Kate Dawson is a lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism. An 14-year veteran of television news, Dawson has worked as a field producer, line producer, and writer for ABC, WCBS and Fox News in New York as well as numerous local markets. She is the faculty adviser for the new ABC News on Campus, a digital news bureau for college students.  Dawson's foray into documentaries began in the spring of 2000 with her first film "La Candelaria." Since then, her credits include: co-director/co-producer of "Goldrush.com" (aired on ABC's Nightline), "Breaking the Barrier" (screened at more than 10 film festivals world-wide), and "Grass Ceiling," (released theatrically for a short run at New York's Two Boots theater). She owns Dawson Films, a full service production company that produces and edits both documentaries and narrative features. She was on the faculty at Fordham University's journalism school in New York for two years. Dawson holds a MS degree in journalism from Columbia University and a BS in broadcast journalism from Boston University.

David Hickey (born and raised in Fort Worth) has devoted his life and experiences to filmmaking and theater. David attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, and earned his Master of Fine Arts in Screen Writing and Directing from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. After years of writing and directing theatre in New York, David turned his efforts to filmmaking. Since then, David has written, directed and produced many feature and short films, and served as faculty at Texas State University Theatre Program. David’s films include: Brothers. Dogs. And God., Knocked Up - aka Brownwood, the documentary The Hassans and most recently Baghdad, Texas (check out its review from the Palm Springs Film Festival). David lives in Austin with his wife and daughter.

Kevin Hirth grew up in Houston, Tx and made his first short film at the young age of 11 years old. He has since acted, directed, edited, and composed music (though not necessarily at the same time) for numerous short films and student projects, and worked as an Editing Assistant for Telemundo and The Onion. He studied audio engineering and film at HCC and graduated in 2005 with an Associate's Degree in Audio Engineering. Kevin's latest project is the short-form web based series "Intervention Net", named after his Rock band... Intervention Net.

Kirk Hunter is ASoF's Labs Supervisor with 26 years of experience and knowledge of film and video. Kirk has a technical expertise of Digital, Super 8, 16 mm, and 35 mm film formats and his work has been screened in multiple festivals, museums, and galleries.

Samantha "Sami" Inoue-Harte is founder of animation studio Saiko Studios. She is also an Anime voice actress for ADV Films and Funimation Entertainment, and is better known for her roles as the Chocobo in Final Fantasy: Unlimited, and Kohran Li from the series Sakura Wars.

Peter Kovacs began his career in television production while in college. He wrote, produced and directed programming for public and commercial networks in Germany and his native Hungary. He also directed music videos: the 1994 clip ‘Somewhere’ by Sexepil for Warner Hungary was elected to air in MTV Europe’s ‘Best of 120 Minutes’ Christmas edition. In April 1996 he was honored with the  official annual award of the Hungarian Music Industry for directing the best music video of the preceding year.  After moving to Los Angeles, Peter directed national and international commercials. His client list includes Samsung, Jägermeister, New Line Cinema, Carlsberg, Guidant, Kronenbourg, Baltika. He is member of the Director’s Guild of America.

Humberto Perez has over eighteen years of teaching, training, and performance in theatre including thirteen years of experience working as a digital video filmmaker through classroom, independent, and professional projects.   Bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish, Perez supports the Two-Way Language Enrichment Program in developing curriculum in the area of Spanish Language Arts/Theatre Arts.

Gary Schwartz is an award-winning animator, director, artist, filmmaker and teacher. He has taught animation throughout the country and in Europe. Through his company, Single Frame Films, Gary has produced, designed and directed animation for Disney, Sesame Street, MTV, Fox Television, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and others.

Jeanne Stern creates fantastical films using a hybrid of puppetry and animation. Her work has screened in a variety of festivals and galleries including Heather Henson's traveling film festival "Handmade Puppet Dreams," South by Southwest, Dallas PBS, and the Smithsonian. She recently completed her MFA in Film at UT, Austin, and received her BA in Studio Art from Connecticut College. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Jeanne now lives in Austin where she works as an animator and teacher. Website: JeanneStern.com

Jacob Vaughan is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin R-T-F Program and an accomplished filmmaker. Jake directed The Cassidy Kids, produced and edited the award-winning Dear Pillow, and authored DVDs for national distribution.

Dominic Vitucci is an experienced animator and illustrator and has taught animation classes at the Art Center at Cedar Park and the Austin Museum of Art. His previous animation experience includes work for Horseback Salad Animation, HFTP, Cadwear.com, 1st Buy.com, and Little Wolf Entertainment.

Cathy Welch has a Master’s Degree in Film Production with a minor in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at Austin. She spent six years in Los Angeles in the 1980s working on feature films, including the Academy Award-winning Kiss of the Spider Woman. She also worked for Hughes Aircraft Company as a post-production supervisor for training films, press releases, and other video product-marketing materials. For the past five years, Cathy has been an adjunct professor at Austin Community College, teaching radio, television, and film courses, including Introduction to Television Technology, Film History, Film Appreciation, and Introduction to Radio and Television.