2006 Executive Committee
The Utopia Film Festival is being organized and presented by a dedicated
group of local citizens of Greenbelt and surrounding areas of the state
of Maryland. Among the educators, public servants and variously engaged
members of our committee are the following who make up our Executive
Committee.
Chris Haley - Festival Director
A DC native, serves as Director of the Study of Slavery in Maryland at
the Maryland State Archives, was featured in the PBS special, Partners
of the Heart, as the central figure, Vivien Thomas. He also appeared in
episodes in seasons #2 and #3 of HBO's, The Wire. He co-founded and
hosted the community access tv and radio series, UNDISCOVERED, which
debuted in 2004. The radio version currently airs on WRYR-LP 97.5 FM
out of Sherwood, Maryland. His short movies, The Studio, and, B&B,
premiered at the Greenbelt Utopia Film and Video Festival and Annapolis
Film Festival, respectively, in 2005.
Chris Sidur - Program Chair
Originally from California, co-founded and directed, UNDISCOVERED, a
public access television program which featured vocal performing artists
in Maryland from 2004-2005. Also debuted and co-founded UNDISCOVERED RADIO,
a general talk program which features performances and interviews of
individuals not only in entertainment, but in politics, business and a
variety of backgrounds throughout the Metropolitan DC area.
Susan Gervasi - Promotions Chair
A documentary filmmaker and journalist whose news and feature stories have appeared in The
Washington Post, Washington City Paper, The New York Daily News, San Francisco
Chronicle and other publications. Her documentary, Tessamatuck, on the story
of local citizens fighting to preserve a slave burial site in Prince George's
County premiered in last year's Greenbelt Utopia Film and Video Festival.
Chris Logan - Finance Chair
Actively involved with developing multimedia training products, e-learning courses,
and implementing corporate Learning Management Systems to plan and manage training
records for over 25,000 technical employees. As a training Director, he established
training program policies and procedures that met emergent ISO and Carnegie-Mellon's
Capability Maturity Model standards. His ongoing interest in film and studio TV production
was reinforced after completing field and studio course certifications at Montgomery
Public Access Television. He and his wife Barbara moved to Greenbelt four years ago
and quickly got involved with community activities including Greenbelt Home's (GHI)
Woodlands committee, Marketing committee, Friends of the New Deal Arts (FONDCA),
and the GHI Sustainability Design and Planning committee. Chris?s energy consulting
background in energy conservation and alternative energy systems is being used to
chair the Energy Efficient Home working group. Chris is currently the Treasurer of
FONDCA. He holds an engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts with
graduate studies at the University of N.H. and George Washington University.
Nick Dobson - Graphics Chair, Webmaster
The youngest member of the executive committee, he has worked as a Production manager
at GATE since he was 14. In 2004 he completed a 2-year project entitled "The Last Move,"
which premiered at the Greenbelt theater to an audience of over 350 people. He has also
filmed and shown several short films in Greenbelt, including "Strings and Hammers," "Torn,"
and "Executive Decision." He currently attends the University of Maryland where he is studying
computer science and currently working on 6 new films, some of which may premiere in the
Utopia Film Festival this year.
Linda Carter - Recording Secretary
Thomas X. White - Ad Hoc Member
Tom is a retired association executive. He continues to consult for the pharmaceutical industry in the area of technical and environmental affairs. He and his wife Helen have resided in the city of Greenbelt for the past 47 years. For most of that time, Tom has been active in Greenbelt social, community, cooperative and political organizations. He was an elected member of the Greenbelt City Council from 1973 through 2003, and, in that capacity, served as the Council Liaison to Greenbelt Access Television, Inc. (GATE), a community-based local access organization that promotes education and training for film/video arts in Greenbelt. GATE is also the principal sponsoring organization for the Utopia Film Festival. Tom is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of GATE.
