The Jury for the 20th Annual 168 Film Festival:

Brian Bird

Brian is a veteran Writer and Producer and a distinguished member of the 168 Film Board. He is Co-creator/Executive Producer of Hallmark’s #1 Cable Series, now prepping its 11th season, When Calls The Heart. He is the Writer/Producer of the Lee Strobel story, The Case for Christ and Paramount Pictures Captive. Brian's 40-year career in Hollywood includes: writing and producing Not Easily Broken, adapted from the novel by T.D. Jakes for Sony/Screen Gems (2009); Aloha With Love (2022), The Engagement Plot (2022), The Happy Camper (2023) and Just Jake (2023) for UPtv, I’m Glad It’s Christmas (2022) for Great American Family Channel, Saving Sarah Cain (2008) and The Last Sin Eater (20th Century Fox 2007), Call Me Claus (2003) for Sony, and Bopha! (1993) for Paramount, along with 400 episodes of TV, including: When Hope Calls, Mystic, Touched By An Angel, Step By Step and Evening Shade.

Christopher Cibelli

He is a Film Editor who has worked on television and feature films with luminaries such as Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Bruckheimer, Frank Marshall, Richard Donner, and Andy Garcia. His recent film, Trust in Love, written and directed by Mick Davis, won recent 16 film festival awards. In 2022, he edited Panama directed by Mark Neveldine, starring Mel Gibson and Cole Hauser. Christopher spent seven years on the hit series from Bruno Heller, The Mentalist, CBS/Warner Bros. He edited the Peabody Award winning Rectify for the Sundance Channel, Reverie for Amblin Television/NBC, Suits for AMC, Code Black for Disney/ABC and The Enemy Within, NBC/Universal. Christopher grew up in a show biz family in Studio City, California. He was mentored and worked on What About Bob and several other feature films by Academy Award winner Anne Coates, editor of Lawrence of Arabia, The Elephant Man and Erin Brockovich. His parents met on the set of Singing in the Rain. Christopher Cibelli and his wife Tatia currently live in south Atlanta. They are editing independent feature films, developing a post-production facility and mentoring film students.

Tatia Cibelli

Tatia is a film and TV, assistant editor who has worked in production and post on feature films, national network and cable television, music videos, webisodes and award-winning PBS shorts. Her latest projects include 2022 release “Panama” starring Mel Gibson and Cole Hauser and currently in post, “The Stenographer” starring Emile Hirsch. Past television series include “The Mentalist” on CBS, The Peabody Award winning “Rectify” for the Sundance Channel, Amblin Television’s “Reverie” for NBC, “Suits” for AMC Network, “Code Black” for Disney/ABC Studios and Universal’s “The Enemy Within” on NBC. She studied painting and sculpture at University California, Irvine, then began her career in the entertainment industry creating graphics and titles for national network and cable sports channels ESPN, Prime Ticket and ABC Sports. She also created graphic packages for live concerts for Motley Crue and Metallica. Tatia and her editor husband Christopher, currently live in south Atlanta. They are editing independent feature films, developing a post-production facility and mentoring film students.

Michael Feifer

Michael is an award-winning Director/Writer/Producer known for Abandoned (2010), Merry Kissmas (2015) and A Christmas Wedding Tail (2011). He has produced/Line Produced over 120 feature films, directed over 70 features, and written over 40 films. His father was Head of Television Research for Twentieth Century Fox in the late 60's and 70's. Michael’s birth was announced in the back pages of The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Mike earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Colorado, where he developed his visual style. At age twenty-four Mike produced his first feature. He married film director, Caia Coley. Mike and Caia have been happily married for over twenty years and have a brilliant twenty-year-old son who attends the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Mark Fincannon

Mark is a motion picture and television casting director and partner of Fincannon & Associates, a multiple Emmy and Artios award-winning casting company. Among the projects Mark has cast are The Blind Side, End of The Spear, On a Wing and a Prayer and Dove Award Feature Film of the Year, Jesus Revolution. Fincannon & Associates has cast hundreds of features, limited series, episodic and movies of the week. The 40-year-old company has offices in Wilmington, NC, New Orleans, LA, Austin, TX and Fayetteville, GA. Mark is an owner of Luminarium Pictures, a production company striving to tell stories of the highest caliber and inspirational content. Mark and his wife, Sharon currently live and work in Fayetteville, GA. They have four daughters, son-in-laws and twelve grandchildren!

