OCTOBER 7-13, 2026
#SOHO17 #SIFFNYC
XACKERY IRVING
Filmmaker / Producer
RACHEL WATANABE-BATTON
Film & TV Producer
JAMES TUMMINIA
Actor / Director / Producer / Writer
DARYN SIMONS
Producer / Talent Agent
Cohesive Entertainment Group
INDRA SUHARJONO
Co-founder, I.E. Entertainment Pte Lt
2026 MEMBERS OF THE JURY
LESLIE FIELDS-CRUZ
Executive Director at Black Public Media
SUSANNAH D'ARCY
Producer l Distributor
MARCI PHILLIPS
EVP of Talent & Casting for 20th Studios/Disney Entertainment
NARUMI INATSUGU
Director / Producer / Creative Executive
Chief Creative Officer, JoySauce
ERNABEL DEMILLO
Broadcaster l Journalism Professor
#SOHO15 MEMBERS OF THE JURY - BIOS
MARCI PHILLIPS Marci is the VP of Talent & Casting for 20th Studios/Disney Entertainment, covering the East Coast (and beyond) acting pool for 20th Television, ABC Signature Studios and select other entities within the Walt Disney Company. For over 25 years she has cast for ABC Studio and Network pilots, new series regulars, recurring roles and numerous guest star roles. Marci has been heavily involved in finding (and in many cases mentoring) the talent for the Disney Television Discovers: Talent Showcase since its inception in 2000. This illustrious roster includes Lupita Nyong’o, Chadwick Boseman, Gina Rodriguez, Pedro Pascal, Dominique Fishback, Jesse Williams, Jermaine Fowler, Ali Stroker and a multitude of others too numerous to mention! Marci has coached and taught actors for decades and previously worked as a Casting Assistant for MGM Studios. She cast the independent film “Let It Snow”, which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. Marci also co-produced two off-off Broadway plays and is the author of the book “The Present Actor - A Practical and Spiritual Guideline to Help You Enjoy the Ride”. Being the daughter of a Broadway Musical actor and a wife to multiple actors (one at a time, no bigamy here!), her life experience in this business actually outweighs her professional experience.... but that's too long a story for this Bio!
JAMES TUMMINIA is a producer/actor/director with bases in Los Angeles and Italy. He received a 2019 EMMY nomination and won two Telly Awards for producing LOVE, GILDA (Magnolia Pictures/CNN Films) that opened the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. James co-founded Italus Films, an Italy/US joint venture, set to release the short documentary, PER CHI filmed in Italy. As a producer, he has championed filmmakers whose voices span a diverse spectrum. Select film credits: ALL SHE WROTE (US/Bulgaria), THREE DAYS IN AUGUST, SOMEBODY’S MOTHER and STRIKE ONE. He is currently producing the film-noir drama JACK CLAYBORNE, the family drama FREE!, and the live action short BOCCE to be filmed in Italy. James executive-produced the feature documentary VIVA VERDI, made in Italy, and opening in October, 2025 after a successful festival run. As head of production at GPA Entertainment, he developed and produced for TV and film. James often works in non-fiction, producing content for TV and digital streaming. He also specializes in attaching A-list talent to projects. His award-winning short, MY CHRISTMAS WISH, screened at worldwide festivals, earning him directing and producing awards. As an actor, recent credits include, the premiere episode of Peacock’s hit series “Those About to Die,” starring Anthony Hopkins, Hallmark Channel’s film, TWO SCOOPS OF ITALY and IL CANTO DELLA MOSCA, all filmed in Italy; other screen credits: STRIKE ONE, “Criminal Minds,” “Melissa & Joey,” “The Shield” and the upcoming feature THREE COLORS: PAN-AFRICAN. A native New Yorker, James is a member of BAFTA, Producers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA and the Television Academy.
