Expo Producer Greg Lamberson of Cinema Arts Collaborative
Villa Maria College will host the first Cinema Arts Expo on Saturday, April 5th from 10:30am – 5:30 pm. The expo is the first event from Cinema Arts Collaborative, Inc., a new nonprofit organization created to promote, educate and grow the Buffalo-Niagara film community. The event will consist primarily of panels featuring area creators and professionals. Local filmmaker Gregory Lamberson, a member of the Producers Guild of America, serves as the executive director of CAC and will moderate most of the panels.
“Many films are coming to Buffalo to shoot in the very near future and we need to grow our crew base,” says Lamberson. “This expo is aimed at creators, but also at people who wish to join the film crew community: film students, graduates and others seeking to get their foot in the door. Networking is crucial, and showing up is a large part of the battle.”
The first panel of the day will be “Buffalo Niagara Film Production,” featuring Buffalo-Niagara Film Commissioner Tim Clark, Buffalo Film Office Director of Operations Rich Wall, and Cindy Abbott Letro, who sits on the film commission’s board of directors and hosts Behind the Camera on YouTube. “This is a great opportunity for local residents, including students who are graduating this spring, to network with film professionals and learn about the Buffalo-Niagara film community,” says Clark.
Additional panels will be devoted to Screenwriting (Jeff Wilber, Paul McGinnis, Richie Leyland, Ken Rowe), Producing (Peter Johnson, Tom Paolino, Emily Sheng, Nikki Styliades Howze), Directing (Peter McGennis, John Michael Nolan, Kyle Mecca, David O. Anderson), and Women in Film (Sabrina Pena Young, Kristen Skeet, Hope Muehlbauer).
In addition, Lameberson will conduct an on stage conversation with John Scardino, Business Representative for Local 52 Motion Picture Studio Mechanics. Scardino will discuss the benefits and process of joining the union. “Not everyone who wants to work on movies wants to be a writer, director, or producer,” says Lamberson. “Students are graduating from Villa Maria, Buff State, and UB who wish to earn a living working on movies in a wide range of crew positions.”
To help graduating students and others land those all important first film set jobs, Lamberson is requesting that interested parties bring a hard copy of their resume to the expo and submit it to the Cinema Arts Collaborative table where tickets will be sold. “We’re going to scan these resumes, create a PDF directory, and send it to every person I know who is likely to be hiring crew when all these movies start coming to town. Additionally, a fellow nonprofit, Film Neighbor Network, will have a table at the expo, and they have a track record of helping students land internships.”
Lamberson plans to grow Cinema Arts Expo in the years to come because the demand for crew members is only going to increase, and he hopes Villa Maria will always be the event’s home because their goals are well aligned. “We look forward to welcoming the Cinema Arts Collaborative to campus for the first Cinema Arts Expo,” says Dr. Matthew Giordano, president of Villa Maria College. “By providing an opportunity for collaboration, education, and networking, the event will strengthen the local film community while providing our students with another opportunity to learn from experienced professionals. Hosting events like the Cinema Arts Expo support our ongoing efforts to create structured pathways to sustainable careers for our students and the greater Western New York film industry.”
The Founding Directors of Cinema Arts Collaborative, Inc. are Sabrina Pena Young, President; Terry Kimmel, Vice President and Secretary; and Armand John Petri, Treasurer.
Villa Maria College is located at 240 Pine Ridge Road in Buffalo. Regular admission for Cinema Arts Expo is $20, and students and seniors 60 and over pay $15 (cash at the door).
Cinema Arts Collaborative, Inc.
www.CinmaArtsCollaborative.com
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