4/30 – 3 PM LIVE Producer Panel moderated by Rebecca Martin Fagerholm:

Cinema Femme Festival Director Rebecca Martin Fagerholm moderates an all-star dream team producer panel with women and non-binary producers. Panelists are Rhianon Jones (Neon Heart Productions), Oluwaseun Babalola (KOSINIMA Inc), Elizabeth Woodward (WILLA), Flor de oro Tejadda (“Bone Black: Midwives vs. the South”), Natalie Metzger (Vanishing Angle), and Liz Cardenas (Ten to the Six Pictures).

Meet the Panel

Rhianon Jones – Neon Heart Productions

Rhianon Jones is a writer, director and producer living between Los Angeles and upstate New York. She attended Vassar and Reed colleges, where she studied film theory before going on to earn a Masters in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute. Her feature film, Wonder Valley, which she wrote and produced, premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival in 2017.

She is the founder of Neon Heart Productions, an independent  film production company providing mentorship and limited financing for female filmmakers. Through her company she has executive produced Rachel Mason’s documentary, Circus of Books, which was acquired for Netflix by Ryan Murphy, Jessica Beshir’s arthouse documentary about drug addiction in Ethiopia, Faya Dayi, and Emma Seligman’s first feature film Shiva Baby, which premiered at SXSW in 2020 and has been acquired by HBO. She also executive produced Jamie Dack’s award-winning Sundance feature, Palm Trees and Powerlines, and Chestnut, starring Natalia Dyer. She is the writer and executive producer of Cora Bora, starring Meg Stalter and Manny Jacinto, due out in early summer.

Oluwaseun Babalola – Kosinima, Inc.

Oluwaseun Babalola is an award-winning director, Emmy-nominated producer, exhibited photographer, and nonprofit founder/executive director. She has produced for networks such as CNN, HBO, CNBC, PBS, Netflix, AMC, Starz, and The Africa Channel. She is also a DOC NYC 40 under 40 Honoree, an initiative celebrating emerging talent in the documentary field. Oluwaseun is a community organizer with over a decade of travel, film, event, and television expertise in 20+ countries. This experience-based knowledge and passion for storytelling led to the creation of Kosinima, Inc., a nonprofit providing funding and career support for African and African diasporic media professionals, including two short film grant funds for Black femme filmmakers.

Elizabeth Woodward – WILLA *will not be in attendance

Elizabeth Woodward is a producer of documentary and narrative films, and founder of WILLA. She was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, DOC NYC 40 Under 40, Berlinale Talents, and is an Impact Partners Producers Fellow and a Sundance Catalyst Fellow. Her recent films include ANOTHER BODY (SXSW Special Jury Award, Sundance Catalyst), YOU RESEMBLE ME (Venice Film Festival, executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Alma Har’el, Riz Ahmed) and ON THE DIVIDE (Tribeca Film Festival, POV on PBS). Other notable projects include Netflix’s THE GREAT HACK (Academy Award shortlist, Emmy nominee, BAFTA nominee, Sundance Film Festival), HBO’s hit series THE VOW: A NXIVM STORY (New York Times Best TV Shows of 2020), a VR experience PERSUASION MACHINES (Sundance New Frontier, SXSW).

Her films have been supported by Sundance Institute, Impact Partners, Chicken and Egg, Film Independent, Field of Vision, The Gotham, New York Foundation for the Arts, the International Documentary Association, among others. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations Young Professionals Group, the Documentary Producers Alliance, and the Frontline Club.

Elizabeth graduated magna cum laude and phi beta kappa from Brown University and received a masters with distinction from the University of Cambridge. She speaks fluent French and proficient Italian.

Flor Tejada

Flor Tejada is a multidisciplinary filmmaker from the Bronx, New York. She’s produced branded content and non-fiction shorts for Condé Nast, Vox Creative, Time Inc.,Tribeca Studios, P&G and many more. Flor graduated from New York University Tisch School of the Arts and her films have screened at Allied Media Conference, Camden International Film Festival, Seattle Trans Film Festival, Tribeca Festival, Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival, Afrikana Independent Film Festival and more. Her latest film Bone Black: Midwives vs. the South won Best Short Documentary awards at Blackstar Film Festival and New Orleans Film Festival in 2023. Flor is a Fellow to the 2023 Sundance Documentary Producers Lab and Fellowship with her latest documentary feature, Wild Darlings Sing the Blues (And It’s a Song of Freedom.)

