Join us at Vesper Austin this Wednesday, June 22, at 7 PM CDT, for a casual and informative roundtable workshop with BIPOC artists and creatives!
Like AFF’s popular Roundtable sessions during our annual Conference, this event will offer registrants exclusive access to local BIPOC industry leaders with the goal of fostering diverse and inclusive opportunities within creative spaces for new storytellers. Take this chance to engage with storytellers across many mediums including film, gaming, theater and more for a discussion on the art of breaking in, finding the best platform for your story, and highlighting your voice. Additionally, we hope this event will allow you to explore the similarities and differences of each of our panelists’ respective mediums and inspire you to branch out of your creative comfort zone. Because of our limited number of registrants per table and rotating panelists, you will have the opportunity to chat with multiple guests in an intimate setting.
Attendees are encouraged to come prepared with specific questions for our panelists about their experiences as creatives and how they broke in and continued to stay in the industry.
MATT DY
Matt Dy – Literary Manager, Lit Entertainment Group
Matt Dy attended the University of Texas at Austin and received a Bachelor of Science in Radio/TV/Film with a focus on screenwriting. He recently joined Adam Kolbrenner’s newly formed Lit Entertainment Group as a literary manager. Previously, he worked at Austin Film Festival (AFF) since 2008 where he served as the Director of Script Competitions and facilitated the evaluation of thousands of annual script submissions reaching a record 10,580 submissions in 2018. During his time at AFF, he helped shepherd the careers of countless writers and connect them with various top agents, managers, and producers.
ALEX CHEW
Alex Chew was born and raised in Frankfort, KY before moving to Texas where she co-founded the Austin Youth Film Festival and taught film & theory for over a decade. Currently, she is a screenwriter and director with the mission of entertaining big-tent audiences who love subversive genre stories with deeper meaning, suspense, and humor. Her scripts have been selected for the Austin Film Festival and were finalists with Sundance Feature & Episodic labs, CBS Mentoring Writers, Launchpad Features, Cinestory Features, and Cinestory TV. She is represented at Epicenter.
MARTIN C. JONES
Martin C. Jones is a 2x Emmy® Award nominated creator of multi-platform filmed entertainment for theatrical, broadcast and digital distribution. Jones regularly produces movies, television series,specials, branded content, and national commercials for such major brands as Jeep, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Kmart, Tyler Perry, and Grolsch Beer. He is the Studio Director for the Austin Film Society where he oversees its 20-acre production complex, Austin Studios. His feature productions include; “American Gadfly” (Gravitas Ventures), “Asunder,” (Miramax), and several television series; the sitcom “Little Miss CEO,” and “Our World” which is a cross platform lifestyle and information series for Generation Z. Jones was President and CEO at MetroEast, the Head of Television and Home Entertainment for Bishop T.D. Jakes, and he was the General Manager for New Millennium Studios.
He is a studio head, content distributor, production executive, film innovator, leader of corporate teams, and he excels in diverse communities from nonprofits to mainstream corporate and celebrity environments. His value to any venture is his keen insights to achieve successful results.
Jones is a graduate of Denison University.
Chinwe Okorie
Chinwe Okorie is a multi-genre writer and a director who crafts stories rooted in reality and elevated by witty and absurdist observation. Her directorial voice is bold, mature, and exceptionally brave. Her previous film LOVEBITES was hand selected by Issa Rae to be featured on her YouTube Channel and her newest film ELEPHANT!, a dark comedy about mental health in teens, will have its festival premiere later this year.
MYO STRONGOLI
Myo Strongoli (He/They) is a 3D Artist at Rec Room who has worked in the Austin game industry for 9 years in a variety of roles. They are a queer, first-generation American-Argentinian originally raised in Miami, Florida with experience advocating for diverse, equitable, and inclusive practices in the corporate space. Myo has created and implemented policies, led employee-driven groups, and organized countless events and panels with a DE&I focus.