Yvette Sams

Yvette is an award-winning Writer/Director/Producer with many projects in development including her family drama series, Edge of the South, holiday movies A Christmas Reunion and Christmas in Angel Falls as well as her thriller Deadly Return. She recently wrapped her feature film Six Days In Evergreen starring Dawn Oliveri, Johnny Whitworth, and Penelope Ann Miller which she co-wrote and produced. She wrote the currently streaming romantic drama A Royal Surprise (2022) for BET Network, shot on location in Johannesburg South Africa. She is a distinguished member of the 168 Film Board. She has been active in the 168 Film Project, both in writing/producing/directing and in judging and mentoring new screenwriters and filmmakers. Yvette wants to inspire people to believe in love, hope, and forgiveness. She has been a writer and publicist in the entertainment industry. Prior to her work in Hollywood, she was a business owner and worked as an advertising executive in TV, radio, and print. She later wrote a column in two Las Vegas publications - Nevada Family Magazine and Nevada Wellness Magazine and later became Managing Editor for Prime Plus Magazine, a local lifestyle publication. She also penned The Helicopter Parents Guide to - Surviving Senior Year, a book to help parents of high schoolers navigate the college entry process. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from California State Northridge with a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema Television Arts with an emphasis in Screenwriting. She currently resides in Beverly Hills, California, and is the proud mother of her amazing son, Ryan Sams, who heads up the language department and teaches Spanish & Bible at The Christian Academy in Brookhaven, PA.

Nick Searcy

In the summer of 1996, Searcy produced, directed and acted in his first independent feature, Carolina Low (1997). Searcy's other film credits include the blockbusters Nell (1994), The Fugitive (1993), Cast Away (2000), Head of State (2003), Runaway Jury (2003), and The Ugly Truth (2009). He broke onto the scene as the villain Frank Bennett in Universal's Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). Searcy is a veteran of several television series. He had a recurring role on ABC's Thunder Alley (1994) was a series regular on CBS' American Gothic (1995) UPN's "7 Days" (1998-2001) and ABC's Rodney (2004) (2004-2006) and has guest starred on Boston Legal (2004), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), and The West Wing (1999), among others. He has also starred in several movies-of-the-week, including In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness (1994), Stolen Innocence (1995) all for CBS. Searcy was a series regular on HBO's From the Earth to the Moon (1998). Searcy's theatre credits include several Off-Broadway plays and regional/stock productions of Guys and Dolls, Cabaret and Jesus Christ Superstar. Searcy is married to the actress Leslie Riley and has 2 lovely children, Chloe and Omar.

John David Ware

John is an award-winning Writer-Director-Producer, whose credits include directing the feature film Unbridled, starring Eric Roberts and T.C. Stallings; and producing the Tesla-inspired, Sci-fi feature film, Final Frequency, starring Charles Shaughnessy, Richard Burgi and Lou Ferrigno Jr. John is the Founder and President of 168 Film, which has helped propel the lives and careers of thousands of artists all over the world by teaching them to focus on excellence of craft and on God's Word. John has produced the 168 Film Festival since 2003, working with talent such as Candace Cameron Bure, (Full House), Zachary Levi (Shazam I & II, American Underdog), Michael Learned (4-Time Emmy Winner, The Waltons), Academy Award Winner Louis Gossett Jr. and Kevin Sorbo (Soul Surfer, Hercules). Originally from Columbus Ohio, John went to film school at Miami University and graduated with honors.