CALL TO ARTISTS: MAH 5 Minute Film Fest

Paul Kmiec is an award-winning filmmaker and educator, terminally in love with Central Coast and Northern California. Paul serves as the Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Film Festival. He is the resident Acting for Film Instructor at the International Theatre & Dance Project in Greece and serves on the jury of the San Francisco Greek Film Festival. He earned his BFA in Filmmaking from the SUNY Purchase Film Conservatory in New York and his Master's in Film & Television from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Paul has written and directed six short films; each of his films have screened and won awards at festivals nationwide and abroad. Paul is currently producing a feature film in NYC starring Alec Baldwin and Karen Allen. The film is the first-place winning screenplay of the Golden Script Competition (2023) and a two-time semi-finalist at the Sundance Institute Writer’s Lab.

Ginger Shulick Porcella is a renowned arts leader, curator, fundraiser and author, currently serving as the Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH). Porcella holds an MA in Socio-cultural Anthropology from Columbia University and a BA in Art History from DePaul University. She has been the Executive Director and Chief Curator at nonprofits and museums across the United States, including: Franconia Sculpture Park (MN); Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson (AZ); and, the Institute for Contemporary Art San Diego (CA).