ERNABEL DEMILLO She currently hosts and reports for CUNY-TV’s 7-time Emmy-nominated program “Asian American Life” http://www.cuny.tv/show/asianamericanlife, a magazine-style show focusing on the tri-state’s Asian American community. She is an award-winning journalist, cited by the Governor of New York for her service and contributions to the Asian American Community and was honored with a Folio Award for Best Environmental Reporting. She also made Buzzfeed’s list of 34 Epic Filipinos in the United States. Along with her work as a journalist, Ernabel managed to find success in a second career. She is a tenured Journalism professor at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, N.J. and is faculty chair of the Department of Communication and Media Culture. Ernabel is active in the Asian American community. She has served on the boards of several organizations including: Vice President of Broadcast for AAJA, board member for Apex for Youth, an AAPI mentoring organization and board member for the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF). She currently serves on the board of Advancement for Rural Kids (ARK), a non-profit helping build schools and empowering communities in developing countries. Ernabel grew up in San Francisco and now calls herself a Jersey girl. She lives on the Jersey Shore with her husband, John Muller, an anchor for PIX11 News and their 17-year-old daughter, and rescue dog, Stella. Follower her on Twitter @ErnabelD
SUSANNAH D'ARCY Susannah D’Arcy began her career as a script supervisor and moved quickly to being David Fincher’s 1st AD. Finding her place in production, distribution, and sales of all kind’s projects. A dynamic Producer & Line Producer for feature films, television, live events, and musicals. Susannah has produced live events for AFCI, Boeing, Equestrian Longines Master’s as well as $30M private events conferences and galas. She has opened up an international division, serving projects in France, Egypt, Belgium, and Italy. She is currently in pre-production & development on various film projects and was recently appointed President for BritCan Media. Britcan Media recently partnered with a full-service production studio in Prague for the international Films and TV sales arm and has built out a production arm in both Vancouver and Australia. She has just finished the development phase and final script on a Musical, featuring a Motown 70’s iconic band which is expected to launch next year, with Tony winning team members. During covid she worked with Dick Wolf Production for FBI International and prior to Covid she was in Egypt working at a luxury live event. She has worked with Martha Stewart, Steven Spielberg, Sir Richard Attenborough, Alex Proyas, NBC, ABC, CBS, Universal Studios. Ms. D’Arcy is a member of the Producers Guild of America where she served as Chairman of Live Events. And become mentored through the PGA program highlighting up and coming film creators. She is also a Los Angeles Board Member of French In-Motion, member of Producers without Borders and an Ambassador to the Red Cross of America. www.britcanmedia.com
LESLIE FIELDS-CRUZ Leslie Fields-Cruz started at Black Public Media, formerly National Black Programming Consortium, in 2001 managing grant making activities that supported the production and development of documentary programs for PBS. By 2005, she was the Director of Programming, leading the distribution of all funded programs to public television. In 2008, with six independent titles in need of a public television broadcast, Fields-Cruz launched AfroPoP: The Ultimately Cultural Exchange, a documentary series highlighting the variety and depth of the global black experience. AfroPoP has garnered several awards and is the only national public television series focused solely on stories from the black experience. In the fall of 2014, Fields-Cruz became BPM’s third Executive Director. Though she keeps the pulse on the development of program content and its distribution across public media platforms, she is focused on growing BPM’s resources to enable it to support more stories about the Black experience.
DARYN SIMONS is a Producer, Talent Manager, Digital Strategist, Entrepreneur and past President of the Talent Managers Association. Daryn won The Heller Award for Talent Manager of the Year in 2015 and has produced the past three Heller Awards with Sharon Stone, Joan Rivers, Betty White and William Shatner. Prior to working in Management, she worked in development and production at Paramount Studios, Sony and Fox. Daryn recently produced Nelson Bixby Takes On The Whole Wide World for Disney, Locating Silver Lake with Finn Wittrock & Josh Peck and The Debt Collector, with Tony Todd, Louis Mandylor & Scott Adkins for Sony/Netflix. Daryn has also had the opportunity to cast features and a digital project and is prepping for the upcoming FnD Podcast. CEG is currently developing a major slate of film, television and digital projects. TMA MANAGER OF THE YEAR 2015
NARUMI INATSUGU Narumi Inatsugu is a four-time Primetime Emmy Award-nominated director, producer, and creative executive with more than three decades of experience shaping compelling stories across television, film, and digital media. Having worked with all major Hollywood studios and television networks, he has built a distinguished career creating award-winning content and collaborating with some of the biggest names in entertainment. He serves as Chief Creative Officer of JoySauce, a leading media network dedicated to Asian and Asian American storytelling, and is the Founder and CEO of Rumiville, an award-winning creative production company. A passionate advocate for storytelling, cultural representation, and the next generation of filmmakers, Narumi serves on the boards of the Geena Davis Institute and National ACE, as well as the Advisory Board of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. Beyond his creative work, he is committed to building institutions, strengthening communities, and opening doors for emerging talent. His work reflects a belief in the power of storytelling to connect cultures, challenge perspectives, and inspire future generations.
