Future of Cinema Film Festival

The Future of Cinema Film Festival (FOCFF) gives high school filmmakers the opportunity to learn from professionals in the film and animation industry. Guest artists teach master classes, share insight into the industry, and meet directly with students. This kind of event happens only at Interlochen.

Please join us in person at the state-of-the-art DeRoy Center for Film Studies in the heart of Interlochen Arts Academy's campus. We'll screen television and film productions from this year's amazing line-up of guest speakers.

Susanne Scheel

Susanne Scheel is a New York-based casting director with a Bachelor of Science in Film and Television from Boston University. Susanne has won three Casting Society of America Artios Awards for Excellence in Casting and has been nominated for nine more. Susanne has had the honor of collaborating with several visionary creatives including Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand, Barry Levinson, George Clooney, Kasi Lemmons, Ryan Murphy, Jim Mickle, Cherien Dabis, John Lee Hancock, Peter Chelsom, Celine Song, Dean Craig, Bjorn Runge, Xavier Manrique, Danya Taymor, Patrick Wilson, and Whitney White. She has worked for and with some of the industry’s top casting directors including spending the last ten years and counting working with Ellen Chenoweth. 

As a casting director, Susanne’s debut feature film “The Wife”, starred Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Annie Starke, Max Irons, Harry Lloyd, and Elizabeth McGovern. More recently, Susanne co-cast Celine Song’s “Past Lives” with Ellen Chenoweth. “Past Lives” premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival and also screened at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. 

Susanne resides in Brooklyn with her husband, Robbie Eleazer (Director of Design at Trahan Architects), their two daughters, Elsie and June, and their beloved miniature schnauzer, Emma.

Anna Kotyza

Anna Kotyza is a LA based filmmaker and Production Coordinator at DreamWorks Animation. She currently supports the FX and Digimatte departments on Shrek 5. Previously, she worked on The Bad Guys 2 as a Production Coordinator for the Modeling and Digimatte teams. Anna began her career at DreamWorks as an Assistant to the Producer on Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken. Alongside her production work, she serves as Co-Lead of the studio’s Women’s Inclusion Network, helping organize interstudio events.

Before joining DreamWorks, Anna graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 2015 as a Motion Picture Arts Major. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Virtual Reality, Business, and Film from NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2019.

Born in New York City to parents from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Anna grew up surrounded by classical music and by her father’s stories of life as an opera singer who escaped communist Czechoslovakia.

Outside the studio, Anna writes and directs independent short films and features. She’s also an avid runner and triathlete, currently training for her first marathon. Beyond filmmaking, she finds joy in baking, oil painting, improv, and swing dancing.

James Suhr

James Suhr, is a Los Angeles based artist (and Louisiana native) currently working as a Storyboard Artist working at Sony Pictures Animation. He has worked in Tv, Feature, commercial and interactive media for studios Such as Sony Pictures animation Disney Tv Animation, Dreamworks Nickelodeon, Illumination and many others.

His credits include (but are not limited to) Gravity Falls, Wander Over Yonder, Despicable me, Big City Greens, Trollhunters/3 Below, Monsters at Work, and Dogs In Space...

James love storytelling in any medium, drawing, laughing, gardening, Martial Arts, and going bald with his family and various pets.

Lindsey Levine

Lindsey Levine is a filmmaker and writer whose work spans the globe and centers on stories of connection. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, she spent a year traveling across five continents and twenty-five countries, documenting stories of resilience and belonging. She currently works alongside Emmy Award–winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Joshua Seftel, and her films have screened at international festivals. A student of Dramatic Writing and Politics at NYU, Lindsey’s work reflects her passion for social justice and equality. She is currently developing her debut feature inspired by her year around the world.

Dive deeper into Interlochen Arts Academy with a free digital viewbook