JURY

VERA CHOW COSTUME DESIGNER

Vera Chow is a costume designer for Film and TV, based out of New York and Hong Kong, but shoots and works worldwide. She has been in the industry for 15 years, and is currently the head of Costume Design for AMC’s The Walking Dead. Some other notable projects include working on Kevin Can Wait, The Blacklist, Netflix’s Marco Polo, Boogie and more. Not one to “style pretty clothes” (in fact, she recoils at fashion), her focus since her childhood is storytelling, characters, filmmaking. Her work has carried her through multiple genres, including modern, indies, romcoms, sci fi, horror & period worldwide – weaving comfortably between production budgets ranging from 1 million to 150 million and a departmental crew size anywhere from 2 to 80. She has worked in, aside from the US, various countries all over Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. Outside of work, she is an avid supporter of two things: BIPOC & LGBTQIA representation in Below the Line film crew, and animal rescue+conservation.

FINNERTY STEEVES ACTOR/PRODUCER

A classically-trained actress, Finnerty received her MFA from the graduate program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Shortly after her move to New York City, she was offered the role of Denise McCarthy on The Sopranos directed by Mike Figgis. Finnerty went on to do over 40 commercials while working in NYC on and off Broadway. Some of those credits include The White Chip, Dot (directed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman), Brighton Beach Memoirs, Almost Maine, and the Drama Desk nominated production of Lost In Yonkers. Finnerty has performed at the top regional theaters around the county and was awarded the Elliot Norton Award for her performance as Ms Calvin in The Shape She Makes at A.R.T. Although Finnerty has a love of the theater, her truthful and intimate acting style has always lent itself to work in front of the camera. She is best known for her work as inmate Beth Hoefler on the Netflix show Orange Is They New Black. Other television credits include The Blacklist, Sneaky Pete, Bored To Death, The Big C, and Louie. Select film roles include “Francis Ha” (dir: Noah Bombach), “Morning Glory” (dir: Roger Michel), “Away We Go” (dir: Sam Mendes) and “Bad Education” (dir: Corey Finley). “before/during/after” is Finnerty’s first feature as a writer/producer.

CAMRUS JOHNSON ACTOR/DIRECTOR

Camrus Johnson is currently filming Season 3 as the male lead of The CW’s Batwoman, playing comic book fan favorite character Luke Fox. His previous animated short film, Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad, which he wrote, directed and narrated, qualified for the Academy Awards twice and has won over 20 awards. His newest animated short, She Dreams at Sunrise, produced by Procter & Gamble and Tribeca Studios, made its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. His first live action short, Blue Bison, recently won the “Best Thriller Short” Award at the Cordillera International Film Festival. Camrus’ first two DC comic stories, “Superman Punch” in Batman: Urban Legends, issue #4 and “I’ll Catch Up” in DC’s Represent!, Issue #14, were both recently released within days of one another.