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| Jurors
  Kevin Carpenter, Chair
Braxton County High School 1983, Glenville State College BS 1987 BS, West Virginia State Universtity MA 2006. Employed by the WV State Tax Department 1992 to present. Enjoys world traveling as much as returning home to the West Virgina mountains. Cultures, History, Natural Envirment. Currently restoring the historic Elk Hotel in Sutton WV as a hostel. Contact kevin@wvfilmmakersfestival.org
Steve Fesenmaier
Steve Fesenmaier is the co-founder of the WV Filmmakers Film Festival with Kevin Carpenter. He has done programming, graphics, and fund raising for the festival. From 1978-99, he was director of the West Virginia Library Commission Film Services Division, being recognized in 1987 by the U.S. Dept. of Education as the “model statewide 16 mm film program.” He co-founded the WV Intl. Film Festival in 1984, receiving their second lifetime achievement award in 1987. He is a founding member of the WV Filmmakers Guild. He helped create the WV Film Office with Gov. Caperton and Commissioner of Culture & History Bill Drennen.
He has been a film juror for thirty years including serving as chairman of an American Film Festival jury held in Charleston for a decade, pre-selecting films for what was then the largest documentary film festival in the country. One year his jury gave Oliver Stone the Blue Ribbon for his film, “Salvador,” that was released the same year as “Platoon.” For several years he was chairman of the American Film Festival pre-festival jury for “new films on health and mental health,” replacing NYU Medical School. First Lady Dee Caperton, then a Ph.D. candidate in psychology and a psychiatrist from CAMC Behavioral Sciences served on the committee. Eventually he was an advisor to William Sloan, director of circulating films for MOMA, for his publication on the best films on health and mental health, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
He has been a film writer during his thirty years in WV, first for the Appalachian Intelligencer, then WV Arts News, Graffiti magazine for 15 years and for the last 2.5 years for The Gazz at The Charleston Gazette. He also publishes an annual list of new films on WV and Appalachia for Goldenseal magazine. He has published articles in several national magazines including “Counterpoise” and “Film Library Journal.”
Since 2004, he has programmed the WV Film Series for the South Charleston Museum and programs two labor film events each year in conjunction with the WV Labor History Association.
He started in film programming at the University Film Society in Minnesota in 1972, bringing many of the world’s greatest filmmakers to Minneapolis starting with Jean-Luc Godard, Al Maysles, Marcel Ophuls, Les Blank and hundreds more. He worked for one of the oldest university film societies in the country, founded in 1962, as director and secretary-treasurer and eventually director emeritus.
He has worked on many films including John Sayles’ “Matewan” and Mari-Lynn Evans’ “The Appalachians.” He has been working with Evans on her new film on mountaintop removal mining and helped director Russ Barbour on his recent film, “Ken Hechler – In Pursuit of Justice.”
Sam Holdren
Born in Charleston, WV, Sam Holdren earned a B.S. in Communications and a B.A. in English: Professional Writing from West Virginia State College (now University), along with an M.F.A. in Film & Media Arts from Temple University. He has twice served on the Board of Directors for the West Virginia Filmmakers Guild, and at one time was active within Charleston’s community theaters in multiple capacities. As a director, writer, and/or producer of multiple award-winning short films, Holdren has screened in more than 30 film festivals across North America. As a teacher, he has previously taught media arts and screenwriting as an adjunct instructor at Temple University, and public speaking at WV State University. For more information about Sam Holdren, please check out www.samholdren.com
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