PANELISTS
Hannah Beachler
Hannah Beachler an Academy Award®-winning production designer who made history as the first African American to not only be nominated in the category, but also the first to win for her work on Marvel’s Black Panther directed by Ryan Coogler. She previously collaborated with Coogler on: Creed, the spinoff from the Rocky film series starring Sylvester Stallone; and Fruitvale Station, the 2013 Sundance Film Festival breakout film and winner of the Prix de L’Avenir in the Un Certain Regard competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Her designs are also featured in director Barry Jenkins’ 2017 Best Picture Oscar-winning film, Moonlight, a coming-of-age tale that transcends traditional genre boundaries. In 2016, Hannah designed Beyoncé’s stunning visual concept album Lemonade, earning her an Art Directors Guild Award and an Emmy nomination. She is also the recipient of a 2019 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards nomination; a 2018 Hamilton Behind the Camera Award for Production Design; and a 2018 Saturn Award for Best Production Design. Additional awards include Best Production Design from the LA Film Critics Association, the SF Film Critics Circle, the St. Louis Film Critics Association and the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association. Hannah resides in New Orleans with her son and rescue dogs.
Howard Berger
Specializing in character prosthetics, animatronics, creatures, and replica animals, Howard Berger has over 800 feature film and television credits that span four decades. Over the course of Howard’s illustrious career, he has worked on such projects as Kill Bill 1 & 2, Oz the Great and Powerful, Lone Survivor, Breaking Bad, The Green Mile, and From Dusk till Dawn to name a few. In recognition for his work on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Howard won the Academy Award for Best Make-up as well as a British Academy Award for Best Achievement in Make-up. In 2012, Howard was yet again nominated for an Academy Award for his work designing and creating the portrait makeup for Sir Anthony Hopkins for the FOX Searchlight feature Hitchcock. In 1988 alongside Gregory Nicotero, Howard founded KNB EFX Group, Inc. For the past 31 years, KNB has garnered the reputation as the most prolific Special Effects Make-up studio in Hollywood. KNB has been Recognized by such organizations as The Hollywood Film Festival, The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, as well as receiving numerous Emmy wins. Collaborating with the most sought-after artists in the business, KNB’s work continues to provide filmmakers with the most ingenious and creative make-up effects to date. Their 20,000 square foot state of the art facility located in Chatsworth, California, is the base of operations for film & television production all over the world. For the past 7 years Howard has served as Makeup Department Head on countless films such as The Gambler starring Mark Wahlberg and John Goodman, Ted 2 for Seth MacFarlane, and Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day for director Peter Berg. Howard recently completed work on the upcoming Netflix film Wonderland with Mark Wahlberg and acted as Department Head for both seasons of Seth MacFarlane’s smash hit Sci-Fi series The Orville for 20th Century Fox. He is currently Special Makeup Department Head on FX’s Legion. Howard resides in Sherman Oaks, CA with his artist wife, Mirjam.
Julio Macat
Julio Macat, A.S.C. is a Director of Photography with box-office hits including Home Alone, Home Alone II, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, The Wedding Planner, Cats and Dogs, Bringing Down the House and Wedding Crashers, all of which opened to the #1 box office position in the US. He photographed Antonio Banderas directorial debut, Crazy in Alabama, and Adam Shankman’s coming of age drama, A Walk to Remember, along with many other films. After the Wedding is his most recent project. His specialty is lighting women’s close ups and not over-lighting comedies. A native of Argentina, of Italian descent, Julio began his career at age19 and studied filmmaking at UCLA. He’s been a visual consultant for DISNEY studios, collaborating on the animated features Wreck It Ralph and Winnie the Pooh and more recently for Paramount studios Sherlock Gnomes. He lives in Los Angeles and Massachusetts with his wife, actress, Elizabeth Perkins.
