2015 Jury

Mark Amin

Mark Amin is currently the CEO of Sobini Films, a motion picture production and financing company. Through Sobini Films, Amin has produced a diverse slate of feature films, including The Prince & Me and Peaceful Warrior. Recent films include Eliza Graves, starring Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Kate Beckinsale and Jim Sturgess, based on a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. Girl Most Likely is his most recent film released theatrically during the summer of 2013. Mr. Amin served as Vice Chairman and member of the board of directors of Lionsgate Entertainment from 2000 to 2009. Prior to his work with Lionsgate and Sobini, Amin founded Trimark Holdings, Inc. and served as the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Under Amin’s leadership, Trimark soon developed into one of the entertainment industry’s leading independent production and distribution companies. Amin’s past credits include the critically acclaimed Eve’s Bayou and Frida, which was nominated for five Oscars and won two. In addition to film production, he is actively involved in the acquisition and development of pistachio and almond orchards in central California, with more than 8,000 acres under management. Mr. Amin holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Kansas and an MBA from UCLA.

Hassan Ildari

With eight feature screenplays to his credit, writer-director Hassan Ildari has directed the award-winning feature Face of the Enemy, and the feature Sharkskin, now in post-production. Ildari’s screenplay Confessor is currently in development at Belladonna Productions (Funny Games, Transamerica). His screenplay The Seamstress has Academy Award winners Mercedes Ruehl and Olympia Dukakis and Emmy Award winner Peter Coyote attached to play the lead roles. D-Girl, Ildari’s latest screenplay, portrays the life of an unemployed movie executive. A Directing Fellowship graduate of the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies, Ildari has worked at Columbia Pictures and Walt Disney Studios. From 1991 to 2000, Ildari ran the bi-coastal production company of Academy Award-winning director Arthur Hiller. Ildari also has written, produced, and directed reality and nonfiction television for NBC/Bravo, PBS, A&E/The History Channel, and Discovery/TLC. Ildari holds a B.F.A. from the University of Bridgeport and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College.

Beejan Land

Beejan Land is an Iranian-Australian actor based in Los Angeles. He made the leap to Los Angeles by creating a lead role in the US / Iranian feature film Damn Foreigners. He has also appeared on NCIS: Los Angeles. Before moving to Los Angeles, Land worked for world-renowned Ariane Mnouchkine’s Theatre du Soleil for four years and studied at Jacques Lecoq School of Mime, Movement and Theater, in Paris. He was recently named one of Men’s Styles most stylish Men of 2014, alongside the likes of Colin Farrell, Benedict Cumberbatch, Justin Timberlake and David Beckham, to name a few. He has trained at the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), and has also performed in more than 40 professional stage productions for prestigious theater companies, including Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre Company, and Tamarama Rock Surfers. Land is also an award-winning playwright and was presented with the SMH/STC Young Playwright of the Year award by Cate Blanchett’s Sydney Theatre Company for his play The Arrival. He most recently appeared in a supporting lead role in Rock the Kasbah opposite Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Kate Hudson, and Zooey Deschanel.

Shaeda Moghaddam

Shaeda Moghaddam, President of Triangle Road Entertainment, has produced several projects, including three feature films and a musical short. The features, Meth Head, directed by Jane Clark and starring Lukas Haas, and Murder 101, starring Tom Sizemore, were released this year. Her third, Crazy Bitches, was recently a hit at Frameline, Outfest, and many more festivals. The musical short What Patience God Has stars international singer, Sattar. Other projects include For the Birds, which won the Student DGA Award in 2013 and recently garnered the award for Best Live Action Short at the Cleveland Int’l Film Festival, qualifying it for the Oscars. The film has screened at over 50 film festivals worldwide. Moghaddam also produced Little Shrink, a live action children’s television pilot. Moghaddam promotes education in the arts for children, and has been recognized for her work with Feminine Light, which raises awareness for women’s equality throughout the Middle East.

Shaun Toub

Born in Tehran, Iran, Shaun Toub was raised in Manchester, England. At the age of 14, he moved to Switzerland and after a two-year stay, he crossed the Atlantic to Nashua, New Hampshire, to finish his last year of high school. After two years of college in Massachusetts, Shaun transferred to USC. Through a chance encounter with a talent agent, he broke into the Hollywood scene. Toub has received accolades for several of his appearances in over 100 television episodes including Seinfeld, The Sopranos, ER, Just Shoot Me!, Nash Bridges, JAG, The Bold and the Beautiful, Married with Children and various movies made for television. His filmography includes his memorable performance in Bad Boys, Broken Arrow, The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Iron Man, The Last Airbender and the Oscar-winning film Crash. His recent work includes playing Majid Javadi in Season 3 of Homeland, and the upcoming film Papa, the life story of Ernest Hemingway, in the role of Evan Shipman. Shaun is very proud of his Iranian heritage and is very active in the community. Through various charity events and public speaking engagements, he inspires the community to embrace the arts, as the arts enhance everyday life. Shaun resides in Los Angeles and loves the outdoors, sports, and music.