This June, we will be holding our CineSLAM Film Slam Seminars on board the Celebrity Summit, as part of the 2012 Pride of the Ocean film festival program. Pride of the Ocean is a week-long film festival on the high seas! En route from NY to Bermuda, Pride of the Ocean screens some of the most important LGBT films of today. For more info on this fabulous film festival cruise, visit PrideoftheOcean.com.

We have some great representation from the west coast, with the dynamic team, Renee Sotile and Mary Jo Godges! How they were able to find the oldest lesbian in the word is a question you may ask when you meet them on board the Celebrity Summit.

Renee Sotile & Mary Jo Godges

Renee Sotile and Mary Jo Godges are a two-dyke documentary team that tackles every aspect of filmmaking, from pre-production through post and distribution. Renee, a two-time Emmy-winning news photographer, and Mary Jo, who began her career in radio programming and music production, combined their talents in 2000 to create Traipsing Thru Films, Inc. They produced the musical/comedy Dykes & Their Dogs, Lesbian Fashion?, Divas Breaking Taboos, Bessie, Billie & Ruth, Texas Bullshit!, Michelle or Hillary and their new short The Oldest LESBIAN in the World!. Their first “mainstream” feature, Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars, aired on CNN Presents. While Bessie, Billie & Ruth aired during Black History Month. Sotile and Godges are also making their mark filming red carpet interviews for on-line LGBT magazines and bloggers, including LGBTPOV.com and FrontiersLA.com, and have been tagged “red carpet experts” by SheWired.

It’s quite a windy day today, as our second filmmaker announcement for today also hails from the Windy City. Having been on the Norwegian Gem with us last year, welcome back:

Ryan Logan

Ryan Logan is the award-winning director of the short film “The Single Mother” which reached over 40 festivals throughout the world (Including major festivals, museums, and university screenings in London, Milan, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, Palm Springs, Boston, and Chicago), and his second short, “The Widow”, is currently on the circuit (Rhode Island Intl., DC Shorts, and NEWFILMMAKERS LA). His first film won him nominations for the Iris Prize, Utah Short Film of the Year, Best LGBT Short Film at the Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and won the 1st Place Alternative Spirit Award at the 2009 Rhode Island International Film Festival. He also had the pleasure of attending and screening both films on the 2011 Pride of the Ocean cruise.

We have such a terrific group of filmmakers joining us for the 2012 Pride of the Ocean Film Festival this June. Coming from Chicago, with his cutting-edge web series, 50Faggots, is our next film slam participant:

Randall Jenson

Randall is the Executive Director of SocialScope Productions, a Chicago-based non-profit production company creating LGBTQ and gender-related documentaries. SocialScope’s primary project is producing the 50Faggots online series, which Randall began in 2005 as his first documentary. The series’ first hour-long webisode debuted in May 2010 and has already traveled to over 14 U.S. cities, including headlining the 2011 MBLGTACC Conference. Since seventeen years old, Randall has received national awards for his leadership and work with young LGBTQ people, homeless and at-risk youth, and addressing the juvenile legal system and media’s impact on queer lives. He was featured as a speaker at the National ACLU Membership Conference in Washington D.C. in 2003, on The Oprah Show’s “Growing Up Gay” episode in 2006, and awarded the “Youth Impact Award” by the National Youth Advocacy Coalition in 2007. Recently, his research creating 50Faggots was recognized by the Association for Queer Anthropology as “outstanding anthropological work.”

Join our 2012 CineSLAM Film Slam participants this June on the Celebrity Summit, as part of the Pride of the Ocean Film Festival program. Now, let us introduce our next film slam filmmaker:

Becky Lane

Becky Lane is an independent filmmaker and founder of Nice Girl Films, a small woman-centered production company with footprints in both Ithaca, NY, and New York City. Her first short, “Hens & Chicks,” has traveled to over 50 film festivals worldwide, garnering great acclaim and awards, including Best Short Film Audience Award in both Rochester and Barcelona. She initially trained as an actor, though it soon became apparent that her interests, skills and versatility were a perfect match for directing. She enjoys bringing her vision to fruition through artistic collaboration, and is currently developing a feature-length film and an episodic dramatic series for production in 2012. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.

All this week we are introducing the members of the 2012 CineSLAM Film Slam Seminars, aboard the Celebrity Summit, as part of the Pride of the Ocean Film Festival program. We are very happy to introduce you to:

Matt Paco

Matt Paco is a producer at IN THE LIFE and MTV Networks. He currently writes and produces for Get Schooled, an MTV-sponsored initiative that’s focused on motivating young people to take control of their education, graduate from high school, and go on to college. Matt used to oversee MTV’s “You Hear It First” program which helped to break artists such as Kanye West, Paramore, My Chemical Romance, and The Jonas Brothers amongst others. He has also produced for MTV’s 10 ON TOP, MTV News, as well as Nickelodeon’s “The Big Help” pro-social campaign. In 2004, Matt received a Beacon Award for “MTV News: At War With Iraq.” He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he founded The Serpentine Society, UVA’s LGBT alumni organization. He currently lives in New York City with his partner and French Bulldog.

We are so excited to have such an excellent group of filmmakers in our June 2012 program! Our next filmmaker is the director of Children of God, and comes all the way from the Bahamas. Introducing:

Kareem Mortimer

Kareem has made short music documentaries for the syndicated show Hip Hop Nation: Notes from the Underground; and has written and directed the short Narrative film Float that has won 5 international awards. Most recently he has completed a documentary version of I Am Not A Dummy, and the feature film Children Of God that has won 17 awards, and is currently airing on SHOWTIME and the family comedy Wind Jammers. Kareem currently has a slate of three films in development.

We will be announcing more members of our 2012 film slam seminars in the coming week, so visit us again tomorrow to see who else will be on the ship in June.

We are pleased to announce that the 2012 CineSLAM Film Slam Seminars group has been decided. We received many wonderful applications from an expansive range of genres, themes, and geographic locations. Unfortunately we cannot accept all the amazing and talented filmmakers that apply, but we always encourage folks who don’t make it in this year to apply again next year.

Over the next few days, we will be posting pics and short bios of our June 2012 group members. So without further ado (and in no particular order), we introduce the first member of the 2012 CineSLAM Film Slam Seminars:

Cheryl Furjanic

Cheryl Furjanic is an award-winning filmmaker who has been teaching documentary production at New York University for over a decade. Her short documentary and fiction films, which range in length from 30 seconds to 13 minutes, have screened at 100+ festivals worldwide and on television. Her first feature documentary – Sync or Swim (2008) – received numerous awards, including a Billie Award for Journalism from the Women’s Sports Foundation, and is now available on DVD and iTunes. Cheryl holds a BFA in Film & Television Production from NYU’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts and a Masters degree from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. When she’s not making films, Cheryl researches audience relationships and fandom in fiction television.