Cinema Studies proudly announces the 2024 "Art of Producing" Visiting Filmmaker Series

Join us for a series of screenings, talks, and receptions with award-winning producers and filmmakers. 
All events are free and open to the UO community. 

EVENT SPEAKERS:

Alejandro Brugués studied screenwriting at the International Film School in Havana. Shortly after graduating he wrote the screenplay for several films, including JUAN OF THE DEAD, which he also directed. It won the Goya Award for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film. Following that film, he moved to the US where he wrote and directed standout pieces in the ABC’S OF DEATH 2 and NIGHTMARE CINEMA. He directed the Florida episode of Sam Raimi’s Quibi series 50 STATES OF FRIGHT and directed POOKA LIVES! For the INTO THE DARK series for Hulu and Blumhouse. He has developed and written projects for Starz, Apple, Netflix, Paramount and Sony. He also produced and directed a segment in the anthology SATANIC HISPANICS, released in 2023.

Jeff Conroy is an award-winning television producer (including 3 Emmys) and creative executive on 1,500+ episodes and 50 television series across 15 different networks. During his tenure at Original Productions, Conroy rose through the ranks from Producer to Show Runner, to Executive Producer and President heading all creative teams. Notable projects include hit shows "Deadliest Catch," "Axmen," "Ice Road Truckers," "Bering Sea Gold," "Storage Wars" and Jay Leno’s "Garage." In 2015, he co-founded BoBCat, a multi-platform production company. Under BoBCat’s banner he produced the 2019 Slamdance Opening Feature, SKI BUM: THE WARREN MILLER STORY, which went on to win the audience award.  Additionally, under BoBCat, he produced for cable networks, streaming services, and branded content. Noteworthy projects include "The American Farm" for History Channel and "Mark Hamill’s Pop Culture Quest" for ComiconHQ. Recently, he produced the true-life thriller "Something Bit Me" for National Geographic/Disney+ and the History Channel’s artifactual series "Secret Restoration."  He’s the current showrunner for USA Networks adventure competition series "Race to Survive: New Zealand" which premieres in May of 2024.

Keith Goldberg runs Dark Horse Entertainment where he oversees the development and production of all Dark Horse properties for entertainment and manages the company’s first look deal with Netflix, which was renewed recently and runs through 2024. He’s been at the company since 2008, and he’s overseen and executive produced Netflix’s "The Umbrella Academy," "Resident Alien" for Syfy/Peacock, Netflix’s animated feature CHICKENHARE AND THE HAMSTER OF DARKNESS, the Netflix animated series, "Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles," The Paramount+ series "Coyote" (starring Michael Chiklis), Netflix’s POLAR (starring Mads Mikkelson), THE LEGEND OF TARZAN for Warner Bros (starring Alexander Skarsgaard and Margot Robbie), RIPD for Universal (starring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges), the TV series "Dark Matter" for Syfy. At Netflix, Dark Horse’s current development slate has just over 20 projects with people like Idris Elba, Blake Lively, Taika Waittiti, Sam Hargrave, David Leitch, Tiffany Haddish, Matthew Rhys, etc. Additionally, Dark Horse has film or TV projects at Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Universal, FX/Hulu, Amazon, AMC, etc. Prior to Dark Horse, he worked as VP of Production and Development for New Line Cinema for seven years, where he over saw a slate of films including 17 AGAIN (starring Zac Efron), RENDITION (starring Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep and Jake Gyllenhaal), CELLULAR (starring Chris Evans) and THE NUMBER 23 (starring Jim Carrey), among others. He was also a Consulting Producer on the Syfy/Hulu series "12 Monkeys," and produced the movie FURRY VENGEANCE for Summit Entertainment in 2010. A Los Angeles native who attended public school in West Los Angeles, Goldberg graduated from the University of Michigan with degrees in English and Film.

