The Film Program at UCA hosts a number of filmmakers and industry professionals each year, from up and coming directors like Elizabeth Wood and Rebecca Thomas to established filmmakers like David Gordon Green and documentarian Albert Maysles to industry professionals like stuntwoman Monica Staggs. They conduct workshops with students, screen their latest films, and conduct Q&A sessions about their work.
Previous visitors include:
2025-2026
Daniel Junge
Director
Junge is the director of the Oscar-winning documentary short “Saving Face” (2012), which follows a plastic surgeon’s efforts to help women disfigured by acid attacks in Pakistan. He has also directed Sundance-premier “Being Evel” (2015), Toronto-premier “Iron Ladies of Liberia” (2007), South by SXSW-winner “They Killed Sister Dorothy” (2008), Tribeca-premiere “A Lego Brickumentary” (2014) and Oscar-nominee “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” (2009). Junge also served as showrunner for the AMC series “Secret History of Comics” (2017) and Netflix’s “Challenger: The Final Flight” (2020). His most recent film I was Born This Way premiered in 2025.
Katie Waters
Foley Artist/Sound Editor
The Chicago-based artist has a background in acting and earned a Bachelor of Arts in film from Columbia College Chicago. After discovering her passion for post-production and the art of Foley, Waters began creating and recording live sound effects that heighten realism and emotion in film, podcasts and video games. She joined post-production audio facility Noisefloor in 2014, where she has served as studio manager, producer and currently their in-house Foley artist. Waters is an active member of the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) organization, and her work on the online game Destiny 2 has earned Golden Reel and G.A.N.G. award nominations. She has also contributed to the films “Ghosts of the Void” (2023), “Good Guy With a Gun” (2022) and “The Stylist” (2020)..
2023-2024
Eugene Hernandez
Director, Sundance Film Festival
Before he was named Director of the Sundance Film Festival, Hernandez served as the director of the New York Film Festival, deputy executive director of film at Lincoln Center and publisher of Film Comment magazine. He is also well known for founding IndieWire, an online publication predominantly focusing on independent film back in 1996
Tara Sheffer
Producer/Director
Sheffer, who lives in New York City, has a diverse background in film directing, production, and development. She produced A Lien, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2025 and she line-produced The Letter Room, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2021. Her directorial work includes My Dear God, which played at the New Orleans Film Festival, and has screened at Indie Memphis, Nitehawk Shorts and the Jeff Nichols-founded Arkansas Cinema Society’s Filmland.
2022-2023
Todd Solondz
Actor/Filmmaker
A New Jersey native, Todd Solondz won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1996 for “Welcome to the Dollhouse.” In 1998, he won the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay “Happiness.” His film, “Storytelling,” premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and was named one of the ten best films of the year by the New York Times. “Palindromes” premiered in competition at the 2004 Venice, Telluride, New York and Toronto film festivals. “Life During Wartime” won best screenplay at the 2009 Venice Film Festival and many other awards. “Dark Horse” premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, and “Wiener Dog” premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Caro Posse
Producer
Michael Wright
Director of Photography
Caro Posse is an assistant professor in cinema and television arts at Columbia College Chicago and film curator for Mostra: Brazilian Film Series presented in cooperation with Partners of the Americas Illinois-Sao Paulo Chapter. She has served on juries for the Sundance Institute, Latino Public Broadcasting and the Independent Television Service. Michael Wright is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College Chicago and head of Wright Bros. Photoplay. An Emmy winner and multiple Telly Award recipient, Wright served as director of photography for television networks like NBC, ESPN, MTV, Discovery and more.
2019-2020
Mark Duplass
Actor/Filmmaker
Mark Duplass is a well known American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in a wide range of TV shows and movies including The League, The Morning Show, Bombshell, Paddleton, and The Mindy Project. He is also a prolific writer/producer/director. His projects have included Room 104, Togetherness, Jeff Who Lives at Home. Mark visited UCA as part of the Creative Sustainability Summit.
