CIFF 2024 Special Jury
Nikki Corda - Female Focus
Nikki Corda is the Executive Director & Founder of the Nevada Women's Film Festival. She spent her early career in feature film development in Los Angeles, with stints at Twentieth Century Fox and Michael Douglas' company at Paramount. Nikki began producing and writing independently with the award-winning documentary, Urban Rescuers, and continues to follow her passion for nonfiction film with her business, Life-Portraits.
Nikki also teaches a variety of film and English classes at the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College, and is a freelance writer for Story Terrace. Nikki holds a B.S in film from Boston University and an M.F.A in creative writing from Sierra Nevada College.
Steve Duval - Nevada
Steve Duval has been in the camera department of many legendary reality television shows including the original Amazing Race; The Amazing Race Philippines and Australia, Escape Routes; Big Brother; and Solitare.
Steve was Cinematographer for the series' K-9 Border Wars, Border Wars and the documentaries, With Lee in Virginia, Bluetopia: The LA Dodger Movie, and Homeland Security, USA.
A Nevada native, Steve is also a producer with credits including the reality documentary series, It's A Dog's Life with Bill Farmer and the feature film, Desert Shadows.
Dawn Gilliam - Impact Award
Dawn is a 33-year Script Supervisor in the entertainment business. Her first movie, Boyz in the Hood, was the catalyst that launched her career. Her credits includes an iconic list of movies and television shows, such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Hunger Games, Lost, and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Dawn also penned an online course, The Art of Continuity| Filmmaking as a Script Supervisor. It is in its 10th year.
Favorite Dawnism: "A closed mouth, don't get fed. Speak up!"
Tom Gordon - Music Video
Reno native, Tom Gordon, is a record producer, engineer, and educator. His client list includes: Ozzy Osbourne, Dr. Dre, The Beach Boys, Whitesnake, Boyz II Men, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Collective Soul, Doug E Fresh, and even Milli Vanilli's come-back album where they actually sang.
TV and film work includes Role Models (WB), Behind the Music (VH1), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Naked Gun (Fox).
Gordon has been making records for over 30 years with five Platinum and two Gold-selling albums, one Emmy, one 3M Visionary Award and over 250 independent CDs of local and regional artists to his credit. He currently runs Imirage Sound Lab.
Jake Hart - Innovate & Indigenous
Jake Hart voices everything. He is in constant production for it all, from cartoons and video games to national commercials. As a continuing producer, and development coordinator, he assists filmmakers whenever and wherever he can. Currently, Jake is a SAG-AFTRA Native Americans Committee member, advisor to multiple organizations around the country on inclusion and representation, and has a long history of artistic residencies at Universities and colleges across the country.
He has been a part of multiple animated shows, video games, and scripted podcasts coming soon to screens near you. Prayers up to his family for dealing with him. Wado y Gracias.
Robin Holabird - Female Focus & Nevada
As the former Film Commissioner for the State of Nevada, Robin has assisted industry legends such as Clint Eastwood, Taylor Hackford, and PT Anderson on projects filmed in the region.
Robin has combined her love of travel with her film expertise to author the books: Elvis, Marilyn, and the Space Aliens and Around the World in 80 Movies. Robin has a weekly film program on Reno’s NPR affiliate, KUNR, and provides film commentary for KOH-AM. Robin holds a journalism degree and a Masters in Public Administration and has worked as a reporter for several regional outlets.
Robin is an avid outdoor enthusiast and photographer who has finished the Boston Marathon six times.
JLynn - Music Video
JLynn is currently on 96.5 Alice as part of the Bill and JLynn morning show from 6am-10am Monday through Saturday! You can also hear her on Alice Monday through Friday from 10am-2pm and on Ten Country at 97.3 from 3pm-7pm Monday through Friday as well.
As a former Division 1 basketball player who grew up in the Bay Area JLynn has loved exploring Nevada and all that Northern Nevada has to offer!
JLynn loves to travel and is a huge fan of the arts in Northern Nevada-she loves catching all the local plays at the theatres and supporting all things local.
This is JLynns second year attending the Cordillera International Film Festival and she could not be more excited to attend again!
Bilali Mack - Impact Award
Bilali Mack is a Filmmaker and VFX Supervisor Based in NYC. Born in Accra, Ghana, and based in Brooklyn, Bilali has spent the better part of the last decade honing his craft at visual effects.
