ADVISORY BOARD
CRAIG DETWEILER: Windrider Co-Founder (Filmmaker, Author and Cultural Commentator)
Craig Detweiler is a filmmaker, author, and cultural commentator. He is professor of communication and director of the Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He served as co-director of Reel Spirituality: An Institute for Moving Images at Fuller Theological Seminary from 2007-2009 and is a co-founder of the Windrider Forum.
Craig’s first book (co-authored with Barry Taylor), A Matrix of Meanings (2003), connects the dots between spirituality and pop culture, including music, movies, television, advertising, and sports. His second book, Into the Dark (2008) seeks the sacred in the top rated films of the 21st century (according to the Internet Movie Database)–from the massively successful Lord of the Rings trilogy to the cult classic, Donnie Darko. He edited Halos and Avatars (2010), the first collection of essays on theology, video games, and virtual worlds. His next book, iGods, will published by Brazos Press in fall 2013.
Detweiler wrote the comedic feature films The Duke (1999) for the Disney Channel and the high energy teen road trip, Extreme Days (2001) He directed the award winning documentaries, Williams Syndrome: A Highly Musical Species (1996) and Purple State of Mind (2008) which explores the intersection of faith, politics, and doubt. His latest documentary, (un)Common Sounds, explores peacemaking via ethnomusicology (www.songsforpeaceproject.org).
His cultural commentary has been featured on ABC’s Nightline, CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, NPR, and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He blogs as ‘Doc Hollywood’ at patheos.com.
Craig’s wife, Dr. Caroline Cicero, is a gerontologist. She is the Director of the Southern California Health and Aging Public Policy Institute and the Center for Visual Gerontology. She blogs for the Huffington Post.
RALPH WINTER (Writer, Producer – X-Men, Fantastic Four, Cool It)
Ralph Winter has proven himself to be one of Hollywood’s greatest assets, producing some of 20th Century Fox’s biggest box office success including the X-Men trilogy, Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, Wolverine, and Fantastic Four, which together have grossed nearly $2 billion. His latest project is Cool It, a documentary on global warming, which was screened at Windrider Bay Area in 2011.
Throughout his career, Ralph has produced or executive produced over 25 films, and has also produced and directed television for Steven Spielberg at DreamWorks. He is a founding partner of the commercial production company ThomasWinterCooke, where he and his partners have successfully pioneered and branded entertainment with product integration. Now partnered with Terry Botwick at 1019 Entertainment, Ralph has many projects in development, including a Korean war movie, a comedy at Fox with Shawn Levy, and a TV series with Dean Koontz.
A graduate of UC Berkeley, Ralph is married with two children, active in community affairs and performing arts projects, speaks regularly in the U.S. and overseas at universities and film festivals, and serves on several film advisory boards. He is an active member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the DGA, and the PGA.
HILLA MEDALIA (Director/Producer)
George Foster Peabody award-winning director and producer. Hilla has received three Emmy award nominations, and won the Paris Human Rights Film Festival Jury Award, Fipa Biarritz Jury Award, Golden Warsaw Phoenix Award, Faito Doc Grand Jury Award, and more. Hilla directed and produced the documentary To Die in Jerusalem, a story about a Palestinian suicide bomber and her unlikely Israeli doppelgänger, who died at only 17 years of age in a Jerusalem market. It was broadcasted in the United States on HBO and aired on television around the world, including YES in Israel, RAI in Italy, M6 in France, NHK in Japan, and numerous others. Hilla then directed and produced After the Storm, a documentary about a group of New York Broadway actors who travel to New Orleans to offer the remedy of art and expression to thirteen kids in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The film aired on MTV, broadcasted on Ch8 Israel, participated in film festivals around the world, and won the Audience Award at the Woodstock Film Festival and Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival. Hilla was a senior producer for 39 Pounds of Love (a 2005 HBO and Cinemax film); it won the Ofir Award (Israeli Oscar) and shortlisted for an Academy Award. Other past titles include Happy You’re Alive (Ch1 Israel) and Fat Cows, Lean Cows (Ch2 Israel). Current titles include Numbered (Foundation for Jewish Culture, YES, Makor Foundation) which won the Hugo Silver Award at the Chicago Film Festival and Best Debut Documentary at the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum Awards, Dancing In Jaffa (Keshet, Righteous Persons Foundation, Fohs Family Foundation, Gesher Fund, Foundation for Jewish Culture, Other Israel Film Fund), and Caught In The Net (Impact Partners, Tribeca Gucci, NYSCA, Chicken & Egg, YES Israel). Hilla has a Master’s Degree in Film and Television from Southern Illinois University.
