Milena Grozeva-Levy, Instructor
James Savoca, Instructor
Roy Cox, Associate Instructor
William Davenport, Associate Instructor
Tom Donald, Associate Instructor
Richard Favaro, Associate Instructor
Rod Gross, Associate Instructor
Darcel Walker, Associate Instructor

Milena Grozeva-Levy, Instructor
Producer/Director/Editor

Milena was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and came to the US in 1991 to study at Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges. While at Harvard, Milena was fortunate to work under the mentorship of filmmakers Robb Moss, Ross McElwee, and Dusan Makavejev, as well as with still photographers Chris Killip and Ed Grazda. After receiving her BA degree magna cum laude from the Visual and Environmental Studies (VES) department, Milena earned her MFA degree from the Radio-TV-Film Department at the University of Texas at Austin.

After earning her MFA degree, she was offered employment at Digital Anvil, a Microsoft Game Studio, as part of their 3D Cinematics Team for the PC computer game Freelancer. Milena was responsible for creating the 3D character blocking, as well as setting virtual cameras, performing scene editing, and editing particle effects.

Milena has produced, written, directed, and edited a number of films, both on 16mm film and digital video. Movin' On, a 56 min. drama, for which she was the Director of Photography, garnered the Silver Award at the Houston International Film Festival. She has received several awards at European film festivals, and her film Emily, a 56 min. narrative, screened at the Angelika Film Center as a part of the Independent Feature Film Market '2000 in New York. A documentary about LIFE magazine's prominent woman photographer Hansel Mieth by Emmy-nominated producer/director Nancy Schiesari, on which Milena did the motion effects design and online editing, aired nationally on PBS in 2003. Milena's latest short, With All My Love, received the Two Star award at CIAFF -- Canadian International Annual Film Festival in Toronto, and screened at St. John's Women's Film Festival, Canada, the Yale Women In Film Festival, 2005, and the Dallas Video Festival, in August 2005.

James Savoca, Instructor
Writer/Director/Producer

After studying Film and Photography at Syracuse University, and working as a camera operator (NBC affilate station), James moved to New York, where he worked as a staff photographer (still life and fashion), production assistant on feature films (Sidney Lumet, Barry Levinson) and studied acting at Carnegie Hall with Louise Lasser.

In 1990, James founded the theater group Big Head Productions. His first full length play Talk to Me, which he wrote and directed, sold out audiences at Tom Noonan's Paradise Theatre. He followed-up with off-Broadway productions of Off My Back, Tomorrow Never Comes and Just Like Television. Then in 1995, he assembled a sketch comedy group called The Guilty Players, performing weekly at New York's Under Acme in Greenwich Village.

In 1996, James wrote and directed a short 16mm film called Revelation, starring Kevin Corrigan. Revelation made its broadcast premiere on The Sundance Channel.

After his first taste of filmmaking, James started his own production company, Solo Group Productions. In 2000, James made his feature film debut, writing and directing Sleepwalk, starring Drea de Matteo, Ivan Martin and John Lurie. Sleepwalk was shot on 35mm and premiered at SXSW Film Festival. The Independent Film Channel showcased Sleepwalk as part of IFC's Next Wave Films where it ran monthly for 3 years.

In 2005 James completed his second feature film, The Crooked Corner, which he wrote, directed and produced.

James has worked with a variety of talented actors such as the Emmy winning Drea de Matteo, John Lurie, Michael Rapaport, Kevin Corrigan and Victor Argo.

To view trailers, clips, reel and reviews, go to savocafilms.com

Roy Cox, Associate Instructor
Producer/Director/Editor/Production Designer

Roy has been an award-winning filmmaker for over thirty years. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Film from San Francisco University in 1972 and began producing and directing documentaries and educational films for KLVX television, the PBS affiliate in Las Vegas.

In 1975, Roy co-founded Eclipse Productions and for the next fifteen years, produced/directed PBS programs, commercials and corporate marketing films for many of Silicon Valley's most influential companies; Apple, Adobe, IBM, and Hewlett Packard. Production highlights include: Mythos, an eight part PBS series documenting Joseph Campbell's final lecture tour, hosted by Susan Sarandon, and Imagine, a seven part PBS series examining technology's impact in the classroom.

Roy's feature film credits include Production Designer and Editor for ClownHouse, a thriller produced by Francis Coppola's Commercial Pictures starring Sam Rockwell. Roy was also Production Designer for Francis Coppola's The Gunfighter; a period western inspired by the Hopalong Cassidy novellas starring Martin Sheen and Keith Carradine.

In 1990, Roy founded Roy Cox Productions and embraced the world of digital filmmaking, having recently upgraded to Final Cut Pro HD. Under his own banner, Roy has continued to produce/direct numerous independent films for PBS and high-end corporate marketing. Recent projects include the keynote videos for Apple's introduction of the iPod, and the iTunes Music Store where Roy worked with celebrities such as Moby, Alanis Morissette, and Smashmouth's Steve Harwell. Roy's recent PBS programs include: When LIFE Was Young, a look at LIFE Magazine's contribution to Photojournalism, and Let The Mountains Talk, a conversation with Sierra Club legend, David Brower.