Jeff Nichols
Filmmaker
A native of Little Rock, Arkansas Jeff Nichols is the award-winning director Mud, Loving, Midnight Special, and Take Shelter. Jeff visited UCA as part of the Creative Sustainability Summit.
Emily Best
CEO/Filmmaker
Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed & Spark, a crowdfunding platform for storytellers and filmmakers. Emily visited UCA as part of the Creative Sustainability Summit.
R.J Daniel Hanna
Filmmaker
J. Daniel Hanna is a Toronto-born, Arkansas-raised writer, director, and editor. He directed the film Miss Virginia starring Emmy winner Uzo Aduba. His short film Shelter, starring Clea DuVall (Argo, Zodiac) and April Grace (Whiplash, Magnolia), played at the SAG Short Film Showcase and won the Audience Award from the NewFilmmakers LA festival, among other accolades.
2018-2019
Kevin Willmott
Screenwriter
After winning an Academy Award for Best. Screenplay with Spike Lee for Blackkkansman, Kevin Wilmott returned to UCA for his second visit. In addition to Blackkkansman, Kevin co-wrote Spike Lee’s follow-up Da 5 Bloods and Lee’s earlier film Chi-Raq.
Ramin Bahrani
Filmmaker
Ramin Bahrani is an Emmy-nominated Iranian American writer and director whose films have premiered at the Venice, Cannes, Sundance, Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals. His films, Man Push Cart, Chop Shop, and others have won numerous awards worldwide. Bahrani is a professor of film directing at Columbia University.
2017-2018
Werner Herzog
Filmmaker
Werner Herzog is one of the greatest living filmmakers in the world. His credits include Aguirre The Wrath of God (1972), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and more recently Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.
2016-2017
Paul Sand
Actor/Director
Paul Sand an actor and director with over 50 years acting experience. He is known for Can’t Stop the Music (1980), Eerie, Indiana (1991) and Chuck & Buck (2000), as well as his guest starring roles on numerous TV shows.
2015-2016
Elizabeth Wood
Filmmaker
Elizabeth Wood is the writer and director of White Girl, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
2014-2015
Rebecca Thomas
Filmmaker
Rebecca Thomas is a writer/director known for her film Electrick Children, screened at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Casey Coleman and Nathan Harrison
Producers
Coleman and Harrison are film producers best known for their work on the Academy Award nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012).
Casey Coleman and Nathan Harrison
Producers
Coleman and Harrison are film producers best known for their work on the Academy Award nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012).
Andrea Kalin and Mouaz Moustafa
Filmmakers/Activists
Kalin and Moustafa are documentary filmmakers and political activists who worked on the documentary Red Lines (2014), about the 2011 Syrian crisis.
Andrea Kalin and Mouaz Moustafa
Filmmakers/Activists
Kalin and Moustafa are documentary filmmakers and political activists who worked on the documentary Red Lines (2014), about the 2011 Syrian crisis.
2013-2014
Eric England
Filmmaker
Enlgand is an Arkansas based writer and director with credits that include Madison County (2011), Contracted (2013), and Get the Girl (2016).
2012-2013
Michael Stephenson
Filmmaker/Actor
Stephenson is best known for his roles in the film Troll 2 (1990), as well as the subsequent making-of documentary Best Worst Movie (2009), and the documentary American Scream (2012).
Christof Putzel
Journalist
Putzel is a journalist and documentarian known for his award winning short Left Behind (2002) and his correspondence work for Al Jazeera America, Vanguard, and Current TV.
Brent and Craig Renaud
Filmmakers
Brothers Brent and Craig Renaud are Arkansas-based documentarians who have worked on projects for HBO and Vice News including Shelter and Peabody award winning series Last Chance High. They also founded the Little Rock Film Festival in 2005.
Sara Nesson
Filmmaker
Sara is a documentary filmmaker best known for her Academy Award nominated short Poster Girl (2011).
Robert Walden
Actor
With over 45 years of experience as a film and television actor, Robert is best known for his roles in All the President’s Men (1976), Lou Grant (1977-1982), and Happily Divorced (2011-2013).
