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Board Members - La Femme International Film Festival

LA Femme Board Members

DEBORAH GILELS

Deborah Gilels has run a successful PR/Media Consulting company for the past 20 years, assisting writers, filmmakers, and actors in the entertainment industry, promote feature films, shorts and documentaries, by way of public relations, marketing, distribution and project development. 

 

Among the films she has successfully launched: Keiko the Untold Story of the Star of Free Willy, the award-winning documentary The War on Kids, and the Chazz Palminteri- Andie MacDowell drama Mighty Fine for Lionsgate.  In the anime space, Gilels ran FYC campaigns for the award-winning features Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms and Liz and the Blue Bird (Satellite Award nominee) and documentary The Gilligan Manifesto. She also was the lead publicist on Fathom’s release of Hayao Miyazaki’s Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro, the award-winning A Silent Voice, Millennium Actress and Sound! Euphonium.  She has also done publicity for anime series Lupin 3rd Part 4 on Adult Swim in May 2017, Lupin the 3rd Part 5, Megalobox on Crunchyroll and Cartoon Network and theatrical release for the feature Penguin Highway. Gilels has also led publicity for the DVD/VOD releases for several titles. 
 

Other recent films include:  Not Another Church Movie starring Kevin Daniels, Vivica A Fox and Mickey Rourke, The World Without You starring Radha Mitchell and James Tupper, Hajji starring  Ross Marquand, Pooling to Paradise, starring Taryn Manning and  Jonathan Lipnicki, Violet is Blue: A Tale of Gibbons and Guardians, Echoes From the Attic, Once is Enough and the LA Emmy winning documentary To Climb a Gold Mountain.

 

Gilels has successfully promoted films in festivals such as Dances With Films, LA Femme International Film Festival, HollyShorts, Starz, Toronto International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, New Filmmakers (LA and NY), St. Louis, UN Film Festival, Heartland, Cannes, and has represented feature films and documentaries in markets such as AFM, Anime Expo, Berlin and MIP-TV. 

 

CYNTHIA RIDDLE

CYNTHIA RIDDLE worked as a development executive for MGM, and segued into a writing and producing deal with the studio. She has also written movies and series episodes for CBS, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Lifetime, Disney, Showtime, PBS, Hallmark Channel, Nickelodeon, and direct-to-video animated films.

Riddle and Peter Hunziker, her frequent writing partner, have penned the award-winning CBS/Hallmark Hall of Fame film Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness, based on the true story of a man who forgave the teen driver who killed his wife and daughter while drag racing.  Riddle and Hunziker’s stage musical, A Kid’s Life, has done two runs Off-Broadway, and two successful national tours, with another tour in the works. Riddle also co-wrote the feature thriller Deadline, which she is producing with Julia Verdin and Denise Carlson.

Riddle’s feature script, Curtains, about eccentric French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt, won the 2010 script competition Autumn Stories which took her to Paris for a six week residency that included work shopping the script and location scouting in Paris.  Julia Verdin is on board to produce.

Riddle and Hunziker have been Top 10 finalists in prestigious film competitions including Project Greenlight, the Coca Cola Refreshing Filmmakers Award (2 time finalists/and winner – with film screened in 14,000 theatres nationwide), Nintendo/ Universal Studios’ Eternal Darkness film competition, the Disney Screenwriting Fellowship, and the Producers Guild’s Producers Showcase 2013, sponsored by 20th Century Fox.

Riddle holds a BA and MFA in Screenwriting and Film Production from UCLA.

DENISE CARLSON

DENISE CARLSON is a producer and development executive with over 25 years of experience, at companies
including William Morris, New Line Cinema, Voyage and Disney. Her specialty is YA and family
entertainment as well as female driven projects. At Disney Channel she was responsible for overseeing
the development and production of 47 television movies, including the megahit HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL,
as well as franchises such as HALLOWEENTOWN and THE CHEETAH GIRLS movies. Denise was also the
Executive Producer of the movie BAD HAIR DAY for Disney Channel.
Most recently Denise was a producer on the Disney + docuseries IT’S A DOG’S LIFE. She Is also a
producer on the Humanitas Award winning series THE DISAPPOINTMENTS, which is in post-production
on its second season. She is currently developing several projects, including a horror film and JEANNIE
FOR CHRISTMAS, a biopic set at a school for the blind.
Denise has done consulting work for companies including ABC, Disney Launchpad, the Rawi
Screenwriting Lab and the Hub children’s network. She is a professor teaching producing at New York
Film Academy’s Los Angeles campus, and she is proud to be on the board of the LA Femme film festival,
which celebrates films by and about women.
Before becoming a producer Denise was a founding member of LA’s ComedySportz improv troupe,
performing at venues including the Ice House and Comedy Store.