Philippe Diaz (Los Angeles, CA): Born in Paris, France, Diaz studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris, and began his film career in 1980 as a director. After directing and producing several short feature and documentary films, commercials and corporate videos, Diaz moved fully into the producer's role with his first feature film, Havre by Juliet Berto. His second feature, Rue Du Depart by Tony Gatlif, starred Gérard Depardieu and won several grand prize awards at major international festivals. His third feature, Mauvais Sang by Leos Carax, became an international hit, winning one of most important awards in France, the 1986 Louis Delluc award, was nominated for three Césars (the French Oscar) and won major awards around the world. This was a movie known for defining a generation, as well as for launching the careers of Juliette Binoche and Julie Delpy. Recognizing an opportunity, Diaz added a distribution division to his production company, Films Plain Chant, to specialize in distributing feature films by "author/directors" such as Bless Their Little Hearts by Billy Woodberry and Cady Mountain by acclaimed American photographer Robert Frank. This launched Diaz into English language international productions. Subsequent productions include Gérard Blain's Pierre et Djemila, Nicholas Klotz's The Bengali Night and The Man Inside, among others. In 2003, Diaz created Cinema Libre Studio with a consortium of partners to provide an alternative structure for intelligent, independent films to get developed, financed, produced and distributed. 

Steven Fischer (Baltimore, MD) is an Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker whose track record includes live action and animated commercials, promotion videos, narrative shorts and documentaries. His work has taken him to such locations as New York, Los Angeles, London, Belfast and Miami. In 1996, at age 24, Fischer wrote, produced and directed his first nationally distributed documentary, for AmeriCorps. The production earned him acceptance into the Directors Guild of America. Other credits include work for Affect Films/Dupont (Los Angeles), Boston Red Sox/Mort Kasman Productions (New York), Blue Dot Heating & Plumbing, UMBC and Polish National Alliance. The Baltimore Sun called Carl Clark: Life at 1/125 of a Second, Fischer's 2000 experimental short on the celebrated photographer, "remarkably lifelike," and Baltimore Magazine called Silence of Falling Leaves, his Emmy-nominated homage to Polish POWs murdered in the Katyn Forest Massacre, "haunting and surreal." In addition, industry trade iCOM reported that his animated Blue Dot commercials were "Who Framed Roger Rabbit in miniature." Fischer's current documentary, Freedom Dance, has been endorsed by the Mayor's Office of Baltimore, the Hungarian Embassy, From the Heart Foundation, the Center for Strategic & International Studies and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore. The film is scheduled for release in October 2006. For details about the project, please visit www.freedomdancethemovie.com.

Film and television producer/director Thomas Gibson (Van Nuys, CA) was born and raised in East St. Louis, Illinois, and is the product of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale film program. His productions credits include the Filmakers Library-distributed documentary Bloody Island, about race and labor riots in East St. Louis in 1917. Gibson has served as producer, director and executive producer on numerous programs in television, film and home video projects. He was a staff producer on the Emmy Award-nominated television docu-drama series E! True Hollywood Story; created and executive produced the #1 primetime TV show on BET, How I'm Livin; and produced DVD projects for recording artists Chingy (Jackpot),Snoop Dogg (Boss Playa), Faith Evans and Mack 10. Gibson recently directed the award-winning feature length documentary Letter to the President, which was released worldwide on DVD this past summer through Image Entertainment. Currently, the versatile producer is working again with BET on the popular primetime series BET Style, and directing music videos and DVD projects for Universal, Interscope, Geffen and Capitol Records. lapdogfilms.com.

Director Sándor Lau (Auckland, NEW ZEALAND) is New Zealand's only Chinese/Hungarian-American. Having come to New Zealand from the United States as a Fulbright scholar, he earned his master's degree in film and television production from the University of Auckland. Immediately after completing his studies, Lau began working as a reporter and director at Asia Down Under, a magazine program focusing on New Zealand's Asian communities, which aired on TVNZ (New Zealand's national public broadcaster). Behaviours of the Backpacker, Lau's first television documentary, has enjoyed repeat screenings on TVNZ, Maori Television, and is now available on DVD.  The film tells the story of his 500km walk from Auckland to Cape Reinga, New Zealand's geographic and spiritual tip. Behaviours of the Backpacker has played in film festivals in New Zealand, the United States and Indonesia, and recently made its US television premiere on The Documentary Channel. Lau is currently in post-production on Squeegee Bandit, a feature documentary telling the story of nine months in the life of a Maori street corner window washer in South Auckland. Squeegee Bandit premieres later this year in New Zealand cinemas, and Lau is currently seeking international sales. As a writer and journalist, he publishes fiction and nonfiction and produces work for radio broadcast. www.sandorlau.net.

Peter C. Rollins (Cleveland, OK) is Regents Professor of English at Oklahoma State University and an editor of Film & History: An  Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies. He has authored and edited ten books and over 100 published articles, and has made three major documentaries--one on Will Rogers (CINE Golden Eagle) and two on Vietnam (PBS and WTBS). In 2001 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for the American Culture Association, and his book Television Histories was selected as "the best book in American culture studies" by the American Culture Association. In 2004, he received the Governors' Award from the Popular Culture Association and a second "best book in American culture studies" for Hollywood's White House. That same year, the PCA created an annual film award in his name. His Columbia Companion to American History on Film, a product of a decade of scholarly effort, was published with great acclaim in the spring of 2004. His Hollywood's West was released last fall. Rollins is the host of a conference on documentary, taking place in November 2006. For more information, see the Film & History website, www.filmandhistory.org. Questions are welcomed at RollinsPC@aol.com.

David Seidman (West Hollywood, CA) is a journalist and author who joined IDA because he wants to work in nonfiction television and film. Since he began his career in 1979, he has written for (among others) Los Angeles magazine, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Examiner. He spent four years on staff at the Walt Disney Company, editing and writing projects based on Disney films. His books include All Gone: Things That Aren't There Anymore; Holiday Lights!: Brilliant Displays to Inspire Your Christmas Celebration; Treasure Hunter; Careers in Journalism; and Secret Service Agents: Life Protecting the President. In addition, he's written biographies of Jimmy Carter, Adam Sandler, Cesar Chavez and other luminaries. He's even spent a little time in front of the cameras as an extra in feature films. Much of Seidman's writing has dug into the history and business of pop culture, from comic books to hot dogs, but he's also written about civil rights, the wonders of the world, the science and medicine of longevity and American warplanes. He's eager to enter nonfiction filmmaking because it can reach a bigger audience than print can, and it can make some points with more power than the printed word.