The Chelsea Film Festival Official 2016 Jury will select the Grand Prix Award ($10,000 camera package sponsored by Panavision), Petite Prix Award ($5000 camera package sponsored by Panavision) and 22 other prizes.

• Jayce Bartok
JAYCE BARTOK has appeared in numerous films and television shows as an actor, most notably Richard Linklater’s SUBURBIA, Sam Raimi’s SPIDERMAN and Tom McCarthy’s THE STATION AGENT. TV Series appearances include frequent roles on THE FOLLOWING, WHITE COLLAR, and LAW & ORDER. Most recently, Jayce wrote, directed and co-produced the indie feature FALL TO RISE (Panorama Entertainment), which just completed an extensive run on the independent film festival circuit and is now available on Amazon PRIME. Accolades for FALL TO RISE include being an official selection at the Dance On Camera Festival at Lincoln Center and winner of the Bulleit Frontier Filmmaker Award at the First Time Fest in New York City. Jayce wrote and starred in THE CAKE EATERS, the critically acclaimed film directed by Mary Stuart Masterson, which starred Kristen Stewart and Bruce Dern. THE CAKE EATERS premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was an official selection at festivals throughout the world. Other credits include co-director and co-producer of the award-winning documentary ALTERED BY ELVIS, writer/director of the award-winning short films: SUNBURN, starring Jack Falahee and Damian Young, JACK & PAUL, and STRICKEN, starring Hayley Mills as well as writer of the SXSW winning short, LITTLE PUMPKIN.  Most recently, Jayce was a producer on the award-winning short SUDDENLY… starring Terry Kinney, and is in production on LARGER THAN LIFE, a documentary about the life of Kevyn Aucoin.  His next feature film, RED RIVER, will go into production in the winter of 2018.

• Dana Verde
DANA VERDE started her career while she was an undergraduate student at the New School University (NSU) pursuing her degree in Media Studies/Screenwriting. In 2003 she entered the Sundance Screenwriters Lab with her first full length feature script “The Only Black Girl” and made the final round in the competition.
In 2004, she completed her degree at NSU and became a script reader for Maisha Film Lab (founded by filmmaker Mira Nair) and co-hosted a TV show on MTV called “Your Movie Show” as a film reviewer.
In 2005, she attended the London Film School (LFS), London UK, to begin her graduate studies in filmmaking. While there, she studied directing under filmmakers Mike Leigh, Stephen Fears and Richard Kwietniowski; and writing under Hanif Kureishi. She graduated LFS in 2008.
Currently Dana is in pre-production on her second feature film #YBA, a comedy about young black actors and their career struggles; and her feature length screenplay “The Perfect Match”, which stars Paula Patton and Terrance J/produced by Queen Latifah’s flavor unit, is set to release in 2016. She is also launching her New Media Company, 3CK Media late this fall.

Dana Verde will be moderating the Opening Night Film Q&A.