Joyce Porter is an award-winning actor. Many in the community know her from he years as President of Festival Theatre, ,or from her letters to the editor. Her first career was as a professor of theater, film, humanities and speech at Moraine Valley C. C. She is also the author of Mastering Senior Life: Thriving and Surviving.

 

Michael Awe was born in Belize, raised in Chicago, and has lived in Oak Park since 1985. Before retiring in 2021 from the pharmaceutical industry ,with his wife Cynthia Gould he adopted and raised two children, both attending OPRF.  Mike enjoys acting in plays and films, and for many years has performed traditional Javanese gamelan music in and around Chicago. 

 

Charlie Sweitzer’s producing credits include the upcoming Mighty Nein (Amazon) and Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld (Netflix), plus Pantheon (AMC+), Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures (Lucasfilm), and Tigtone (Adult Swim). He also worked on the features Astro Boy (Imagi), 9 (Focus), and Curious George (Universal). He lives in Oak Park, IL and enjoys strong coffee, old books, and loud music.

 

Chris Rooney is the Treasurer for the Oak Park Illinois Film Festival, and has been living in Oak Park since 1996. A self-described cinema enthusiast, he has attended the Chicago International Film Festival more than 20 times, and currently sits on that festival’s Black Perspectives committee. He lives in Southeastern Oak Park with his wife Amy, son CJ, and dog Shiloh. 

 

Jill Dahl was a Chicago Public Schools career teacher in English/history and film. Jill credits her continuing interest and love of film to her late close friend and colleague Brian Schoenberg from whom she inherited his classroom, film cabinet, films and her film class for 10+ years.  In 2023 Jill was at the movie theater 96 times.

 

Eric Henry is a multimedia producer. He received a bachelor's degree in Comedy Writing and Performance from Columbia College Chicago,  and master's degree in Communications from DePaul University majoring in journalism with a focus on video editing and photography. He owns a small multimedia production studio in Oak Park producing photo, video, audio, and graphic assets for small businesses and creators.

 

Byron Leonard is a writer who has written marketing materials, technical manuals and video scripts for businesses large and small. He also writes short stories and poetry. He loves playing blues on acoustic and electric guitar. He has been a passionate movie fan since childhood. 

 

Matt Soble is a video editor and owner at Three Lefts Content. His love of movies started from watching Family Classics, ABC Sunday Night Movies, and sneaking into theaters to watch “Return of the Jedi” for the umpteenth time. He lives in Oak Park with his wife and two kids. 

 

Mike Wendling is a journalist with the BBC as a US National Digital Reporter. He is based in Chicago and originally from western New York State.