Film Faculty and Guest Speakers
Faculty
Our faculty members are actively involved in the art of filmmaking and production. The body of their work spans from feature films and documentaries to innovative interactive DVD games for home distribution. Students often get the opportunity to work with our faculty on professional and interesting projects.
Howard Libov
Howard Libov
Film Program Director
Professor Libov holds two master’s degrees and is an award-winning film director, producer, and screenwriter whose work has been distributed theatrically, on HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and PBS. He has also worked as a writer and producer of newscasts and documentaries for the CNN cable network. Howard attended the film programs at New York University and The American Film Institute.
- His films include the feature Favorite Son (Director/Co-writer) with Pablo Schreiber (HBO’s The Wire) and Connor Paolo (World Trade Center) and is presently in distribution with Bayview Entertainment, and streaming on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+. The film won “Best Director” at the Hoboken Film Festival and the “Gold Remi Award” at the Worldfest International Independent Film Festival, besides being a selected feature at numerous other film festivals.
- Howard’s most recent film, the documentary short, AGLOW takes a look at the art of Paul Chojnowski, who draws with fire. AGLOW is the second film in the Under the Radar series, which takes a look at modern, working artists. AGLOW won Best Short at The Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival and was selected by DocMiami, The Red Rocks Film Festival (Utah), Movies at the Mill (Pennsylvania), The Stony Brook Visual Arts Conference, The New Jersey Film Festival, and the Boston Independent Film Festival.
- Little Man (Director/Co-writer) a short featuring Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) played at more than twenty-five festivals, including the Crested Butte Reelfest where it won the Silver Illumination Award, and The International Festival of Sportfilm (Italy) where it won Best Drama; the film is in distribution with The Cinema Guild.
- Midnight Edition (Director/Co-writer) is a feature film starring Will Patton (Remember the Titans) and won Best First Feature at The Festival of Fantastic Film in Spain. It played in a number of festivals, including The Hamptons, Cork (Ireland), and London. The film was theatrically released, distributed to home video by MCA/Universal, and broadcast on HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax.
- Men Will Be Boys (Director/Writer) is a comedic short that starred members of Chicago’s Second City and Steppenwolf Theaters and was syndicated nationally on PBS stations as a modern-day companion piece to Paddy Chayefsky’s Oscar-winning Marty.
- The documentary Fourteen Stations, the first film in the Under the Radar series, is in distribution with The Cinema Guild.
His IMDB page. Howard teaches Directing, Filmmaking III, Senior Thesis, and Screenwriting I & II.
David Landau
David Landau
Cinema Technology Director
Cinematography Concentration program director David Landau joined the FDU faculty after more than 25 years working professionally as a crew member in the film industry on TV shows, commercials, corporate videos, and feature films. David has been awarded six Telly Awards and a Cindy Award for his lighting and cinematography.
Most recently, David worked as the Director of Photography on the feature film “From The Shadows” for Alt House Films. Other credits include working as DP on the Fox/Meadows web series “The Other F Word, season 1”, the drama feature film “Stray” for Eskridge prods, and the indie horror film “Dark Tarot” for DGW Films, as well as being cinematographer for various projects for such clients as The Weather Channel, Verizon, and Bank of America video networks. He was a lighting director for British Sky News’ live broadcast of the US election from Times Square and was the location Light Director and lead gaffer on “Project Runway Allstars, seasons 3 & 4” for Lifetime. Other credits include gaffer on Lifetime’s “Project Accessory”, a spin-off from “Project Runway” on which David worked as part of the lighting crew for nine seasons.
David is the author of “Lighting for Cinematography“ from Bloomsbury Press and coauthored a new book for Bloomsbury titled “Multi-Camera Cinematography”. He is also the author of “Film Noir Production“ from Focal/Routledge Press and has had several articles on lighting published in StudentFilmmakers magazine and HD Pro Guide. As a screenwriter David has suffered through many pitch meetings, has had a few screenplays optioned, and won several screenwriting awards. He is co-author with David Carren of the book “Next Level Screenwriting” from Focal/Routledge, has a dozen articles on screenwriting published in Script Magazine and Screenwriter’s Monthly, and received his MFA in screenwriting from Goddard College.
David was honored to have been awarded the 2016 Teaching Award from the University Film and Video Association.
His IMBD page. David teaches Lighting, Cinematography, Filmmaking II, Reality TV Production, Client Video Production, Cinematic Storytelling, Film Noir, and Screenwriting I & II.
Dana H. Glazer
Dana H. Glazer
Dana H. Glazer received his BFA in History from Bowdoin College in 1992 and his MFA in film from NYU in 1998. His graduate thesis film, “Intermezzo,” won a Student Academy Award in 1998. He has written screenplays for Warner Brothers and the Syfy Channel and is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America. Mr. Glazer’s feature documentary work includes “The Evolution of Dad” (2010), which was invited to play at the White House in 2014. Other documentaries include “Parents of the Revolution” (2014) as well as the short “Jim and Sarah Brady: A Tribute” (2015) which he made for the Brady Center For Gun Violence Prevention. For his documentaries, Mr. Glazer has interviewed many notable people including Darryl McDaniels, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Jim, Sarah Brady, and Dan Rather. His first feature dramatic film, “A Case of Blue,” will be released in 2020.
