Co-Founder

Susie spent her career on Wall Street as an investment banker, and changed paths to work in the non-profit sector.  Having close ties with the Chicago Public School system, Susie has made it her mission to help replenish much-needed youth arts programs in the city of Chicago.

Co-Founder

Eddie was born and raised in Chicago, and is passionate about giving back to the community. He holds a Masters in Business Administration with distinction from DePaul University, owns and operates a trading firm based in Chicago, and spent 8 years teaching an economics-based class at Northwestern University, and has taught a film production class at Northwestern's School of Communication, in their Radio/TV/Film department.

Eddie is an Executive Producer and Co-Founder of Forager Films, LLC.

Executive Director

Shane came into the film industry through acting, and then developed a love for the entire filmmaking process, which led him into producing. He has a passion to champion films that dig deeper into human connection and offer a new perspective of our world and what it might become. Originally from Iowa, he is excited to continue building the independent film community in Chicago.

Development Director

Curtis is an Emmy-nominated director, screenwriter, and producer. As the founder of Unfurnished Films, Curtis has contributed to numerous short films, documentaries, and micro-budget features. He also serves as a judge for the Academy-qualifying Chicago Children’s International Film Festival and is a reader for the Austin Film Festival Writer’s Competition. In 2021, Curtis joined a select group of international filmmakers in the Canary Islands, where they were mentored by legendary director Werner Herzog on their new short projects. His last short film, Sink, premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival and his pilot Tin Can is in the Stowe Story Labs. Curtis holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Media Arts and Technology from Michigan State University with a concentration in Television, Cinema, and Radio, a minor in Film Studies, and a Specialization in Design.

Al is active in his Chicago community, and passionate about giving back through his various organizations he supports. Al works with youth programs and has leadership roles with the Chicago Fire Foundation and Jewish Council for Youth Services. He brings a lot of experience in operations and fundraising to Elevated Films, along with a passion for film through his 88 year old father Bert Rogoway. As legend has it, Al's father is able to recite who won the Academy Award for Best Actor/Actress each year dating back to 1940!

Liza is an editor and communications consultant who teaches journalism at NYU. She has worked for CNN.com, Oprah.com, and NextAvenue.org as a writer, editor, and digital news producer. When she is not visiting family and friends in her former hometown of Chicago, Liza is a resident of Washington, D.C. She loves movies of all types and is inspired by the mission of Elevated Films Chicago to support independent filmmakers and young people who want to learn the craft.

A Chicago native, JJ Ingram is an award-winning producer with vast experience in all areas of film production. A graduate of Roosevelt University, JJ holds a M.S. Degree in Integrated Marketing Communications and has a background in Corporate Event Planning, where she has been the Executive Producer for over 25 programs with budgets ranging from $10K - $1M. JJ has worked on several Chicago based productions including I Heart Shakey, Drinking Buddies, The Painter, Baby Mary, A Light Beneath Their Feet, The View From Tall, Unexpected, Who Gets The Dog? and Operator. JJ recently joined 2DS Productions as its principle Creative Producer. In this role, JJ will develop and produce its current slate of productions, which include feature films Cubicle and Trivia and several episodic based projects.

Christine T. Dudley served as the Director of the Illinois Film Office from 2015-2018, overseeing a historic growth in revenue, jobs and programming. Her work cemented Illinois’ spot as the Midwest destination for film production and one of the top states for film and television production overall.

During her tenure, nearly $2 billion was reported in film spending in Illinois. In 2018, Dudley oversaw a total of 332 television, film, digital and commercial advertising projects which generated more than $473 million in estimated spending, resulting in 13,848 job hires and nearly 4,000 individual businesses providing goods and services to the industry. Most remarkably, these numbers marked a 12% growth over the previous year.

She is frequently called upon by the media, universities, and industry organizations to share her public policy expertise on film incentives and opinions regarding leadership roles for women.

A native Hoosier, she attended Indiana University. Christine happily resides in Chicago, Illinois.

