Opening Night Reception

Friday April 4th, 6PM-9PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy food, drink, and an interactive panel of local filmmakers moderated by WVIA’s Julie Sidoni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panel Guest Speakers

Luz Cabrales

Director & Editor

Luz is a Mexican American filmmaker and creative professional in the
Scranton area, she’s passionate about nurturing talent regardless of experience level and helping them develop their professional skills.

Luz holds a Bachelor of Science in Media Arts and Animation from The Art Institute of California, and a Master of Arts in Communication Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies from Marywood University.

As the founder of Scranton Films, she has hands-on experience in managing and executing various film projects that employ local Pennsylvania talent in the Scranton, Wilkes-Barre & Lehigh Valley area. She has worked on several documentaries, shorts, feature films and web series for team and peers.

Stephen Cognetti is the writer/director of the Hell House LLC franchise, which was primarily filmed locally in Northeastern Pennsylvania. His latest installment of the series, Lineage, will be released this fall exclusively on AMC+ and Shudder.

Born and raised in the Scranton area, Stephen studied film at Temple University. Stephen is a local NEPA resident and is represented by Anonymous Content out of Los Angeles.

Stephen Cognetti

Director 

Graham Burrell

Director & Producer

Graham Burrell is a NEPA Film Festival alum and won the “Best of Fest” and “Best Local Film” Awards in 2024. He graduated from Muhlenberg College in 2021 with a double major in Film Studies and Media and Communications and currently works as a video producer in King of Prussia.

Burrell has made over 25 short films in the past decade and has been accepted into film festivals over 50 times, with his YouTube channel garnering a collective 6 million+ views, and some of his short films being made available on Amazon Prime. His daily passion continues to be creating stories that are both entertaining and meaningful.

Brian Long is an award-winning film producer and an Obie-winning theater producer. His films include, “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.”, “Life After You”, “A Stage of Twilight,” and the recently shot feature, “Crybaby Bridge,” which will be released in 2025. “A Stage of Twilight” stars Karen Allen (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”) and William Sadler (“The Shawshank Redemption”).

Brian served as Managing Director of Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in New York City for nine years where he produced over 40 World Premieres by artists such as Annie Baker, Jesse Eisenberg, Adam Rapp, Craig Lucas, Jose Rivera, Heidi Schreck and Jonathan Tolins.

Brian Long

Director & Producer