John Rosengrant
John Rosengrant is a Visual Effects Academy Award Nominee, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and co-founder of Legacy Effects, a top design, makeup and effects studio that has played a pivotal role in the success of many of Hollywood’s biggest feature film productions, television programs, commercials, and live entertainment events, including Avatar, Avengers End Game and Infinity War, The Revenant, Shape of Water, Real Steel, the new Terminator: Dark Fate set for this November, and the upcoming series The Mandalorian. Projects currently in development for future release include Suicide Squad 2 and upcoming installment of Jurassic World. After majoring in fine arts at Louisiana State University, John joined effects maestro Stan Winston to work on the classic sci-fi action film The Terminator and has been a key creative voice in the effects industry ever since. His work can be seen in one blockbuster film after another, including: Interview with the Vampire, Edward Scissorhands, Aliens, Predator, Batman Returns, and every film in the Terminator and Jurassic Park franchises. Not only is he one of the most respected and seasoned artists in the entertainment industry, he is also known as a leader and innovator, and continues to push modern effects technology to the very limit.
Terilyn Shropshire
Terilyn A. Shropshire is an Emmy-nominated picture editor well-known for her innovative style, collaborating with some of the industry’s most talented feature filmmakers and television creators. Currently, Terilyn is editing the feature film, The Old Guard, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Charlize Theron and Kiki Layne. Recently, Terilyn cut Part 1 of Netflix’s 4-part mini-series When They See Us, directed and written by Oscar-nominee, Ava DuVernay which received 16 Emmy nominations. Terilyn’s diverse roster also includes feature films, such as Miss Bala, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and starring Gina Rodriguez, Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees, and Love and Basketball, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, as well as Kasi Lemmon’s films, Eve’s Bayou, The Caveman’s Valentine, Talk to Me, and Black Nativity. Terilyn has been recognized throughout her career for her stellar work, most notably earning an Emmy nomination for the Lifetime Achievement Award tribute to Sidney Poitier for the 74th Annual Academy Awards and an ACE Eddie Award for Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story, directed by Vondie Curtis Hall. Beyond her work in features, Terilyn maintains a successful career in television, cutting fan-favorite series such as Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, Fox’s Shots Fired, and ABC’s Quantico. Terilyn began honing her craft at the University of Southern California, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and Cinema. There, she learned deft skills in creating balance, which developed Terilyn’s unrivaled eye in crafting scenes that emotionally intertwine the audience with the story. Terilyn is an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, American Cinema Editors and the Diversity Committee of the Motion Picture Editor’s Guild. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Mitchell Travers
Mitchell Travers is a New York-based Costume Designer. He is best known for his work in Bo Burnham’s breakout film Eighth Grade, Mindy Kaling’s Late Night starring Emma Thompson, and most recently, Lorene Scafaria’s star-studded blockbuster Hustlers. Before making the jump to Costume Designer, Mitchell served as the Associate Costume Designer on Ocean’s Eight, and Assistant Costume Designer on The Meyerowitz Stories, Joy, The Amazing Spiderman 2, The Bourne Legacy, and Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. Mitchell’s other feature film credits include The Strange Ones, The Well, and Those People. He is also well-versed in television with credits on Saturday Night Live, The Blacklist, and 30 Rock. Mitchell was featured in Variety's Artisan Impact Report for 2017 and most recently completed Warner Brothers’ musical In the Heights, directed by Jon Chu and produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Mark Ulano
Mark Ulano is the President of the Cinema Audio Society and IATSE Local 695 Sound and Video Engineers. He has been recording sound for film professionally since 1976. His work on Titanic won him an Academy Award for Sound Mixing as well as the Cinema Audio Society Award for Best Sound mixing for a Feature Film. He was also nominated for Inglorious Bustards. He has multiple nominations/wins for AMPAS, AMPS, BAFTA, CAS, MPSE, Satellite and INOCA for sound mixing. Mark has mixed over 140 film and television projects, including Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the upcoming James Gray/Brad Pitt sci-fi film, Ad Astra.
MODERATOR
Bianca Rae
Bianca Rae is a news anchor for Spectrum News in Los Angeles. She has covered everything from breaking local news to terrorist attacks to red carpets. Her live coverage of the September 2014 flood that devastated parts of the Coachella Valley garnered her an Emmy nomination. Bianca covers stories that matter and make a difference. She is also the founder and CEO of the Bianca Rae Foundation, a non-profit serving children and animals. Bianca has a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars for her humanitarian work in Southern California.