2011-2012
Evan Glodell
Filmmaker
Evan is an independent filmmaker who has worked as a writer, director, and cinematographer on several films, including his critically acclaimed experimental film Bellflower (2011).
Monica Staggs
Stuntwoman
Monica has done professional stunt work for over 90 films and television series including Star Trek: Voyager (1995), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), and True Blood (2011-2012).
Taylor Feltner
Producer
Taylor is a television and film producer with credits that include The Book of Caleb (2008), Just Like Us (2010), and Too Late (2015).
2010-2011
Spike Lee
Filmmaker
Spike Lee is a renowned award winning writer, director and documentary filmmaker with esteemed titles that include Do the Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), and When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006).
Sam Green
Filmmaker
Sam Green is a documentary filmmaker who directed the Oscar nominated film The Weather Underground (2002), about the radical political activist group of the 1970s.
2009-2010
Mike Brune
Actor/Director
Mike Brune has worked on several films as an assistant director, director, and actor with credits that include Blood Car (2007), Drinking Buddies (2013), and Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell (2015).
Robert Kenner
Filmmaker
Kenner is an Academy Award nominated and Emmy winning documentary filmmaker who has worked for National Geographic and PBS, but is best known for his political documentaries Food, Inc. (2008), and Merchants of Doubt (2014).
Ivan Rogers
Actor/Director
Rogers was a character actor and director on such films as Forgive Me Father (2001) and The Payback Man (2010).
2008-2009
Albert Maysles
Filmmaker
Maysles was a legendary and award winning documentary filmmaker with credits that include Gimme Shelter (1970), Grey Gardens (1975), When We Were Kings (1996), and Iris (2014).
Brent Renaud
Filmmaker
Brent Renaud is an Arkansas native and award winning documentarian whose work has taken him worldwide, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Mexico, and Egypt. Some of his films include Dope Sick Love, and Off to War.
2007-2008
Alloy Orchestra
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble that performs live eclectic accompaniments and soundtracks to classic films of the silent era.
2006-2007
Long Cheng
Editor
Long Cheng is a film editor with a who has worked on such acclaimed films as House of Flying Daggers (2004), Curse of the Golden Flower (2006), and To Each His Own Cinema (2007).
Jing Tao
Sound Designer
Tao is an award winning sound designer whose most notable work includes Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and The Flowers of War (2011).
Harry Cheney
Sound Designer
Harry Cheney is a Hollywood veteran sound designer with dozens of credits as a sound and foley mixer, including such films as Legends of the Fall (1994), American Pie (1999), and 2 Guns (2013).
2005-2006
Ly Bolia
Cinematographer
Ly Bolia is a cinematographer and camera operator who has many short film and feature credits to his resume.
Jeff Seckendorf
Cinematographer
Jeff Seckendorf is a cinematographer known for Judy Berlin (1999), Finding Home (2003), and The Crux (2004).
2004-2005
Filmmaker
Arkansas native Indie-sensation turned Hollywood filmmaker David Gordon Green is responsible for such films as All the Real Girls (2003) Pineapple Express (2008), and Eastbound and Down (2009-2013).
Michael Moore
Filmmaker
Michael Moore is an Academy Award winning documentarian and activist. Some of his more influential films include Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story.
James Neihouse
IMAX Cinematographer
James Neihouse is an Arkansas native and an award winning IMAX cinematographer.
2003-2004
Kevin Wilmott
Filmmaker/Actor/Screenwriter
Kevin is known for his films Ninth Street, and C.S.A: The Confederate States of America, as well as co-writing Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq.
Graham Gordy
Screenwriter
UCA alumnus (1999), Graham Gordy is the screenwriter behind War Eagle, Arkansas (2007), and co-writer of The Love Guru (2008). He was also a staff writer of the television series Rectify (2013-2015). In 2015, he became the executive producer of the television series Quarry (2015).
2002-2003
David Bordwell
Film Scholar
Bordwell is a renowned film theorist and historian. He has authored over a dozen works on cinema, its history, and theory.
Ben Meade
Filmmaker
Ben Meade is a documentarian and producer responsible for films like Vakvagany and C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America.