2025 Speakers

Sandi Simcha DuBowski discussion

Sandi Simcha DuBowski is the Director/Producer of SABBATH QUEEN and TREMBLING BEFORE G-D, Producer of A JIHAD FOR LOVE, and Co-Producer of BUDRUS. His award-winning work has screened at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, and Toronto, theatrically released in 150 cities, and broadcast on ZDF/Arte, BBC, Channel 4, PBS. In 2020, he was invited to become a member of the Documentary Branch of the Outreach Director of Doc Society’s Good Pitch. He is the Co-Founder of The Creative Resistance, a collective of media makers who create award-winning political ads and design. In the mid-1990, he began his media and activism work at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, focused on the Christian right and the anti-abortion movement. Three generations of DuBowski’s family made chocolate syrup in Deep Coastal Brooklyn.

Kenneth S. Stern discussion

Kenneth S. Stern is the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate and an attorney and award-winning author. For twenty-five years, he was the American Jewish Committee's expert on antisemitism. He has argued before the Supreme Court of the United States, testified before both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, was an invited presenter at the White House Conference on Hate Crimes, and served as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Stockholm Forum on Combating Intolerance. He has been a visiting assistant professor of Jewish Studies and a visiting assistant professor of Human Rights at Bard College. He is co-chair of the Higher Education/Hate Studies working group for the Eradicate Hate Global Summit.

As a trial attorney before his AJC tenure, Stern was involved in several high-visibility cases, among them his defense of American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks in one of the last post-Wounded Knee cases (his book about this case, Loud Hawk: The United States vs. The xAmerican Indian Movement won the prestigious Gustavus Myers Award). His book about the Oklahoma City bombing -- A Force Upon The Plane: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate -- was nominated for the National Book Award. He also has written books on antisemitism and on Holocaust denial. His most recent book is The Conflict Over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate (New Jewish Press, 2020).

Daniel Robbins discussion

Daniel Robbins is a NYC-based director. In his films, he takes exciting concepts and grounds them with authentic performances, surprising humor, and propulsive energy.  

His breakout film PLEDGE was a hit at Fantasia Film Festival and sold to IFC Midnight as well as a streaming deal with Hulu. He also won “Best Director” at Screamfest. Variety calls it a “lean and mean shocker,” the New York Times proclaims “...the director is willing to move beyond the tease of his setup to deliver a ringing indictment of popularity as the cheese in a deadly mousetrap,” and The Daily Beast calls it “a fleet, ferocious, and razor-sharp affair.”

His comedy feature CITIZEN WEINER was boarded by Abso Lutely and Village Roadshow and is currently streaming for free on Tubi. And BAD SHABBOS, which won the Audience Award at Tribeca, is currently in select theaters.

Molly Bernstein discussion

Molly Bernstein is the director, producer, and editor of Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay, a documentary that premiered at the New York Film Festival, received a wide theatrical release, and was selected by the Dublin and Glasgow International film festivals. Deceptive Practice was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s top 10 films of the year and aired on the PBS series American Masters. Bernstein directed and edited An Art That Nature Makes: The Work of Rosamond Purcell, a New York Times Critic’s Pick that premiered at Film Forum inNYC, played in over 20 theaters nationwide and at: The Folger Shakespeare Library; MASS Moca; Museum of Art in Portland, Maine; TheCenter forContemporary Arts in Sante Fe; and at The Natural History Museum of Denmark. Bernstein produced, directed, and edited The Show’s The Thing: The Legendary Promoters of Rock, a feature documentary selected by festivals including DOC NYC, the Boulder, Cleveland, and Doclands International Film Festivals, Doc’n Roll Film Festival in London, and Asbury Park Music & Film Festival. The Show’s The Thing aired on Sky Arts in the UK. Bernstein has had an extensive career as an editor with credits including Turn EveryPage: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (Sony Pictures Classics) and the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About (American Masters). She has produced and directed many short films with Particle Productions on various subjects such as contemporary international artists and art collectors, environmental issues, and climate activists. She's on the film faculty of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.