Bilali is best known for his work as the overall VFX Supervisor for Lionsgate’s Power Book III: Raising Kanan and Power Book II: Ghost. Bilali has had an extensive and varying career working in commercials, episodic, and film. His most recent work was with Darren Aronofsky on the Oscar award-winning film, The Whale with Brendan Fraser. In his spare time, he produces the Legends of VFX podcast and is passionately directing films and commercials.
Sofia Sanchez - Innovate
Sofia Sanchez is a Ukrainian American teenage actress, model, advocate and influencer known for her viral video Down Syndrome Is Not Scary. She had her acting debut in the TV series Switched at Birth and has also appeared in the films For Paloma and later this year Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
You may also recognize her in print ads and commercials for legacy retail brands like Old Navy, Amazon and Target. She recently helped launch the first Barbie with Down Syndrome. Additionally, her adoption story has inspired several picture books with Scholastic, including You Are Enough and You Are Loved.
Sofia lives in Northern California with her parents, three older brothers, two labradoodles and an orange cat.
Bill Shulz - Music Video
Long-time Nevada radio talent, and half of the Alice 96.5 Morning Show, Bill Schulz is a Wisconsin native who now calls Northern Nevada home.
Yes, he’s a diehard Green Bay Packers fan. CHEESE HEAD!
He also enjoys meeting new people in the community, spending time in the outdoors, the Wolf Pack, and he can often be found eating ribs at the Nugget Rib Cook-Off. He LOVES everything Nevada.
Monika Skerbelis - LGBTQIA+
Monika Skerbelis is the director of The American Pavilion's Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival since 2009 and was the artistic & programming director for the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival for fourteen years. She is the co-author of I Liked It, Didn’t Love It: Screenplay Development from the Inside Out and currently co-writing a 2nd edition of The Complete Filmmakers Guide to Film Festivals: Your All Access Pass to Launching your Film on the Festival Circuit.
She’s a former VP of Creative & Executive Story Editor for Universal Pictures’ story department. Prior to Universal, she worked for 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. She was an Associate Producer on two Lifetime movies, Killer Hair and Hostile Makeover. She teaches feature film development at UCLA Extension, Riverside City College and is a member of the Producers Guild of America.
Tsanavi Spoonhunter - Indigenous
Tsanavi Spoonhunter is a Northern Arapaho and Northern Paiute nonfiction storyteller based in the Reno- Lake Tahoe Area who specializes in directing, producing and writing. She holds a Master of Journalism degree from the University of California, Berkeley, with a documentary film concentration. Her work has been supported by NDN Collective, SFFILM FilmHouse, the International Documentary Association (IDA) and Sundance Institute, to name a few.
Spoonhunter serves as director and producer on her first feature-length documentary titled, HOLDER OF THE SKY (2026). Currently, she is a fellow at Open Society Foundations and is a Chicken & Egg Pictures and ITVS grantee.
Meredith Tanzer - LGBTQIA+
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Anthony Sneed - Indigenous
Anthony Sneed is an award-winning Cherokee (EBCI) filmmaker who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, and Cherokee, North Carolina. In 2018, his directorial debut, the dark-comedy short “SUCK,” premiered at Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. He’s since graduated from the director program at the prestigious American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Since graduating, Anthony’s short “SWIPE” has won multiple awards, including Best Comedy Short at the Oscar-qualifying Cleveland International Film Festival. In 2021, he was featured in CAA’s MOEBIUS Film Festival and was a finalist in Disney’s Launchpad Season 2.
His third short, “STRIPPER,” a coming-of-age dramedy was shot entirely on the Cherokee Indian Reservation with first time actors in 2021. In 2022, Sneed has finished principal photography on the feature documentary, “Bastards of the Boundary: Cherokee Indianball,” which is now in post-production. This past year, Sneed completed the PBS short doc “Mothertown” as well as his latest short “The Great Cherokee Grandmother” featuring Academy Award-winning actor Wes Studi.
Danette Tull - Nevada
Danette Tull is the Deputy Director for the Nevada Film Office, a division of the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED), which markets the state's diverse locations and promotes Nevada as a premier destination for filming.
She works closely with Nevada student filmmakers and advocates for more equitable representation of women in film. Danette founded the Nevada Film Group on Facebook and created the office’s FILManthropy charitable giving initiative. Danette received a Masters degree in Library Science from the University of California, Riverside. She is fluent in Spanish, Italian, Japanese and English and has lived and traveled abroad.