About

two students tabling on campus to promote the festival

The Foxtail Film Festival is committed to support grassroots filmmaking, showcasing the best films from high school and university filmmakers while bringing the community together for a unique experience at the historic Normal Theater in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

The festival itself is managed by a group of dedicated students enrolled in an annual spring semester class, COM 334: Film Festival Management and Curation, housed in ISU’s School of Communication.

FESTIVAL ORGANIZERS

Tech Committee

  • Nicholas Koustas
  • Nick Lapatino 
  • Erica Sirois 

Graphic Design  Committee 

  • Creative Director: Oscar Mendoza 
  • Website Manager: Tommy Conway 
  • Production Manager: Monica West 

“We the graphic design committee have built upon the branding of foxtail while also exploring new areas to reach out to a broader audience. We created effective designs to create an intuitive culture of the Foxtail Film Festival.” 

PR Outreach Committee  

  • Mariel Runyan  
  • Kara Realmuto  

“We connected with Uptown Normal businesses to receive sponsorships and donations. We worked together by emailing and going in person to spread the word about Foxtail. We also reached out to local news stations to gain coverage for Foxtail.” 

Programming Committee 

  • Mason Barrett and Emily Olson – Programming Directors 
  • Grace Cleary, Zakk Clark and Matthew Perez – Programming Team 

“We picked the strongest films that fit the criteria we set up with evaluation forms. We worked together, share opinions, were respectful. Made evaluation forms for the whole class, then a form with more depth/specifics” 

Event Planning Committee 

  • Project manager: Kayla Burrell
  • Operations manager: Veronika Hartmann

“We manage the Foxtail Film Festival with efficiency and order, making sure everything runs smoothly. We manage roles and plan the festival fully and to the best of our ability; coordinating, executing, and evaluating the event, as well as collaborating with other groups when needed. We have left material that can help future event management committee members to continue the festival in a succinct way. “ 

Social Media Committee 

  • Content & Creative Specialist: Marisa Haurserman
  • Social Engagement Specialist & Technical Liaison: Ellouise Hill
  • Social Media Strategist: Madelyn Karis
  • George Kesse 

“The Foxtail Film Festival Social Media Advertising Team exists to amplify the festival’s voice across digital platforms, building regional recognition and Midwest cultural prestige while engaging young adults in Bloomington-Normal. Through creative, strategic storytelling and community-driven content, we aim to grow viewership, spark excitement around independent film, and establish Foxtail as a must-attend event for the next generation of film lovers.” 

Tech Committee

  •  Abdullahi Olawore
  • Lou Warner
  • Kamrin Weathington
  • Devrin Thomas

Graphic Design  Committee 

  • Bradley Whitfield
  • Braden Kralis
  • Alec Jirousek
  • Konnor Shaw

PR/Writing Committee  

  • Kaylee Allison
  • Evan Craig
  • Amber Fedinec
  • Quentin Benckendorf

Evaluation/Programming Committee 

  • Estella Copas
  • Jamie Foster
  • Justin Cooper
  • Jess Cetera

Event Planning Committee 

  • Timberlyn Hess
  • Shea Lahey
  • Jakai Martin
  • Cami Serrahn
  • Arturo Marquez

Outreach Committee 

  • Caitlin Rank
  • Jayla Maxey
  • Natalie Norkiewicz
  • Rachel Jacobson

Festival Board of Directors

Behind the scenes, the Foxtail Director manages the administration of the festival throughout the year and leads the class, with support from the founding festival board.

Lauren Bratslavsky

Festival Director, 2025-2028

Lauren Bratslavsky is an associate professor at Illinois State University’s School of Communication, where she teaches media criticism, broadcast history, and visual communication. Her research includes histories of archiving television (The Archivability of Television: Essays on Preservation and Perseverance, 2025), critical analyses about such subjects as satire, gender, and neoliberalism, and interdisciplinary examinations about the complexities of media with the goals for media literacy education. She earned her doctorate degree at the University of Oregon. While there, in addition to her dissertation about television archives, she co-organized the What is Television conference and co-wrote and directed a short film.

Andrew Ventimiglia

Board Chair, Founding Director

Andrew Ventimiglia is an associate professor of Mass Media with a specialization in media law and ethics in the School of Communication at Illinois State University. His research focuses on the history and cultural effects of intellectual property law. He has a PhD in Cultural Studies from University of California, Davis and an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University with additional professional film and television experience in the United States, including prior work for First Run Features and Link TV. He has served as director of the Davis Feminist Film Festival and is a member of the Chicago Feminist Film Festival Screening Committee, both of which are grassroots events showcasing independent documentary, narrative, and experimental film to explore perspectives missing from mainstream media.

