WiFT LA Advisory Board Member: Susan Brennan
December 2016 Member Spotlight
Susan Brennan is the 2016 WiFT LA Iris Award winner. A graduate of Trinity Episcopal School, Isidore Newman School and Vanderbilt University, Susan is a life long resident of New Orleans.
Brennan is the owner and developer of Second Line Stages, the first LEED Gold certified, state of the art, sustainable sound stages in the United States.
She serves on several boards, including the New Orleans Arts Council, and is an emeritus board member of the New Orleans Film Society, and on the Advisory Board of Women In Film & Television Louisiana.
WiFT LA Member: Samantha Smith
November 2016 Member Spotlight
She is an award-winning writer and director based in New Orleans and has made many short films, the latest being a narrative titled These Wild Things which was recently awarded the "Jury Award for Best LA Short Film" at the New Orleans Film Festival and Tribeca Institute Award. Her previous short film Si was awarded "Best Short Film” and “Best Cinematography” at the International Kids Film Festival in Brazil, and was also featured as “The Short of the Month." Si is has been distributed by KIDS FIRST!® Her film Porcelain aired on The Kaleidoscope Kid's TV Network™ and in 2015 won the "Jury Award" at the Boston Independent Film Festival. As her shorts continue making their way through the festival circuit, Samantha is currently developing her first feature film, Little Lying Wild, taking her next step forward as a writer and director.
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Samantha Smith started making films around the age of 12, but she was a storyteller long before that, being naturally gifted in the art of tall tale telling. She holds a BA in Film Directing from Columbia College Chicago.
Members' Spotlight
October 2016 Member Spotlight
WiFT LA Member: Natalie Kingston
Natalie Kingston is an award-winning cinematographer based in New Orleans. She shot Sam Pollard's TWO TRAINS RUNNIN' - a blues music and civil rights documentary that premiered at FULL FRAME Documentary Film Festival in 2016 and was named BEST FEATURE at DOCUWEST DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL. Natalie was awarded the BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Award at the 2015 New Orleans Film Festival for her exhibited body of work across four narrative films: ATCHAFALAYA, RITE, DANDELION and SI. In 2014, she received the BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Award for the film, SI at the Kids Film Festival in Madrid, Spain. She also received the ZEISS PRECISION IMAGE AWARD for the film, AFTER THE CIRCUS. Natalie has a Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and completed a Cinematography Residency at Maine Media College. She is a member of the International Collective of Female Cinematographers (ICFC) and Women in Film and Television Louisiana (WIFT LA).