Kathryn Altman is the wife of the late Robert Altman. They met in 1959 when he was directing an episode of the television series Whirlybirds, and were married soon after. She is the mother of visiting artist, Robert Reed Altman.

Kathryn Altman will be attending the M*A*S*H Altman Fund Benefit.

Michael Murphy’s on-screen career began when Robert Altman cast him in his World War II television series, Combat! They later worked together on M*A*S*H*, Brewster McCloud, Nashville, Tanner ’88, Kansas City & Tanner on Tanner. He has also had notable roles in films directed by Woody Allen, Peter Weir, Oliver Stone, Elia Kazan, Tim Burton, Paul Thomas Anderson and John Sayles.

Mr. Murphy will be at the M*A*S*H Altman Fund Benefit.

Jennifer Blanc (ACTRESS: Friends Till The End, Party of Five, The Cool and The Crazy and Dark Angel.) Jennifer Blanc, also known as Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, was born and raised in New York City by her mom Jenise Blanc. At the tender age of 13, Jennifer was on Broadway in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs working alongside Jonathan Silverman, Fisher Stevens and Robert Sean Leonard.

Jennifer’s career blossomed bringing her to sunny Los Angeles to be in Kenny Ortegas’ series Hull High for Disney and NBC. Since then, she has been grateful to be continually working in the business that she loves. She also starred in the TV series, THE MOMMIES for NBC and Paramount.

Her projects include:

FRIENDS TILL THE END opposite Shannon Doherty, PARTY OF FIVE opposite Scott Wolf and Matthew Fox, THE COOL AND THE CRAZY with Jared Leto, and James Cameron’s DARK ANGEL with Jessica Alba. Jennifer has also guest starred on television shows such as CSI, GRACE UNDER FIRE and ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA with Danny DeVito.

In addition, she has been involved in many projects with her life partner and fellow actor, Michael Biehn. Their projects include PUNCTURE alongside Chris Evans and THE RIDE.

Jennifer’s anticipated performance in THE VICTIM comes on the heels of other movies she has just recently completed, including JACK OF SPADES with Jennifer Coolage and PRANK with friend and colleague Danielle Harris (co-star in THE VICTIM), Stanley DeBrock, with Pruitt Taylor Vince.

Most recently, Jennifer made an appearance in THE DIVIDE with partner Michael Biehn. Which premiered at the SXSW film festival March 13th 2011.

Jennifer is starring in and producing a film called THE VICTIM. Starring opposite Michael as he also directs this feature. It is her first leap into the producing world and she is loving it. Blanc also recently guest starred on the TV series SOUTHLAND, and NUCLEAR FAMILY. Blanc is on a roll in every aspect of her life and career.

Michael Connell Biehn is an American actor best known for his roles in James Cameron’s science fiction action films, THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS and THE ABYSS. In 1977 he was given his first role in a pilot called, JAMES AT 16. The next year, Michael starred opposite Cathy Lee Crosby in his first feature film, COACH. He had a small role in GREASE starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John.

His list of credits include the Oscar-nominated film THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, THE FAN, STILETTO, DEADLY INTENTIONS, THE SEVENTH SIGN, TOMBSTONE, THE ROCK, GRINDHOUSE, PLANET TERROR and NAVY SEALS opposite Charlie Sheen. He has also starred in two of director Franc Roddam’s films, K2 and THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE. He i has guest starred in several series, including DARK BLUE, LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT and HILL STREET BLUES.

Mark Wood grew up in Northern California and attended CSD of Fremont. His passion is acting and he loves to express the art of storytelling into real life! His first taste of public acting was at 14 when he won a storytelling competition and realized he had a talent for pursuing an acting career. Mark also does producing and directing and has done, The Miracle Worker at Center North Carolina School for the Deaf, 1995. Any Number Can Die – 2005 and Flowers in the Dark – 2006 at Indiana School for the Deaf. He worked as a Distance Learning ASL instructor at ISD for two years, but during the summer of 2006 he is acting as a director and producer for a movie Forget Me Not which was released in the Fall 2006. Now he is full-time filmmaker. He just finished directing the second feature film Wrong Game. Mark lives in Fishers, Indiana with his wife Tanya and their son, Jasper.


