Sponsors

Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

We greatly value our individual sponsors & donors. On a year-to-year basis, your generous support plays a crucial role in helping us continue our mission of championing non-fiction storytelling and providing a platform for documentary filmmakers to entertain, educate, and broaden perspectives. At HSDFI, we believe in the power of storytelling to inspire, educate, and create positive change in the world. Your help continues to make a difference.

PRESENTING SPONSOR

PREMIERE SPONSOR

HOST SPONSOR

PRODUCER SPONSORS

SixtyOne Celsius | Advertising, Website Design & Marketing in Hot Springs, Arkansas

DIRECTOR SPONSORS

Lisenne Rockefeller

Matthew T. Rogers, Esq, Production Counsel, Filmlaw.co

Metal Roof Pros

Nütrl

Stella Artois

PARTY SPONSOR

THE NATURAL STATE FILM SELECTION SPONSOR

GOLD SPONSORS

Avant Mining
Bank OZK
Mickey & Larry Drennan
Eugene Shelby
Tito's Handmade Vodka

FOUNDATION & COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Arkansas Arts Council
Arkansas Community Foundation
Arvest Foundation
C. Louis and Mary C. Cabe Foundation
Entergy
The Grace Foundation
Garland County Library
The Happy Hollow
Hot Springs Area Cultural Alliance
Low Key Arts
Art Works
National Endowment for the Arts
Red Light Roastery
The Rebsamen Fund
Rosenzweig Fund for Interfaith Activities
The Waters
Windgate Foundation

SILVER SCREEN PARTNERS

Cranford Construction
Richard D'Amore & Jennifer Eckert
Diamond Family Financial Partners of Raymond James
The Eisele Brothers
Empire Financial Architects
Grateful Head Pizza Oven & Tap Room
Suellen Hales
John and Jordan Horner
Hot Springs Village
Laurel Leone
National Geographic
Oliver - Horner Investment Group
Jen Rainin
Marti & Greg Rickel
SET Construction
Quapaw Baths & Spa
Whittington Place
Mary & Robert Zunick

EVENT PARTNERS

Blind Bandit Media
Catch My Eye Henna
The Club House
Deluca’s
ESQ Realty Group
J&S Hospitality Group
The Mountain Valley Spring Water
Nütrl
Sam’s Pizza Pub
SQZBX Pizza
Stella Artois
Superior Bathhouse Brewery
Tito's Handmade Vodka
The Whittington Place
The Yoga Place

VIP LOUNGE PARTNERS

Coca-Cola
Kollective Coffee & Tea
The Mountain Valley Spring Water
Nütrl
Stella Artois
Tito's Handmade Vodka

EDUCATION PARTNERS

Arkansas TV
National Park College

MEDIA PARTNERS

Deadline
Arkansas Times
KUAF
Little Rock Public Radio
Reel South
The Springs Magazine
Top Docs

RED CARPET CIRCLE SPONSORS

Jay Barth & Chuck Cliett
Donna Casparian & Ross Bandy
Brenda & Courtney Crouch Jr
Angela & Dexter Doyne
Neal Gladner
The Grace Foundation
Gabriel M. Fisher - Edward Jones Financial Advisors
Carolyn Kennedy
Karen Lauck
Scott Lauck
Legacy Law Group
Margaret McLarty
Brent Miller
Julie & Duke Nix
Packman 53
Linda Williams Palmer
Jessica Pillow
Mary Jane Rebick
Martha M. Smither
Alix & Bart Stafford
Gay & Gary Strakshus
Carol Thomason
David & Sharon Turrentine
Les Warren

HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE RED CARPET CIRCLE SPONSORS

Barkansas Pet Supply
Clampit's Country Kitchen & Meat Market
DK Wellness Blueprint - Dominique Kohlenberger
Sonya & Ike Eisenhauer
Fischer Insurance Solutions
Lauren Weems Fuller & Debra Fuller
Gfeller Joyner Edwards
Bernadette Shults
Janet Smith

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Annalee Drain

FESTIVAL PRODUCER

Annalee Drain is the Festival Producer of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, stepping into the role this year after three years with the festival in other departments.

