sculpture for public spaces, including airports, public universities and municipalities. Hess has also been featured in galleries in Baltimore and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and he works as an artist in residence at Saint James Academy in Sparks, Maryland.
Previous Judges
Brandon Harrison
Brandon Harrison is a producer, writer and programmer. He is a Feature Documentary Programmer at the Brooklyn Film Festival, served on the review committee for IFP and Tribeca's Pilot Season and has produced multimedia content for a variety of media outlets including Players’ Tribune, Vanity Fair and SLAM magazine. Brandon is a graduate of Morehouse College and received his M.A. in Cinema from UCLA. He loves a good story.
