Portland, Maine 04101 United States
10:00 AM
The Maine Outdoor Film Festival’s MOFF Pitch connects filmmakers with notable Maine organizations seeking to align their brands with films centered on nature, outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, education, and adventure travel—creating an avenue for meaningful partnerships and providing valuable support for independent filmmakers.
Filmmakers
Sela Betz
Sela Betz is a multidisciplinary storyteller. She listens deeply to understand people so that they feel seen and heard. She’s used this skill in creative strategy at advertising agencies, helping brands connect with people through empathy. As an avid photographer, she has an eye for seeing people as they are and capturing them in their element. As the director and producer of FINDING SPOT, she tells her story as an adoptee discovering her past to inspire connection with oneself and others. She is based in Denver, Colorado, but has strong ties to Maine. You’ll usually find her near the water, whether she’s surfing, river surfing, or paddleboarding with her pup.
Santiago Tijerina
Portland-based director Santiago Tijerina, Salt ’23, received the Emerging Maine Filmmaker Award from the Maine Outdoor Film Festival in 2024. Based in Boston, MA — besides filmmaking, he enjoys playing pick-up soccer and I study international law & diplomacy at The Fletcher School.
Lukas Chin
Lukas Chin is an outdoor educator and filmmaker who has spent years leading backpacking expeditions with young adults for the National Outdoor Leadership School and programs across the American West. As a filmmaker working across comedy and documentary, his films have screened at the Maine Outdoor Film Festival, Wisconsin Film Festival, and Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. Lukas is a graduate of the SUNY Purchase BFA Film program and is currently living in Brooklyn and pursuing his MFA in film at City College of New York. When Lukas is on backpacking trips you often can find him playing with a hacky sack, drinking coffee, or hiding rubber snakes.
Dylan Ladds
Dylan lives in Portland, Maine, and has been making films since middle school. He co-founded his studio, Dooster, with his friend Ryan Scura, and they have made many short documentary style films in the outdoor/adventure world. Dylan is also a musician, and does photo/video work for many folk and traditional musicians around New England. He spends his summers leading expeditions for Atlantic Challenge – a community oriented rowing and sailing program based in midcoast Maine.
Pitch Judges:
Moderator: Liz McGregor
Liz has worn many hats in film and video, from product placement to producing. She has worked as an Assistant Director on independent feature films, such as Big Night and Drunks, and as a Producer of commercials. She has directed film festivals in New York City and Tahoe, California and has organized festival tours in Chile (Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour) and Maine (Mountainfilm on Tour, Fly Fishing Film Tour, Women’s Adventure Film Tour and Maine Outdoor Film Festival).
Laura Schenck
Laura started her career in NYC as a freelancer. She has worked with many highly regarded industry professionals including Walter Cronkite, Bill Moyers, David Grubin and Chana Gazit. 15 years later in the early 2000s, she moved with her family to Maine. Her filmmaking has won many awards including 3 regional Emmys for Writing, Directing and Producing and many other accolades. She currently serves as Maine Public’s Executive Producer of Local Productions and Special Projects, overseeing TV productions and series such as Borealis and the Maine Public Film Series.
Matthew Siegel
Award-winning producer and director of photography Matt Siegel designs, composes, and lights for commercials, feature films, SVOD, documentaries, and branded content. His commercial client list includes Google, Toyota, Ford, SONY, Audi, MasterCard, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola, with the work winning international recognition and ADDY, TELE, Cannes’ Golden Lion, and Cable ACE awards. Matt’s extensive industry experience as a Unit DP and Camera Operator on episodic television includes the NBC series Council of Dads and Heroes, Hulu series Castle Rock, the WB series Everwood, and the CBS dramas Joan of Arcadia and The Mentalist. As a feature film camera operator, he has worked on Hollywood’s biggest film franchises including The Matrix: Reloaded, Master and Commander, Spiderman 2, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Morgan Myer
Before returning to his home state, Morgan worked in television camera departments and edited in-house at ad agencies in NYC and Boston. His work has won Best New Experimental Filmmaking at AFI Fest; been selected and screened at Camden International Film Fest and Flicker Fest; been nominated for best animated short at Venice Shorts; was twice selected as Vimeo Staff picks; and has been featured on The Atlantic and Wired. He most recently shot and produced The Diver, a narrative film based on a Lewis Robinson short story. Morgan is a co-founding partner of p3 creative, a boutique video and animation agency that specializes in commercial and branded content for national and regional clients. He lives with his wife and two young children in Portland, Maine.
Ian Cheney
Sponsored by the Maine Film Office.