The 2005 Big Apple Film Festival was proud to welcome Independent Film Consultant and Producer, Robert Hawk, Tom Quinn of Magnolia Pictures and Trenton McDevitt of Wild Bunch Films as key speakers at this year's BAFF industry panel discussion.

Robert Hawk , longtime advisor to filmmakers and film festivals, has had his own business, ICI (Independent Consultation for Independents) for ten years. Co-producer of Jim Fall's romantic comedy Trick , Alex & Andrew Smith's The Slaughter Rule and Dayna Goldfine & Daniel Geller's upcoming Ballets Russes (2005), and associate producer of Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy and Rafal Zielinski's upcoming Downtown (late 2004), Hawk has been a part of the independent film scene for over 20 years.

Starting with his involvement in documentary as a researcher on Rob Epstein's Oscar-winning The Times of Harvey Milk , he has been credited with discovering and/or nurturing the talents of such filmmakers as Epstein, Kevin Smith (beginning with Clerks ), Ed Burns ( The Brothers McMullen ), David Siegel and Scott McGehee ( The Deep End ; Suture ), Ghazi Albuliwi ( West Bank Brooklyn ), Adam Bhala Logue ( Bomb the System ), Rodrigo Bellott ( Sexual Dependency ), Nathaniel Kahn ( My Architect ) and Geller & Goldfine (Emmy award, Kids of Survival ). He has consulted on films as varied as Terry George's Some Mother's Son , Tim Blake Nelson's Eye of God , Lisa Krueger's Manny and Lo , Tom Bezucha's Big Eden , Jon Shear's Urbania , and Smith's Dogma . He has also consulted on hundreds of documentaries, including Oscar winners/nominees such as Common Threads , Regret to Inform , In the Shadow of the Stars , Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter and Troublesome Creek .

Hawk served on the Advisory Selection Committee (1987-1998) of the Sundance Film Festival , and is currently on its National Advisory Board.  He has been an advisory board member for AIFA (American Independents and Features Abroad) at the Berlin Film Festival and First Look (Tribeca Film Center/Eastman Kodak), the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and numerous other festivals.  He has served on juries at festivals, both domestic and international, and has curated special film series for, among others, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the M.H. de Young Museum in San Francisco, the International Documentary Congress in Los Angeles, the Melbourne Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival .

He founded San Francisco's Film Arts Festival , a showcase for independent filmmakers of Northern California, and was its director for eight years.  As Exhibition Coordinator for the Film Arts Foundation , he not only programmed exhibition events but viewed and critiqued films at all stages of production, consulted with makers on festival and distribution strategies, and was an outreach resource for exhibitors, programmers, curators, festival directors and distributors throughout the world.

The panel discussion also featured Tom Quinn of Magnolia Pictures . Magnolia Pictures is the distribution arm of Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban's 2929 Entertainment, specializing in independent and foreign films. Formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, Magnolia's releases have included the Academy Award nominated documentary “ Capturing the Friedmans ,” the record-breaking documentary “ Control Room, ” the critically acclaimed French film “ Read My Lips ,” the most successful Israeli film ever released in the U.S. “ Late Marriage ,” and the surprising box-office smash “ Woman Thou Art Loosed .”

Rounding out this year's panel was Trenton McDevitt of Wild Bunch Films. Mr. Mcdevitt's production credits include the critically acclaimed “ The Angel Doll ”, which was released by Monarch Home Video and screened on Lifetime Television. The film also had its New York City premiere at the 2004 Big Apple Film Festival He is also the producer and director of the 2002 film, “ The Butterfly Hunters ”.

The interactive panel discussion gave filmmakers and audience members the opportunity to interact with the panelists on such topics as feature film financing, development, casting, festival strategies and distribution.