Industry Panel ▪︎ Festival Circuit Survival Guide: Getting Your Film Seen with NYFA Festival Director Crickett Rumley

Your $20 Industry Panel Ticket also includes 1 Complimentary Ticket to an Almost Midnight Screening of your choice (subject to availability).

75 minutes @Asylum NYC

Film festivals can be exhilarating, overwhelming, and career-shaping all at once. What’s a filmmaker to do to navigate the festival circuit with confidence and stand out authentically? In this panel, experienced programmers will cover topics from submissions and strategy to networking and marketing, managing expectations and surviving rejection. We’ll address what festivals are looking for these days – and challenged by – as well the role of comedic films in the zeitgeist of the times. Whether you’re attending your first festival or returning with a new project, think of this as your practical survival guide: how to show up prepared, build real connections, and leave with momentum long after closing night. 

Crickett Rumley - Moderator

The founder and senior director of the Film Festival Department at the New York Film Academy (NYFA) in Los Angeles, Crickett Rumley has guided filmmakers to official selections at festivals ranging from Sundance to Bronzelens and to wins and nominations at the Student Academy Awards, the BAFTA Student Film Awards, the DGA Student Film Awards, and the College Television Awards. She is on the board of the Film Festival Alliance, serves as the Panels Director for the Tallgrass Film Festival, and has taught workshops and served on juries for festivals around the U.S.

Ben Thompson ▪︎ Panelist

VP, Shorts Programming, Tribeca Festival

A graduate from Aberystwyth University, Ben left Wales and London to settle in New York. Soon after arriving, he joined the Tribeca Film Festival where he is currently the VP of Shorts Programming. From the start of his career as a filmmaker, Ben has always had a keen interest in short form storytelling. While at Tribeca he discovered a passion for programming and presenting short films to new and engaged audiences. He is fascinated by the influence film has on our world and culture and travels to search out new stories from around the globe. He has watched over 13,000 short films for Tribeca alone.

Mystelle Brabbée ▪︎ Panelist

Executive Director, Nantucket Film Festival

Mystelle Brabbée is the Executive Director of the Nantucket Film Festival, where she has spent more than two decades shaping one of the country’s most respected celebrations of screenwriting and storytelling. Before stepping into the Executive Director role in 2012, she curated the festival for sixteen years—ten as Artistic Director—overseeing film lineups of up to 75 features, documentaries, and shorts annually. She has also helmed many of NFF’s signature live programs, including the Screenwriters Tribute, the All-Star Comedy Roundtable, Staged Readings, Late Night Storytelling, and the Teen View Filmmaking Program. Beyond Nantucket, Brabbée has served as Senior Programmer for DOC NYC and as Director of Acquisitions for the London-based film rights company article27. She directed and produced Highway Courtesans, a documentary filmed in India that screened at more than thirty festivals worldwide. Brabbée has taught at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and lives in the Hudson Valley.

Kristin McCracken ▪︎ Panelist

Programmer & Director of Publications, Hamptons International Film Festival

Kristin McCracken is an experienced film festival professional known for her acumen in the digital and social space. Formerly VP of Digital Media at Tribeca (where she won two Webby Awards), she is currently a Programmer and the Director of Publications for the Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Program Manager for Science on Screen®, a grant program of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation administered by the Coolidge Corner Theatre. 

Kristin works seasonally with other film festivals, including the Provincetown International Film Festival and the Key West Film Festival. Past clients include Montclair Film, German Films, the Maui Film Festival, the Naples International Film Festival, and DOC NYC. She served on the Executive Board of the Film Festival Alliance from 2013-2017.