RICHARD J. LEE Richard J. Lee is an award winning director, writer, and producer with over 20 years film, television, and commercial experience. Richard spent the initial part of his career working on 30 second films on the national stage, trying to intersect art and commerce for clients such as Acura, Mercedes Benz, Ford, Nestle, Microsoft, and Intuit. Knowing that commerce generally won, he would like the take a moment to thank you for making that purchase and, at the same time, apologize for taking up space in that box marked “stuff" in your garage. Richard has also spent the past 14 years involved with the Disney Television Discovers Talent Showcase, helping Disney/ABC cultivate and discover emerging talent. Since 2020, he has served as the Executive Producer and this year, Richard was tapped to direct the showcase presentation Death to My Twenties. Richard’s feature film The Death That Awaits, (Megan Lawless, Paul Johansson, Ron Yuan) is currently streaming on Tubi and Amazon Prime. He recently completed post-production on the feature film The Quiet Cost, (Caitlin Bassett, Eliza Taylor, Joe Lando) and is currently in pre-production on his third feature film, Everything I Didn’t Say, which is set to begin production in 2027. When not in production, Richard drinks lots of coffee (like way, way too much coffee), takes pretty pictures, makes your brain want to explode with frustration from reading run-on sentences, is a proponent for the Oxford comma, and challenges you to try his bolognese sauce without slamming the table and saying damn. Instagram: @itsRichardJLee // IMDb: imdb.me/RichardLee
XACKERY IRVING Xackery Irving is an independent filmmaker based in New York whose films include Nothing Without You and American Chain Gang, both available on Amazon and Apple. His latest feature documentary, Brace For Oblivion, filmed in combat zones across Ukraine, won Best International Documentary at the 2026 Galway Film Fleadh and screened at the Odesa International Film Festival in Kyiv in September. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Employment Committee of the Producers Guild of America.
RACHEL WATANABE-BATTON Rachel Watanabe-Batton is an Emmy-award winning film and television producer specializing in nuanced storytelling. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, The Television Academy, and New York Women in Film and Television. She believes that films have the power to create empathy and freedom, or bias and fear; she has chosen to champion our collective empowerment. Her credits include musical comedy "Sneakerella" for Disney Plus, which garnered 4 Emmys, the EPIX docu-series "By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem,” (NAACP Award winner), "Out/Side of Time” on exhibit in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Afrofuturist Period Room. Her collaborations with legendary filmmaker Julie Dash include exhibitions for The Met’s Costume Institute 2022 "In America,” the short film "Seeking: Mapping Our Gullah Geechee Story,” and upcoming documentary “Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl.” Watanabe-Batton was honored by NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment with a MADE IN NY Award for her advocacy as Chair of PGA East Diversity Committee (2008-2018) and co-founder of PGA Women's Impact Network. She is an Emeritus Board Member of Manhattan Neighborhood Network and served as its Chair 2018-2022. She served on the board of New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) and co-founded the collective Women Independent Producers (WIP). As Head of Production for Department of Film at Goldcrest she executive produced hit music videos from the late 1990s to early 2000’s mentoring emerging directors. She has produced global advertising campaigns with Cannes Lion winning directors, and marketing campaigns for Viacom and Magnolia Pictures. Additional producing credits include narrative films "Ripe" (Mo Ogrodnik), "Book of Love" (Jeff Byrd), and "The Killers" (Tanya Hamilton) and "Bajo del Perro" (Polish Brothers); tv series "I Pity the Fool" (TVLand), docu-series "Insider Training" (Discovery) and documentary film "Cutting Edge" (HBO), "Blueprint" lifestyle series for Martha Stewart Omnimedia. She directed and produced her first film "Once You're In," (WGBH) while still a student at Harvard University with classmate Lauren Greenfield about undocumented Irish immigrants narrated by poet laureate of Ireland, Seamus Heaney. She has a BA from Harvard in Visual and Environmental Studies. Watanabe-Batton's fluency with storytelling is rooted in a lifetime of crossing boundaries as a mixed person born in America before interracial marriage was legal. Her empathy is fortified by a lifetime working with musical and visual artists. Her breakthrough job working in creative development for veteran Hollywood studio producers Paula Weinstein and Mark Rosenberg at Spring Creek Productions at Warner Bros Burbank was transformative, and coincided with Rock the Vote, the L.A. Rebellion and a period of organizing food drives and demonstrations alongside developing feature films “Flesh and Bone” (dir. Steve Kloves) and “Fearless,” which she also worked on as assistant to renown Australian director Peter Weir.
INDRA SUHARJONO Indra Suharjono is the co-founder of I.E. Entertainment, the exclusive worldwide distributor for BEC World in Thailand. Since early 2019, she has been advising BEC World on its global content strategy, successfully bringing Thai dramas to over 80 countries, including China, South Korea, and Latin America. Indra is also the exclusive distributor of the 8-part mini-series "COOLIE," produced by Cathay Film Company, and serves as the executive producer for Project Runway Thailand Season 1. Prior to establishing I.E. Entertainment, Indra was the CEO of Taiwan's Next Animation Studio for three years. With over 32 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry across Asia, she spent a decade at Viacom International Media Networks Asia (Paramount Global), where she served as EVP and Managing Director for the region. Indra also held senior roles at Warner Bros. Pictures International, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and Turner Entertainment Networks Asia during her 12 years with Time Warner in Asia. Additionally, she serves on the board of Cathay Organisation Holdings, Singapore. https://ie-ent.com
RICHARD J. LEE
Writer / Director / Producer