Filmography
- Cocaine Prison (2013)- Producer
- The Bolivian Case (2013)- Producer
- Caught in the Net (2013)- Producer/Director
- Sun Kissed (2013)- Consulting Producer
- Dancing in Jaffa (2013)- Producer/Director
- Jerusalem ER (2012)- Producer/Director
- Numbered (2012)- Producer
- Fat Cows Lean Cows (2011)- Producer
- Happy You’re Alive (2010)- Producer/Director
- After the Storm (2009)- Producer/Director
- To Die in Jerusalem (2007)- Producer/Director
- 39 Pounds of Love (2005)- Senior Producer
LAURA WATERS-HINSON
Laura Waters Hinson is the founder of Image Bearer Pictures, a documentary production company in Washington, DC. Her film AS WE FORGIVE about Rwanda’s reconciliation movement won the 2008 student Academy Award for best documentary, as well as the Audience Award at the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival and the Cinema for Peace award in Berlin. During a robust, two-year outreach campaign, the film was broadcast nationwide of PBS stations and presented at universities, government, civic and religious institutions nationwide, as well as at the US Congress and the United Nations. She is the recipient of a John Templeton Foundation grant that enabled her to co-found the As We Forgive Rwanda Initiative, a Rwandan-led educational non-profit organization aimed at harnessing the power of film to promote healing after genocide. The program has since reached more than 100,000 Rwandans with its film and discussion program.
Laura will soon release her second feature documentary called DOG DAYS about the American Dream as told through the contentious underworld of hotdog vending in Washington, DC. In addition, she is also directing another documentary called MAMA RWANDA, about Rwandan working mothers becoming entrepreneurs to pull their families and communities out of poverty. Laura received a master of fine arts degree in filmmaking from American University and has worked in the past as a Creative Arts Director, as a development coordinator for the Discovery Health Channel, and as a research assistant for MSNBC host Chris Matthews. She is currently a media studies lecturer at The Catholic University of America.
DESTIN DANIEL CRETTON (Writer/Director)
Destin Daniel Cretton’s short film, “Short Term 12″, won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. His feature film debut, “I Am Not A Hipster”, premiered at Sundance in 2012. His second feature, “Short Term 12,” from the same subject matter as the short, was awarded a Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival.
KUTTER CALLAWAY (Fuller Theological Seminary)
Dr. Kutter Callaway is the Director of Church Relations and an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. His theological musings are typically focused on film, music, and contemporary culture. He contributed to Halos and Avatars (2010), the first book on theology and video games, and Don’t Stop Believin’ (2012), a dictionary of religion and popular culture. His most recent publication, Scoring Transcendence:Contemporary Film Music as Religious Experience was published by Baylor University Press in January 2013.Kutter teaches courses for Fuller’s Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, one of which takes place at the Sundance Film Festival each January in conjunction with the Windrider Film Forum. He also serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Religion and Film and is a regular contributor to Reel Spirituality. When he is not watching, talking about, or writing about movies, Kutter loves to spend time with his wife, Jessica, and his two daughters, Callie and Mattie.
BONNIE STEVENS (Fuller Theological Seminary)
Director of Events and Special Projects and Director of Development for Brehm Center Fuller Theological Seminary
Bonnie has worked at Fuller Seminary for the past 15 years in the Development office in the role of Special Events. During the last four years her role has expanded to major donor work with the Brehm Center. Prior to Fuller, Bonnie worked at a large Assembly of God church in Covina running all their special events and prior to that, World Vision International as a Trainer. Bonnie was raised in a pastors home and followed in her parents footstep and received her theological education at Eastern College in Canada and then further studied Psychology at Azusa Pacific University. Bonnie has two children, a son Jay, who is a hockey coach in the Greater Toronto area in Ontario, Canada. She also has a daughter, Brittney, who works full time in the food industry and lives in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Bonnie loves to travel, watch movies, enjoys music and spend time with her family.
106353 
