Dr. J. Gregory Payne - Executive Director Rosarito Film Festival
J. Gregory Payne is an Associate Professor and former chair of Emerson College's Department of Communication Studies. He is Director of the Center for Ethics in Political and Health Communication, which he co-founded in 1996. He is on the Advisory board of the Journal of Health Communication, Media Ethics, Communication Quarterly and Journal of Promotion Management, among others. He is on the Partnership Board for Anthrax Vaccine Education and has been the invited editor for American Behavioral Scientist’s special edition on the U.S. presidential campaign for every election since 1988. He is President of the International Academy of Business Disciplines, past chair of the Political Communication Division of theNational Communication Association, U.S. representative of the Global Public Relations Project, Board member for UNICEF New England, member of Eastern Communication Association, European Communication Associations, and International Communication Association, among others.
Dr. Payne is a strong advocate of grass-roots communications campaigns and public diplomacy. As a long time visitor to Rosarito Beach, Payne began the Rediscover Rosarito project to restore the image of a once flourishing tourist destination now struggling with the lingering effects of unfair media coverage. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Dr. Payne is a strong advocate of grass-roots communications campaigns and public diplomacy. As a long time visitor to Rosarito Beach, Payne began the Rediscover Rosarito project to restore the image of a once flourishing tourist destination now struggling with the lingering effects of unfair media coverage. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Janice Payne - Executive Director, L.A. Program
Janice Payne is the Executive Director of the L.A. Program, which provides participants a hands-on experience in the entertainment capitol of the world through experiential learning experiences in film, television, advertising, marketing, special events, media and politics. After working with the Emerson Los Angeles Program and placing students at internship sites for a number of years, she was approached by Boston University to become the Founding Director for the L.A. Program.
Janice took a brief respite to care for her mother and along with hiring a caregiver, she also purchased a condo in Rosarito Beach. Immediately both she and her mother fell in love with the magical beach town. Currently she offers students in the L.A. Program the option of traveling to Rosarito and assisting with the annual student film festival. She continues to be active in the film festival and in Rosarito because she understands the importance of giving back to the place she loves, Rosarito.
Janice took a brief respite to care for her mother and along with hiring a caregiver, she also purchased a condo in Rosarito Beach. Immediately both she and her mother fell in love with the magical beach town. Currently she offers students in the L.A. Program the option of traveling to Rosarito and assisting with the annual student film festival. She continues to be active in the film festival and in Rosarito because she understands the importance of giving back to the place she loves, Rosarito.
Michael McManus - Festival Director/Artist in Residence
Michael McManus launched an independent production company Lone Knight Productions from his apartment in Boston in 2007, and since then has produced award-winning short films, a feature documentary which aired at the Museum of Fine Arts, and has had multiple development deals at various networks and production houses. In 2009, Lone Knight Productions split into development of features and unscripted television, and in 2012 has developed into his current company Wayward Nation Productions in Hollywood, CA. This is Mikey's fifth year as the Festival Director.
Eric Rusch - Associate Artist in Residence
Eric is a Director, Writer, and Filmmaker from Los Angeles and is employed by TBWA\Chiat Day Advertising Agency in LA. Eric is from Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin. He is also a founding member with Mike McManus of Wayward Nation Productions. This is his first festival, He enjoys working with the students and helping put their ideas on film.
Pete Hall - Coordinating Producer
With a B.A. in Television/Media Production and M.A. in Communication Management from Emerson College, Pete’s main area of focus is Media and its relationship to the effects of Communication. With a background in various TV, Film, and Video productions, Pete initially wanted to work in Reality TV or Sports Television, But after working in Los Angeles, CA and Boston, MA on various productions, he realized that returning to Graduate School and studying Communication Management would benefit him in gaining a complex understanding of how people and publics merge both media and communication.
His specific interests lie in how media can be used to deliver a message; whether it be for politics, public affairs, narrative story telling, or documentary coverage of an event, Pete enjoys seeing how various visual mediums can tell stories and how messages can be controlled to achieve an effective means to an end goal. He currently is an adjunct Professor of Communication at The University of Mount Union in Northeast Ohio.
His specific interests lie in how media can be used to deliver a message; whether it be for politics, public affairs, narrative story telling, or documentary coverage of an event, Pete enjoys seeing how various visual mediums can tell stories and how messages can be controlled to achieve an effective means to an end goal. He currently is an adjunct Professor of Communication at The University of Mount Union in Northeast Ohio.
Markuz Delgado - Filmmaker Ambassador
Markuz Daniel Delgado (Markuz) is 24 years old, and was born April 6th 1988 in Chula Vista California USA. A participant in the film festival last year, he has also returned as an ambassador to assist the student filmmakers. He grew up in Rosarito and attended local schools. For as long as he can remember there's always been a camera around and he's always been drawn to filming. He is currently working to be able to go to a film or audio visual arts school, as he is a part owner of a small business in Rosarito. Markuz's two passions are photography and cinematography.
