Meet the 2024 'Fine Cut' Judges

David Altrogge

Born and raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania (the hometown of Jimmy Stewart, in case you were wondering), writer/director David Altrogge produced his first feature-length film in high school. Since then, he has established himself as an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker whose work is inspiring, entertaining, and deeply human. His most recent documentary, "Clemente," celebrates the life, legacy, and remarkable career of MLB icon Roberto Clemente. Executive produced by LeBron James, Richard Linklater, and the Clemente family, the film features unprecedented interviews with family, friends, teammates, and super-fans like Rita Moreno, Bob Costas, and Michael Keaton. Clemente premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival and took home the Documentary Spotlight Audience Award. 

Jill Frenzel Gilbert

Jill Frenzel Gilbert specializes in strategizing, building, and branding new divisions for evolving creative businesses. Throughout her twenty-plus year career, she has nurtured strong industry relationships, led creative processes from concept through execution, and built thriving animation businesses. Jill’s business, JFG Consulting LLC, works with clients to create development infrastructure, provide development and producing services, craft go-to-market strategies, and source creative and business talent. Her clients include Epic Games, Supercell, Baobab Studios, Moonbug Entertainment, the British Film Commission, and others in the content, gaming, and tech industries.

Drawing on her studio executive experience at The Walt Disney Company, Paramount Animation, and Technicolor, Jill successfully built original IP divisions from scratch for independent animation studios Luma Pictures and Psyop. In addition to developing over 50+ new projects, she effectively transitioned the core business from animation/VFX partners to content creation studios, overseeing the creation of development infrastructure, hiring key talent, and obtaining financing offers from companies including Sony Pictures Animation and Fox Animation. Most recently, Jill launched a new entity with her business partner, Sara Zotovich, called The Sunnyside Up. This new business will continue the work from JFG Consulting LLC while also expanding to add services such as: story development curriculum, speaker series programming as well as building mentorship and incubator programs.

In 2018, Jill co-founded the BRIC Foundation, committed to opening new access points for women and people from underrepresented groups in entertainment industries. Jill has been a guest lecturer at UCLA Extension, Producers Guild of America, Women in Animation, Women in Toys, Emerson College, The Art Institute of Santa Monica, and College of the Canyons. She continues to mentor the next generation of Hollywood talent.

Jill received her bachelor’s degree in English from Scripps College.

Rachel Goldberg

Rachel Goldberg is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed more than 40 productions for stage and screen, garnering over 20 awards for her work. Her directing credits include the highly anticipated "WandaVision" spin-off, "Ahatha All Along,"" Gen V," "A Friend of the Family," "Resident Evil," "American Gods," "Mayans M.C.," "American Horror Story," "The Sinner," "Cloak & Dagger," and "Veronica Mars."

Her directing work includes "Muted," a film about media discrepancy when a child of color goes missing, starring Chandra Wilson ("Grey's Anatomy") and Malcolm-Jamal Warner ("Sneaky Pete") which sold to HBO. This film was nominated for a Black Reel Award and is featured on Issa Rae’s Short Film Sundays.

As a writer, Rachel has penned for Screen Gems and Mar Vista Entertainment. She has been recognized by the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship, Cinestory Foundation, Rhode Island International Film Festival and more.

Throughout her career, Rachel has also been supported by the Sundance/Women in Film Financing Initiative, AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, Sony Pictures Diverse Directors Program, the We forShe Direct Her Program, FOX Global Directors Initiative, the Fox Studio Bridge Program, Film Independent's Project Involve, the Film Independent's Screenwriting Lab and the Ryan Murphy HALF Foundation.

Rachel was recently named as 1 of 20 female filmmakers “primed
for a studio directing gig” on The Alice Initiative List. She is currently attached to direct, "Rise And Shine: The Boys Choir of Harlem," written by Erika Alexander and produced by Color Farm Media ("John Lewis: Good Trouble"), as well as "The BM" for Fox's Tideline Productions and written by "Family Guy" scribes, Shawn Ries and Artie Johann.

Skander Halim

Skander Halim is a comedy writer, originally from Ottawa, Canada, whose credits include CBS' "Murphy Brown" revival, "The Unicorn", and "Ghosts."

Tanya Hamilton

Tanya Hamilton is the writer/director of "Night Catches Us," starring Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington, which was screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The film was a finalist for the 2010 Humanitas Prize and winner of the Fipresci Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival for Best American film. Additionally, in 2010, "Night Catches Us" was named Best Screenplay by the African-American Film Critics Association and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the Best First Feature category. Later it was nominated for several NAACP Image Awards, including Outstanding Actor and Actress, Outstanding Independent Motion Picture, and Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture. It was also nominated for Breakthrough Director at the 2010 Gotham Awards.

