Mason Daring is a talented film composer, musician, and record label head.

As a musician with a law degree, Mason was legal counsel to director John Sayles for his first film The Return of the Secaucus Seven. Daring ended up composing the score to that film, as well as John Sayles’ other films up to and including Honeydripper, a story of blues musicians in 1950s Alabama.

Mason has done television scoring as well, including the themes to the series Nova and Frontline on PBS.

He also releases some of his and his collaborators recordings on his label Daring Records, a sub-label of Rounder Records. 

Mason currently splits his time between his studio and home in New England and a place in the Hollywood area.

Geoff Thompson is a BAFTA winning writer, teacher, and martial artist.

Geoff Thompson has worked through a plethora of menial jobs, from glass collector to floor sweeper; he even spent a decade working as a nightclub bouncer.

Geoff decided to become a martial arts instructor and then followed this by living out his dream of becoming a writer.

He is now the author of over thirty books, a stage play, a BAFTA winning short film, Brown Paper Bag, and two feature films.  He wrote a screenplay to the award winning short film, Romans 12:20, which won the Grand Prize International Discovery Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

His latest feature film, Clubbed, about a lonely factory worker whose life is transformed when he becomes a nightclub doorman, has screened a variety of film festivals including the Raindance Film Festival.

William Donaruma has years of production experience having worked for Universal Studios as well as a variety of production companies and major television networks.

Returning to Notre Dame to teach production courses, he has won the Kaneb Teaching Award and was granted a fellowship at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

He is currently worked on a documentary about the Bengal Bouts impact on the Holy Cross missions in Bangladesh, called Strong Bodies Fight. He has directed of several award wining short films including Ball in the Woods, Finding your Way, and Free to Good Home.

His short films screened in the Feel Good Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the MergingArts Short Short Story Film Festival.

Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Justine Simei-Barton has worked in film, television, and theater, as director, writer, producer, and instructor. She heads her own film production company, Tala Pasifika Productions.

Justine has won a number of awards including the Senior Pacific Artists’ Award, a Rockefeller Foundation Grant, and a QE II Arts Council Travel Grant.

Her recent film The Trophy, portrays a young Samoan girl whose science project wins her a trophy, but creates tension within her tradition-oriented family.

The Trophy has played in film festivals around the world, including the Berlin International Film Festival, the Fajr Iran International Film Festival, and the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

We spoke with members of the Toronto film collective team, Flemish Beauty, behind a number of films including the 1 minute animated short, The Inquisitive Snail.

The Inquisitive Snail is the story of Luke, an average, everyday nosy neighbor and his newly acquired pet, an inquisitive snail.

When the inquisitive snail is dispatched by Luke to spy on the inhabitants of a small town, the snail soon discovers that all is not what it seems and other people's secrets can be absolutely delicious.

The Inquisitive Snail has been selected for a variety of film festivals including Annecy, DC Shorts, The Seattle International Film Festival, and the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, and the MergingArts Short Short Story Film Festival.