Filmocracy Fest lives at the intersection of great storytelling, creative talent, industry professionals and film fans.
Founded on the basis of these four key pillars, the Festival will create opportunities for industry professionals and audiences alike to discover truly new independent voices.
JON FITZGERALD – CO FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jon has 25 years of experience in the independent film, internet and film festival communities. As a filmmaker, he has produced a number of award winning documentaries; and as a consultant, he has guided many independent film projects through the maze of festivals and hybrid distribution models.
Previous works include co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival (1995), Festival Director for the prestigious AFI Film Festival in (1997). He later created a consulting business, guiding the launch of numerous film festivals (Bahamas, Lone Star, Orlando), directing several others (Santa Barbara, Naples and Abu Dhabi), and consulting to dozens more.
Jon has founded iGEMS.tv, as a guide to engaging movies and series and is currently working as head of Acquisitions at Filmocracy.
ERIN LYON – OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Erin is a UNCW graduate, with a BFA in Creative Writing and a BA in Film Studies, having achieved these degrees with honors. During her time at UNCW, she was the Assistant Managing Director, as well as the Operations Director for the renowned Visions Film Festival & Conference (a film festival run by undergraduates for undergraduates). As this was the first time that Visions utilized a virtual platform, Erin spearheaded this process. She was instrumental in Visions choosing Filmocracy as their platform due to its superior innovation and technology that allow virtual participants full engagement and networking capabilities. She looks forward to making Filmocracy Fest an engaging and memorable experience.
PAUL JUN – CO FOUNDER
Paul is a serial entrepreneur and USAF veteran. He served as an intelligence officer and upon completing his service he moved to the film industry where he worked as Director of Sales and Acquisitions at Covert Media. UCSD and CSUF MBA alum.
He co-founded Filmocracy to help democratize the imbalance of opportunities in the entertainment industry for the independent film community.
PHILLIP JUN – CO FOUNDER
Phillip is an experienced startup founder and business developer with over 15 years of experience across multiple industries from physical to digital. He co-developed multiple apps and projects for Verizon Wireless, Nintendo, Next Block Group, and more. He combines creativity and technical skills to develop projects from multiple angles.
He co-founded Filmocracy to push the limits of technology and art forward in the entertainment industry.
HENRY ESHELMAN – FESTIVAL PUBLICIST – heshelman@platformgrp.com
As the Managing Director, PMG-Platform Media Group Henry works with the team to represent film festivals, films AT festivals, and do branded event activations at festivals. They currently represent MINT in Billings, Montana, returning for its fourth year in September 2021. They represented The Louisiana Film Festival several times over its seven year history. They’ve handled project work for America’s premiere graduate film institution, The American Film Institute and their AFI FEST Presented By Audi, as well as films and brands in the festival. Other historical festival action includes: The Sun Valley Film Festival; BendFilm in Bend, Oregon; the AMFM Film, Music and Arts Festival in Cathedral City, CA; and the 3D Film Festival in Los Angeles; and in the very distant past, Florida, Santa Barbara and the Hamptons. When they’re not promoting film festivals, they’re promoting films AT festivals, in production, and release, more than a dozen per year.
Screening Committee
Tyler St Pierre
Munir Atalla
Dhane Taylor
David Ngo
Elizabeth Grupp
Molly Evans
Coordinators
Edward Tasi
Claire Wong
Sophia Mazzella
Olivia Pearce
Filmocracy Fest on Filmocracy’s virtual platform is dedicated to providing a fun, safe, and harassment-free event for everyone. All attendees, speakers, sponsors, vendors and Festival staff (“participants”) are required to comply with the Filmocracy code of conduct.
By attending the virtual platform, you are agreeing to abide this code of conduct. Anyone found to be violating this code of conduct may be expelled at the discretion of organizers.
Filmocracy has a zero-tolerance policy and will not tolerate any harassing or abusive behavior towards any participants. We ask all participants to behave and create a safe and supportive environment of inclusiveness.
Harassing or abusive behavior may occur in various platforms such as, via email, forums, chats, video conferencing or social media and includes, but is not limited to:
Deliberate intimidation
Stalking
Inappropriate photography or recording (sexual or violent in nature)
Sustained disruption of talks, presentations or other events and activities
Unwelcomed sexual attention
Comments or actions based on personal characteristics such as gender, gender identity, and expression; age; sexual orientation; disability; physical appearance; race; religion; political affiliation
Please report any harassing or abusive behavior incident to events@filmocracy.com.