CREATING OPPORTUNITY: HATCH Groundbreakers

HATCH groundbreakers are college students and up-and-coming talent from every continent who submit their works in the HATCH Groundbreaker competition. Finalists are selected by a jury of industry professionals and flown to HATCHfest–all expenses paid– to join mentors and peers for a life-altering experience.

HATCH has sponsored more than 100 groundbreakers from diverse locations such as Singapore, Uzbekistan, Australia, Israel, United Kingdom, and across the US.

“There is an immediate sense of community and support as soon as you arrive at the airport and it stays with you long after you leave. A lot of festivals give you the impression that you should be grateful you’re even here, but Hatch is the complete opposite.”

Nils Taylor
Hatch Film Groundbreaker

“I was fortunate enough to explore ruins up “The River of Strange Faces” in Belize with Oscar-winning director Ang Lee and his two sons. It was a life-changing experience and an incredible opportunity I would not have had if not for my involvement with HATCH and my mentor, Jeff Pohlman.”

Phil Newman
HATCH Film

MOONLIGHT BASIN OUTSTANDING FILMMAKER

James Pellerito

James Pellerito won the Moonlight at over 100 festivals and has picked up 28 awards. Born in Vicenza , Italy, Basin Award for Outstanding filmmaker and the outstanding screenplay award at HATCHfest 2005. His short film Maree (Tides) tells the story of a penniless Albanian man who decides to abandon his son in Venice rather than watch him grow up in extreme poverty. Shot on location in Venice, in Albanian and Italian with English subtitles, Maree has affected and influenced audiences around the globe. So far, the film has screened James lived there with his family until he moved to New York to attend Columbia University at the age of eighteen. Both of James’ parents are American. He grew up in a bilingual household, speaking both English and Italian. He now divides his time between the U.S. and Italy.

Since HATCHfest last year, James has been very busy working on his film career. This month he returned from Torino, Italy where he is co-directing/ producing a feature film documentary dealing with corruption at the Olympics. He has just finished post-production on another short that he wrote and directed called Extras, a comedy about background talent in which the only thing that matters is what happens in the frame. James is also working on another short called Ballboy, the story of a 40-year-old lawyer who has been a ballboy at the US Tennis Open for 25 years.

Nikki Hummel

2005 SHOWCASED HATCH FASHION

Yellowbird was spotted by the partners of ME Boutique, and subsequently showcased in the HATCH Fashion Show 2005. In her first two months of debuting Yellowbird after the HATCH Fashion Show, Nikki Hummel has sold thirty of her forty handmade custom- stitched pieces, and has been actively mentored by the partners at ME Boutique. Myranda and Lucy of ME are now taking Nikki to the fashion trade show in Las Vegas for the first time where she will learn about wholesaling, recruiting representatives nationally, textiles, and the ins and outs of making an impact in the complex fashion world.

Jeff Stephenson

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARD WINNER HATCHfest 2005

At HATCHfest 2005 Jeff met mentor Charlie Ebersol. Since then he and Charlie have kept up a correspondence, the outcome being that Jeff has been attached to work on Charlie’s next film, The Man in the Woods.

Having just finished a short for Canadian T.V. station Bravo called Just Visiting, Jeff is

working on a feature doc for Bravo called Hamlet: to be or not starring Raoul Bhaneja, the star of Just Visiting. Raoul has been performing Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as a one-man act all over Canada and the film will follow him through performances and interviews with other actors such as Christopher Plummer and John Neville. Jeff continues to work on music videos and has been attached to work on two other features in the next two years from the makers of Chicken Little and Brother Bear.