Q&A

Imri Matalon graduated cum laude from the Sam Spiegel Film School. His short film Dead End won the Best Short Film Award at the Haifa Film Festival and many awards around the world. His first full-length film Broken Mirrors was nominated for the Best Screenplay Award at the Ophir Awards (Israeli Oscars). The film has played in many festivals around the world and won several awards for the film makers as well as the movie’s star, Shira Haas.
Matalon currently lives in Tel Aviv with his wife and two small children, and is working on his second film that will be shot soon. He is also writing a drama series for television and teaching writing and directing at various universities in Israel.

Aviad Givon graduated from the Sam Spiegel School Film School in Israel. He is the director of the short movies
Ha’Even and Letters to Popeye. Givon is also an author — his debut book The Picture Looks at Me was chosen to be the Novel of the year in Israel, and received commendable reviews. Broken Mirrors is his first feature length film.

Michael Mayer’s “gripping feature debut”, Out in the Dark had it’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, sold to over 40 countries and went on to play in more than 130 film festivals, winning 27 awards.

His new feature, Happy Times, due for release in 2021 has already been dubbed the “Israeli Get Out” and won the Best Screenplay Award at the Haifa International Film Festival. Currently, Mayer is developing a feature adaptation of Erri De Luca’s best seller Tu, mio as well as a one-hour thriller series for US and Israeli Television.

Born and raised in Haifa, Israel, Mayer lives and works in Los Angeles.

Billie Mintz is an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker. His passion is to find good stories (or have them find him).  A long-time advocate for social justice, with an emphasis on exposing corruption, Billie believes in the power of story to raise consciousness and inspire policy change.  His previous film, The Guardians, uncovers systemic corruption of family courts in the USA. It made its world premiere at Hot Docs, was officially selected in over 30 international festivals, and won 9 awards for best documentary feature. His feature documentary, Jesus Town USA,  was executive produced by Sky Atlantic, aired on Showtime, and Netflix and was distributed globally. 

Roman Lapshin is an award winning director and cinematographer. His versatility and great attitude makes him a heavily sought after crew member. Born in Israel with Russian heritage,  Roman immigrated to Toronto, Canada where he began his journey to create cinema. 

PORTRAYAL follows Roman across three continents and five nations as he puts together the pieces of a mysterious puzzle and come to terms with a family legacy and his own personal journey of restoration, growth and healing.

Atiya Aftab currently maintains her own practice providing representation to non-profit corporations.   Atiya is an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University where she is also Chair of the Center for Islamic Life, and a memberof the Board of Overseers. She is the co-founder and current Chair of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom and Muslim-Jewish interfaith organization. She has been a member of the Islamic Society of Central Jersey’s (ISCJ) Board of Trustees and Overseers for almost 20 years.  She co-founded the New Jersey Muslim Lawyer’s Association. Atiya is a Fellow with the Arianne de Rothschild Fellowship and completed a certificate program with KARAMAH, Muslim women’s human rights organization.

Ellen Sable is a religious educator and lay leader at Congregation Beth Israel in Austin where she teaches youth and adult Bar and Bat Mitzvah students. She is active on several nonprofit organization boards, focusing on services to the elders in the community, interfaith relations, and advocacy on public policy and social justice issues such as immigration, health care and education. She also enjoys cycling, quilting and tutoring math at Garza High School in Austin ISD.

Kirsten Kelly is an Emmy-Award winning documentary filmmaker and Senior Producer at Transform Films, the production company that created “Stranger/Sister.” Her work has been supported by ITVS, CPB, AmDoc, MacArthur Foundation, the Sundance Institute, Fledgling Fund, Chicken and Egg, Good Pitch, and Bertha Foundation/Brit Docs. She has a diverse background in developing new content which focuses on social justice issues. Kirsten is a Fellow at the Sundance Documentary Institute and a graduate of the Master’s Directing program at The Juilliard School.

Amanda Quraishi is a Muslim by choice. She is the Digital & Social Media Director at the Texas Association of School Boards where she leads the organization’s digital legislative advocacy efforts and co-hosts their podcast.
Amanda is the founder/director of the Institute for Digital Civic Culture at the University of Southern California, a program designed to elevate online culture and empower leadership in digital spaces. She is on the Community Advisory Board for Austin PBS, and an Advisory Committee Member for the Muslim Space. Amanda is an advocate for women’s rights, public education, digital privacy, and the free press.