CASSIE HALEY SELF
Executive Director
Experience in retail, both as a buyer and entrepreneur. For over 20 years Cassie has specialized in commercial marketing and media, as well as a lifetime of connecting people for positive results. Her role in sales includes creative approaches to brand awareness and innovative strategies for extra value ad for suppliers and their products. Cassie is a familiar face at Walmart and Sam's Club, having done commercials for In Store Self Check Out, Online-Grocery Pick Up, as well as hosting Sam's Club Kitchen. Experienced Creative Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the motion pictures and film industry. Strong media and communication professional.
DAN ROBINSON
Technical Director
Dan Robinson earned his degree in Composition from the Conservatory at the University of Missouri in Kansas City in 2000. Since that time, Dan has worked in a wide variety of styles, from Orchestral to Rock, Country to Hip Hop. He has written, collaborated and produced numerous musicals, opera, film and game scores and a myriad of songs in a wide variety of genre. Dan has recorded and produced over 30 full-length albums. In 2006, he produced the Ozark Music Award's best Record of the Year and won Best Sound Engineer. He works out of The Foundry, a fully equipped, 900 square foot sound studio specifically designed by him for the purpose of recording bands and ensembles. In 2008 Dan scored the Telly-Award winning documentary film "Medicine Under Canvas". As a natural progression rising out of his work in film scoring, Dan became more involved in the complete process of film production. Currently his production company, Fiery Moon Films, has several properties in development and various stages of production. Fiery Moon Films also produces commercials for television, radio, and internet. Dan continues to enjoy building his resume as a Film Producer, Director, Photographer and Editor working with state of the art equipment within Fiery Moon Films.
JASON SUEL
Secretary
Jason is a teaching artist and professional actor who holds an MA in Theatre and Film from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He is the Director of Partnerships and Community Engagement for Trike Theatre in Bentonville, Arkansas. He tours as a cast member with multiple plays created by Trike Theatre and produced by the Walton Arts Center and is a founding member of two comedy improv troupes in Northwest Arkansas, Phunbags and Rodeo Book Club.
He has served on the Board of Directors for the Seedling Film Association in Fayetteville since it’s inception and was the Executive Director from January 2011 to January 2013. In early winter of 2014, Jason launched a new Fayetteville, AR based television show, Later with Jason Suel, on the Fayetteville Public Access Station. In the fall of 2014, Jason toured Ireland as an actor in ‘The Odyssey Experience’ directed by Christopher Parks and produced by New Jersey's Experiential Theatre Company.
RAYMOND HOUSE
Treasurer
Raymond House is the owner of Third House Productions, a creative company geared toward music production, film scoring, and creative direction. Over the span of 16 years he has executive produced over a dozen albums and EPs for artists, and scored a handful of films. He also serves as the drama director for St. James MBC, directing over 20 stage play productions. A graduate of the University of Arkansas and Wayne State College, Raymond seeks to apply his experience in project management and continuous improvement to creative spaces in order to see execution and success in all he participates in.
ALEX WILSON
Jury Chair
Alex is a writer from Little Rock and a lecturer of film at the University of Arkansas. He has previously worked in scripted programming and development at A+E and Lifetime and as a script reader for Martin Campbell Productions and the Austin Film Festival. A former producer’s assistant on Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Alex has also served as a writers’ assistant on ABC’s Killer Women and Pauly Shore’s Landing Patch Productions. He holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Arkansas and an MFA in Writing and Producing for Television from Loyola Marymount University.
JOE BINZER
Board Member
Joe Binzer is the General Manager of the Commons Bar and Cafe at TheatreSquared. He brings a decade of customer service and hospitality industry experience to TheatreSquared’s Community Experience department, helping to boost patron engagement and retention. He is also an actor and a teaching artist who has worked locally with TheatreSquared, Trike Theatre, and Classical Edge Theatre. He worked with the Fayetteville Film Fest in 2019 as a Production Assistant, providing general support to Executive Director Morgan Hicks as well as to multiple patron-facing departments. He holds a BA in Film, Television & Theatre from the University of Notre Dame and an MFA in Performing Arts from the Savannah College of Art & Design.
NA'TOSHA DE'VON
Board Member
Na’Tosha De’Von is an actor, published poet, writer and activist. She holds an MFA in acting from the University of Arkansas. As well as a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Speech Communication from Jackson State University. In her career she has worked with several regional and non-reginoal theatre companies. She has her poetry published in the literary Sanctuary as well as her one-person show featured in the New Play Festival at Theatresquared. She is a member of the Blue Ensemble Theater company located in Jackson MS. Na’Tosha serves as a casting assistant and sensitivity coordinator for Actors Casting Agency. Na’Tosha is also on the Board of Directors at the Rachel Lynett Theatre Company in Madison Winsconsin. She is a teaching artist for Trike Theatre and serves on the DEI board at Theatresquared. She is previously seen in PBS Chase the Lion and SAG film Freedoms Path. She serves her community through activism in the arts generating safe spaces for Black and BIPOC people to create.
MORGAN HICKS
Board Member
Morgan is a co-founder of Fayetteville's professional theatre company, TheatreSquared, where she serves as the Director of Education and Program Development. She has directed numerous shows including Murder for Two, A Christmas Carol, Noises Off, Boeing Boeing, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Fully Committed, Every Christmas Story Ever Told and The Mystery of Irma Vep. She is also a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas where she teaches Theatre History and Directing and recently directed shows such as Eurydice, As You Like It, The Exonerated and Vinegar Tom. She Previously she served as general manager of Writer’s Theatre in Chicago and company manager of BareStage in Missouri. She has served on several non-profit boards including Artist's Laboratory Theatre and Last Night Fayetteville. She holds a BFA in Acting from Arkansas State University, an MA in Performance Studies from Missouri State University, and an MFA in Directing from the University of Arkansas and studied Political Theatre at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.
