Jon Gann is a film producer and director, creating award-winning commercial, documentary and narrative films since 2000. His most recent award-winning productions include the feature documentary "Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection", exploring the singer's career and struggle with an eating disorder through her friends and never-heard recordings, and the short documentary, "Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color," detailing the incredible life of the DC-based Black Woman abstractionist painter. Jon has been a force in the film festival world, having created, consulted with and fostered dozens of events around the globe. He is the Founder of DC Shorts, a non-profit organization championing short filmmaking, and the creator of the DC Shorts Film Festival, one of the country’s premier short film showcases. Jon is also a founding Board Member and former Executive Director of the Film Festival Alliance, the first organization to professionalize the festival space. His books are staples for filmmakers and events organizers alike. “Behind the Screens: Programmers Reveal How Film Festivals Really Work” examines how programmers and organizers curate, collect, watch and select films for their festivals, with frank insights reveal the inner-workings of an industry that is often misunderstood. His follow-up tome, “So You Wanna Start a Film Festival,” explores the trials and tribulations of starting a new event, with lessons from both for- and non-profit festivals. Jon has received the Television and Internet Video Association’s (TIVA) Community Partner Award, has been recognized by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities as an Artists’ Fellow. He has presented at over 120 universities, film organizations and film festivals worldwide, and has spoken at the International Film Festival Summit, Art House Convergence, and TEDxWDC. Jon has recently finished 10-years as the senior Advisory Board member at George Mason University’s School of Film & Video Studies.