Judges
Here is where you will find the esteemed Judges for the festival for both music and film. These are real people whose critical eyes and ears will aid all of our selectees down a path of continued success. As our team works feverishly to line up this important panel you will see them added here, so make sure to check back often.
Film
Alrick Brown
Gobi
Marco Cappetta
Ray Moheet
Music
Michael Grozier
Adam Weiser
Ben Duvdevani
Michael Grozier
Executive Vice President of Clubs and Theatres for Live Nation
Michael has been leading on the cutting edge of the entertainment and hospitality industry. He currently oversees some of the greatest and iconic live music venues in the nation. The TLA, Tower Theatre, Irving Plaza, the Tabernacle, the Jackie Gleason Theatre and the Palladium just to name a few of the over 40 buildings he works with and the thousands of shows they produce annually. Creative and opportunistic-he has consistently evolved and reinvented the businesses that he works with to create new standards of excellence in service and performance. All while keeping true to being a servant to the communities his business serves.
Some career highlights
- One of the Founding Members of House of Blues. Serving as the GM and Director of Training for the original store and still working with HOB 18 years later
- Oversaw the Atlantic City HOB for 2 years improving the performance of the business over 2M.
- Over saw the development and evolution of the Foundation Rooms at HOB and doubled the business in 3 years
- Developed the New Orleans House of Blues and doubled annual revenue in 5 years
- Has raised over One Million dollars for a variety of charities across the nation
Graduated from Villanova University with a BA in Communication in 1983
Adam Weiser
Talent Buyer
AEG Live
Adam has over 10 years live entertainment experience promoting and producing today’s top touring artists in northeast clubs and theatres. Adam is entering his fourth year with AEG Live where he books NJ’s Starland Ballroom. Prior to his time at AEG Live, Adam worked in Artist Development at Warner Music Group’s East West Records/Independent Label Group as well as Talent Buyer at The Downtown concert venue on Long Island.
Adam is a die-hard NY Mets fan.
Ben Duvdevani
AEG Live, NJ / Starland Ballroom
Ben Duvdevani hails from Hoboken, NJ and has worked in the music industry in some shape or for five plus years, ranging from record labels, to independent concert promotion companies to merchandise sales. Currently, he works for AEG Live via Starland Ballroom. There he is in charge of ticketing for all of the events for Starland Ballroom and some other AEG one off concerts in the New Jersey area. In addition to that he is the talent booker for local acts for Starland Ballroom, giving our local talent a chance to show their talents on a grand stage opening for national touring acts.
Gobi
Producer/Director/Author
Gobi has twelve years of experience and over 250 credits in the business of music video and commercial production. As a director, this British born Iranian and American bred talent has helmed videos for such international, multi-platinum artists as Tupac Shakur, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah, Ice Cube, Breed and Mack-10.
Most recently, Gobi co-Produced the 3DX Film Festival in Singapore. Just prior, he co-directed a new reality show based on the COMPTON FIRE DEPT. for BET called “FIRST IN”. Prior to that, Gobi directed and produced various other projects including an 11-year anniversary music video for Tupac Shakur, featuring ASHANTI and T.I. The video was on heavy rotation on MTV and BET. He also has been directing episodes of the hit KNBC show YOUR LA. Just before that, he directed SMASH, a short film that won the best film award at the Instant Films Film festival, a reality TV show/documentary on Actor/Rapper DMX. This is a follow up to the Academy Award nominated Documentary “Tupac Resurrection”, that he was a field producer on. On the music video front, Gobi just shot a remake of John Lennon’s ‘give peace a chance’ for Yoko Ono. He also directed the star-studded music video and documentary for the remake of, “Wake Up Everybody”, the 1960’s R & B classic by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Drawing on his own multi-cultural background, he seamlessly collaborated with a diverse range of musical talents from Mary J. Blige and Marie Ben-Ari, to Jadakiss and Jon B, and to Missy Elliott and Ben Jelen. Also, providing their amazing energy to this music video were Brandy, Eve, Ashanti, Wyclef Jean, Monica, Jamie Foxx, Fabulous and the musical producing genius of Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. This project benefited America Coming Together (ACT).
Gobi is also a published author, his most recent works have been released by Simon & Schuster/Atria Books entitled “Thru My Eyes”. This book is a collection of photography and words inspired by Tupac Amaru Shakur.
Marco Cappetta
Director of Photography
Marco Cappetta has created images for feature films, commercials, music videos and TV. His films have been released by The Weinstein Company, New Line Cinema, Anchor Bay, Lionsgate and have aired on Showtime, HBO, PBS, Comedy Central and The Sci-Fi Channel. He has lensed projects for Walt Disney, Warner Brothers Records, BMW, the New World Symphony, the U.S. Department of Labor and National Geographic. He has worked with celebrities such as Kevin Smith, Damon Wayans, Billy Zane, John Savage, Eric Roberts, Rashida Jones, William Devane, Edward James Olmos and Roger Corman. His work has been highlighted in Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, the L.A. Weekly, the Los Angeles Times and the Daily News. Marco’s work has been showcased at international festivals and prestigious venues such as the Festival du Cinema de Paris, the Rome Film Festival, Slamdance, the San Francisco Film Festival, the Academy of Motion Pictures Theater in Beverly Hills, Cannes’ Palais du Cinema, Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome and the Egyptian Theater. ”An eagle-eyed DP” VARIETY
Ray Moheet
Manager/Producer
Ray Moheet began his career at J. Michael Bloom & Associates when he was just 22 years old, quickly becoming one of the youngest agents in Hollywood at the time. Ray subsequently moved on to co-found Mitchell K.
Stubbs & Associates. His rapid ascension to Vice-President of Comedy at MKS was in large measure due to his ability for procuring some of the best, young talent in Hollywood. During his tenure at MKS, Moheet represented a slew of Oscar nominees as well Emmy, Golden Globe, and Tony winners. Having firmly established MKS as a leading agency for producing new talent within the short span of just ten years, Ray joined Levity Entertainment as a manager and producer in 2010. While he continues to represent talent at Levity, he has now shifted his attention to management and production responsibilities as well as overseeing content development. Ray is currently developing a number of film projects as well as a series of groundbreaking television pilots.
Alrick Brown
Writer Director
Alrick Brown has a MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. A filmmaker and teacher, he has found his calling writing, directing, and producing narrative films and documentaries often focusing on social issues affecting the world at large. It was after visiting the slave castle of Elmina, in Ghana, that he was inspired to attend film school. For over two years he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cote d’Ivoire. The interactions with the people of his village and his overall experiences in West Africa have informed his creative expression; an expression first fostered by his birth in Kingston, Jamaica and migration to, and upbringing in Plainfield, New Jersey. A fluent French speaker, he graduated from Rutgers University with a BA in English and a Masters in Education. Since then he has devoted his energy to changing the world by giving a voice to the voiceless and telling stories that otherwise would not be told.
His collective work has screened in over forty film festivals, national and international, and received numerous awards. He and his co-producer, received the “HBO Life Through Your Lens Emerging Filmmaker Award” to produce their critically acclaimed documentary “Death of Two Sons.” In 2004 he was one of four NYU students featured in the IFC Documentary series “Film School”, produced by Academy award nominee Nannette Burstein. In 2007 he addressed the Motion Picture Association of America on C-SPAN. In 2009 he directed his first stage play. At present, he is in post-production on his first feature film, “Kinyarwanda” shot on location in Rwanda and writing a feature thriller titled, “Shadows.”
