2023 JURY

A filmmaker from London who grew up making music promos for local music artists, Charlotte’s first short film, Standby, was nominated for a BAFTA. Her second short, Fry-Up, screened at Sundance and Berlinale. She is a Sundance Ignite Fellow and was named as a 2020 Screen International Star of Tomorrow. Her debut feature, Scrapper, had its world premiere at Sundance 2023 where it went on to win the World Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. The Lighthouse International Film Festival is honored to screen Scrapper as our opening night film.

A French journalist, Nathalie is chief critic for 10 local newspapers and film critic for BANDE À PART magazine (a.k.a. Jo Fishley). She has served on the juries of many festivals including Cannes Film Festival, Annecy (FIPRESCI), Biarritz, Arras, Fameck, Poitiers. She is a board member of the Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma et de Télévision and board member of the Cannes Critics Week. She is also president of the jury for the best cinema books published in France in collaboration with the Centre National du Cinéma.

David Baram has spent over 25 years in the entertainment/media industry, including more than 15 years as president of LBI Entertainment, during which he helped develop and manage the careers of many of the industry’s leading A-list artists. LBI Entertainment has also produced award-winning films and television shows, including the Martin Scorsese film Children of the Flower Moon, Hell or High Water, The Irishman, Boardwalk Empire, and others. David has also executive produced over 100 episodes of network and cable television, including the groundbreaking series Mindfreak. He has written, directed, and produced the 2022 Oscar-qualifying featurette Ball and Vase, starring Austin Pendleton. Ball and Vase was chosen by both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter as one of the top 15 films to watch for an Oscar nomination. He wrote, directed, and produced the Oscar-qualifying and recently PBS-acquired documentary One All the Way.

Naeema Butt is an accomplished Pakistani National actor, filmmaker, journalist, social/gender equality rights activist, and award-winning Theatre of the Oppressed trainer. She is a founder of NB Media & Pehlaaj StoryCenter For Change, and was nominated for the Ellen Stuart International Award in 2018, one of the most prestigious international awards for theater activists. As an actor, Naeema has gained widespread recognition for her performances, including her role in the Pakistani national television drama Ehd-e-Wafa, which named her one of the top Gen Next actors in the Pakistani drama industry by Gulf News and The News International, and has leveraged her skills as a journalist and host with the Daily Pakistan. Outside of Pakistan she has produced the thrilling film Home, based on her own story of a woman looking for safety to escape from Pakistan to the US, and has acted in films and webseries in the US directed by award-winning directors Mehreen Jabbar and Alexis Karl, among others.

As the COO of the Lagralane Group, Matthew directs the day-to-day operations involving business development, finance, marketing, and human resources. Along with acting as COO, Matthew has garnered individual credits on Lagralane titles, acting as executive producer on The Blood Is At The Doorstep, The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open, Givers Of Death (G.O.D.), Lifeline (short), producer on Ownership (short), co-producer on Bienvenidos, and as associate producer on Harry Dean Stanton’s final film Lucky. Under the Lagralane company credit, Matthew co-executive produced the 2018 Academy Award-winning documentary ICARUS. He is also a producer of the podcast Lagralane Spirits, exploring identity & culture with cocktails. Alongside his professional credits, his penchant for creative storytelling has led to a lifelong involvement in the arts. Matthew serves on the board of Los Angeles-based Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble.

A director best known for such genre classics as The Hidden and Nightmare on Elm Street II,  Jack has directed feature films and television episodes for Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros, MGM, HBO, NBC, Fox, Showtime, Lionsgate, and others. He has won a Daytime Emmy for Editing and has had three of his screenplays produced. In addition, Jack has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from Fantafestival (Rome), Grossmann Film Festival (Slovenia), and Fantastic Fest (Austin). He will be attending a special screening of the film 12 Days of Terror, which tells the story of the 1916 shark attacks on LBI and the Jersey Shore.

Jo Miller is a historian and political satirist who worked with Lizz Winstead on the long-running off-Broadway comedy Wake Up World before joining the writing staff of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2009. After six years at TDS, she left for a two-year stint as co-creator, executive producer, and head writer at Full Frontal on TBS. More recent projects include Old News, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, The Opposition, and Wilmore. Her writing has earned her four Comedy/Variety Emmy Awards, which are useful for holding knitting yarn. Jo lives in the Catskill mountains and is a proud member of the Writers Guild of America.

