About Speaker
Jon has twenty-five years of experience in the independent film, internet and film festival communities. As a filmmaker, he has produced a number of award winning documentaries; and as a consultant, he has guided many independent film projects through the maze of festivals and hybrid distribution models. As a co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival (1995), he led the event the next two seasons before being named the Festival Director for the prestigious AFI Film Festival in 1997. After running AFI Fest for three years (1997-1999), he created a consulting business, guiding the launch of numerous film festivals (Bahamas, Lone Star, Orlando), directing several others (Santa Barbara, Naples and Abu Dhabi), and consulting to dozens more. In 2015, Jon founded Cause Pictures, directing a handful of documentaries and connecting audiences with social impact films with blogs and podcasts. And in 2019, Jon founded iGEMS.tv, as a guide to engaging movies and series. iGEMS added a Pro division in 2020, to provide resources and a directory to assist independent filmmakers with festivals and distribution.