Variety FYC Fest Returns In-Person With Cord Jefferson, Kemp Powers, Josh Singer and Robert Smigel on Dec. 6

This awards season’s premier contending filmmakers, talent and artisans will gather for exclusive panels at Variety FYC Fest on Dec. 6 in Los Angeles from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Variety FYC Fest will be an all-day, invite-only event featuring an audience of voters and industry leaders. All conversations will be moderated by a Variety journalist.

Programming includes a Documentary Panel, Animation Panel, Screenplay Panel, Song/Score Panel, along with three spotlight conversations.

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Director, producer and writer of MGM’s “American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson, will participate in a conversation with Variety’s awards editor Clayton Davis. Director Abdulelah Alqurashi and writer Hani Kadoor of Saudi Arabia’s foreign language entry “Alhamour” will participate in a conversation with Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay. Producer Gina Shay and director Walt Dohrn of DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls Band Together” will also participate in a spotlight conversation with Tangcay at the summit.

A breakdown of the panels is as follows:

Screenplay Panel

• Samy Burch, writer for “May December”

• Ilker Çatak, director for “The Teachers’ Lounge”

• Alex Convery, screenwriter for “Air”

• Maryam Keshavarz, writer and director for “The Persian Version”

• Josh Singer, writer for “Maestro”

Song/Score Panel

• Gordy Haab, composer for EA Games’ “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor”

• Laura Karpman, composer for the film “American Fiction”

• David Metzger, composer for the film “Wish”

• Stan Walker, co-writer and performer of “I Am” from the film “Origin”

Documentary Panel

• Jesse Moss, director and producer of “The Mission”

• Sean Mullin, director of “It Ain’t Over”

• Rebecca Tickell, co-director of “Common Ground”

• Michael Zelniker, director, producer and writer of “The Issue with Tissue: A Boreal Love Story”

Animation Panel

• Nick Bruno, director of “Nimona”

• Karey Kirkpatrick, writer of “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”

• Kemp Powers, co-director of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

• Robert Smigel, director, writer and songwriter for “Leo”

• Peter Sohn, director and writer of “Elemental”

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