Austin School of Film

 

John Aldrich

John Aldrich is a producer/editor based in Austin, TX. He worked for National Geographic from 2003 - 2010, producing and editing 60 episodes of "Geo Sessions," "Peace And Prosperity: The Dalai Lama Speaks," and Nat Geo Channel's "Amazing." He has also worked for the television networks Discovery, TLC and PBS, as well as government and corporate clients. John holds a B.S. in RTF from the University of Texas at Austin ('94) and a Master's in Mass Communication from the University of Florida's College of Journalism, specializing in Documentary Filmmaking ('00). He is an Apple Certified Final Cut Pro instructor and has been using FCP since version 1.

Steve Connor

Steve Connor graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, where he studied with second generation Abstract Expressionists. For a brief period he created original designs on fabric in the garment district of Manhattan. In Palo Alto California he worked as a graphic designer and art director in an ad agency, and in his own design firms. In Austin Texas, he was the art director for an online training startup, and went on to teach at ITT and at local arts non-profits and training centers. He creates and exhibits his abstract paintings locally and online with the Trade Only Design Library. He holds credentials as an instructor for Photoshop and 3ds Max, and is currently teaching digital media, including the Creative Suite products, 3d modeling and animation.

Kirk Hunter

Kirk Hunter is ASoF's Labs Supervisor with 26 years of experience and knowledge of film and video. Kirk has a technical expertise of Digital, Super 8, 16 mm, and 35 mm film formats and his work has been screened in multiple festivals, museums, and galleries.

Chad Owen

Chad Owen has been cutting his cinematic chops ever since he learned to walk with one of those monstrous VHS camcorders from 1987 on his tiny shoulders. Interested in all things celluloid and magnetic, he has enjoyed stints as a projectionist and programmer of rare/cult/academic movies at the University of Chicago's Doc Films while getting his Cinema & Media Studies degree, a key grip on a doomed indie production in Detroit that ended in gunfire, then premiered at the Cannes Film Market (no joke!), and a serial entrepreneur operating his own video production company, fishing tackle e-retailer, and stock day-trading firm. Always up for watching another movie and taking on new cinematic challenges, Chad is excited to gain and share new insights into all things cinema, so don't hesitate to give your own opinion or ask for his.

Jeanne Stern

Jeanne Stern creates fantastical films using a hybrid of puppetry and animation. Her work has screened in a variety of festivals and galleries including Heather Henson's traveling film festival "Handmade Puppet Dreams," South by Southwest, Dallas PBS, and the Smithsonian. She recently completed her MFA in Film at UT, Austin, and received her BA in Studio Art from Connecticut College. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Jeanne now lives in Austin where she works as an animator and teacher.

Mike Werckle

Mike Werckle received a BFA in Character Animation from California Institute of the Arts in 1992. Upon graduation, he worked as Assistant to the Producer of Starlight Theatre in Rockford, Illinois, and went on to found The Wrong Hands Theater Company there, serving as it's Producing Director until he entered the game industry in 1994. Mike worked for Viacom New Media in Chicago where he wrote and storyboarded the animated sequences for Beavis and Butt-head: Virtual Stupidity. He produced and directed the opening 3D animated film for the landmark Dungeons & Dragons: Core Rules game for TSR in Madison, Wisconsin. At Raven Software, and later at Human Head Studios, Mike helped pioneer the use of 3D animation techniques in the highly acclaimed games Hexen II, Heretic II and Rune. After several years in the game industry, Mike decided his passion was film making and so he moved to Austin and earned his MFA in Film Production from The University of Texas in 2006. Using his mastery of both animation and film, Michael became a sought after Previsualization Animator and VFX Artist, working along side top directors to design thrilling sequences on films such as Superman Returns, Live Free or Die Hard, I Am Legend, Tropic Thunder, Machete, Predators and the upcoming Green Lantern. Mike currently lives in Austin, Texas where he is Creative Director of The Go Stars, a creative media production company.

Brian Boeckman

Brian Boeckman is lifelong Texan and a graduate of the University of Texas RTF program with a focus in Film Production. His time with the Austin School of Film began during his senior year as an intern, and has since built this lovely website, as well as instruct youth digital filmmaking courses.

 

David Hartstein

David left New York City for Austin, TX over a decade ago to pursue an MFA in film from The University of Texas. Since receiving his degree, David has been an Austin-based producer and director of feature films and commercials and an assistant director for hire.  Immediately out of film school, David produced and directed ALONG CAME KINKY: TEXAS JEWBOY FOR GOVERNOR, a feature documentary chronicling Kinky Friedman’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign that premiered at SXSW 2009. He is the producer of THE HAPPY POET, a feature comedy that had its international premiere at the 67^th Venice International Film Festival.   Most recently he was Co-Producer on Heather Courtney’s feature documentary, WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM, winner of the Film Independent Spirit Awards Nokia Truer than Fiction Award with a national broadcast on PBS’s long running series POV.  David is also a lecturer in documentary filmmaking at The University of Texas at Austin and has recently worked as assistant director on Geoff Marslett’s animated sci-fi comedy MARS, Kyle Henry’s FOURPLAY: TAMPA which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in addition to several other features and short films.

 

Kelly G. Williams

Kelly Williams is a producer and film programmer.  He recently joined the Lone Star International Film Festival team as Director of Programming.  Before that, he served as the Film Program Director at the Austin Film Festival from 2004 until 2011. In 2007, he was awarded the International Film Festival Summit Excellence Award for his work at the festival. In addition, he has produced numerous award-winning short films, including the Student Academy Award nominee Perils in Nude Modeling (which screened at over 100 festivals) and Hellion (Sundance Film Festival '12).  He also wrote and directed the award winning short film Richard and the documentary short Sid Smith for Congress.  In 2011, he produced the feature films Holiday Road (Slamdance Film Festival '12), Pictures of Superheroes and Cinema Six.