FilmDay 2026

Monique Madrid, UNF alumna, is a festival organizer based in Jacksonville. In 2016, she became the first Black female film festival organizer in Jacksonville. She created LOL JAX Film Festival, a comedy film festival giving local filmmakers, actors and comedians a platform for their short films and talent, with the motto “Love Our Locals while Laughing Out Loud.”

She is co-city producer of the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project, an international competition challenging filmmakers to make a short film in 48 hours. The city winner advances to Filmapalooza for a chance to screen at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. In 2023, Jacksonville won grand champion at Filmapalooza and represented Duval in France.

She has worked on film projects as a story editor, line producer, assistant editor, voice-over artist and camera operator. She was selected for 40 Under 40 in 2020 and named a Woman of Influence in 2023 by the Jacksonville Business Journal. Her festival has won Best Film Festival in Folio's Best of Jax seven years straight, and she is the current Small Business of the Year winner with the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville.

Adam Madrid is a self-taught filmmaker, photographer and creative leader based in Jacksonville, Florida. His filmmaking career began in 2014 when he won Best Film and Best Director at the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project, earning a screening at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Adam has worked with major events and organizations including the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jacksonville Jazz Festival, NASA/SpaceX, the NFL, NCAA March Madness and PRI Productions. He co-created the LOL JAX Film Festival and served as co-city producer for the JAX 48 Hour Film Project.

In 2021, Adam joined the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Television, Motion Picture & Commercial Production. In 2024, he became the first Film Production Coordinator for the City of Jacksonville Film and Television Office. He is also the director of the feature film Let Me Be Corey, produced through his company, Argyle Forest Films.

Tery Spataro is an award-winning filmmaker, AI creative director, writer, artist, and founder of Cosmic Cats & Flying Cupcakes, an AI-native studio creating films, music, visual art, and story worlds at the intersection of technology and imagination. Since 2020, she has integrated generative AI into her creative practice, producing AI-native books including Strange Place and the Laundrygate series, experimental films and videos, music projects, immersive media, and commercial productions.

Her films include Beyond Darkness, a metaphorical exploration of human resilience accepted into global film festivals; The Bride, a poetic AI-generated short where image, language, and music converge; and White Out, exhibited at Mesa Contemporary Museum of Art and shown before the Public by Design panel discussion at the Boca Raton Museum of Art on March 26, 2026. White Out and Weird were also featured in the Fugitive Commons AI Animation and Video Art Contest, presented with Loop Art Critique at Lynn University Art Museum from December 2025 through May 2026. Her commercial film work includes an immersive journey 50 million years into the past for Iron Mountain’s client, National Geographic, and a 47-minute AI-animated performance film inspired by an author’s book for a live production presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

What you'll learn

• What makes micro drama different from traditional short-form video
• How hooks, emotional stakes, reversals and cliffhangers create momentum
• How to set up GPT and generative models with the context they need
• A practical AI production workflow from idea through finished episode
• How Code Blue: Bloodline was developed as an AI-assisted vertical series

Carlos is a Jacksonville-based independent filmmaker celebrating 20 years in videography and filmmaking in 2026. A 2025 City of Jacksonville Film & Television Office Rising Star Award winner and Fostering Filmmaker Grant recipient, he works across directing, producing, writing, cinematography, editing and marketing.

Carlos is best known for his SoulHood Saga Series, The Future Soul, and Summertime In Duval projects, and for a marketing style built on epic cinematic “Hollywood style” trailers and live shows that promote his films while showcasing Jacksonville talent. His upcoming film The Future Soul II: TwinVerse is set to premiere in theaters across Florida in 2027.

Workshop: So you've finally made it to the end of your film production — what's next? An independent filmmaker's guide to post-production and the editing process, how to streamline it, and the tools you need before hitting the big screen. Who should attend: aspiring filmmakers of all ages.

What you'll learn

• The necessary steps for a smooth post-production process
• The positions and roles needed to complete post-production
• Editing techniques in Adobe Premiere Pro (basic editing)
• Best practices before presenting a film to audiences
• Inspiring stories to motivate from an experienced independent filmmaker

Dana Michelle Maule is a two-time Audience Choice award winner in the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project. In 2021 and 2023 her short films “Entanglements” and “Chosen Road” earned recognition for their artistic and technical merit, and “Entanglements” also won best graphics. Dana produced and directed her first documentary short, BLACKLOCK, in 2014. With a B.A. in media productions and an Africana studies minor from the University of Houston, she has established herself as a competitive and crowd-pleasing indie filmmaker.

In 2025, Dana founded Northside Pride of Jacksonville, a neighbor-led initiative to amplify, promote and preserve Jacksonville's historic Black neighborhoods and Black businesses.