Joan’s award-winning short films, including One Day Crossing (Academy Award Nominee, Student Academy Award Gold Medal), Solidarity, and Saeed, have screened at over 150 festivals worldwide. Joan directed episodes of Law and Order; worked in various production positions on feature films for directors Taylor Hackford (Ray), Eric Mendelsohn (3 Backyards), and Bette Gordon (Luminous Motion), among others; and was the director of the Student Shorts Program at the Hamptons Film Festival. Joan’s feature-length script was accepted to the Sundance Screenwriting Lab, where it received a Sloan Foundation grant, and the Hamptons International Film Festival Screenwriting Lab. As a social activist, Joan has volunteered in a Bosnian refugee camp, directed a short documentary about The Center for Women War Victims (Zagreb, Croatia), and was on the original committee for V-Day with Eve Ensler. A graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Film Program, Joan is a Professor of Film and Video Production at Adelphi University.

A Toronto-based, multi-skilled performer with a focus in acting, stunt performing and most recently, producing. Growing up in Vancouver, Nicole began acting in theater before leaving to earn her BFA in acting from Toronto Metropolitan University. There she discovered her keen eye for detail, coordination, and love of stage combat, and went on to develop specialty skills in bladework and complex character work. Nicole’s most recent acting and stunt credits include The Boys (Amazon Prime), Rabbit Hole (Paramount), Be Mine (Meta Horizon Worlds), and Slasher V (Shudder). With her years of experience from stage to set, the premiere of A Room Without a View at the Lighthouse International Film Festival marks Nicole’s debut role as producer.

Maya is a highly accomplished Chief Productions Officer at Eva Nosidam Productions, where she spearheads all production efforts. With many years of experience in the production industry, she has established herself as a true leader in the field. Throughout her career, Maya has worked with global brands, companies, and advertising agencies, including Saatchi & Saatchi, J. Walter Thompson, Anonymous Content, Partizan Entertainment, and RadicalMedia. In her various executive roles at these companies, she consistently delivered best-in-class communications, events, and experiences. In 2015, Maya launched her own company, Network Réseau, with the goal of revolutionizing content creation by introducing new and innovative approaches. This move demonstrated her entrepreneurial spirit and her ability to navigate the ever-changing landscape of the industry.

Dan Sullivan is a Programmer for Film at Lincoln Center. During his tenure, he has played a pivotal role in organizing numerous impressive film retrospectives, including those of Raúl Ruiz, David Lynch, Jacques Rivette, Germaine Dulac, Pedro Costa, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Hong Sangsoo, Jonas Mekas, Jane Birkin, and Charlotte Gainsbourg, among others. 

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In addition to these, he has curated several exceptional film series, such as “Going Steadi: 40 Years of Steadicam” (2017), “Heathcliff, It’s Me: Adapting Wuthering Heights” (2017), “Make My Day: American Movies in the Age of Reagan” (2019, with J. Hoberman), and “New York, 1962-64: Underground and Experimental Cinema” (2022, with Thomas Beard). He is the former film co-editor of the Brooklyn Rail, and his writing has appeared in Film Comment, Cinema Scope, and other publications.

A writer, culture critic, and film programmer who has attended critic programs and reported from film and theater festivals in Locarno, Rotterdam, Stockholm, and Sundance, Wilfred has worked on the selection teams for the Film Africa festival in London and the Encounters International Documentary Festival in South Africa.

He has mentored fast-rising film critics at Talents Durban and worked on the selection committee of Berlinale Talents. Last year, he served as an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards. His writing has appeared in Variety, OkayAfrica, The Africa Report, and The Continent among other publications. He is a member of FIPRESCI and has participated in juries at the Carthage Film Festival and Berlinale.

Rachel Walden is a director/producer from Atlanta, GA. Her most recent short film, Lemon Tree, premiered in The Directors Fortnight at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, where she runs the independent production company Gummy Films with co-founders Pauline Chalamet and Luca Balser.

With a career spanning 25 years, Nikolai “Niko” Nikolaeff has worked on a wide variety of genre projects with some of the best filmmakers in the world. Beginning in his native Australia, he made the move to the US in 2013 and has continued to craft his career in North America and Europe, including appearing in projects like Netflix’s Daredevil and The OA, NCIS, Camp, SIX, Sea Patrol, and Togo, as well as Power Rangers for Disney. Recent projects include Halle Berry’s directorial debut Bruised, Stranger Things Season 4, Call of Duty – Vanguard, the David Fincher directed Bad Traveling, and Love, Death + Robots. Currently, he is working on another yet to be announced major first player shooter video game as well as the upcoming premiere of the much awaited horror masterpiece The Last Voyage of the Demeter, based on a chapter from Bram Stoker’s iconic Dracula and produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.