2022 JURY
Introducing the incredible jurors behind the Indie Meme 2022 Jury Awards. We're proud to be joined by a range of active and insightful professionals with backgrounds in filmmaking, media, technology, festivals, organizing, academia, and more.
NARRATIVE JURY
Cassandra Knobloch
Cassandra Knobloch is retired from her position as professor of drama and speech at Austin Community College, where she served as chair of the Drama and Dance department, and as assistant dean of Communications.
When she earned her M.A. in Drama at the University of Maryland-College Park, radio-tv-film was her minor area of study. Later, her secondary area of study was film studies when she completed a second M.A. in Communication Studies at the University of Texas-Austin.
Cassandra is a long-time member of the Austin Film Society, with particular interests in contemporary international cinema, and American films of the 1930s and 1940s. She earned her Ph.D. in Theatre Arts from Florida State University, and has produced and/or directed a variety of theatrical productions in Austin.
Hanna Huang
Hanna Huang is a 1.5 generation Taiwanese American who grew up along the Texas-Mexico border, far away from the comforts of bubble tea shops.
She is the Executive Director of Austin Asian American Film Festival, a producer behind the new mini-documentary series Stories Within, Mayoral appointee to the City's Austin Asian American Quality of Life Commission, and longtime AAPI cultural arts and educational programs professional.
She finds herself very fortunate to be able to tell her parents that her undergraduate Asian American studies degree is one she makes use of every day.
Bryan Poyser
Bryan Poyser is a two-time Independent Spirit Award nominee who has written and/or directed projects for HBO, Comedy Central, Ridley Scott Associates and the USA Network. His 3 feature films screened at major international film festivals like Sundance, SXSW and BFI London. His second feature LOVERS OF HATE premiered in the US Dramatic Competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards.
Bryan was previously nominated for the Independent Spirit “Someone to Watch” Award in 2005 for his first feature, DEAR PILLOW. Bryan’s third feature, the Austin-set romantic comedy LOVE & AIR SEX, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and was theatrically released by Tribeca Films.
Bryan recently wrote an episode of the Duplass Brothers’ HBO series ROOM 104. He served as the Director of Artist Services for the Austin Film Society for 5 years and served on its board of directors. He lives and works in Austin, Texas, and teaches filmmaking at Texas State University.
DOCUMENTARY JURY
Brad Limov
Brad Limov is a PhD candidate at UT-Austin's School of Journalism and Media, where he is also a research fellow with the Technology and Information Policy Institute. As a scholar, he researches how communities use media to communicate, come together, and take action.
His writing has appeared in The International Journal of Communication, NECSUS European Journal of Media Studies, In Media Res, and Information, Communication & Society.
Before making the move to Austin, Brad studied East Asian cinemas at Nagoya University in Japan. His focus on film festivals led him to opportunities as a translator for the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and as a communicator for Xining FIRST International Film Festival. He was trained in writing and film production as an undergraduate at Colorado College.
Marcy Garriot
Marcy Garriott is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. Educated as an electrical engineer and still photographer coming out of college, she was a telecommunications executive for 15 years before turning to filmmaking and social activism.
Her Director/Producer credits include the award-winning documentary films SPLIT DECISION and INSIDE THE CIRCLE. Marcy also produced THE LEAST OF THESE (about immigrant child detention) and the CNN wrongful conviction documentary AN UNREAL DREAM: THE MICHAEL MORTON STORY. She served as sole Executive Producer on the documentaries A REVOLUTION IN FOUR SEASONS (about the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Tunisia) and BUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM, and as one of the Executive Producers for the PBS documentary PEACE OFFICER.
Marcy is a former President and board member of the Austin Film Society, and is honored to be part of the Austin film community since 1996.
Robin Schneider
Robin Schneider is the Executive Director of Texas Campaign for the Environment. She started her activist career in high school as a full-time canvasser for the Equal Rights Amendment. During college she led a campaign to stop a plan to drill for oil on the UCLA campus.
Under Robin’s direction, TCE took a leading role in the campaign to close the Grandfather Loophole in the Texas Clean Air Act, for which she was dubbed the “Best Advocate for Breathers” by The Austin Chronicle.
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She is the Vice Chair of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and took a lead in the successful campaign that pressured Dell, the campaign’s first corporate target, to take back its obsolete products and support producer takeback policies. That partnership led to passage of the Texas Computer TakeBack Law in 2007..
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She has been a featured speaker at state, national and international environmental gatherings.
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SHORTS JURY
Joanna Gutt-Lehr
Joanna has been involved in producing the Austin Polish Film Festival for 15 years, serving in several different capacities, including chair, programmer, and artistic director. From 2008 until the pandemic struck, she has been programming and running a Polish Monthly Film series on behalf of the Austin Polish Society, which is free and open to the general public.
Joanna has curated numerous Polish poster art exhibits including ones devoted to film. While volunteering for various nonprofits, she helped bring major graphic artists, filmmakers, and musicians to ATX and grew and cultivated partnerships with cultural and educational institutions; including Austin Film Society, UT Radio, Film, and Television Department and UT Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, and the Honors College at the Texas State University.
Currently, Joanna is a co-founder and executive director of Austin local arts nonprofit, Dot Dot Dot Connect. She is Senior Lecturer of Mathematics at the Texas State University in San Marcos.
Ananyaa Ravi
After moving between four cities in two years, Ananyaa Ravi settled down in Austin in 2017 and found family and community at Indie Meme Org shortly after.
She has long been interested in the power of storytelling and is always looking for interesting new tales, whether in print or on screen. She particularly enjoys character-driven films that have an eye for the absurd.
Ananyaa has led multiple Employee Resource Groups at her workplaces and is passionate about queer and immigrant issues. She has also been on the board for KhushIATX.
David Finkel
David Finkel is a professional photographer and cross-cultural trainer with broad experience in technology, international business, and entrepreneurship. He currently serves as the director the Austin Jewish Film Festival.
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One of Finkel's major projects was producing a large number of still photographs to document the Austin Jewish Community Dayschool (now the Austin Jewish Academy) for its 5th anniversary. Since then, David produced many photographs for the Jewish Outlook and has had work published in The Austin American-Statesman, The New York Times, as well as various other publications.
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He established David Finkel Photography to offer a wide range of photographic services, including travel, portrait and event photography.
Asad Farooqui
Asad Farooqui is a director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He has directed multiple short films and written various scripts about Pakistani and Muslim characters stuck in an America that refuses to accept them.
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Farooqui's feature script, BIN, was a finalist for the Sundance Writer’s Lab and won the prestigious Islamic Scholarship Fund National Film Grant. His feature script, The Immigration Game, won first place at the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Contest and was a Sundance Writer's Lab finalist.
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On the television front, his pilot script Brown Country, was a semifinalist at the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Contest while The Islamic Boys, another TV pilot script, was a finalist at the Nashville Film Festival. His short film Broke has played at several world festivals.
Farooqui received his MFA in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University where he was also a Teaching Fellow. He is currently developing his first feature, The Immigration Game, which is slated to shoot in Atlanta next year.