Brent Simonds

Board Member, Founding Director

Brent Simonds is an emeritus professor, who founded the Foxtail Film Festival while he was the coordinator of the mass media program at the School of Communication at Illinois State University. He is an award-winning documentary and educational filmmaker who teaches Documentary Storytelling, Digital Post-Production, and Motion Graphics/ Visual Effects. He regularly participates as a judge and as a filmmaker in film festivals throughout the country. In 2018 he was the recipient of the “University Outstanding Creative Activity Award” at Illinois State University. Prior to his academic career he was a producer/ director/ editor in creative services at several broadcast and corporate outlets. He has a B.A. in Radio/TV/Film, an M.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication, and an Ed.D. in Post-Secondary Education with an emphasis in Arts Technology.

Ruth Burke

Board Member

Ruth K. Burke is an interdisciplinary artist, from and of the Midwest, who collaborates with animals in her creative practice. Burke has screened moving image works throughout the United States and previously worked as a video editor and studio assistant for Ann Hamilton Studio. She has publications in the peer-reviewed journals Society & Animals, and Zoophilogia, and presented at conferences throughout the US and in Finland. Burke’s public earthworks have been included in the 4GROUND Land Art Biennial (2022) and Terrain Biennial (2021.) Burke has an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Art from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Art & Technology from The Ohio State University. Ruth K. Burke is currently an Assistant Professor of Video Art in the Wonsook Kim School of Art at Illinois State University.

Marco Ferrari

Board Member

Marco G. Ferrari (b. 1974) is a visual artist, filmmaker, curator, and teacher. He grew up in a family of artists, immersed within the relationship between photography and sculpture he became fascinated with the interconnectedness between expression and the environment. He followed this interest at Ithaca College where he studied music and film, subsequently completing a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePaul University in Communication. In 2013 Ferrari earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts from the University of Chicago. Marco is an Assistant Professor of Cinematography at Illinois State University. His films have been screened at exhibitions such as the 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale; Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea–Palazzo Forti (Verona, Italy); the Athens International Film and Video Festival (Ohio); and the Chicago Cultural Center.

Brendan Leahy

Board Member

Brendan Leahy is a filmmaker, moving-image artist, and educator. His creative work has been exhibited at the St. Louis International Film Festival, the Tweed Museum of Art, Soap Factory Art Center, and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Brendan is currently an Assistant Professor of Film and Digital Media at Illinois State University. He joins ISU from both Washington University in St. Louis, where he taught dramatic narrative filmmaking, and Lindenwood University where he served as a faculty member in time-based media production and leader of campus production facilities. Brendan holds an MFA in Visual Studies from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a BA in Film and Video from Columbia College Chicago with a concentration in Directing.

Nathania Rubin

Board Member

Nathania Rubin is an artist working in drawing and animation. Her ethereal hand-drawn animations have been screened at film festivals including DOK Leipzig, Boston Underground Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Animafest Zagreb, Fest Anca, Animaze, Oxford Film Festival, AVIFF Cannes and Brooklyn Film Festival. Her film Crowded, won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Animation at the Seattle International Film Festival. It is currently streaming on the LA-based platform Write Brain TV. Rubin’s 2D work and animations explore shifting states of the self and parasympathetic projections. Her artwork has been shown in galleries and museums in over 15 countries. She is an Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at ISU, where she started a new animation track within the drawing program

Rajeev Sigamoney

Board Member

Rajeev Sigamoney is an associate professor of Film. He has worked as a repped Hollywood writer/producer, writing for Oscar winner Octavia Spencer and Emmy winners Melissa McCarthy and Tony Hale. Driven by a passion to tell meaningful stories, he pours this same passion into developing the next generation of diverse storytellers.

Liv Stone

Board Member

Liv Stone is an associate professor of cultural anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Illinois State University. Her early research investigated the use of documentary film as a political weapon and organizing tool for anti-neoliberal social movements in and around Mexico City. She has a particular interest in political and ethnographic documentary, the politics and ethics of representation, and cross-cultural communication. Among other things, she teaches media and visual anthropology, anthropology of gender and sexuality, and ethnography of Latin America. She has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, is the author of Atenco Lives!: Filmmaking and Popular Struggle in Mexico, and created ISU’s Ethnographic Film Series.

Benny Young

Board Member

Benny is the General Manager at the Normal Theater.

Li Zeng

Board Member

Li Zeng is an associate professor of cinema studies in the School of Theatre and Dance at Illinois State University. She teaches Asian cinema, film history, film theory, the horror genre, and film noir. Her research interests include representation of history and trauma in visual culture, aesthetics and social impact of the fantastic genres, and cinematic arts beyond the western canon. She is particularly interested in films and TV shows exploring race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in creative and unconventional ways. She has published in peer-reviewed journals including Jump Cut, Asian Cinema, Visual Anthropology, Critical Arts, and Adaptation. She has a MA and Ph.D. in Radio/TV/Film from Northwestern University.