Engages, Educates, and Empowers Student Filmmakers
Film industry professionals mentor students to step out of their comfort zone and tell their stories. We unleash untapped creativity and encourage the next generation of working filmmakers to transform the culture of the industry.
DUSTIN DUMAS
Dustin is an author, host and producer. She hosts and produces the television shows, Dustin’s Kaleidoscope and What’s Up Around Town. She is the station manager of the award-winning South Orange Maplewood Television station (SOMAtv) which won its first award in its 27 year history under her leadership in 2021. The station won for a series of inclusive and non-partisan public service announcements she produced for the 2020 election cycle. She has been part of community television stations in Illinois, California and New Jersey and enjoys helping people tell their stories. She is also an avid family historian and has written extensively and given presentations on her Civil War veteran ancestors, Henry Beard and Alexander Branscomb. She has been invited to present on her Civil War ancestors at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington D.C several times. Through proof of her direct lineage, she has been admitted membership into the lineage groups, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. She is currently working on a documentary about her Civil War ancestors. Ms. Dumas has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas, Austin and a Certificate of Western and Eastern Europe: Institutions and Corporate Governance from the WHU Koblenz School of Corporate Management, Koblenz Germany.
PAUL J. WILLIAMS
Born and raised in the Great State of New Jersey, Paul J. Williams started film school at the age of eight when his parents took him to the theater to see his first movie: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." Since then, he has become a multi-award-winning screenwriter, producer, director, and consultant based in the New York City-area. In 2010, he founded Rolling Dark Productions and has had several movies screen at film festivals throughout the world. His screenplays have reached the Quarterfinals, Top 10%, Top 15%, and the Top 20% in the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting; the Semifinals and Second Round in the Austin Film Festival; and the Semifinals in the CineStory Feature Retreat Competition. He is an alumnus of the New Jersey Film School; a member of the New Jersey Screenwriters' Group; and serves as a Professional Mentor for Cinema Ed Films. He is also a screenplay reader/analyst for the Austin Film Festival's Screenplay Competition (First and Second/Quarterfinal Rounds) and for Catch & Release Films (PRECIOUS, 127 HOURS, FOXCATCHER, MUD, WIN WIN). He has also reviewed movies and had articles on cinema published in various online outlets. Paul is currently in production on a documentary series about the legalization of marijuana in New Jersey.
MIA WHITE
Mia Charlene White, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at The New School in NYC, where she teaches courses on race, geography and space-making practices in communities of color. Now residing and organizing in South Orange, NJ, Mia is proud to have roots in both Tarrytown, NY and Queens, NY. She is a parent of two wonderful children, lives with disability, and identifies as a Black woman of African American and Korean descent. Mia did her PhD in urban planning at MIT, her master of international affairs at Columbia (environmental justice), and her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at SUNY Stonybrook. Mia is an elected member of the South Orange Village Zoning Board of Adjustment, and is also a Board member of Valley Arts NJ, an arts-education organization dedicated to justice through the arts for all of the Oranges.
JAMES WARD III
James is an architect, builder and community-minded founder of the Seven Oaks Society in the City of Orange who is dedicated to social action through programming. He is also a board member of ValleyArts and has worked to increase building design standards, advocated for noise ordinances, protected LGBTQ rights and updated signage to protect the community's children and elderly residents. And over the last two winters, he has distributed nearly 1,000 coats to needy residents. After living in New York City for 12 years, James and his wife Zonasha settled in the community of Orange with a goal of planting roots and raising their two young children. Zonasha, a two-year participant of the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC), created The Orange PEEL (parents, education, entertainment, lifestyle) Facebook group and has advocated for more Pre-K seats on the school board for young families soon entering the local schools. She also has fostered a strong relationship with the new school board administration and helped secure two seats for members of SOS. The Wards began Seven Oaks Society to unify the voices of our community and to advocate on behalf of the membership of 141 households across the City of Orange.