William Davenport, Associate Instructor

William Davenport has worked on many award winning productions and has shown his work at film festivals around the world. William owned a successful commercial production company for many years, before becoming a full time teacher. William has taughtfilmmaking and technology courses at San Francisco State University, U.C. Berkeley, the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking, Art Academy and the Art Institute of San Francisco. William taught filmmaking, journalism and broadcast television coursesat Fremont High School in Sunnyvale for four years. He oversaw the operations of a cable broadcast station located at a high school. During his tenure at the high school he became interested in special education, and worked with many students who had special needs.

After leaving the high school William received a teaching credential in special education and taught at various non-public schools, working primarily with children and teens on the autism spectrum. William taught elementary students at Oaks; middle and high school students at Sand Paths Academy; and a life skills program for severe autistic children at Spectrum. He worked at the San Francisco non-profit BAYCAT, that provides filmmaking and other classes to the Bayview Hunter's Point area. He taught a series of classes at the Alice Griffith Community Center with students from the surrounding area. Presently, William is director of the Autism Social Connection, where he teaches filmmaking courses to children on the autism spectrum. He holds advanced degrees in education and filmmaking

Tom Donald, Associate Instructor

Tom Donald's background in advertising started at an early age, growing up in a household where his father spent many years in New York at one of the world's largest ad agencies, Young & Rubicam. Upon reaching adulthood, Tom decided to follow his star in the music business and began writing and producing jingles and background music for radio and TV commercials. After a couple of years, he found himself looking for a larger role in the creative process, and that led to a new career as writer and creative director at several San Francisco-based ad agencies.

After a stint as creative director at Anderson Rothstein, a small San Francisco agency that specialized in food, beverage and California-based agricultural accounts, Tom joined Foote Cone & Belding as vp/group creative director. He then took a position as creative director at Sun Microsystems for two years. A final agency stop was at Saatchi & Saatchi, where he was a writer and an associate creative director.  

After years of writing commercials and corporate films, he decided to become a film director. Since that time in 1995, he has directed (and in many cases, written) projects for diverse clients such as Apple, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Adelphia Cable, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Blue Shield, the San Francisco Giants, Wal-Mart, Pacific Bell, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Plantronics, 1-800-Dentist, Avaya, Crystal Geyser, Alzheimer's Association, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the City of San Francisco, PaperPak Industries and BART. His work has won many industry awards, including a number of ADDYs, Cindys and several mentions in CA Magazine.

Richard Favaro, Associate Instructor
Lighting Director/Gaffer

Dick Favaro has over twenty years of experience in the San Francisco Bay Area providing lighting services to the motion picture and video production industry, including commercials, feature films, television, corporate marketing, educational and documentaries. Currently, he owns a 4-ton grip truck and a 1-ton grip van. His comprehensive lighting and grip inventory meets the needs of any shoot.

His recent clients include: SBC, Sun Microsystems, Family Communications, Applied Materials, Intrepid Productions Bank of America, PBS, Oracle, BBC, IBM, Lieberman Productions, McDougall Creative, VISA, Woodward and McDowell, The Frankel Agency, MTV, Lifetime, and Kendall Jackson Winery.

Dick received a Bachelor of Arts from a small liberal arts college in Iowa. He spent several years in Chicago learning the trade of lighting. Dick moved to San Francisco and worked freelance, having settled in lighting, buying more and better equipment. As business opportunities grew he started work on commercials, short and long feature films gaining well known clients. For SFSDF, Dick will be teaching lighting seminars, working on productions, and mentoring students in the fine art of lighting.

Rod Gross, Associate Instructor
Director/Editor

Rod Gross is a film and video director with extensive editing and motion graphic design experience. In his studio he creates with the latest digital tools, melding together live action scenes, graphics and animation.

Rod has won numerous national and international awards for his work, including Best Director from the Festival Internazionale del Filmato Turistico in Italy, CINEs, Cindys, Intercoms, Joeys, Tellys and Gold Medals at the NY International Film Festival.

In his first video shoot right out of San Francisco State University, Rod worked with Vincent Price on a live product introduction, along with concerts for the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Starship. He directed single and multi-camera video magazines, live stage, and corporate events.

Rod's focus is filmstyle single camera directing, making short movies for marketing, education, sales, and corporate communications with distribution on the web, Flash, DVD, broadcast, trade shows and corporate events. A short list of clients includes Cisco, Nokia, Wells Fargo, McKesson, Philips and Charles Schwab.

In a recent venture into the specialty video market, Rod co-produced and directed two DVDs: Silicon Magic and At the Limits III - both videos guide the viewer through the semiconductor manufacturing process.

Rod's production company, Studio 144, currently has 2 feature films in development. He continues to explore new media possibilities and enthusiastically embraces the HD medium, though if cost were no object, "I'd still shoot film."

"It's been quite an adventure over the last 25 years, first working with film emulsion, then magnetized tape and now pushing pixels - but the constant for me continues to be the creative - the passion for creating moving images for the screen." - Rod Gross

Darcel Walker, Associate Instructor

As the audio guru for Funky Tiki, LLC, Darcel ensures top quality audio on all film, video and television projects. He studied at the prestigious California Recording Institute, where he specialized in Location Sound/audio engineering. He has over eight hundred hours of Field Sound Mixing and is one of the most sought after Bay Area Field Audio Techs.

Darcel has over 20 feature film credits as well as numerous broadcast & cable industry assignments that include the History Channel, Discovery Channel, CBS, ABC and the BBC. He is also the founder of the proposed Art & Music News Network (AMN-Your Source for Art and Music News-The CNN of the Arts World) and the proposed IndieLove.tv film festival (a Global Cineplex).