Steve Montal is the Co-Founder and CEO of Caucho Technology, a global leader in web server software. Montal has collaborated with over 100 film festivals serving as board member, programmer, jury, organizer and panelist. Montal worked with the American Film Institute, where he launched the Silverdocs Film Festival and served as Director of Educational and Special Program Development. Montal’s producing credits include Viva Terra Viva, a television concert event for UNICEF that was broadcast to over 100 countries. 

Montal was the founding associate dean of the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking, where he was part of the team that developed the curriculum of NCSA’s unique conservatory approach to film education. Montal wrote the “Film Festivals and Markets” chapter of The Movie Business Book and has written for Animation Journal and Variety.

Montal is on the faculty of San Diego State University and lectures throughout the world at festivals and conferences.

Born in Overland Park, Kansas, Almereyda took an early interest in drawing and painting. Meeting Manny Farber, an artist and film critic, at age sixteen and having read Farber’s book Negative Space; Farber was a formative influence. While studying art history at Harvard, he dropped out his senior year to pursue screenwriting.

Almereyda moved to New York, working on a screenplay about the inventor of modern electricity, Nikola Tesla. That unproduced script secured him a literary agent and Almereyda went off to Hollywood, becoming a script doctor for hire. Some of his dialogue remains in Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven, 1990), and is credited on the sci-fi comedy Cherry 2000 (Steve De Jarnatt, 1987). He penned the first draft of Until the End of the World (Wim Wenders, 1991) and scripts for renowned filmmakers Tim Burton and David Lynch. 

His first attempt at directing was a 35mm short called A Hero in Our Time (1985), based on the story by Mikhail Lermontov, was a Los Angeles film noir starring Dennis Hopper. His first feature, Twister (1990), had an excellent cast: Harry Dean Stanton, Crispin Glover, Suzy Amis, Tim Robbins, and a cameo by William S. Burroughs.
  
The director is noted for his use of the Fisher-Price PixelVision camera. With no budget, no producers, and complete creative freedom, he used the format, which records video onto audiocassettes, most prominently in his 1992 film Another Girl, Another Planet, which won an award for “expanding the possibilities of experimental film.” The camera was also used for subjective perspective sequences in Nadja and Hamlet.

Michael made his Hamlet (2000) for the information age. From its opening scene of the young prince (Ethan Hawke) dabbling in Sadie Benning-style Pixelvision diaries to a press conference held by Claudius (Kyle MacLachlan), CEO of the Denmark Corporation, video is everywhere. Hamlet delivers his “To be or not to be” monologue in the Blockbuster Video Action aisle.

His film, This So-Called Disaster (2004), a documentary, followed Sam Shepard mounting a production of his play The Late Henry Moss with Woody Harrelson, Cheech Marin, and Nick Nolte in the cast. Almereyda profiled American photographer William Eggleston in the 2005 documentary William Eggleston in the Real World. The film premiered at The Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2005.

For a comprehensive article on Almereyda and with further web resources, visit: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/almereyda/.

Andy is the winner of the 2011 Indie Pioneer Award

Andy Anderson, born in Detroit, Michigan in 1946, grew up in Miami and received his Bachelor’s and Masters degree in Art from Florida State University.

Since discovering photography and filmmaking in the late 1960’s Andy had led a double life… producing and directing commercials and feature films (see following) and also creating an extensive body of artworks in film, photography, electronic art, and installations.