Natalie Metzger – Vanishing Angle *will not be in attendance

Natalie Metzger is a Spirit Award nominated producer who has produced 15 features and over 25 shorts. Her most notable films are WGA Award nominee IT AIN’T OVER (Sony Pictures Classics), SXSW Grand Jury Award winner THUNDER ROAD, IFC horror comedy WEREWOLVES WITHIN (starring Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrub), Sundance darling GREENER GRASS (IFC), Jim Cummings’ THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW (MGM/Orion), erotic thriller THE BETA TEST (IFC), comedy short POOF (Cannes), single-take short THE ROBBERY (Sundance), and Alden Ehrenreich’s SHADOW BROTHER SUNDAY (Tribeca). Metzger is also an award-winning writer/director whose credits include feature documentary ALONE IN THE GAME (AFI Docs, Outfest), Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween short SLEEP STUDY (Best Horror – Indy Shorts), sci-fi short IMMORTAL (Best Narrative Short – Eastern Oregon Film Festival), feature documentary SPECIAL BLOOD (Dolores Huerta Award for Best Director), domestic abuse PSA “TOPLESS WOMEN TALK NFL” (featured in the Washington Post and Vice), and Camp Kesem commercial “DEAR MOM” (Telly Award, Aurora Award – Platinum Best of Show). She is currently producing a new feature UNDER THE LIGHTS (featuring Lake Bell, Pearce Joza, Mark Duplass, and Nick Offerman). Metzger holds an MFA from CalArts and is a Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Emory University, where she received the Sudler Award in the Arts and the Pioneer Award. 

Liz Cardenas – Ten to the Six Pictures

Liz Cardenas is an award-winning producer, writer, director and actor. At the Film Independent Spirit Awards, she was nominated for the Producer Award in 2023; won Best First Feature in 2022 for Roshan Sethi’s 7 DAYS (Tribeca 2021 | Cinedigm) starring Karan Soni and Geraldine Viswanathan, which she produced for Duplass Brothers Productions; and was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award in 2019 for Augustine Frizzell’s NEVER GOIN’ BACK (Sundance 2018 | A24) starring Maia Mitchell, Camila Morrone and Kyle Mooney, which she produced with Sailor Bear.

A former reporter, Liz’s mission, through her Ten to the Six Pictures, is to tell bold and diverse stories that have impact as well as entertain. She has two projects in post – a Gotham Narrative Lab film and a documentary on one of the last nomadic tribes in Turkey – and seven features in various stages of development, including one she wrote, one she’s set to direct, one based off the Oscar-qualifying Indigenous short film, BURROS, which Eva Longoria is an EP, and one supported by Sundance that’s a Cuban-American story set in the 70s. Additionally, she’s currently developing a TV series inspired by her award-winning short film, IMAGO, about a Latino trans teen in Texas with her collaborator Lio Mehiel (MUTT, IN THE SUMMERS / Sundance).

Selected by The Gotham to participate in the 2023 Cannes Producers Network at the Marche du Film at the Festival de Cannes, she was one of four producers to receive the inaugural 2022 Dear Producer Award + Grant and was included in the 2019 LATINXT, a highly curated list of emerging Latinx creators from an initiative by Zoe Saldana, Robert Rodriguez, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. She’s also a Rotterdam Lab and Film Independent Fellow.

Other notable credits include Alex Lehmann’s ACIDIMAN (Tribeca 2022 | Brainstorm Media) starring Thomas Haden Church and Dianna Agron; MATERNA (Utopia), which took home Best Cinematography and Best Actress awards at Tribeca 2020; JULES OF LIGHT & DARK (Wolfe Releasing), the 2019 Outfest Best US Narrative Feature winner; and David Lowery’s A GHOST STORY (Sundance 2017 | A24) starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck.

Liz is based in Los Angeles and Dallas, where she grew up with her Hispanic father who immigrated to the US from Mexico City and Irish-American mother from the East Coast.