In 2012 Hamilton wrote, directed and co-produced "Good Country People," which was shot on location in Jamaica, as part of ITVS’s Women and Girls Lead initiative.

A Sundance Institute writing and directing fellow, Hamilton is also a recipient of the coveted Pew Fellowship in the Arts.

Michael Herrera

Michael Herrera is a Story Artist and Actor, living and working in Los Angeles. His work includes Story Supervision, Storyboarding, Character Development, Design, Writing and World Building. His love of animation, film and theater led him to a career as a story artist working for such studios as Walt Disney Animation Studios, Warner Brothers, Reel FX, and Rovio Animation. He is a member of both The Animation Guild (TAG) and The Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

His love of storytelling was founded at a young age, as he explored puppetry, painting, magic, acting, film and video games. Living near Disneyland meant frequent visits to the park, and playing story-driven computer games was a family affair. This instilled a very eclectic array of interests and ambitions in him, which he carries throughout his career. As soon as he learned that Animation was in fact, made by actual people, he knew he was destined to join the industry. After studying at the California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts), he was hired as a Story Trainee at Walt Disney Animation studios, and has been working in story for Animated Feature productions ever since. He also studied Musical Theater Performance at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA).

He has contributed to over dozen animated feature films, various series and short films and special projects. His story work on "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2," earned him an Annie Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement For Storyboarding In An Animated Feature Production.

In his free time, he enjoys treasure hunting in thrift shops, cooking, seeing live theater, and exploring the world with his partner and their dog.

Elizabeth Ito

Elizabeth Ito has been working as a creator, writer, director, and storyboard artist in the animation industry since 2004. She’s worked on TV, feature, and commercial projects. She was both a storyboard artist and supervising director on "Adventure Time," and won a Emmy for directing the "Adventure Time" episode, Islands Part 4: Imaginary Resources.
 
Elizabeth is the creator of the award-winning short, "Welcome to My Life,"  the second-most viewed short in Cartoon Network history.  

Her first series, "City of Ghosts" for Netflix premiered in 2021 and was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2022. She recently co-directed a music video for The Linda Linda's and is working on a project about shopping malls and learning how to use a video game engine to create animated films. 

Currently, she is living in Los Angeles, staying home with her family, and coming up with new ideas for fun projects to make.

Shaun Kadlec

Shaun Kadlec began his documentary filmmaking practice during a Fulbright Fellowship in Sri Lanka where he studied peace and reconciliation through the arts. His feature-length documentary debut, "Born This Way," is a verité portrait of the LGBTQ+ community in Cameroon. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and received many honors, including the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at Outfest. "Possible Selves," his documentary about teenagers in foster care striving to get into college, launched nationally on PBS in 2024. Shaun's clients as commercial director include General Electric, People for the American Way, The Courage Campaign, and electric vehicle manufacturers BYD and Xos. Shaun is a three-time Yaddo Fellow and a gay, first-generation college graduate. He grew up between small towns in Alabama and Central California and now lives in Los Angeles. www.ShaunKadlec.com

Gabriella Ortega Ricketts

Gabriella Ortega Ricketts (she/her) stands against the the genocide of the Palestinian people. She is a Colombian-American actress, multidisciplinary artist, and producer living in Los Angeles with her partner and their three cats, Archie, Hank, and Duke. Born and raised in Los Angeles, with a stint in Bogotá, Colombia, she feels a lot of hometown pride and will argue with anyone who disparages the culture, landscape, and historic architecture of our fair city (criticisms about cops and the city council are encouraged, however). She graduated from Bard College in 2014 with a BA in Languages & Literature: as a result of which she is very good at copy-editing and speaks French, Italian, and Spanish halfway. At IDA, she is the manager of artist programs and proud to be one of the co-leads of the union Documentary Workers United. Her archival producing credits include "Rebel Hearts" (Sundance 2021), "The Andy Warhol Diaries" (Netflix 2022), and "Aum: The Cult at the End of the World" (Sundance 2023). Gabriella was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 2013, and strives to be loudly chronically ill in the hopes of shedding more light on the lives of those with invisible illnesses.

Bellamy Young

Bellamy Young can currently be seen as Vera in the Hulu series "The Other Black Girl." Prior to that, she starred in the FOX drama series "Prodigal Son" for Greg Berlanti and Warner Bros.

Bellamy became a critical darling and fan favorite for her breakout role as President/Former First Lady Mellie Grant on the hit Shonda Rhimes/ABC series "Scandal" where she starred alongside Kerry Washington. Bellamy won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work.

On the film side, she starred in Ava DuVernay's Disney film "A Wrinkle in Time" with Reese Witherspoon and Oprah Winfrey, and Dan Mirvish's independent film "Bernard And Huey" opposite David Koechner, Jim Rash, and Mae Whitman. Bellamy can also be seen in Dolly Parton's "Heartstrings" limited series for Netflix.