GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Selection of the judges has commenced, as film aficionados across the Garden Route are no doubt preparing for the much-anticipated Knysna Film Festival on 2 October in the Premier Hotel.
Among the adjudicators are two names that every movie buff worth their salt will recognise, but for those who don't, here's the lowdown:
Karen Cifarelli
Karen Cifarelli has worked in many areas of the film industry in front of and behind the camera as caster, producer, actor and script consultant. During her time in Los Angeles, she worked for Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope and later for the Jacobson Company. After moving to Germany, Karen acted as consultant and producer for Underdog Pictures GmbH. Over the last 10 years she has worked as an international talent manager, as owner of Cifarelli Talent Consulting. She is a member of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and judges yearly for the International Emmy Awards.
Sean Cameron Michael.
Sean Cameron Michael
SA-born actor and writer Sean Cameron Michael is today regarded as one of the country's most successful exports to Los Angeles where he has been based for the past five years. With over 100 TV and film credits notched up over the past three decades, Michael has worked with some of the top actors, directors and producers in the world today, including Sir Ridley Scott, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Ryan Reynolds, Matt Damon, Denzel Washington and Michael Bay.
Michael first gained international exposure in Dean Devlin's Emmy-winning The Triangle, as well as Fox's multi-Emmy and Golden Globe nominated feature 24: Redemption. Over 12-million viewers tuned in for the premiere. Career highlights include working opposite Oscar-winner William Hurt in BBC Films' Royal Television Society's award-winning feature The Challenger Disaster; Starring in Regardt van den Bergh's feature Faith Like Potatoes (seen by over 100-million people worldwide); and playing the supporting role of Lester (alongside Mads Mikkelsen, Jonathan Pryce and Eva Green) in Zentropa/Universal's western The Salvation for director Kristian Levring (which received a nine minute standing ovation at its world-premiere at Cannes).
In the US he was seen on the big screen last year in Universal's reboot of The Mummy (opposite Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe) grossing over $400-million worldwide and also recurred on Shooter (USA), ABC's Of Kings and Prophets, Blood Drive (SyFy) and MacGyver (CBS) for which he was considered for Emmy nomination this year as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Michael was also nominated for Best Actor at the Rapid Lion International Film Festival for Maynard Kraak's The Last Victims which opened the film festival, premiered at PAFF in Los Angeles and screened in competition at DIFF this year.
The busy actor is currently attached to a number of international projects, including the AST film franchise for Kristrún Entertainment, Forgiven, Broken and Midas, while upcoming releases include Fox's Deep State, Netflix's The Last Days of American Crime and Alastair Orr's Triggered.
Since 2012 Michael has been a judge for the International Emmy Awards, the Emmy TV College Awards, the Prime Time Emmy Awards and the SA Indie Film Festival.
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