• box office
• schedule
• film list
• venues
• submit a film
• sponsors

Taylor Hamilton
Loyal festival attendee, Taylor, was introduced to staff life last year as a venue manager. This year, as communications coordinator her full time mission is to spread the word of Cucalorus to the universe! In her free time you can find her volunteering at DREAMS, mixing up killer smoothies, traveling and hanging with her pup.

 

Julia Pleasants
Since moving to Wilmington from her native Virginia in 2009, Julia has been living and working all over the downtown area.  She joins Cucalorus this year to help coordinate box office, outreach, and Dance-a-lorus. Her pastimes include dancing, coffee shops, and dancing about in coffee shops.
 

 

Ducky Garner
Ducky has been working the festival circuit for 6 years working with Cucalorus and Sundance. He has. His background includes Director of The Pleasure Island Seafood, Blues and Jazz Festival.Organized and hosted the Southern Coastal Blurgrass Festival for three years. Emcee and host for the last eleven years at the Bald Head Island Fishing Rodeo. Ducky is currently employed by Cumulus Broadcasting (94.5 FM) where he is "The Duckman" on the air.

Izzie
Recently relocated from a no-kill animal resort on the outskirts of Conway, South Carolina, Izzie is a Mini-Pin and Spaniel mix with a few unknown ancestral lines. Izzie works diligently to maintain staff morale by licking hands, faces and other places.  You can find her chewing sticks, practicing her stunt dog tricks and looking out the window.    

Board of Trustees

Susi Hamilton, Chair
Susi’s roots in New Hanover County run deep, her family has resided in Wilmington for decades. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, from UNC Wilmington, 2004 and a Bachelor of Arts in History, UNC Chapel Hill, 1994. Susi has business friendly values and strong sense of public participation. In addition to Cucalorus, she currently serves on many local boards and commissions.

Norm Robinson, President
Norm has been a Wilmington resident for forty years. He is a retired physician/educator, co-founder of Wilmington Health Associates, and watercolorist. Norman is a long-time supporter of the arts and serves as president on the board of directors at the Cucalorus Film Festival.

Dylan Lee, Secretary

Alane Savod, Treasurer

Bill Vassar
Bill is the Executive Vice President of EUE Screen Gems Studios. He manages the company’s facilities in Wilmington and Charleston. Bill joined EUE Screen Gems in 1997 as the manager of their video facility in New York City. In 2002 he added the responsibility of collaborating with their Wilmington studio management. Bill serves on the North Carolina Governor’s Film Council and the board of the Wilmington Regional Film Office. He also served two terms on the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Meg Lansaw
Meg is a native West Virginian, Ohio State alumnus, vegetarian and filmmaker residing in Wilmington, North Carolina where she owns and operates Kissin’ Cousins Productions. Lansaw has written, directed and produced numerous short films including "wait..." and "80 Windows" which have screened at festivals throughout the country including Charlotte, Appalachian, Cucalorus, LunaFest and LA Shorts Fest. Her film "11:11", which is currently in pre-production, received the 2nd place Screenwriting Award at the Appalachian Film Festival in 2008.

Robert Sharp
Robert has nearly 20 years of entrepreneurial experience, mainly in the digital media industry. Most recently, Robert acquired Digieffects, a developer of special effects software for film and video. Robert moved the business to Wilmington, North Carolina in 2007 and since that time has become highly involved with the local film community. Robert grew up in Tokyo, Japan and holds a B.A. in Asian History from San Francisco State University.

Elizabeth Kuronen
Elizabeth joined PPD in 2009 as vice president of strategic communications, marketing and public affairs, bringing a wealth of expertise in many different areas. Active in the Wilmington business and civic community, Kuronen currently serves on the board of directors for DREAMS for Youth, and is a past member of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Kuronen earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and public relations from Campbell University and studied journalism at North Carolina State University.

Rob Hill
Rob majored in Motion Picture and Television Production at the University of Southern Colorado. With a small grant in 1999, he produced, directed and edited the non-fiction film Live In It To Win It. Rob founded Common Sense Films, the company behind his Emmy nominated documentary, The Fort Fisher Hermit: The Life and Death of Robert E. Harrill. The film also won Best Documentary Feature at the Hollywood Film Festival and is distributed nationally. The National Academy of Television Science nominated Rob for the prestigious Rising Star Award in 2007.

