Meet the Judges
Danny Belinkie is a Philadelphia-based filmmaker with a concentration in cinematography and still photography. His narrative work includes numerous feature and short films, as well as music and dance videos. His corporate clients include Amazon, Google, American Eagle Outfitters, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles Unified School District. As a DoP he prides himself on fostering a positive on-set environment. Making movies, stressful as it may be, should always be fun (let's not forget that!).
Rhyuhn Green
Rhyuhn Green is an exceptional composer and pianist from Philadelphia. Born with a highly advanced musical intuition, Green began his musical studies at the age of 2. He is a student of David Ludwig at the Juilliard School where he is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. After making his solo Carnegie Hall debut at age 11, Green has taken to the stages of Field Hall, the Miller Theater, and Marian Anderson Hall (formerly Verizon Hall) at the Kimmel Center. He has received commissions and notable performances by the Philadelphia Ballet, Manhattan Brass Quintet, and the Abington Symphony.
Raymond P. Smith
Raymond P. Smith has been a member of Philadelphia's Plays and Players for over forty-five years, directing over four dozen plays for the main stage, workshops, cabarets and children's theater, chairing the Play Selection Committee, coordinating publicity, conceiving and coordinating the series "Second Stage At Plays & Players" and serving on the Board of Directors (1979 - 2012) . He studied acting at the famed Hedgerow Theater.
At theaters throughout the Philadelphia area, he has acted in works by Wilde, Moliere, Coward, Stoppard, Pinter, Chekhov, Ibsen, Beckett, Simon, Sophocles and Kaufman and Hart. For five years he served on the board of Directors of the Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival, and for the past five years has served as a judge for the National High School Shakespeare Competition sponsored by the Philadelphia Branch of the English-Speaking Union.
Anthony Wilcox will be a judge in the Nov. 12 festival. Anthony studied acting at Rowan University and has been acting for 20 years on stage and screen. “I like plays because it requires work," Anthony says. "Plays give you a certain discipline." He began his theatrical career at the South Camden Theatre of Camden, NJ, and has since graced the stages at Arden theatre, Haddonfield Players and Plays, Woodbury Playhouse, as well as in films and on TV.
David Greenberg has written and doctored a total of over 60 screenplays. His feature writing and directing debut Stomping Ground premiered at The Philadelphia Independent Film Festival in 2016. His 1995 short film The True Meaning of Cool won an award from the American Film Institute. In spring 2021, David co-produced the feature Seclusion, currently on a successful festival run.
A Philadelphia native with deep ties to the local filmmaking community, David, teaches screenwriting at Drexel University. He has taught at the former University of the Arts for several years prior to its sudden closure.
Michelle Sligh is a film & television producer and the Founder and Executive Director of New Hope Studios, a film studio currently in preconstruction in Brunswick, Georgia. She is also spearheading the development of a Film Commission and Film Office in Glynn County, Georgia. Michelle is the producer and casting director on the television series An Accidental Fire, which is recipient of a $50,000 grant for Diversity and Emerging Artists from The OneFifty, an Oscar winning Artists First studio in the Warner Bros. Discovery Family. Michelle has produced three feature films, including the award-winning horror film Dooba Dooba.
Carla “C.J.” Spataro directs the MFA in Creative Writing and the MA in Publishing programs at Rosemont College and is a founding partner of Philadelphia Stories. She is an award-winning short fiction writer.
Her work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies including Taboos & Transgressions, Iron Horse Literary Review, december, Sequestrum, and Exacting Clam. Her debut novel, MORE STRANGE THAN TRUE, is forthcoming from Sagging Meniscus Press in June 2024.
Brigette is a dramatic writer and journalist. In addition to selling two feature screenplays, and garnering awards for many others. Her feature screenplay Molly is in development. It earned a place in the Sundance Producers Workshop and the Nicholl Fellowships.
Her TV work includes the award-winning one-hour pilot AKA Mia, and work on Yani Payne's pilot, An Accidental Fire, Her short play Kieron & Kyle has been produced in NYC, MY and PA. She has also written, produced or directed several award-winning short films.
Brigette began her writing career at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU. She is a member of NYWIFT, WIF, the Dramatist Guild of America, and the National Italian American Foundation.
