DATE: 8/19/25
TIME: 7:30pm - 9:30pm
LOCATION: Manuel’s Tavern
PRICE: Free
Curious about all the Atlanta Film Society Education Department has to offer? Don’t miss this month's Eat, Drink, and B-Indie, where you'll have an opportunity to meet some of our instructors, check out what classes and programs we have coming up, and get to know the industry professionals that will be sharing their craft. Whether you’re new to filmmaking or a seasoned pro, it’s a great way to ask questions, make connections, and see what our Education team has planned for the 2025 Fall/Winter Season!
ABOUT THE PANELISTS
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For the past twenty years, Brian Lonano has made several shorts, music videos and commissioned works that embrace a trashy outsider sentiment and utilize DIY practical and visual effects. His most infamous film is the 2016 short, Gwilliam. Brian has been very fortunate to have his work screen a film festivals like SXSW, Fantastic Fest, Fantasia and Slamdance. At festivals, he is often seen promoting his work with stickers, posters, and other "fun" trinkets like barf bags! Brian is also a past Atlanta Film Society Filmmaker-in-Residence and had five of his films screen at the Atlanta Film Festival including his most recent film, CONTENT: The Lo-Fi Man, which won a Jury Special Mention.
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Makeup FX Artist | Creature Creator | Specialty Costumer | Creative Chaos Wrangler
For over 20 years, "Monster" Midian Crosby has been up to her elbows in silicone, foam latex, and movie magic, bringing creatures, characters, and cinematic nightmares to life. From blockbuster films to gritty indie projects, her artistry has touched feature films, TV series, commercials, and live events, making actors unrecognizable and monsters way too real. As the owner and Lead Artist of Monster Makeup FX™, Midian has tackled everything from hand-laid beards to full-body muscle suits, lifelike prosthetics to jaw-dropping creature builds. Her passion? The endless puzzle of problem-solving on set, turning budget and time constraints into creative gold—because nothing fuels her more than the thrill of making the impossible happen. Midian's sculpted, stitched, and airbrushed her way through projects like Scare Tactics (2024), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Stranger Things, The Haunting of Hill House, The Walking Dead, and countless others. When Midian is not buried in molds or mastering the art of realistic aging, you’ll find her teaching future FX wizards, whipping up legendary meals as a personal chef on the side, or researching period styles down to the last historically accurate eyebrow. Whether crafting a hyper-realistic disguise, a terrifyingly lifelike corpse, or a full-scale creature suit, she brings passion, precision, and just the right amount of chaos to every project. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about storytelling—one brushstroke, stitch, and sculpt at a time.
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Carrie Schrader is an award-winning writer-director of short films, commercials, and feature-length films. She co-directed the short film Don't Mess with Texas with Ethan Coen and directed the Netflix commercial Batdad: Battle For Bedtime. Carrie also wrote and co-directed the feature-length documentary The Founders (Peacock, Amazon), and currently makes her living from multiple feature-length film write-for-hire contracts. Her short films have won film festival awards internationally, and she’s honed both leadership and collaborative spirit in the Orchard Project Episodic Lab, the Outfest Screenwriting Lab, IFP, and the Austin Film Festival. Carrie has a ridiculously expensive, but surprisingly useful, MFA in directing from Columbia University and will be forever proud of her early days as a theater nerd.