Meet the influential women who give us guidance and direction.
MINDY RAYMOND, ADVISORY COMMITTEE CHAIR
Mindy Raymond has been involved in every aspect of the filmmaking process. Her acting career, which was her first passion, took her to New York City to study at the prestigious Michael Howard Studios. She originated the improv troupe, Stilted on Stage, which performed all over NY including the famous Carolines on Broadway. Mindy was bi-coastal (NY & LA) for a few years before returning to Austin, her soul city.
She has accomplished over 200 acting projects including leads in feature films, TV shows, commercials, hosting infomercials, and voiceover work. Her latest film was just accepted into the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival.
When her role takes her on the other side of the camera, Mindy is actively involved in the entertainment industry in Texas as the Communications Director for the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, which lobbies for a healthy rebate incentive program. As the former President of New Republic Studios, Mindy earned her place at the table as one of the go-to connectors within the industry throughout the Lone Star State.
SANDRA ADAIR, ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER
Academy Award nominee, Sandra Adair, A.C.E., has enjoyed an ongoing artistic collaboration with film director Richard Linklater, having edited 24 films for him over the past 28 years. Some of their collaborative work includes the cult classic Dazed and Confused, the 2012 comedy Bernie, and the critically acclaimed ‘Before” trilogy, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight.
In 2014, Linklater’s Boyhood premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews and went on to win numerous awards, including 3 Golden Globes for Best Picture, Drama, and 3 BAFTAs. Boyhood also earned 6 Academy Award nominations, including Best Editing for Sandra Adair. Adair also won the American Cinema Editor’s Eddie Award for Best Editing, Drama, for Boyhood in 2015.
Adair was nominated for an Eddie Award for Best Editing of a Musical or Comedy by the American Cinema Editors in 2003 for School of Rock, and won the Best Edited Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2012 for the feature doc Shepard and Dark, for director Treva Wurmfeld. Some of Adair’s other credits with other directors include Everything Must Go, starring Will Ferrell, and the award winning documentary Sushi: The Global Catch.
In 2016, Adair made her directorial debut on The Secret Life of Lance Letscher, a feature length documentary, which premiered at SXSW in 2017. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and American Cinema Editors, and now serves on the Advisory Board for WIFT Austin.
HEATHER PAGE, ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER
Originally intent on a career as a sound effects editor in New York, Heather Page was quickly captivated by the workings of the camera during a back-up stint as a camera P.A. early in her career. Not formally trained in cinematography, she learned her craft from the bottom up, becoming a highly in-demand focus puller, especially for her Steadicam work, and camera operator at a time when women in the camera department were few, especially on big budget studio projects.
In 2012, Heather was appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry as Director of the Texas Film Commission. Re-appointed by Governor Greg Abbott in 2015, she used her platform to promote Texas as a geographically diverse, talent rich, and economically friendly filming destination until September 2017, when she resigned to attend to her ailing father. Under her tenure, Texas built a more attractive incentive program, and increased its incentivized production and job creation by more than 250% as the Texas Film Commission improved its programming, marketing and recruiting efforts.
Since 2018, Heather has worked as a consultant for the film, television and video game industries, helping productions large and small navigate production challenges, state and local governments, locations and facilities, incentive programs, a global pandemic, and creative content issues. She has also served as Consultant to Austin Film Society and Interim Studios Director to Austin Studios during the final stages of the facility's recent growth and expansion.
She still picks up a camera every now and then because she can't get it out of her blood.
EMILY GIPSON, ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER
Emily Gipson is the Co-President and Founder of ATX TV, which includes the annual ATX Television, a celebration of TV’s past, present and future that returns for a fourteenth season in Austin, TX from May 29-June 1, 2025.
Originally from Texas, Gipson worked for over a decade on both the studio and network side of the entertainment industry, including for Twentieth Century Fox Film, TLC, and Discovery Communications in marketing, finance and business/legal, before founding the Festival in 2011 with Caitlin McFarland.
Gipson has spoken at various events, including the annual ATX TV Festival, and was on Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business List in 2016. Gipson and McFarland have also launched into development with their production company No Mondays Productions, as an outlet to create the television and film content about which they are passionate. They produced their first feature in 2024, “Due West.”
KRISTIN JOHANSEN-BERG, ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER
Kristin began her career as a graphic designer for print and film. In 2005, her focus eventually turned to running the day-to-day business of Arts+Labor, a commercial video and film production company to deliver messaging, storytelling, and creative content to nonprofits, brands, agencies, local and national, universities, and state agencies. In addition, over the past twelve years her company has produced four feature films and four short films that have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, eight feature films that have premiered at SXSW, and four feature films that have been theatrically released.
Kristin served as an Executive Producer on independent films such as Outside Industry: The Story of SXSW, Saturday Morning Massacre, Black Metal, and The Jones Family Will Make a Way and as an Associate Producer on Sir Doug and the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove, both premiering at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival. Kristin served as an Associate Producer on Hellion, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Most recently she executive produced Lover, Beloved: Suzanne Vega, which premiered at SXSW in 2022.
ERICA DEIPARINE-SUGARS, ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER
Erica Deiparine-Sugars has dedicated over 20 years to working with independent media makers and media arts communities, championing diverse voices and storytelling. As the former Senior Director of Programs at Austin Film Society, she led filmmaker grants, artist development initiatives, and fostered industry partnership. Prior to AFS, Erica was the Managing Director of Programming and Production at ITVS, supporting independently produced documentaries for public media. Erica has participated on funding panels and film juries for regional and national film festivals and organizations.