Jack Crivelli - Filmmaker Ambassador
Jack Crivelli is a Mexican-Italian filmaker born in Mexico City, since he was a child he showed lots of interest in arts and visual effects, his childhood was very dynamic due the fact that his family traveled and lived in many states in Mexico, after he graduated from highshool in the year 2000 he studied Digital Design at cetys universidad tijuana, After the first year he decided to start studies at the Visual Arts Institute of Madrid Spain where he learned the art of filmmaking. In 2007 Jack started his own production company CCI Productions he had the chance to work on some of James Cameron´s projects such as; last mysteries of titanic and ghost of the abbys. Later he produced for Discovery networks with martin calvert productions and on the road productions and feature tv reality shows credited with Luis Barreto from Americas Next Top Model, Extreme Makeover Home edition, and Samantha Brown from Travel Channel. In the year 2008 he wrote his first freature movie script, Jack is a writer, director, and producer at the moment he is working on some music videos, freature films, and animated webtvseries...
Armando Calderon - Filmmaker Ambassador
Armando es técnico de informática en Rosarito. Aquí creció y vive actualmente. Este es su tercer año participando en el Festival. Además, Armando colabora en Radio Rosarito, la única estación de radio en internet de la ciudad.
Fabian Veloz - Filmmaker Ambassador
Fabian Veloz was born in Tijuana, Baja California on October 15, 1991. A participant in the film festival last year, he has returned as an ambassador to assist the student filmmakers. Now 21 years old, he is currently studying Marketing at the Autonomous University of Baja California. His passion for cinema lies in the ability film has to express feelings and visions that inspire others. Fabian believes that all stages of the film-making process, pre-production, production, and post-production, require the utmost respect and attention.
Michelle Hinojo & Samuel Paredes Valdispino- Filmmaker Ambassadors
Sammy and Michelle were involved in the first and second annual film festivals and are back as 2012 ambassadors. They won the best picture for their film showcasing life in Rosarito in 2009. Michelle is a local artist and filmmaker and Sammy has been involved in various film events and projects in Mexico and Baja California.
Corina Martinez Tobon - Filmmaker Ambassador
Corina Martínez Tobón, desde pequeña se ha expresado por medio de cartas, de frases, sus sentimientos, emociones o intereses han quedado plasmados en montones de hojas, fragmentos de papel, servilletas o en la parte posterior de una imagen. Su inquietud por las letras la ha llevado a construir historias que a veces plasma en video o por medio de fotografías pero siempre la necesidad de expresar algo, sea personal, ajeno o inventar historias, personajes, situaciones o capturar un tiempo, una realidad, que de otro modo se olvidaría.
Es Licenciada en Comunicación (UABC) , ha tomado diplomados en fotografía, cine, periodismo, crisis en la comunicación y guionismo. Actualmente trabaja como docente y como productora de televisión. Ha realizado cortometrajes y documentales, asi como exposicion de fotografia, ha sido integrante del Rosarito film Festival en las ediciones 2008 y 2009, y ahora en el 2010 como coordinadora.Es fotógrafa, narradora, guionista, directora, editora, podría ser trovadora si le gustara su voz, pero cuando se le pregunta, ella responde "algunas personas son magnificas oradoras al momento de expresarse, yo no, pero soy una persona con necesidades enormes de expresarse, así que intento hacerlo por medio de estas disciplinas, eso es todo, la necesidad de expresar algo".
Livija Kelly - Public Relations Team
Livija is a recent graduate of Emerson College, with a major in Writing, Literature, and Publishing. This is her first year assisting in PR at the film festival and she is already planning to return next year. "It is such a beautiful city in a beautiful country that deserves to be shown off!"
Kristin Arzt - Public Relations Team
Kristin graduated from Emerson College in May 2012 with a degree in Marketing. Kristin is applying her marketing skills to the RFF 2012 PR Team to spread the beauty and culture of Rosarito. This is her second year participating in the festival, and plans to return for many years to come!
Russell Cornelia - Public Relations Team Consultant
Russell Cornelia is a native of Boston, MA, and holds a BS in Political Communication from Emerson College. His areas of expertise include inter-agency governmental organization, as well as foreign/military affairs. He currently coordinates response communications throughout the Northeast for the First Coast Guard District in Boston. He served as a US Army officer in Iraq in 2006, 2007 and 2010, and is also a former employee of Emerson College. Russell joins the RediscoveRosarito project eager to partake in a public diplomacy campaign and apply his prior Campus MovieFest and communications experience to the projects at hand.