Mike Figgis      Featured Director

Writer, Director, Composer

Mike Figgis (Writer/Director/Composer) has roots in experimental theatre and music, which are just two primary influences that contribute to the creative vision in all of his feature films and documentaries. Figgis has emerged as a visionary filmmaker who thrives on taking artistic risks, although he has been at the helm of such ‘mainstream’ movies as Internal Affairs (1990) with Richard Gere, the British born filmmaker has exhibited his more eclectic personal style in such films as Stormy Monday (1988) and Liebestraum (1991).

In 1996 Figgis achieved international critical acclaim for his film Leaving Las Vegas (1995) which he wrote, directed and scored. The film starred Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue, and was nominated for four Academy Awards (two for Figgis personally with both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay but also for Best Actor and Best Actress), with Nicolas Cage winning Best Actor for his portrayal of the alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson.

Figgis’ other films include Love Live Long (2008), The 4 Dreams of Miss X (2007), Co/Ma (2004), Cold Creek Manor (2003), Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002) (segment "About Time 2"), The Battle of Orgreave (2001), Hotel (2001), Timecode (2000), Miss Julie (1999), The Loss of Sexual Innocence (1999), One Night Stand (1997), Flamenco Women (1997), The Browning Version (1994), and Mr. Jones (1993). 

Mike Figgis continues to make films, documentaries, adverts and art installations, as well as playing regular music gigs. Currently his feature film Suspension of Disbelief is in post-production – to be released in 2012.

Edward Guiliano, Ph.D      

President and CEO, New York Institute of Technology

Edward Guiliano has led New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) to worldwide prestige, particularly in the fields of architecture, medicine, communications, engineering, business, and educational technology.

An eloquent spokesman and advocate for the environment and sustainability, global higher education, and educational technology, Dr. Guiliano is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences around the globe. Since he became the university’s president in 2000, NYIT has significantly increased the size and quality of its diverse student body of more than 14,000 students from 44 U.S. states and 109 nations this year; added more than 300 distinguished faculty members; and opened campuses and sites in North America, the Middle East, Asia, and online to complement NYIT’s hub campuses in Manhattan and Long Island, New York.

During this time, NYIT has undergone a major renovation of campus facilities while branding itself to raise its national and international profile.  The administration also created a bold 2030 strategic plan to position NYIT as a model for a 21st-century global university. NYIT has been consistently ranked as one of America’s best colleges by leading publications and, in 2011, NYIT was again named a Great College to Work For by The Chronicle of Higher Education.  

In March 2012, in recognition of Dr. Guiliano’s commitment, scholarship, philanthropy, and transformational long-standing leadership, NYIT named its flagship Manhattan campus building on Broadway the Edward Guiliano Global Center. 

Dr. Guiliano holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a doctorate from Stony Brook University. In 2001, he received the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his personal accomplishments, social compassion, and outstanding contributions to American society. He is married to best-selling author Mireille Guiliano.

Robert D. Griffiths

Consul General
Consulate General of the United States of America
Shanghai, China

Mr. Griffiths is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Counselor rank.  His postings overseas have included Bogota, Colombia, Kaohsiung and Taipei with the American Institute in Taiwan, and Shanghai and Beijing on the Chinese mainland.  Most recently he served as Senior Course Adviser at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia.  He has also served three tours in Thailand.  In Washington, Mr. Griffiths has served in the Bureau of Economic Affairs and as Deputy Director for Mainland Southeast Asia in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.  Outside the Department of State, he worked in the Asia Policy Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and served a year in the U.S. Senate in the office of Harry Reid of Nevada, Mr. Griffiths' home state senator, as part of the State Department's Pearson Program.  He holds a bachelors degree in Asian studies from Brigham Young University and a masters degree in public policy from Harvard University.  Mr. Griffiths speaks Thai and Chinese, and is married with three grown children.

Yuet-fung Ho      MFA (Columbia)

Global Media Specialist 
Hong Kong

Hilary Radner      MA (UC Berkeley); PhD (U Texas at Austin)

Professor of Cinema Studies, Department of History & Art History 
University of Otago, New Zealand

Professor Radner's research interests revolve around understanding the representations of gender and identity in contemporary visual culture, particularly in terms of how these evolve over time in relation to second wave feminism. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on cinema, visual culture and gender:  these range from film melodrama, make-up, fashion photography, and women's film, New Zealand fashion, Hollywood film genres, New Zealand cinema, World Cinema and French Cinema. See http://www.otago.ac.nz/historyarthistory/staff/hilary_r.html

Timothy Corrigan

Professor of Cinema Studies, English, History of Art
University of Pennsylvania

Timothy Corrigan is a leading United States scholar of Cinema Studies and its pedogogy. He is the recipient of the prestigious Society for Cinema and Media 2012 Kovacs Book Award. His work in Cinema Studies has focused on modern American cinema, contemporary international film, and adaptation studies. He received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, and completed graduate work at the University of Leeds, Emory University, and the University of Paris III. See http://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/people/TimothyCorrigan

Marcia Ferguson

Theatre Arts Professor
University of Pennsylvania

Marcia Ferguson received her Ph.D. in theatre from the City University of New York Graduate Center and has an MFA in acting and a BA in English. She has taught, acted and directed professionally in theatre, film and television in Philadelphia, New York, Rome and Tokyo, and in Philadelphia has taught at Temple University, Swarthmore College, and Penn. Areas of specialization include cultural studies and intercultural theatre, performance studies, Commedia dell'arte, movement for actors, and improvisation. See http://www.sas.upenn.edu/theatrearts/bios/marciaferguson.html

Joanna V. Arong      

Documentary Filmmaker
Cebu, Philippines

Joanna Vasquez Arong’s first feature documentary, Neo-Lounge (2007) was screened in over 20 festivals around the world and won four awards including two Best Documentary Awards at the Cinemanila International Film Festival and the Brussels International Independent Film Festival. Her second film, Yugong Yishan (2008) won the Kyobo Award at the Busan Asian Short Film Festival and the Premio Pobreza Zero Award at the 8th Festival Internacional del Cine Pobre Humberto Solas. Prior to working with documentaries, Joanna worked in various fields around the world including finance (Deutsche Bank, Asia Pacific) and economic development (United Nations Bangkok, Beijing and New York). She is currently writing the script for The Sigbin Chronicles, a hybrid documentary/fiction film, which explores the myth of the Sigbin of Philippine folklore and how this creature has manifested in the stories of three different lives in colonial and modern-day Cebu. See
http://www.joannarong.com/