Meet the Judges of the 2023 Festival
FEATURE FILM JUDGES
Chris Micklos
Christopher A. Micklos is a horror writer and filmmaker whose fiction and non-fiction horror writing has appeared in numerous print and digital outlets over the past several years. His first feature film, THE NURSERY, was distributed worldwide by Uncork’d Entertainment in 2018 and earned him and co-director Jay Sapiro “Best Director Feature Film” honors at Twisted Dreams 2018. His second feature, THE HEADMISTRESS, was released earlier this year by Indican Pictures and won the “Audience Award Best Feature Film” award at Twisted Dreams 2022. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife and daughter and their monstrous mini-labradoodle, Ygor.
Urwa Zubair
Urwa has produced fifty commercials in the span of three years, each of her projects tailored to a unique storytelling perspective. She was born and raised in Pakistan, where she first fell in love with Cinema. She began her filmmaking journey in the feature film & music video space. Urwa specializes in narrative and is a storyteller at heart.
Her clientele includes United Airlines, Chase, Target, State Farm, Warner Bro, Paramount, Makers Mark & Haleon brands (Flonase, Voltaren, and Excedrin). She has worked alongside artists such as John Leguizamo, Icona Pop, Mishel Prada, and Elnaaz Norouzi among others. She is a recipient of 30+ awards and 50+ nominations for several short films she produced & directed. Two of her short films have been featured in and secured awards in Academy award qualifying film festivals.
Urwa resides in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA in Film Production from Columbia College Chicago and has served as a jury member at Twisted Dreams Festival 2023, Chicago Feminist Film Festival 2017, PAK-INDIA Film Series 2018 and PHX Awards 2023.
Her clientele includes United Airlines, Chase, Target, State Farm, Warner Bro, Paramount, Makers Mark & Haleon brands (Flonase, Voltaren, and Excedrin). She has worked alongside artists such as John Leguizamo, Icona Pop, Mishel Prada, and Elnaaz Norouzi among others. She is a recipient of 30+ awards and 50+ nominations for several short films she produced & directed. Two of her short films have been featured in and secured awards in Academy award qualifying film festivals.
Urwa resides in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA in Film Production from Columbia College Chicago and has served as a jury member at Twisted Dreams Festival 2023, Chicago Feminist Film Festival 2017, PAK-INDIA Film Series 2018 and PHX Awards 2023.
SHORT FILM JUDGES
Andrew Kjelland
Andrew Kjelland is a graduate of MATC-Milwaukee in the Audio Production Program (2019). After graduating, he has focused on creating an archive of original music in his own style, which he calls ‘’DoomBap’’ (a spin on the hip hop ‘’BoomBap’’ style, set to fit a horror genre), under the name FlatlineAudio138.
Marie-Therese Garvey
Marie-Therese Garvey is a multi-award-winning producer with over a decade’s worth of experience in the independent film landscape. The majority of Mar’s work has been on international co-productions, work that has taken her everywhere from the Norwegian Arctic to the Saharan Desert, to most recently Milwaukee. Some of her 'always watch if they're on TV films are' Halloween (1978), The Babadook and It Follows.
WISCONSIN SHORT FILM JUDGES
Mistress Malicious
A Wisconsin native, I started my horror hosting career with Bordello of Horror (Broadcast TV, Madison) in 2015. While I attended the Twisted Dreams Film Festival in 2019, it became clear that I would be hosting my own show in the very near future. In May of 2019, Mistress Peace Theatre started production. In July of 2023, I started production for yet another show, Malicious Movie Inferno, exclusively for Tingler Television.
I am incredibly honored to be on the panel of judges for this year's TW Film Fest !
I am incredibly honored to be on the panel of judges for this year's TW Film Fest !