Anna Donlon

Anna Donlon is the SVP and studio head on the character-based tactical shooter video game, VALORANT, developed and published by Riot Games. Leading a team of veterans, over 150 engineers, coders, artists and publishers, she steers the direction and production of the recently launched title. Donlon honed her expertise in the industry at the renowned FPS studio Treyarch, working as a senior producer on titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2. Today, she leverages over 20 years of game development experience to lead Riot Games’ foray into the tactical FPS genre.

Arati Misro

Brings 20 years of experience in the Entertainment, Tech, Education & lifestyle business from a global perspective. Her expertise includes Feature films, TV, Culinary, Wine product sales & startups. She thrives on recognizing & prioritizing short and long-term goals to greenlight a show or scale a business from a holistic approach. Passionate about developing a good story with writers and envisioning our characters who bring authenticity to voice.

Arati’s love of Entertainment is producing from script to screen or stream. Her experience in foreign and domestic sales allows her to have a mindset of a businesswoman while having a strong sensitivity to good storytelling.

She thrives on leadership and self-development to do and be better. Her experience chairing Women in Film International has allowed her to home in on her passion for mentoring and giving voice to countless women worldwide who strive to pursue their goals. Chairing is one of her most meaningful accomplishments. She has programmed and produced multiple events for the Los Angeles film community and was recognized by President Obama.

She thrives on being a part of building a vision via startups. Project Management, Operations, and business strategy are skills she learned that cross over from Producing Film & TV. She loves working in collaborative environments & connecting the dots between art, commerce, education & technology with leaders. She founded a podcast and women’s platform called EkWomen, also has developed an animation IP for children in developing countries. She was a juror for the Asian World festival and various international Film Festivals in Los Angeles.
Arati is currently pursuing an MBA with a focus on Entrepreneurship and Finance. She holds an MFA in Producing from the prestigious American Film Inst.

Attila Béres, PhD, PE

Dr. Beres is a successful structural engineer, with graduate degrees from Technical University of Budapest and Cornell University, living in the Los Angeles area for close to 30 years with a carrier spanning research, design-consulting, and education. His personal interest goes well beyond science and engineering, being an avid lover of music, films, and decorative arts.

Upon completing his dissertation, he joined at a prominent LA consulting firm, where he was involved in the seismic design of many major commercial and institutional project, including such landmarks as the Getty Center, the Kodak/Dolby Entertainment/Retail Center home to the Oscars, the California ScienceCenter and a variety of projects ranging from post-earthquake evaluations, new building design, to seismic retrofits. During the last decade his own development firm created beautiful homes in the Westside and he served as expert witness and consultant on diverse array of projects.

His lifelong interest in education is demonstrated by many years he has served as a Lecturer at UCLA, Cal. State LA, and Cal. Poly Pomona, where he taught complete senior/graduate level quarter-length courses and authored numerous technical papers and books.   As the dedicated representative of his industry he has been giving countless continuing education seminars to his peers to elevate his profession.

With his wife, Susan Pekarovics MD, they have been ardent supporters of various cultural events over the last 3 decades. They organized numerous successful charity galas to support organizations that foster Hungarian-American relations and for many years have been devoted sponsors of our Film Festival.

Bijan Tehrani

Bijan Tehrani a film director, film critic and writer, works as Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders and CineEqual, while teaching Language & History of film workshops and organizes film screening events and festivals. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children’s books.

For the tenth anniversary of Cinema Without Borders, Bijan has received Ambassador of International Cinema Award from South east European Film Festival, Friend of the Festival Award from Polish Film Festival, LA and Gateway to International Cinema Award from Hungarian Film festival. Bijan Tehrani is recently working on a few new children books, a screenplay for a feature film and organizing an international film festival on immigration.

Dennis F. Fredricks

Dennis Frigyes Fredricks is managing attorney of the Los Angeles law firm of Fredricks & von der Horst, where a sizeable portion of his practice is film, television and music.  He has been production counsel for several independent feature films and documentaries, and he has represented writers, actors and composers in negotiations with studios and major production companies.   In the music area he has represented well-known recording talent.  Speaking Hungarian and German, and having native French and Polish speakers in his firm, part of his work has been as legal counsel to US-European co-productions.

Mr. Fredricks is special counsel or reference lawyer to eight Consulates General and Trade Commissions.  Since 2001, he has conducted seminars for members of the diplomatic missions in Los Angeles and has authored several articles and publications, appeared in television and radio interviews and participated in symposia on copyrighting intellectual property, film and television co-production, business formation, and comparative legal systems.  Since 1990, through his firm, Mr. Fredricks has sponsored a legal internship program that has hosted now more than 140 lawyers from six countries.

He has been awarded national honors by the governments of Austria, Germany, Hungary and Poland, and by the City of Cologne.  He is a board member, legal advisor, donor or patron to several foundations and charities.

For the 2019 Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards he was a member of the Nominating Committee, and he has served as juror for other film festivals.

He is a member of SAG since 1987, for television and commercials, appearing as on-screen lawyers and business executives, in the years before becoming eligible to practice law in California.

Catherine Portuges

Professor Emerita- Founding Program Director and Founding Curator of the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival

Catherine Portuges is founding director of the Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies and founding curator of the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and professor emerita, Program in Comparative Literature/Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. She is a frequent lecturer at international conferences, an invited programmer, curator, juror and consultant for film festivals and colloquia, and a delegate to international film festivals. Her books include Cinemas in Transition in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 (Temple, 2013); Gendered Subjects (Routledge, 2012); and Screen Memories: the Hungarian Cinema of Márta Mészáros (Indiana, 1993). Her essays have appeared in Cinematic Homecomings: Exile and Return in Transnational Cinema; Cinema, State Socialism and Society in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1917-1989: Re-Visions; Bringing the Dark Past to Light: the Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Europe; Projected Shadows: Psychoanalytic Reflections on the Representation of Loss in European Cinema, and A Companion to Eastern European Cinemas. Prof. Portuges serves on the editorial board of Studies in Eastern European Cinema (UK), Jewish Film and New Media, and Hungarian Cultural Studies; she is associate editor for film for American Imago. She is a member of the Academic Advisory Board, Institute for Holocaust, Genocide and Memory Studies, and Film Consultant for Eastern Europe, European Psychoanalytic Film Festival (UK). She was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for “The Subjective Lens,” the Pro Cultura Hungarica Medal from the Republic of Hungary for her contributions to Hungarian Cinema, and the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Teaching.