Sean Cross

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Sean Cross
Born Cape Town, South Africa
Residence Los Angeles, United States
Nationality American
Occupation filmmaker, producer, actor, writer, and founder of Vail Film Festival.

Sean Cross is an American filmmaker, producer, actor, writer, and co-founder of the Colorado Film Institute, Vail Film Festival and Baja International Film Festival.

Background

Sean was born in Cape Town, South Africa and raised in New York, United States. He pursued undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond and graduate studies in film at New York University. He currently divides his time between Los Angeles, Vail, Colorado, and Los Cabos, Mexico.

Sean is the brother of Scott Cross, co-founder of the Colorado Film Institute, Vail Film Festival, and Baja International Film Festival.

Career

Sean is a filmmaker and entrepreneur who has spent over a decade working in film. In 2003, Sean co-founded the Colorado Film Institute and the Vail Film Festival with his brother Scott Cross to serve as a platform to educate aspiring filmmakers, showcase unique artistic visions, and to ensure that powerful, creative independent films are seen by the movie-going public.

In 2006, Sean spearheaded the Vail Film Festival's partnership with Film Your Issue, a national issue film contest, in partnership with the American Democracy Project, featuring 30 to 60-second films. Thirty-five semi-finalists were named by the competition, and five winners were selected through a combination of a jury including Walter Cronkite, Brian Williams, then Senator Barack Obama, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman and others. The winning films from the Film Your Issue contest were screened at the Vail Film Festival.

Sean's roots in South Africa and his interest in the AIDS epidemic led to his involvement with Product RED. In 2007 the Vail Film Festival became the only film festival to partner with Bono and Bobby Shriver's Product Red, an initiative to raise money for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa. Together, Product Red and the Vail Film Festival launched the worldwide film competition, the RED Vision Contest, whereby filmmakers submitted positive, inspiring films. The winning films were screened at the festival. The Vail Film Festival donated 25% of Avanti pass sales to the Global Fund.

Sean helped grow the Vail Film Festival into a major national film festival, recognized in 2007 as "One of the top ten destination film festivals in the world".[1]

The Vail Film Festival has screened groundbreaking independent and studio films, including Before Sunset, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Snow Cake, The Wendell Baker Story, House of D, the directorial debut of David Duchovny, and recognized some of the film industry's most talented actors and filmmakers, including legendary producer Edward Pressman (Wall Street, Reversal of Fortune, Hoffa, American Psycho, Bad Lieutenant, Thank You For Smoking, Fur), comedy icon Harold Ramis (Stripes, Caddyshack, Animal House, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day), Luke Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums), Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy), Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone), Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Tim Daly (Wings), Jeremy Davies (Lost), Olivia Wilde (House, Tron: Legacy), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland, Adventureland), Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill), Adrian Grenier (Entourage), Zach Braff (Scrubs, Garden State), Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), Josh Lucas (Sweet Home Alabama), Kate Bosworth (Win a Date with Tad Hamilton), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Fred Schepisi (Roxanne, Six Degrees of Separation), Allison Janney (The West Wing, Juno), and Tate Taylor (The Help).[2]

Sean co-founded Cross Hollar in 2007 with Scott Cross and Troy Hollar, a commercial, film, and new media production company. Cross Hollar produces a range of projects, from film to new media, from webisodes to digital shorts. Sean's production credits include a video interview with renowned broadcaster Walter Cronkite.

In 2012, Sean co-founded the Baja International Film Festival with his brother Scott.[3] The inaugural edition took place in Los Cabos from November 14–17, 2012 with Edward Norton as the official festival adviser.[4] Festival guests included Academy-Award nominee Edward Norton, Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon, Academy Award winner Melissa Leo, Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer, acclaimed Mexican actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen, 4-time Emmy nominee Allison Janney, Tate Taylor (writer/director of Academy Award nominated 'The Help'), director Michael Apted, Mike Judge, and many other high profile film industry professionals from the U.S., Mexico, and beyond.[5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.moviemaker.com/magazine/toc/spring_2007/ MovieMaker Magazine Issue No. 68, Spring 2007
  2. ↑ "Past Winners". Vail Film Festival. 
  3. ↑ "First Annual Baja International Film Festival Launches". PR Newswire. 
  4. ↑ "Baja Film Fest Enlists Submissions". Variety. 
  5. ↑ "Tributes & Guests". Baja International Film Festival. 

External links

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