FREE FORUM: Filmmaker Forum
The Florida Film Festival hosts some of the most talented new independent filmmakers every year and always sets aside one day just to pick their brains. This lively and dynamic exchange of ideas and know-how inevitably defines a high point in the festival—peppered with tales of triumph, challenge, and creative methods. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime airing of artistic laundry by the filmmakers who get the job done. Moderated by Florida Film Festival programmer Joshua Martin.
Panelists
Nira Burstein (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker. She is one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” and DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40.” Her documentary Charm Circle is a New York Times Critic’s Pick which premiered on Criterion Channel. Her latest, “Dear Shop Girl,” premiered at Woodstock Film Festival.
Christy Chan (“Somewhere to Be”) is a Guggenheim Fellowship-awarded filmmaker and visual artist. Informed by her early years in the rural American South, her films often employ an absurdist, dark comedy to question the everyday social codes that normalize racialized violence in the United States. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
Russell Goldman (Sender) is a filmmaker from Virginia. His short films, including “Burn Out,” “Closing Time,” and “Return to Sender,” have played at hundreds of film festivals around the world, including Fantastic Fest, Fantaspoa, Frameline, Rooftop Films, Sidewalk, Uppsala, and Woodstock. His first feature, Sender, premiered in competition at SXSW 2026.
Josalynn Smith (Ride or Die) (they/them) is a graduate of Columbia University’s film MFA program. Smith’s been recognized by Sundance, SFFILM, and the Sloan Foundation. Smith’s feature directorial debut, Ride or Die, was produced by Jamie Foxx and premiered at Tribeca 2025. Currently, they are a 2026 fellow in the Queer Art Mentorship program.
Born and raised in Orlando, FL, Justin Whittingham (“Welcome”) is a documentary filmmaker with a focus on human stories and people pursuing their passions. He has directed and shot documentaries all over the globe, seeking to make the world a better place by showcasing diverse experiences, cultures, and forms of vulnerability.