Nikki Brake—City College of New York
ABC News

Nikki attended the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Spanish and Biology. Her biology background enabled her to secure an Immunology research position at Penn's Med school, where her former boss asked her to learn how to shoot videos in order to train the lab's users. This class lead her on a path of self discovery. 

She is currently completing her Masters in Fine Arts at the City College of New York. Her thesis film entitled, Open Wound, has received funding from the National Board of Review, The Princess Grace Foundation, and the Bert Saperstein Foundation.  Upon completion of her Master's in June 2007, Nikki Brake will return to Philadelphia in the pursuit of a Fine Arts faculty position while applying for grants for her first feature length documentary.

Ben Elliott—Carnegie Mellon University
Warner Bros. 

Ben Elliott is pursuing a degree in Entertainment Industry Management at Carnegie Mellon University. His background includes positions at the U.S. State Department at the Embassy in Tunisia, a Pittsburgh non-profit consulting firm, and several entertainment companies. Over the last year Ben has completed internships at the Entertainment Technology Center,  Steiner Film Studios and in the online programming division at the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. He was also a producer of a full-length film title, Grace, which will enter the festival circuit beginning in spring 2007. 

Currently Ben is interning at Warner Bros. in film and video game development and production. He hopes to use this experience to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of current interactive entertainment with the hopes of being able to eventually take a producing role in a game or film company.

Addy Litfin -- McGill University 
Stornoway Productions 

Addy Litfin recently graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor's degree in English Cultural Studies and Humanistic Studies. During college, she became the poetry editor of McGill's literary magazine, The Scrivener Creative Review, and stage-managed the Savoy Society's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S Pinafore. She is a freelance contributor to several publications, including: Nerve, The San Francisco Chronicle, Stationaery, and Grey Borders.

Jolene Pinder -- University of Florida, The Documentary Institute
Big Mouth Films & C7 Films 

Jolene Pinder is a graduate student at the University of Florida’s Documentary Institute, a masters’ program focused solely on documentary filmmaking. Jolene has a background in marketing, sponsorship and graphic design in a variety of non-profit settings—consumer rights, education reform, and most recently, public broadcasting. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Chicago.

Three years ago, she realized that documentary filmmaking was the ideal medium for drawing on her passions for both storytelling and the visual arts. Since arriving at the Documentary Institute, Jolene has made two short films, "Beyond Munchkinland" and "Freedom Bound." "Beyond Munchkinland" was recently awarded first place in the university documentary category at the Palm Beach International Film Festival.

Robin Schramm -- University of California, Berkeley
FreeStar Media & The American Renaissance Film Festival

Robin will enter the University of California at Berkeley this Fall, majoring in Political Science and English. After two years in the Army supporting ground troops in Iraq, Robin returned home to the United States with a renewed passion and sense of value for what it means to live in a free country. From his childhood to his college years, Robin read political and literary works, gaining particular insight from literary authors such as Ayn Rand, James Joyce, Truman Capote and James Baldwin and economic and political insight from economists Milton Friedman and F.A. Hayek. Through writing, teaching and making films, Robin hopes to explore connections between the art and culture and the principles underlying a free society.

Claire Mitchell -- St. Edward's University
Plum Pictures 

As a student, Claire found her intellectual pursuits always leading her back to the fundamental questions of life. Guided by her natural empathy with others and talent for analytical thought, Claire majored in philosophy. Alongside philosophy Claire cultivated an interest in broadcast journalism, particularly enjoying work in the style of Frontline and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The ability of these shows to tell stories that are true, compelling and honest in their handling of human life inspired Claire to pursue a career involving writing, editing, and production in broadcast journalism and documentary film.

Adam Weinberg -- North Carolina School of the Arts
General Coffee Productions

Adam Weinberg is a rising junior, concentrating in Directing. He has previously completed a short documentary, "California Fresh Buffet", for which he is pursuing film festival distribution. Prior to his work in film, Adam worked in radio and television journalism, interning at a local station in the Pittsburgh area. Last year, he shifted gears and took a break from straight news, to work on Donald Trump’s reality television show, The Apprentice, Season Five.

Fresh from the shores of Cannes, France where he worked in the American tent at the Cannes Film Festival, Adam traveled to Toronto, Canada to work as a 2nd Assistant Director for the feature film "Bull," produced by General Coffee Company Film Productions.

Nathan Lock -- Western Illinois University 
Duncan Scott Productions & FreeStar Media 

Nathan Lock is a Masters student pursuing a degree in Instruction Technology & Telecommunications. Over the past few years, he broadened his knowledge of the entertainment industry working at a local television news station, at a public radio station, and acting as a Key Production Assistant on the independent film Cast in Grey.  The month before his internship began, Nathan participated in a four week school for stunt men in Seattle, Washington.