Craig Hettich
Craig Hettich is a video, technology, and operations leader with a focus on innovation and education. He’s currently the post-production manager at The New York Times. Craig spent more than a decade at Reuters where he oversaw the intersection of technology, operations, and production for a global team that regularly delivered 50+ daily videos to clients, social and consumer platforms. Craig helped develop and deliver the product Reuters TV, handled the post-production for 360 videos, produced and directed live events, and led numerous special projects and video series. He was on the ground for several U.S. political conventions and spent nine Januarys in Davos helping to produce a daily morning show. Craig has a film and television degree from Boston University and a Master’s in technology management from Columbia University.
Elliot Hoffman
Elliot Hoffman
Elliot Hoffman holds a master of science degree from Boston University. A documentary filmmaker, his work has been broadcast on PBS. National awards include Cindy, Aurora, and Telly, and an American Film Festival Blue Ribbon. Elliot’s films include; “Glowing Embers”, which screened at the 2006 Independent Film Project Market in NYC as a work in progress (presently in post-production), “Teacher’s Stories, Children’s Lives” which won a Gold Cindy at the 38th Annual International Cindy Competition and was broadcast on numerous PBS stations across the country, and “A Good Example: Bertolt Brecht before the House Un-American Activities Committee”, which won a Blue Ribbon at the American Film Festival.
Elliot teaches Filmmaking I, History of Film, Documentary Film, and Cinematic Storytelling.
Vincent Guagenti
Vincent Guagenti
Vincent Guagenti has worked in music videos and done sound work for video and live band performances. Besides teaching, he is also the department’s equipment manager. He is also an actor and musician and member of Robot Hands Productions which has produced a variety of award-winning festival shorts.
His IMDB page. Vince teaches Filmmaking I, Audio, and film studies courses.
Vincent Celii
After graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Vincent Celii worked as a freelance production assistant for various independent film productions then went on to work for the Mayor’s Office of Film and Television.
Vincent teaches History of TV and film studies courses at FDU.
Jacqueline B. Frost
Jacqueline B. Frost
Jacqueline B. Frost has been an educator in film production, cinematography, and film history for thirty years. She has continued to produce and photograph films that have screened in film festivals worldwide throughout her academic career. Frost is currently a cinematographer and co-producer of a feature-length documentary. She is the author of Cinematography for Directors and Conversations with Contemporary Cinematographers.
Ryan D. Moore
Ryan D. Moore
Ryan D. Moore is a screenwriter, director, and educator based out of NJ. His short screenplays have been produced and screened around the world— including the short film Grafters (2015) which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. He teaches film appreciation, screenwriting, and filmmaking at the collegiate level and also serves as the education program manager for the Montclair Film Festival’s year-round education program. His award-winning feature film Marijuana Minutes (2022) is working its way through the festival circuit.
Speakers
Documentary producer Daniel Wolff and feature film director Jonathon Demme.
Students learn from professionals in the field
Through our faculty’s professional industry contacts, FDU Film students have learned a great deal about the real world of film and video. From special presentations and visiting classes to holding seminars, these working experts in their field have added to our student’s education and understanding of the industry. Recent guest speakers have included:
- Neil Burger – Feature Film Director/Writer (Divergent, The Illusionists) imdb
- Jonathan Demme – Feature film director (Silence of the Lambs, Ricki and the Flash) imdb
- Daniel Wolff – documentary producer imdb
- Maggie Renzi – Producer ( of John Sayles features) imdb
- Nora Chavooshian – Feature film production designer imdb
- Tim Squyres – Feature film editor imdb
- Robert Andres – feature film & TV series Key Grip imdb
- Tony Pettine – feature film and TV script supervisor imdb
- Debra J. Olchick – Line producer, Production manager imdb
- Sarit Catz – Sit-com Screenwriter imdb
- Peter Stein, ASC – feature film Cinematographer imdb
- Andy Breckman – Screenwriter on the TV series “Monk” and such feature films as “Rat Race” and “IQ” imdb
- John McCormick – Sound Mixer on the TV series “Rescue Me” imdb
- Bruce Figeri – President LifeSize Entertainment, independent film/video distributor and producer on the feature film “Fear House”. imdb
- Doug LeClaire – freelance TV commercial producer and producer on the feature film “Greetings from the Shore” imdb
- Ben Wolf – Cinematographer imdb
- Alik Sakhorov, ASC – Cinematographer on the HBO series “The Sopranos” and others. imdb
- Emily Gumpel, Editor imdb
- John Allen – Editor “The Golden Bowl”, “Le Divorce” (Merchant/Ivory, producers) imdb
- Joan Stein – Director; Writer/Director, “One Day Crossing,” Academy Award Nominee, Best Live Action Short Film, 2001. imdb
- Nancy Kamowitz – Script Supervisor imdb
- Andrew K. Stauffer – Producer imdb
- Michael Domeaniecki – Make-Up
- Judith Seaman – Documentary Producer/Editor
- John Ombaldo – Sound Recording
- Kevin Allen – Production Designer
- Kim Chorba – Acting Instructor