Lone Star Emmy®-winning filmmaker Paul Michael Bloodgood enjoyed a professional ballet career for 20 years, performing numerous principal roles including Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake and is an original cast member of Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. Paul Michael has a B.A. in Dance and the Humanities from St. Edward’s University and is a SAG-AFTRA stunt performer with recent work in Martin Scorsese's Killers Of The Flower Moon, Robert Rodriguez's Hypnotic, seasons 5-8 of Fear The Walking Dead, and season 2 of Leverage: Redemption. A 4-time Austin Critics Table Award recipient, Paul Michael collaborated with choreographer Stephen Mills on Preludes/Beginnings which aired on Austin PBS to critical acclaim. Paul Michael’s feature film Trenches Of Rock had its world premiere at the Atlanta Film Festival, ultimately receiving 14 film festival accolades. Join Paul Michael for the Q&A following Finding Light.

Peter Hutchison is an award-winning filmmaker, NYT bestselling author, educator & activist. His recent film Healing From Hate - an exploration of hate group activity as seen through the lens of masculinity - has been described as a “raw masterpiece." Devil Put the Coal in the Ground, a holistic look at the ravages of extractive industry and corporate power in West Virginia, has garnered 6 festival Best Feature awards. His longstanding commitment to issues around male identity has resulted in the films You Throw Like A Girl: The Blind Spot of Masculinity, Angry White Men: Masculinity in the Age of Trump, and The Man Card: White Male Identity Politics from Nixon to Trump. He holds an M.S. in Counseling Psychology/Systems Dynamics. Join Peter for the Q&A following The Cure for Hate.

Tony McAleer spent 15 years as a leader in the white supremacist and neo-nazi movements, gaining national attention when brought before the Canadian Human Rights Commission for hate propaganda violations. Following his disengagement from organized white supremacy, Tony has dedicated his life towards peace activism. A co-founder of Life After Hate – an organization created to provide support for those seeking to exit hate group affiliation – he is highly sought-after for his expertise in the field of Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE), including consulting for the DHS and being called to testify before both the US Congress and Canadian Parliament. He is the author of the book "The Cure for Hate: A Former White Supremacist's Journey from Violent Extremism to Radical Compassion", published by Arsenal Pulp Press. Join Tony for the Q&A following The Cure for Hate.

Adam W. McKinney, Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, has served as an arts leader, tenured professor, choreographer, dancer, educator and activist. McKinney has danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Béjart Ballet Lausanne (Switzerland), Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Milwaukee Ballet Company. He is committed to making ballet and dance accessible to all and has served as a U.S. Embassy Culture Connect Envoy to South Africa through the U.S. State Department. McKinney was named one of the most influential African Americans in Milwaukee by St. Vincent DePaul. He holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Butler University and an MA in Dance Studies from the Gallatin School at New York University. Join Adam for the Q&A following Finding Light.

Known for innovative choreographic projects, Stephen Mills has works in the repertoires of companies around the world. As Artistic Director of Ballet Austin, Mills attracted national and international attention with Hamlet, hailed by Dance Magazine as “...sleek and sophisticated." Mills developed a community-wide human rights collaborative dialogue culminating in his signature work Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project (Light) for which he received the Audrey and Raymond Maislin Humanitarian Award from The Anti-Defamation League. Mills contributed a podcast about Light to the Voices on Anti-Semitism series at The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and was invited to speak about the work at The United Nations. Light has been performed in five US cities, in three cities in Israel, and was recently featured in the award-winning documentary, Finding Light. Join Stephen for the Q&A following Finding Light.

Chuck Moellenberg is the President of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, which began in 2021 as a response to the Tree of Life massacre. This year’s conference will be held September 27-29, 2023 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. Chuck retired from the law firm of Jones Day at the end of 2021, finishing a 41-year career as a partner handling complex, nationwide litigation. Chuck moved to Pittsburgh in 1989 to help start Jones Day’s Pittsburgh Office. Chuck is a graduate of Denison University (B.A. majoring in International Politics), Princeton University School of International and Public Affairs (M.P.A. in International Politics), and Columbia University School of Law. Before joining Jones Day, Chuck was a judicial law clerk for a federal district judge and a federal appellate court judge. Join Chuck for the Q&A following The Cure for Hate.

Dr. Hilla Nehushtan is a medical anthropologist working on the social and cultural meanings of body size, diet culture, and the interactions between patients and medical professionals. Dr. Nehushtan earned her Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she explored weight loss surgeries in Israel. She is currently an Israel Institute teaching fellow in the Jewish Studies program at the University of Pittsburgh where she teaches various courses, such as Modern Israel/Palestine, Health and illness in Israel, and Body Size around the Globe. Join Dr. Hilla for the Film Schmooze following Cinema Sabaya.

Award-winning filmmaker Gregory Orr was born in Los Angeles to a showbiz family. He attended Boston University and California Institute of the Arts where he majored in Film. After a stint working aboard historic sailing vessels, he began his career sweeping the floor of a special effects company making Pillsbury Dough Boy commercials. After many years of working on other people’s movies, including James Cameron’s The Abyss, Orr began making his own. In 2004 he wrote and directed the critically acclaimed short film Alone, and in 2012 he wrote, produced, and directed the sci-fi thriller Cloned: The Recreator Chronicles, the first in a series of movies about cloning and the threat of replacement in a changing world. He is currently developing the sequel, and has recently updated his documentary on Jack Warner in time for the 100th anniversary of the studio that he and his brothers founded. He lives in New York City. Join Greg for the Q&A following Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul.

Don Priess is an award-winning editor, writer, producer, and voice-over artist. Recent highlights include editing and co-producing the documentary, Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul, co-creating and writing the animated pilot Surviving Hawking, starring Bryan Cranston and Adam Brody, editing and producing the Oscar-qualified short film, My Mom and The Girl featuring Valerie Harper in her last performance, and co-creating, writing, and editing the outrageous horror/comedy narrative podcast I Love Lucifer. He is also the co-host of the New Media Awards Best Podcast 2020, Love Conquers Alz, with producing partner and renowned caregiver-activist, writer, director Susie Singer Carter (Go Girl Media). Together, they have has just started production on the eye-opening and moving documentary No Country for Old People. Join Don for the Q&A following Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul.

Christine Schwaner graduated with honors from Royal Academy of Dance in London. She also studied under Maria Clara Salles, Carlos Leite, Mercedes Beltran, Graca Sales and Gustavo Molajoli, among others. At 17, she was a finalist at the New York International Ballet Competition, and was then invited to join the former Cleveland Ballet. Ms. Schwaner joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2006, where she rose to the rank of principal dancer, and retired in 2014. Ms. Schwaner is certified in progressing Ballet Technique, an innovative method developed in Australia for the strengthening of the muscles used in classical ballet, as well as on American Ballet Theatre's training curriculum. For Ms. Schwaner, teaching is a validation that all her hard work as a ballet student, and her 20+ year career as a professional dancer, can be used to help and inspire new generations of ballet students. Join Christine for the Q&A following Finding Light.

Jonathan Zisook serves on the faculty of Sociology and Jewish Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is scholar of the Holocaust and its aftermath in East Central Europe and is currently completing a monograph on the politics of Holocaust memory in contemporary Poland. Jonathan’s research has been supported by the Polish-U.S. Fulbright Commission, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. He received a PhD in Sociology from the City University of New York and an MA in Modern Jewish History from Yeshiva University. Join Jonathon for the Film Schmooze following Reckonings.