AIRIC HUGHES
Board Member
Airic Hughes is an entrepreneur, artist, philanthropist and Ph.D candidate in the Department of History at the University of Arkansas. His research examines modern environmental segregation in urban America. Airic is the founder of Visionairi Enterprises. Visionairi produces film, media, and events with a mission to promote and preserve black culture. Visionairi engages communities in areas of education, creativity, and social justice.
RINGO JONES
Board Member
Ringo Jones is a documentarian, interactive media creator, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Arkansas. Ringo's documentaries and interactive stories screen at on PBS stations around the world, film and music festivals, and conferences including his augmented reality project, Blank Spaces which won Best of Festival at the Broadcast Education Association conference in 2022. Before joining UA, Ringo worked in TV & film, designed audio/video systems, and was a touring musician.
KRIS KATROSH
Board Member
Katrosh is the manager of the Media Production team at the University of Arkansas Global Campus. The Media Production team is dedicated primarily to delivering instructional video and animation used in courses developed by U of A academic colleges and schools as well as for non-credit training and certificate programs for industry. In addition, Katrosh consults on feature film development; produces and directs commercials, documentaries, and films; and designs/oversees construction of production and post-production facilities and sound stages. Before joining the Global Campus in November 2013, Katrosh worked for University Relations and helped develop the promotional video series, “Short Takes.” He served five years as the director of the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, also based at the university. From 1996 to 2006 Katrosh was a producer and general manager at Dempsey Film Group, a 30-person, full-service film and video facility in Little Rock. He has worked in the film business since 1985.
NIKETA REED
Board Member
Niketa Reed is a media professor at the School of Journalism and Strategic Media and Executive Director of Arkansas Soul, a digital media platform focused on BIPOC in Arkansas. As an affiliate faculty member of the African and African American Studies program, Reed teaches African Americans in Film and African Americans in Documentary Film. She is an advocate for diversity in media with a passion for projects that celebrate and highlight African American experiences.
ALESSANDRO SALEMME
Board Member
Alessandro Salemme was born and raised in a small city in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. He attended the University of Chester, studying a Film and Television Production degree. This is where he began to get involved in the Film and Festival community, producing content for FACT Liverpool, a Film and Art gallery, also assisting in MANIFF (Manchester Film Festival) as well as affiliations with a handful of filmmakers in and around the Northwest of England, including some who now work with BBC. Alessandro has called Northwest Arkansas his home since September 2020, after moving to the US in early 2020. He now works for the Pryor Center at the University of Arkansas, an incredible space that documents the cultural heritage of Arkansans, collecting audio and video resources to share with scholars, the public and students. Before this role, he worked as a Production assistant at KNWA & Fox24, where he worked on the morning newscast and Good Day NWA. Alessandro regularly works with Film and Documentary makers and is a keen photographer and videographer himself.
RUSSELL SHARMAN
Board Member
Russell Leigh Sharman is a writer, filmmaker and anthropologist. He has written for Hollywood since 2008, working for several studios and production companies, including Warner Brothers, Fox, Disney, MRC, DeLine Pictures, 21 Laps, Participant Media, Montecito Pictures, The Mark Gordon Company and Real FX. He is also the writer/director of the low-budget indie feature, APARTMENT 4E, an adaptation of his stage play, as well as a number of award-winning short films and documentaries. Russell holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Oxford University and is the author of three books. He has published numerous essays on urban life, culture and aesthetics, and received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Whiting Foundation and others.
COLLEEN THURSTON
Board Member
Colleen Thurston is an award-winning media producer and film programmer based in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas. She is an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Arkansas, where she teaches documentary production and studies. Colleen earned an M.F.A. in science and natural history filmmaking from Montana State University and a B.A. in media arts and anthropology from the University of Arizona.Specializing in short form non-fiction production, her films tend to explore the relationships between humans and the natural world, and often focus on Indigenous stories and perspectives. Colleen has worked for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian Channel, and has produced and crewed documentaries for museums, public television stations and federal agencies. She also produced and directed short documentaries for four seasons of the Cherokee Nation’s series, “Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People,” earning two Emmy awards for her work as a producer and writer. In 2019, Colleen had two short documentaries on Native women "Speaking Through Generations" and "Chasing 14,000," on the film festival circuit. She is currently in production on her first feature length documentary, "Drowned Land," which deals with water rights issues in the Choctaw Nation. Colleen has served as Festival Director of the Element Film Festival, Programming Assistant for Native Cinema Showcase at Santa Fe Indian Art Market and in 2015 helped launch the Tulsa American Film Festival for which she served as Director of Programming for three years. She curates film and storytelling events independently and in conjunction with partnering organizations. Colleen is a 2019-2021 Firelight Media Documentary Lab fellow, a member of the Choctaw Nation and a seventh generation Oklahoman.
EMILY TOMLINSON
Board Member
Emily Tomlinson is a professional actor and teaching artist, and has worked with Fayetteville Film Fest in the box office since 2017. She is the Education Specialist at TheatreSquared where she works with students and teachers throughout the state of Arkansas. She is also the coordinator of T2’s youth leadership program Teen Council, and their Apprenticeship program for early career theatre artists. As an actor she has appeared onstage (TheatreSquared, Trike Theatre, Classical Edge Theatre), and on screen in short films (Say It With Music, Somna, The 4 O'Clock). She also serves on the board of The Equality Crew, a non-profit centered around creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth. Emily holds a BA in Drama from the University of Arkansas and an MFA in Performing Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design.