PAOLO DAVANZO

Director/Producer

An alumni of Humboldt State University and founder of the Echo Park Film Center, Paolo Davanzo is a filmmaker, educator and community activist whose work is a catalyst for creative collaboration and positive social change.

Originally from Italy, he currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he is the Co-founder and Executive Director the Echo Park Film Center, a non-profit neighborhood media arts center.

Since 2001, the Film Center has provided equal and affordable community access to film/video resources via five channels: a neighborhood microcinema space, free and nominal cost education programs, a comprehensive film equipment and service retail department, a green-energy mobile cinema & film school, and a touring film festival showcasing local established and emerging filmmakers.

Paolo Davanzo has extensive experience in organizing, teaching and curating media arts programs for people of all ages and skill levels. His work as a filmmaker and the works of his students has been exhibited internationally at festivals, museums, art centers, community spaces and educational facilities.

He is currently working on a film with the Vuntut Gwitchen people to create a contemporary city symphony based on the classic 1920s avant-garde genre.

SEE HIS WORK HERE

JENSEN RUFE

Filmmaker/Musician

Rufe received a B.A. in Mass Communications from UCLA in 1995 and followed his fascination with Media Arts up to Humboldt State University. Two of his HSU thesis projects “In Search of the Famous Hoosier Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich” and “The Ugliest Fountain in the World (Without a Doubt)” won awards at film festivals internationally and eventually aired on PBS.

Upon receiving an M.A. in Film Production from HSU in 1998, Rufe was offered the position of Humboldt County Film Commissioner, where he worked for three years providing assistance to producers of on-location television and film productions. It was during his stint as Commissioner that Rufe completed his third documentary, a feature-length called “Orick, CA, U.S.A.”

In 2001, Rufe relocated to Los Angeles to focus on professional creative work within the television industry, Producing/Directing/Editing non-fiction shows such as “Project Runway,” “The Real World,” “The Simple Life,” and a wide range of Discovery Channel and MTV projects.

Over the past decade, Rufe has continued to independently produce documentaries, including a TV pilot called “Rural Rock and Roll.” Filmed in Humboldt County in June of ’05–the pilot screened all over the globe and won awards on the U.S. and international film festival circuit as a stand-alone documentary piece.

Rufe is a life-long devotee of rock and roll, having written and recorded songs for 25+ years and played in dozens of bands: (chronologically) Three Boxed In, The Package, Laxton’s Superb, Puddletown Tom, Mexico (a 4-track duo with comedian Bobby Lee), Tigerbomb (a Humboldt-based Guided by Voices tribute), The Sin Men, Hasslehoff, The Foster Kids, Loaded, The Watermelon Guns, The Steve and Jensen Rufe Quartet, The Beatles (a Beatles coverband), The Natural Lights, The Flaming Boys, and The Cutters. In 2004, Rufe produced a limited-edition vinyl-only L.P. of his old Eureka band, The Sin Men, featuring snippets of cassette recordings re-edited, re-recorded and spliced together digitally. In 2012, Rufe released a solo album under the stage name Johnny Render (recorded in Cleveland, OH by legendary Producer Todd Tobias).

SEE HIS WORK HERE

KRISTY GUEVARA-FLANAGAN

Director/ Producer

Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s first feature-length film was an acclaimed documentary covering four years in the lives of four adolescent girls. Going on 13 was an official selection of Tribeca, Silverdocs, and many other international film festivals. It received funding from ITVS and was broadcast on public television in 2009.

Kristy has also produced and directed several short films, including El Corrido de Cecilia Rios, a chronicle of the violent death of 15-year-old Cecilia Rios, which was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival. Her recent documentary, Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, traces the evolution and legacy of the comic book hero Wonder Woman as a way to reflect on society’s anxieties about women’s liberation. Premiering at SXSW, the film was broadcast on PBS’ acclaimed Independent Lens.

Now an assistant professor at Diablo Valley College, Guevara-Flanagan earned her MFA in Film Production from San Francisco State University.

SEE HER WORK HERE