Hill Top Productions Crew

Operations

Bill Hill, Owner

Not counting his grade school A/V (film) days back in the 1950’s, Bill has over 40 years in the motion picture industry. Beginning in exhibition as a projectionist, he later became a theatre owner/operator, and eventually moved into the production end of the industry; first at Cannon studios in Los Angeles, and then, under Hill Top Productions as a film dailies equipment and personnel provider specializing in setting up screening rooms on location. Film Festival work began in 1985 with Bill and Stella Pence’s Telluride Film Festival. Hill Top Productions, LLC, now provides varied professional services to numerous film festivals worldwide including technical direction, quality control, film and digital content inspection, verification, and preparation, DCP creation and repair, projection, and print traffic and shipping services, equipment rental.

Andrei Gravelle, Digital Media Specialist

Andrei Gravelle has been active in the film community since 1992 and filled many positions: Projectionist, Cinema Installer, Camera Operator, Sound editor and currently the Senior Technical Manager of the Toronto International Film Festival. Andrei was an early proponent of Digital Cinema and as the resident Digital Media Specialist for Hill Top Productions, develops and refines workflow, documentation and methodology for the inspection and handling of digital media assets in a festival context including but not limited to dcp and alternative content verification, transcoding, dcp mastering and kdm management.

Adrianne Jorge, Operations Manager

Adrianne has been involved in the film industry for 20 years. Her skills encompass exhibition and related technologies, encoding and authoring films in a variety of formats, film festival technical direction and crew management, and specialized handling of archival materials, as well as editing and various production skills from her own documentary filmmaking endeavors. Adrianne has been a crew member at Hill Top Productions since 2004.

Projection Staff

Greg Babush

Greg Babush currently lives in Denver, CO and has been working film festivals since 2002. He is experienced with 16/35/70mm and DCP projection, and is a certified DCP service technician and installer.

Film festivals:

Palm Springs International Film Festival, Lead Projectionist
Sundance Film Festival, Projectionist
True/False Film Festival, Technical Director
Ashland Independent Film Festival, Technical Director
Louisiana International Film Festival, Technical Director
Mountainfilm in Telluride, Lead Projectionist
Telluride Film Festival, Projectionist
Telluride Horror Show, Projectionist
Denver Film Festival, Projectionist

Links:

http://mistral-av.com

Justin Dean

Justin began doing film and digital projection work at the UNC School of the Arts Moving Image Archives while earning his BFA in Filmmaking. While not traveling across the country to work at and attend film festivals, he resides in Chicago, where he is a projectionist at the Music Box Theatre, Gene Siskel Film Center, and Block Cinema at Northwestern.

Film festivals:

Sundance Film Festival
Wisconsin Film Festival
Milwaukee Film Festival

Omar Mansour

Omar started working at a movie theatre when he was 15 years old. He was always fascinated with the projection booth. So he learned almost everything about being a projectionist by the time he turned 17. He then became a manager of a Cineplex Odeon Theatre in Utah at age 18. Shortly after becoming a manager, he had an opportunity to join the projectionist Union and couldn't pass the chance to do what he loved so much. He worked for many years as a projectionist, until they decided to do away with the union. Luckily during those years he was fortunate to meet Bill Hill, and has been able to continue to do what he loves so much.

Brianne Merkel

Brianne Merkel manages all events and special programming at the historic Little Theatre in Rochester NY, birthplace of film. She is an alumna of the Film and Media Studies Program at the University of Rochester and also of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation and Archiving at the George Eastman House. She has worked in various capacities in the technical, programming, and management departments for many different film festivals.

Film festivals:

ImageOut Film and Video Festival
Rochester International Jewish Film Festival
High Falls Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
Maryland Film Festival
DOC NYC Film Festival
Savannah Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival

John Quackenbush

John Quackenbush has been working with Hill Top as a Projectionist for over 10 years. He is currently in his 6th year as Head Projectionist for the Harvard Film Archive, and is the Technical Director for the Boston Independent Film Festival. Previously, John worked for the National Center for Jewish Film, Brandeis University, and IFC Theatre in New York City.

Shane Richins

Shane began his career in film projection at 17 years old and stuck with it most of his life. He has explored different avenues in presentation. When digital projection made jobs in his field rare, he learned and became skilled at digital projection. He now runs his own company, which centers around public presentation. His company, along with festivals keep his skills sharp.

Film festivals:

Doha Tribeca Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
Sedona International Film Festival

Links:

http://www.scalesandtailsutah.com/

Chris Hogan-Roy

Chris Hogan-Roy is the Lead Projectionist at the historic Little Theatre in Rochester NY, an art house movie theater with 5 screens. He is experienced with various digital projection formats including dcp, and also 35mm film projection. He programs a popular monthly 35mm series called “Saturday Night Rewind” at The Little, and runs a production company called Will Work For Fame Films.

Sally Strasser

Sally Strasser Wagschal has been a projectionist for 36 years, starting out in Buffalo, NY and spending most of her career in NYC, working at museums including the Museum of the Moving Image. She has run the Fox Screening Room, the 57th St. Screening Room, and the Walt Disney Screening Room. She has owned historic movie theaters for years…first the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda, and currently, the State Theater in Tupper Lake, NY. She is currently renovating the State Theater a little at a time.

Film festivals: