AI & Film Seattle Event

Panelists/Speakers

Eugen Bräunig

Eugen Bräunig is a Los Angeles-based nonfiction filmmaker and archival producer whose work explores how media, power, and identity shape personal and collective memory. He’s a five-time News & Documentary Emmy winner, with credits including “Sally” (National Geographic), “Welcome to Chechnya” (HBO) – where he helped develop ethical visual strategies to protect vulnerable subjects – “The Vow” (HBO), “Captive Audience” (Hulu), and “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road” (PBS). A founding member of the Archival Producers Alliance, he co-authored the APA’s Best Practices for Use of GenAI in Documentaries, helping shape industry standards for responsible AI use. He is the founder of Houseguest Pictures and a co-founder of Macrofilm.

Katrina Brede

Katrina is an intellectual property attorney and a writer / filmmaker. Originally a native of Kansas City, she’s been in Seattle for 25 years. She serves on the board of directors of Seattle Documentary Association and Strawberry Theater Workshop. 

Sue Corcoran

Sue Corcoran is a director, writer, producer and creative director who believes in a simple idea: Empathy = Change. A great story can make us feel something, feeling can make us see the world differently, and sometimes seeing differently can change what we do next.

In September 2026, Sue goes into production on THE MESS, an original television pilot starring Molly Sides (Thunderpussy) and Sarah Rudinoff (We Are Golden). A teenage alt-rock adventure, supernatural ghost story and deeply human comedy about family, music and redemption, THE MESS is being developed with the intention of expanding the story into a feature film over the course of 2026–27.

Sue has spent more than two decades directing and producing character-driven stories across film, television, branded entertainment and global learning.

At the center of that career is Von Piglet Productions, the independent production company Sue founded and has led for more than 25 years. Through Von Piglet, she has built and led creative teams for some of the world’s most recognized companies and organizations, bringing cinematic storytelling into spaces where it wasn’t traditionally expected.

Her work has helped transform traditional corporate communication and learning into episodic, character-driven entertainment designed to engage audiences emotionally as well as intellectually. Von Piglet’s projects include Microsoft’s TrustCode, Insights to Outcomes and Rise of the Rainmakers, along with work for Oracle, Johnson & Johnson, Visa and the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s TrialWatch. These projects have reached hundreds of thousands of people around the world and earned recognition including a National ADDY Award and multiple Telly, Davey and Brandon Hall awards.

In 2025, Sue also brought that experience inside Microsoft Xbox, serving as a Creative Director and Executive Producer and applying her background in storytelling, creative leadership and production to one of the world’s leading entertainment brands.

Throughout it all, Sue has continued to make independent films—the work that first inspired her to become a storyteller.

Sue’s feature Ira Finkelstein’s Christmas, starring David DeLuise and Elliott Gould, was acquired by 20th Century Fox. Her first feature, Gory Gory Hallelujah, had a limited theatrical release followed by international distribution and a two-year festival run, winning Best Feature at ShockerFest and being named the Bravest Feature at the BendFilm Festival by juror Gus Van Sant.

Her directorial style was once described as “Felliniesque” by visual-effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner). Her short film Circus of Infinity won Best in Show at the Accolade Awards, Best Short at the Seattle Science Fiction Film Festival and the Nell Shipman Award for Best Short. Sue was also named One to Watch by The Stranger Genius Awards in Film.

As a producer, Sue continues to champion independent filmmakers and distinctive voices. She served as Executive Producer of The Last Cinnamon Roll, directed by Michael Langan, which premiered at the Palm Springs International ShortFest and screened at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). She also co-produced Lucky, alongside Meghan Mowery, for directors Ryan Malloy and Michael Langan.

Her producing credits also include Lynn Shelton’s Humpday, which premiered at Sundance; Megan Griffiths’ Sadie, which premiered at SXSW; and Wes Hurley’s Potato Dreams of America, which premiered at SXSW in 2021.

Across all of this work, Sue keeps returning to the same thing: characters.

Funny ones. Complicated ones. People who screw up, fall apart, surprise us, find each other and occasionally manage to become a little more human.

That idea is at the heart of THE MESS.

And following THE MESS, Sue plans to return to Shooting Palmer, her female-powered science-fiction comedy about the survival of human creativity in the age of artificial intelligence.

Sue lives and works in Seattle, where she continues to direct, write, produce and make stories about people trying—often imperfectly—to find their way toward one another.

John du Pre Gauntt 

John du Pre Gauntt is the Creative Director of the Seattle AI Film Festival and the host of Culture & Code, a B2B podcast and newsletter focused on Generative AI for Creative Professionals. John’s written analysis of technology’s impact on media and marketing has been featured in The Economist and eMarketer. His public speaking includes South by Southwest, Artist and the Machine, and the MIT AI Film Festival. John’s audio stories and AI short films have won two Signal Awards, Official Selection for On Air Fest, AIFilm3, and the Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Festival. He holds dual degrees in English Literature and Computer Information Systems plus a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu. 

Brett Halperin

Jared McGilliard

Jared McGilliard is an award-winning director, executive producer, and founder of Nomadica Films, a production company known for immersive, character-driven documentary films and television series that combine cinematic storytelling with purpose, access, and a distinct point of view.

Over the course of his career, McGilliard has created and led projects across some of the world’s most challenging and compelling environments. His credits include the critically acclaimed Inside Combat Rescue for National Geographic, The Last Alaskans and Dodo Heroes for Animal Planet, the award-winning children’s series Izzy’s Koala World for Netflix, and Netflix’s Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure. His work also includes the Webby Award–winning campaign and documentary The Swim, as well as Between the Rains, winner of Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Most recently, McGilliard and Nomadica launched Side Quest Studios, an AI-focused production company bringing generative technology into premium television and documentary storytelling. SideQuest has developed AI-driven work for networks and media companies including History, A&E, Versant, and The Wonder Project, and is among the early production companies to deliver network television using enterprise-level AI tools in close collaboration with network legal and production teams. The studio combines that practical understanding of the rapidly evolving AI landscape with the cinematic discipline, visual storytelling, and production experience that have defined Nomadica’s work for more than a decade.