Producers Roundtable Sundance 2025

FREE WEBINAR

Dear Producer is hosting a virtual webinar to bring together producers who have films premiering at the 2025 festival to discuss their experience at this year’s event and to collectively analyze the current acquisitions climate and the role festivals play in the life of a film.

Moderated by Rebecca Green, join Colleen Cassingham (LIFE AFTER, U.S. Documentary Competition), Chester Algernal Gordon (MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE, Premieres), Roger Mancusi (BUNNYLOVR, U.S. Dramatic Competition), and Alisa Payne (THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR, U.S. Documentary Competition), for this in-depth conversation.

This is a free virtual webinar.

Saturday, February 1 @ 11am PT / 2pm ET

PANELISTS

Colleen Cassingham (she/her) is a Producer at Multitude Films focused on politically committed artful nonfiction. Most recently, she produced the IDA Awards-nominated shorts collection QUEER FUTURES (CPH:DOX 2023), which is streaming on Criterion Channel. Her past credits include Co-Producer on IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL (Sundance 2023), and Associate Producer on PRAY AWAY (Tribeca 2020), THROUGH OUR EYES: APART (Provincetown 2020), CALL CENTER BLUES (SXSW 2020), ALWAYS IN SEASON (Sundance 2019), THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED (Tribeca 2018), and LOVE THE SINNER (Tribeca 2017) which were distributed by Netflix, Topic, HBOMax, POV, and Independent Lens. Colleen's directorial debut short FROM DAMASCUS TO CHICAGO was broadcast on POV in 2017 and was an Editor’s Pick at The Atlantic. She is a 2023-2024 Sundance Producing Fellow, selected for her role producing Reid Davenport’s second feature doc LIFE AFTER. She is also a 2023-2024 Impact Partners Producing Fellow and was a VC Sony 2021 Mentor at The Video Consortium, a 2019 Points North Fellow, and a 2017–2018 UnionDocs Collaborative Studio fellow. Outside of Multitude Films, she is independently producing Casey Carter’s Sundance-supported debut feature, TO USE A MOUNTAIN.

Chester Algernal Gordon is a filmmaker with a passion for making powerful stories that capture the imagination and inspire. They began working in film production in 2016, and since then Gordon has costumed three Lionsgate feature films, 17 short films, and has produced award-winning films that have played in festivals worldwide including the Sundance Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, BFI, True/ False, Doc NYC and New Orleans Film Festival. Gordon’s latest film, Elegance Bratton’s critically-acclaimed THE INSPECTION, starring Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union, was released in theaters in 2022. The A24 film centers around a young homeless gay man who joins the Marine Corps to win back his mother’s love, but learns how to respect himself at bootcamp. The film has garnered numerous award nominations including from the Golden Globes, Gothams, and Film Independent Spirit Awards. Gordon won an NAACP award for the film. Gordon co-runs the production company, Freedom Principle, alongside Bratton. Gordon has produced numerous acclaimed short films and the 2019 feature documentary, PIER KIDS, which won a Truer Than Fiction award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Best Poster Design award at the Indie Memphis Film Festival, the Jury Prize at the Sarasota Film Festival, amongst other accolades. They are currently in pre-production on the upcoming feature, ‘By any Means’. This self-taught Maryland native expertly straddles the world of high fashion and film. They were a producer for the MIPCOM 2018 winner, GLAAD-nominated documentary TV series MY HOUSE for Viceland. Gordon’s short, -SHIP: A VISUAL POEM, won best US narrative short at Sundance Film Festival 2020. They were named the winner of the Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019 TFI All Access Grant and TFI Pond5 Program and was a 2019 Film Independent Producing Lab & Fast Track Lab fellow.

Roger Mancusi is a producer, curator, and founder of his production and consulting company Fair Oaks Entertainment. His credits include the features BUNNYLOVR (Sundance Competition 2025), HANNAH HA HA (Slamdance 2022 Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Fiction and Acting Award), MUTT (2023 Sundance Best Actor Award, Line Producer). Mancusi's Fair Oaks Entertainment specializes in independent storytelling from emerging talent, preparing first and second-time feature filmmakers for the many challenges ahead.

Alisa Payne's producing career spans over 25 years and boasts a diverse array of credits. Her most recent credits include HARLEM ICE, a 5-part Disney+ docuseries premiering in February 2025, and the feature film THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. She is the producer of the Emmy Award nominated and Academy Award shortlisted documentary STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING based on Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s eponymous book and the critically acclaimed HBO film BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME. She is the producer of the forthcoming short film WOMEN COUNT (Sundance / Times Studios), and executive producer of FRESHMAN. AGAIN., and THE BLACK TABLE.

Her work has garnered prestigious recognition including a Grierson Award, NAACP Image Award, Gracie Award, and an African American Film Critics Association Award, as well as several nominations including two Emmys, a Critics Choice Award and Cinema Eye Honor nominations.

In 2022, Alisa co-founded Message Pictures, with filmmakers Sam Pollard and Geeta Gandbhir, to create opportunities for creatives from underrepresented communities to tell stories that matter to them. Alisa lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and two children.