Anthony Azizi was born in Iran, but grew up in the US. He attended Freedom High School and Muhlenberg College. Azizi is a co-founder of the Noor Iranian Film Festival started in 2007. He starred in the Threat Matrix with two time Oscar winner, Mahershalal Ali as well as the 2017 Tony Award winning Best Play, Oslo.
Azizi is also known for his television work. He has had recurring roles on 24 Showcase as terrorist Mamud Faheen (Season 2), on 24 as Rafique (Season 4) and on Commander in Chief as presidential aide Vince Taylor. Other shows which he has appeared regularly include: Single Ladies, Person of Interest (TV Series), Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, JAG, Gilmore Girls, The Shield, Sons of Anarchy, NYPD Blue, The West Wing, Veronica Mars, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Prison Break, The Mentalist, Leverage, NCIS, Chuck, and How to Get Away with Murder.
Megan Bianco has had a love of cinema since early childhood. Growing up as a San Clemente local, she is a graduate of JSerra Catholic High School, where she first participated in filmmaking classes as part of the California Conservatory of the Arts. Megan received degrees in Film Criticism and Screenwriting at CalState University Northridge. Two of her student films were featured in SoCal film festivals including the Temecula Film Festival. Since 2010, Megan's been writing movie reviews and other entertainment related articles for professional publications such as San Clemente Times, The Capistrano Dispatch, Dana Point Times, The Durango Herald, San Diego Times and DGO Magazine.
Eric Heinz is the city editor of the San Clemente Times newspaper and is participating as a judge of the San Clemente High School film festival for his first time. Heinz grew up loving cinema with his family and has been an avid viewer of movies ever since. His favorite genres are comedy and documentary, but he enjoys the occasional action-packed blockbuster or anything by Jordan Peele.
Gavin Spear is a 19 year old freelance travel photographer, videographer, and a film student at Saddleback college. He won Best Editing at the Triton Annual Film Festival and Best Overall at the Triton Winter Sports and Clubs Showcase. Spear is the Director of Photography for the Award winning film Disorder at the Triton Annual Film Festival. He has also filmed for artists such as Glitch Mob, Bass Nectar, Xiuhtezcalt, Nahko Bear, and Trevor Hall. Spear has worked for Environmentalist company: Chooose and the up-and-coming Light Warriors as well as Time Machine Events.
With a masters degree in film and media, Mithaq Kazimi has worked in the space for the past decade. He has produced '16 Days in Afghanistan', directed some 20 short films and distributed Makhmalbaf's 'The Gardener' theatrically. He hosted the TV show 'Konversations' alongside creating 'Mind Flipped' a web series in 360 VR. Institutionally, Kazimi founded the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival, was founding team of World Is One News, a global TV network and led India's version of TED Talks as its editor-in-chief.
In startups, Kazimi founded two investor-backed platforms, 'Audienced' that de-risks event hosting and 'Crowdingit' that enables studios to crowdsource scripts from anywhere in the world. Slated, an industry rating platform, lists Kazimi among the top 10% of the global film and media talent.
Teri Steel grew up developing a passion for film thanks to her family who spent much of their time going to the movies and her sound engineer, Oscar winning uncle's home theater. She owns a multi-media desktop publishing business and is the Executive Director of Community Outreach Alliance a program providing opportunities for youth in the community including entertainment. Her son Ryan is pursuing a career as a screenwriter and Teri enjoys their time reviewing movies and learning more about the film process. Last year when she hosted the cast and crew of his first short she enjoyed the excitement and collaborative effort involved. 'There is so much that goes into creating film. I'm excited SCHS finally has a program to help young film makers realize their potential.