“Although hardly unknown within indie film circles, the films of Frank V. Ross remain under the radar for more mainstream audiences.” (J.J. Murphy)

The writer, director, and editor of his 8 feature films; Audrey The Trainwreck, one of New Yorker’s top 25 films of 2010, and winner of best feature at the Sidewalk film festival. Tiger Tail in Blue, was nominated for a Gotham Award (Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You).

Recently named one of New CIty’s 50 Screen Gem’s of Chicago “[Frank] is one of Chicago filmmaking’s best-kept secrets but could become one of the city’s shining virtues" (Ray Pride).

Eric grew up in Ft. Worth, TX, and has lived in Chicago since 1988. He owns and operates Lakeview Baseball Club and Skybox on Sheffield, two rooftops in Wrigleyville, and has been trading hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange since 1993.  

As a musician and a supporter of the arts, Eric feels strongly about creating programs to keep Chicago's youth off the streets.  

Jennifer Reeder was recently named by Bong Joon Ho as a filmmaker to watch in the 2020s. She constructs personal fiction films about relationships, trauma, and coping that borrow from a range of forms including after-school specials and amateur music videos. These films have shown at festivals and museums around the world, including Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, and The Whitney Biennial. Her most recent feature, KNIVES AND SKIN, premiered at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival and was released theatrically by IFC Films. The Hollywood Reporter praised the film as the arrival of a “boldly original voice”.

Reeder just released her latest feature, NIGHT's END, with Michael Shannon, for Shudder. In 2021, she directed a segment for horror anthology V/H/S '94, which she co-wrote with David Bruckner (THE NIGHT HOUSE), and which premiered at Fantastic Fest. Reeder’s first feature, SIGNATURE MOVE (2017), premiered at SXSW and won the Grand Prize at the 2017 Outfest in LA. Her shorts can be seen on The Criterion Channel.

She has been an advisor at the Sundance Indigenous Program and is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including the USA Fellowship (2021), the Alpert Film Award residency at MacDowell Colony, and the SFFIM/Rainin Foundation award.

Alex Thompson is a writer, director and producer based in Chicago. His debut feature film, the award-winning SAINT FRANCES, premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in 2019 where it won the Grand Jury prize for "Breakthrough Voice" and the Audience Award. The film was released in 2020 to critical acclaim by Oscilloscope and was nominated for several notable end-of-year awards including Breakthrough Director from the Gothams and the John Cassavetes Award from the Independent Spirits.

He is one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film 2019", and was part of the NYFF Artist’s Academy.

Alex grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. His favorite hobbies are sport climbing, cooking Greek food and hanging out with his beloved Yiayia.

Peter is a cinematographer and producer, known for Hoop Dreams (1994), Stevie (2002) and Prefontaine (1997).  He is the executive producer of Happy Christmas (2014) and Digging for Fire (2015) and is Co-Founder of Forager Films, LLC.  

Peter is also a professor in the graduate documentary film program at Wake Forest University.

Spencer is the director of the feature films I'll Come Running (2008) and Saturday Morning Mystery (2012), as well as numerous short films, including Bite Radius, named one of the top 5 short films of 2015 by New City. He was senior programmer, and then curator at-large, for the Cinematexas International Short Film Festival in Austin, TX from 2000-2006, and currently serves as a programming advisor to Bend Film Festival, in Bend, OR.

Spencer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at Northwestern University. parsons@northwestern.edu

Kris began her film career at Southern Illinois University where she studied documentary film production. Using naturalistic techniques and often working with non-actors, Kris went on to focus her career in narrative film.

Her first feature, It Was Great, But I Was Ready to Come Home, played in competition at the SXSW Film Festival in 2009, followed by her next feature, Empire Builder (2012) and short film Baby Mary (2014).

Unexpected, starring Cobie Smulders and Anders Holm, premiered in competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and is Kris’ third feature.

Her latest feature, I Used to Go Here, stars Gillian Jacobs as novelist Kate Conklin who returns to her alma mater 15 years after graduating. It premiered on HBO Max in December 2020.