Savannah College of Art and Design > Film Festival

Jurors

Jon Furay is a creative producer working primarily within the Hollywood system under the company banner Hawker Entertainment. Future projects include “Blood Highways,” which he’s co-producing with Michael Douglas; “2929,” a true story about the Ford-Firestone rollover fiasco; “Iced” by Andrew Heckler; “Snatchback,” which is a true story about the secret world of the international child recovery industry that he’s producing with RadarPictures; and “Accident Man,” based on the Dark Horse comic of the same name.

For the last nine years, Furay ran Other Productions, a New York-based book scouting company he co-founded. Clients included some of the biggest producers in Hollywood such as Jersey Films, MGM, James L. Brooks, Lynda Obst, Laurence Mark, Gale Anne Hurd, Casey Silver and Adam Schroeder. After taking some classes at New York University's graduate school of journalism, he worked his way up the editorial ladder at Doubleday, where he worked closely with a wide range of authors. A native of California, Furay graduated from UCLA with dual bachelor’s degrees.

Avy Kaufman has been a casting director in New York City for 20 years, having worked with notable directors such as Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg, Jim Sheridan, Norman Jewison, Lars Von Trier, Ridley Scott, Jodie Foster and Wong Kar Wai. Born in Atlanta, Kaufman trained in ballet from an early age, and eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts in art history and dance after attending colleges in South Carolina and Vermont. She moved to New York to continue her dance studies where she decided it was more of a hobby rather than a professional goal.

Kaufman began her professional career in advertising, casting commercials and eventually became head of casting for an international advertising agency. During those years, she attended the theater regularly and developed a love for the power of acting and an appreciation for the challenge actors face in making performances seem effortless. Kaufman left advertising to pursue her interest in films where she began casting extras and day players.

Kaufman’s introduction to feature films came when John Sayles hired her to do location casting for “Matewan” (1987), and soon followed up with his next film “Eight Men Out” (1988). Other film casting credits include films such as “Little Man Tate” (1991), Golden Globe-nominated “The Ice Storm” (1997), “A Civil Action” (1998), Academy Award–nominated “The Sixth Sense” (1999), Academy Award–nominated “A.I.” (2001), “Garden State” (2004), Academy Award-winning “Capote” (2005), Academy Award-winning “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), “Everything is Illuminated” (2005), Academy Award-winning “Syriana” (2005), “Derailed” (2005), “All The King’s Men” (2006) and the upcoming “My Blueberry Nights,” starring Ed Harris, Norah Jones, Jude Law, Tim Roth, Natalie Portman, Kevin Spacey and Rachel Weisz, to be released in 2007.

Kaufman lives in Greenwich Village with her husband, photographer Charles Nesbit, and their boys, 14-year-old Harrison and 12-year-old John Theodore. She is featured in Helena Lumme's book, "Great Women Of Film."

David Paterson is an adjunct screenwriting professor for the New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan, has served on numerous festival panels, and lectures at many colleges and universities. Patterson won a Jury Award at the 2005 Savannah Film Festival for his feature “Love, Ludlow.” Filmed for only $75,000, the film just passed the $1 million mark in sales and rentals, and is the only film from Sundance 2005 that turned a profit without a theatrical release. Paterson’s articles have appeared in Indieslate, The New York Times, MovieMaker magazine, Filmmaker and several other filmmaking magazines. Walt Disney Pictures will release his second feature film, “Bridge to Terabithia,” in February 2007.

Richard Turner is the senior vice president of business affairs, programming, at Starz Entertainment. He is responsible for all agreements related to licensing of motion pictures to Starz, both from major studios and independents. Turner also supervises the legal work for Starz's original productions and provides strategic guidance on its ventures into new methods of television and Internet distribution. He was actively involved in the purchase by Starz of IDT Entertainment, and will assist Starz in the integration of IDTE into Starz, as well as its potential launch of a live-action feature production and theatrical distribution company. Prior to Starz, Turner served as an attorney at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Turner is the immediate past chairman of the Board of Directors for the Denver Film Society, which produces the Starz Denver Film Festival and operates the Starz Film Center, a year-round cinematheque located in Denver. Turner is a regular attendee of international film festivals, including Telluride and Toronto. He has been a panel speaker at the Toronto International Film Festival and was a juror at the 2005 Savannah Film Festival.

Turner is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Pepperdine University School of Law.