His work has been exhibited at (abbreviated list) The Sundance Film Festival (permanent collection), The Museum of Modern Art (permanent collection), The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Atlanta Contemporary, The Nelson Atkins Museum, the Berlin, Munich and Moscow Film Festivals, Ann Arbor Film Festival (Grand Award), Houston Film Festival (Grand Award), Kansas City Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Center for Photographic Studies, Film in the Cities, Filmex, The Kitchen, PS1, and on every major network PPV, and cable channel.

His artwork has been the recipient of three NEA /SW Alternate Media Project production grants. Andy has also written for Universal, Paramount Pictures, Hyperion Pictures and Eddie Murphy Productions.

His work directing major account national commercials (Ford Motor Company, MasterCard, Peace Corps) have won a number of awards.

Andy has also written and directed four independent feature films including the indie hit Positive I.D. 1988 (Universal Pictures) and his most recent theatrical release: Detention (theatrical 2001, DVD release as: Learning Curve) 2003.

His feature Drive-by Shooting was recently curated into the permanent collection of the Australian Center for the Moving Image and has screened for two weeks straight, 24 hours a day, on the German Television Network.

His personal films (Point of View, Ritual, My Father’s Hands, Life, Clap, Behavior Modification 6, HR) and his photography and installation works have been widely exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, The California Center for Photography, Camerawork, Magic Silver and others.

Andy has also been honored with the Minnie Piper Stevens Award for Outstanding University Professors as well as the University wide Outstanding Creative Activity/Research Award.

His new artwork, a complex two monitor installation (SENSE:MEMORY), 2009, deals with the concept that limiting information available transforms the perceived value of that information, demanding a reassessment of long held beliefs.
In addition, Andy is completing a new feature screenplay slated for 2011, a new Novel, and a retrospective of his work (42 years @ 24 frames) is currently being finalized for release in 2011.

Andy served as Chair of the Art and Art History Department at the University of Texas at Arlington for five years (1999-2005). and was able to triple major enrollment, double the faculty, construct the new ($6m) Studio Arts Complex and fix the copy machine (staple stuck in the feed tray).
 
Andy continues as Professor and  Writer in Residence at the University of Texas at Arlington, and lives as a semi-professional recluse in Fort Worth, Texas.

His website is: http://www.andersonfilm.com/.

Marceil Wright holds a bachelors degree in Radio, Television and Cinema Arts  with emphasis in Media Management. She began her own media production company under the One Nation Filmworks banner and has produced award winning short films, commercials and music videos.  Her combination of creative production and marketing skills afforded her the opportunity to produce highly effective television commercial campaigns for Rhino Records/Time Warner. In addition to television commercials, Marceil has created print and radio marketing campaigns for hair care products, animated children’s videos, recording artists and dance club venues.  
 
While recognizing the need to highlight the works of underrepresented filmmaker’s throughout the U.S. and the world, Marceil co-founded Doboy’s Dozens Filmmaker’s Showcase in Los Angeles.  The Showcase – which began more than 10 years ago – provided an opportunity for filmmakers from all over the world to network, share resources, and inspire others to create images on film. Because of her knowledge and experience working with Entertainment Industry labor unions,  Marceil was recruited by the Working For America Institute, AFL-CIO and the Department of Labor out of Washington D.C. to serve as the Entertainment/Digital/Multi-Media Industry Field Specialist, where her expertise in  film, television, digital technology and workplace diversity was utilized to better serve workers in a rapidly changing industry.  Upon completion of her contract with the Department of Labor, Marceil was hired as the Director of Membership for the non-profit independent film advocacy organization, Film Independent.  While at Film Independent, she was credited with creating new services and educational programs for independent filmmakers and for increasing the diversity of the organizations 6000 members.  
 
Marceil’s production expertise is currently being utilized to produce television programs under the Badami Productions banner where she is responsible for the production of a first-run syndicated television shows.  Additionally, Marceil’s passion and energy is being channeled into production of the feature documentary film, Free Black Horse, which will chronicle the culture and lifestyle of Black Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders.  Additionally, Marceil is producing a series of public service announcements geared to address the AIDS epidemic among African-American women.