Benedict Fancy
Ben is an award winning filmmaker who has relocated from England and has been teaching film studies and video production elective classes at Cape Fear Academy. When his schedule permits he is a Grip in the local film industry. His current film project is a feature-length documentary about the 25th Anniversary of American absurdist filmmaker David Lynch's cult classic 'Blue Velvet', which was shot in Wilmington, NC in 1985. The documentary is titled "It's a Strange World - The Filming of Blue Velvet" and is currently in production.

Dave Monahan
Dave is a filmmaker and teacher. He is the co-author of "Looking At Movies", an intro to film textbook published by W.W. Norton& Co, and serves as the chair of the Film Studies department at UNC Wilmington.

Dan Brawley
Dancing to several tunes (mostly off beat) all at once, Dan Brawley is the multi-media collaborator and curator leading Cucalorus since 1999. A
graduate of Duke University and a native of Wilmington, Brawley is busy traveling around the world to find new films, artists and ideas to the festival. Ever restless, Brawley is also the Treasurer of Atlanta-based non-profit Alternate ROOTS, an organization that supports the crossroads between art and activism.
 

Beth Steelman

Melanie Cook

Shann Coleman

Duke Fire

Stephanie Avery

Ambassadors Council

Aaron Hillis
Aaron is the NYC-based curator of the reRun Gastropub Theater (Brooklyn, NY), editor of GreenCine Daily, and an ongoing contributor to The Village Voice, LA Weekly, Time Out NY, Variety, and Spin. His co-directorial feature debut, FISH KILL FLEA, screened at Cucalorus '07.
 
 


Hope Dickson Leach
Hope completed her MFA in filmmaking at Columbia University in New York, during which time she was assistant to Todd Solondz for the making of his film PALINDROMES. Her award-winning short films have played at festivals worldwide and she is currently developing her debut feature ENGLISH ROSE about a teenage girl who hates Princess Diana (a comedy). She lives in Glasgow with her husband and son.

Geoff Marslett
Geoff is a native Texan who took a circuitous path to filmmaking, studying mathematics, philosophy, art, science, and languages at St. John’s College before returning to Texas to pursue an MFA in filmmaking at UT (2001). His critically acclaimed Monkey vs. Robot screened at over 25 festivals worldwide, was distributed theatrically, and broadcast on HBO, PBS, and Univision. His short, Bubblecraft, served as a laboratory for developing his own unique animation process and style and later co-wrote an expanded version for Mars.
 

Norwood Cheek

Francesca Talenti
Francesca is a filmmaker and animator that has exhibited work from Sundance to PBS National, by way of Mumbai, Casablanca, Göteborg, and many others. She has won a number of "best of" awards and has received grants from the Independent Television Service, Latino Public Broadcasting, and the Kauffman Foundation. Francesca is also a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches media production. 
 

Matt Hulse
Perhaps best known for his films - with award - winning shorts, retrospective screenings and the debut feature documentary 'Follow The Master' (which had its US premier at Cucalorus and has been described as 'thrumming with life and a little madness') - but in his restless, maverick practice Matt embraces moving image, text, music, sound, live performance, events and community to help articulate his quizzical, poetic take on over looked aspects of this bizarre life. Has also worked as a toilet cleaner. Pedal over to > dummyjim.com

Josephine Decker
Josephine is a Brooklyn-based performer and filmmaker. A magical realist at heart, she attempts to navigate the wavering sea-tide between fish-heads and teddy bears -- always aiming for the truth. Her performance art has received national  coverage, and her feature doc "Bi The Way," exploring the rise of bisexuality in America and available on Logo and Netflix, screened at SXSW, Silverdocs, and about 100 festivals worldwide.  Her short films-- featuring dancing utensils and child pirates -- have brought her to Cucalorus for the last three years. She aims to shoot her frist narrative feature, "Squeezebox", in the fall of 2012. 

Volunteers!
Cucalorus is made possible by an enormous volunteer staff. Each year hundreds of brilliant and talented people like you devote hours and hours to make the annual festival a truly unique and southern experience. To join the Cucalorus Family of dysfunktional spirits, send an email to programming@cucalorus.org or drop by the office at 815 Princess Street in downtown Wilmington.