THE NFI TEAM
At the Nashville Film Institute, we are surrounded by wonderful, supportive team of faculty and staff. Together, we seek to fulfill our mission: “To train students for careers in the film industry.”
KEY FACULTY
Micah Ellars, Lead Instructor
Micah Ellars has many years of experience in nearly every department and position there is in the film and commercial industry. He has produced commercials and corporate documentaries as well as the occasional music video. He also serves as an acting coach and has clients starring in Hollywood features. He is in pre-production on various feature projects.
In the classroom he has a unique approach. While Micah believes that a practical, hands-on education is the best way to pursue the technical skills of filmmaking, he thinks personal development is the most important ingredient for a successful life. He challenges the students to articulate their goals in writing and this approach has helped to launch several careers, even before some students have graduated.
Micah Ellars is a graduate of West Virginia State University with a degree in mass communications with an emphasis on film.
Adam G. Simon
Adam G. Simon is a Los Angeles born actor and writer for television and film. He is known for his work as the writer of POINT BLANK (2019) an action thriller for Gaumont Films, Warparty, and Netflix, based on Fred Cavaye’s Action Thriller, “A Bout Portant”. The film was directed by Joe Lynch and stars Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Marcia Gay Harden, Teyonah Paris & Boris McGiver.
Adam also penned the original screenplay for MAN DOWN (2015) an action thriller directed by Dito Montiel which stars Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Jai Courtney, Kate Mara & Clifton Collins Jr. In 2017 Adam and Filmmaker Joe Carnahan co-wrote a re-imagining of the popular cult film THE RAID by Gareth Evans. Prior to his current work, Adam started his professional career acting while working as a bodyguard and protection specialist.
In 2012 Adam went to work as a Sales Producer for Cameron/Pace Group LLC in Burbank California (founded by director James Cameron and cinematographer Vince Pace). Shortly thereafter, he wrote and produced Synapse, a film where he also played the lead.
Adam is an advocate for the homeless having being homeless himself while writing MAN DOWN and speaks as an advocate for homeless veterans and survivors of abuse.
Christopher Cibelli
Mr. Cibelli has spent a career editing feature films, television series, music videos, documentaries and web-based content. After attending film school at California State University, Northridge, Chris began working on the first season of the revolutionary editorial and musically styled series “Miami Vice” for Universal Studios.
Moving into the feature films, he began a long-term mentorship with Academy Award winning editor Anne V. Coates (Lawrence of Arabia, The Elephant Man) on features What About Bob?, Masters of the Universe, and Congo, where he coordinated complex visual effects with Industrial Light and Magic in 65MM. He went on to edit and supervise the music on Just the Ticket and later Andy Garcia’s The Lost City with Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman.
Chris produced several behind the scene documentaries for these films, working with Mariah Carey, David Anspaugh, Joe Mantegna, and collaborated with Andy Garcia on the PBS Master Series Award winning documentary Uno Mas: Cachao the story Israel Lopez, the master of Cuban classical music.
He worked with such filmmaking luminaries as Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Bruckheimer, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, Richard Donner, Michael Mann, Danny DeVito and Dino DeLaurentiis. This work experience has taken him on many film locations as well as residencies at major studio backlots, including: Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Sony, MGM, and Disney.
Recently he finished a feature film Infamous 6 editing in China for several months. Prior, he edited 2 episodes of NBC’s The Enemy Within, a season of Reverie for NBC/Amblin at Universal Studios, a prior season of Suits for USA, the award-winning series Rectify for the Sundance Channel, and spent seven years on the CBS worldwide television hit series The Mentalist from Bruno Heller for Warner Bros.
Chris is a member in the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, ASCAP, BMI, and alumni of California State University, Northridge (CSUN).
Matthew Perkins
Matthew Perkins (C. Phil) is a film educator, historian, researcher, and scholar. He will obtain his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in Cinema and Media Studies in the spring of 2019, with his dissertation titled The Acquisition and Integration of Sound Labor During the Transition from Silent to Talking Films, 1925-1931. Matthew holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in Communication Arts and French, as well as an M.A. in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. His research on film labor, sound studies, and sports media has been presented at conferences across North America. Matthew has previously served as adjunct professor of Communications at California State University, Dominguez Hills, as well as graduate teaching fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Mark Gary
Mark Gary has taught cinematography at La Salle University, College of Saint Benilde, and the International Academy of Film and Television at Bigfoot, Cebu since the school’s startup in 2005. He also created videos for the performing arts and taught the workshop “Video Documentation in the Performing Arts” at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design.
Mark has directed two full-length feature films, The Leaning House and Naked, was the director of photography on eight feature films, and worked as a director and director of photography in numerous television commercials. Mark was nominated for Indie Movie Cinematographer of the Year by Philippine Movie Press Club Star Awards and Best Cinematography in the ASEAN International Film Festival for the feature film Sonata.
Bobby Rindhage
Bobby Rindhage has worked as a graphic designer, director, and writer. He is a member of the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA). Bobby, along with a partner, wrote, directed, edited, and starred in The Guys Comedy webseries; a project based in Chicago featuring students and alumni from the Second City comedy school. Bobby served as the Digital Media Director for Stuker Training and a Graphic Designer and Creative Consultant for Dow Corning.
Bobby holds a Masters Degree in Communication and Digital Media and a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design/Communication, both from Saginaw Valley State University
Vincent Riotta
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Honors Diploma and The Ronson , Vanbrugh and Patrick Crean prizes. Best Actor Award at the Barcelona Film Festival.
Vincent has successfully pursued a career in acting, directing, writing and has an extensive career as an acting teacher, spanning 36 years in three different countries; England, U.S.A and Italy.
He has worked as an actor with many esteemed movie directors ranging from Ron Howard, Paul Haggis, Christopher Nolan and Peter Greenaway , Zack Sneider, Jose Padilha, Bille August and most recently filmed The Pope with Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce directed by Fernando Mereilles and he has just returned from Belgrade where he played the role of the celebrated Italian Scientist , Luigi Crocco in the Bollywood Film ‘Rocketry, The Nambi Effect’ about the Indian Scientific genius, Nambi Narayanan, directed by and starring Madhavan ( Maddy ), and the Indian superstar, Shah Rukh Khan.
Among some of the wonderful actors he has worked with are;, Tom Hanks, Hilary Swank, Chris Hemsworth, Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day Lewis and Penelope Cruz, Diane Lane, Mila Kunis, Nicholas Cage, Antonio Banderas, Sofia Loren, Susan Sarandon, James Mason.
His TV career stretches from work on the BBC and ITV in the UK, RAI and MEDIASET in ITALY to Netflix and HBO in the USA. Most recently the HALLMARK remake of the classic Audrey Hepburn movie, Roman Holiday, renamed Rome in Love.
As an acting teacher, he founded the Hollywood Blvd Acting School in Hollywood, California where he was artistic director for four years.
A full biography is available on IMDB.COM.