Bob Werner (he/him) is the Head of Creative Services at Marmoset, where he leads all aspects of curating and creating music for Marmoset’s vast catalog, as well as custom scoring and sound design projects for global clients in advertising, film, TV and more. Before joining Marmoset to shape one of the top performing sync catalogs in the industry, Bob studied video and sound production at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, pursuing his lifelong passion in music and cinema. Fun fact: Bob's favorite thing about living in Portland is the vibrant indie cinema scene, where he saw 50 films in theaters in 2023 and aims to see 100 this year.  Through his 10+ years working in sync licensing, he’s developed and helped launch dozens of artists into successful, full-time music careers, with licensing revenue as a cornerstone of their income, ultimately supporting lifelong pursuits in music. Bob is based in Portland, Oregon.

ADDITIONAL CLASSROOM VISITING FILMMAKERS:

John David Allen is a New York-based film editor who has cut more than 20 critically acclaimed feature films, as well as numerous television shows, documentaries, and award-winning shorts. Allen has collaborated on five films with legendary director James Ivory, beginning with The Golden Bowl starring Uma Thurman and Nick Nolte. Lauded as “James Ivory’s masterpiece” when it premiered at Cannes, the film was followed by the comedy Le Divorce starring Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson, winning prizes for both Ivory and Watts at the Venice Film Festival. Kazuo Ishiguro's The White Countess with Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson followed next, shot and edited in Shanghai. The City of Your Final Destination starring Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney and Charlotte Gainsbourg and cut by Allen was James Ivory's last feature as director. Allen has twice collaborated with Australian director Bruce Beresford, editing the comedy Peace, Love and Misunderstanding with Jane Fonda and Catherine Keener, and the miniseries Bonnie & Clyde, which was nominated for multiple Emmys and other awards. Other thrillers he’s cut include Mojave starring Oscar Isaac and Garret Hedlund with director William Monahan, and Bette Gordon’s The Drowning starring Josh Charles and Julia Stiles. More recently Allen cut Ondi Timoner’s Mapplethorpe, and two films by director John Swab, Body Brokers and Ida Red, which premiered at Locarno International Film Festival. Daughter of the Bride, starring Marcia Gay Harden and Aidan Quinn he edited for director Annette Haywood-Carter. Allen has also cut numerous documentaries, including episodes of Richard Linklater’s series That Animal Rescue Show on Paramount +, Sublime with director Bill Guttentag, and Fast Histories for the History Channel. In addition to editing, Allen has directed numerous short films, including the award-winning Love And Roadkill, which won Best Short at the Williamstown Film Festival and screened at more than 15 national and international festivals. Allen teaches editing in the graduate film program at Columbia University and has been a visiting artist at numerous other film schools. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.

Derrick Tseng has worked in N Y film and television production for over 30 years, as lighting technician, 1st A D, production manager, line producer, and producer. Among other projects, he has produced Annie Baker's Janet Planet, Braden King's The Evening Hour, Alla Kovgan's Cunningham, David Gordon Green’s Red Oaks Pilot, Manglehorn, Joe, and Prince Avalanche, and Todd Solondz’s Wiener-Dog, Dark Horse, Life During Wartime, and Palindromes. He currently is in pre-production on Jim Jarmusch's Father Mother Sister Brother and Todd Solondz's Love Child. He has co-produced/line produced numerous feature films, including Adrienne Shelly’s Sudden Manhattan, Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy, Brad Anderson's Happy Accidents, Peter Lauer's Cry Baby Lane, Patrick Stettner’s The Business of Strangers, Bertha Pan’s Face, David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls and Snow Angels, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s Party Monster, Steve Buscemi’s Lonesome Jim, Robert Altman’s “Tanner on Tanner,” David Wain’s The Ten, Clark Gregg’s Choke, Andrew Lau’s Revenge of the Green Dragons, and Tom Shadyac's Brian Banks. Tseng was born in Queens, N Y. He attended N Y U ’ s Graduate Film Program, and holds an M.A. in Comparative Literature from N Y U and a B.A. in English and Art History from Columbia University. He lives in picturesque Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Funded by the generous Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Endowment

The Department of Cinema Studies is honored to bring the ninth Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker Series to Oregon, thanks to a generous gift by Harlan (PhD ’74) and Rima Strauss.
This endowment enables Cinema Studies to bring industry filmmakers and emerging talents to mentor students and hold public conversations. This spring, award-winning filmmakers will mentor students, guest lecture in the spring term course “CINE 426: The Art of Producing,” and participate in a series of events hosted by Cinema Studies.