Shane Watson
WRITER/DIRECTOR
Shane Watson was born into a military family in the Bayou of Louisiana and raised in small town Illinois. He spent most of his youth playing tennis and basketball which led to him playing basketball in college. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce & Business in 2014.
After taking one film class in the last semester of his undergraduate degree, Shane knew he wanted to be a filmmaker. In one semester he made three films, each centered around life as a Black person in the United States. His final film, Untold Stories, won the Peer Award and later screened at the Indie Memphis Film Festival in 2014. Now, in his final semester of graduate film School, Shane is developing and filming his thesis film, also focused on Black life.
Shane's work focuses on navigating through his racial and sexual identities and finding community within them. His personal experiences as a gay Black man influence his ideas and are noticeably present in his films.
TW: @ShaneTWatson
IG: ShaneTWatson
Cyrus
Tabar
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Cyrus Yoshi Tabar is an American filmmaker based in Oakland, California. He uses filmmaking to investigate and explore personal histories in perpetual motion. Through found footage and sound design he mimics the fragmentation of memory. As a first-generation Iranian-Japanese-American, Cyrus externalizes the ambiguity of his identity into vibrant landscapes.
It Is What It Is, Tabar's latest short film will be showing at the CAAMFEST on:
March 19 at 12:10pm
New People Cinema in Japantown, San Francisco
Website: CyrusTabar.com
TW: @CyrusTabar
IG: CyrusTaber
Stephen
Wilson
STEVIE
Stephen Wilson has been in the Bay Area for the past 7 years.
Originally attending Academy of Art University, he eventually found his way to the Meisner Technique Studio where he recently won the Best Actor Award for the 2016 Sanford Meisner Film Festival.
Since completing the Meisner two year course, Stephen has been auditioning and working on projects ranging from student projects to television and films. As 2017 approaches, Stephen is looking to continue working in the Bay Area, while planning to make his way to Los Angeles!
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Sampson McCormick
SHAD
Sampson is an experience, a down to earth comedic force of nature and named "One of the Funniest LGBT Comics" by OUT.com, BuzzFeed & Huffington Post. He's considered a pioneer in black LGBT comedy, and in 2014 was considered for a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album, for his live recording "That B*%@# Better Be Funny: Live at the Howard Theater".
He's appeared on MTV, VH1, BET and Viceland. His comedy offers fresh and riveting takes on sexuality, race, politics and religion--you know, all those things you aren't suppose to talk about in polite company.
Website: www.sampsoncomedy.com
TW: @officialsampson
IG: SampsonMcCormick
Scott
Marlowe
SCOTT
Scott Marlowe is a dancer, actor, and director. From 2005 to 2015, he created and performed with LEVYdance as a Company Artist and the company's Associate Director. His 2014 evening-length work Soar was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design. Scott is currently working with Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Risa Jaroslow and Dancers, and [detour dance].
In 2013, Scott made his screen debut starring in the internationally acclaimed feature film Test. Test won the 2013 Outfest Grand Jury Awards for Outstanding Feature Film and Outstanding Screenwriting and was nominated for a 2015 Independent Spirit Award. This year, Scott sang in public for the first time in San Francisco Symphony’s production of On the Town.
IG: scottmarmar