She holds a BFA in Digital Filmmaking from the University of Central Arkansas. Annalee also serves as Programming Manager for the Persistence of Vision Film Festival, a role she has held for three years.

Based in Northwest Arkansas, she works full time as a freelance Camera Assistant on feature films and television, and recently made her debut as Director of Photography on the documentary feature Dirty Girl (Post-Production).

Deb Fuller

OFFICE MANAGER / MARKETING ASSISTANT / FILMMAKER FORUM CO-PRODUCER

Deb Fuller is a native Houstonian who has called Arkansas home for more than seven years. She has immersed herself in the Inception to Projection filmmaking program in Hot Springs over the past five years.

She has written and directed two short narratives, two documentary shorts, and participated in the production of numerous other projects. Her filmmaking centers on meaningful storytelling, often highlighting people, histories, and issues that deserve greater visibility.

This creative work deepens her connection to the community and amplifies voices that might otherwise go unheard.

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Erin Williams-Weir

SENIOR PROGRAMMER

Erin Williams-Weir is a festival programmer, producer, and award-winning filmmaker from Canada. She programs documentary features for the Chilliwack Independent Film Festival and has worked across international sales, acquisitions, and documentary production.

Her debut documentary, NEVER GET BUSTED!, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to receive multiple awards on the festival circuit, including the PBS Human Spirit Award.

Sean Volk

SENIOR PROGRAMMER

Sean Volk is a film programmer and arts advocate based in Fargo, ND. He is a Senior Programmer at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

Additionally, Sean serves as a Lead Programmer at Mountainfilm and he is the Narrative Feature Programmer at the Woods Hole Film Festival. He has previously programmed for the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and the Nashville Film Festival.

Sean received his MA in Film Studies from Western University in London, Ontario in 2015; his scholarship explored representations of monstrosity in the films of Guillermo del Toro.

Colleen Thurston

SENIOR PROGRAMMER

Colleen Thurston is a documentary filmmaker and curator from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

With two decades experience in the festival world, Colleen has worked for festivals nationwide and specializes in non-fiction and Indigenous storytelling.

In addition to her work with HSDFF, she is the Project Producer for Native Lens, and a programmer for MountainFilm and the Tacoma Film Festival. Her first feature documentary Drowned Land screened at Hot Springs 2025, and is broadcasting on PBS in 2026.

Kyle Therral Wilson

COMMUNICATIONS, MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Kyle Therral Wilson is an Arkansas-native, Los Angeles-based consultant specializing in copywriting, digital marketing, publicity, and creative writing.

He has extensive experience in the publishing industry, most notably at Disney Publishing Worldwide, where he built email marketing campaigns and wrote interactive scripts for classic Disney characters.

Kyle also writes and produces for stage and screen; his short film SFH was an official selection at the 2024 Cinema Diverse Film Festival in Palm Springs, California.

Annie Gerber

PROGRAMMING MANAGER

Oversees daily operations and logistics including venue management, sponsor communications, transportation and housing.

Annie Gerber is a native Arkansan who has a Bachelor of Fine arts in music from Ouachita Baptist University but later switched her main focus to film and photography. Annie spent several years working as a Teaching Assistant at the prestigious photography program at the School of Cinematic and Performing Arts in both New York and Los Angeles. For the past 5 years she has maintained her position as the Director of Operations for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

Ken Jacobson

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Ken oversees all aspects of the festival including fundraising and sponsor relations, program development, management of staff and volunteers, budgeting, and producing the festival each fall.

Ken Jacobson was most recently Senior Programmer, Documentary Films at the Sonoma International Film Festival. He has served as Documentary Film Programmer at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (since 2017) and at the DocLands Documentary Film Festival (since 2019). He is also co-creator/co-host (with Michael Merrill) of the podcast “Top-Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers” with presenting sponsor Netflix.

Previously, Jacobson was a senior member of the programming team at the American Film Institute (2018-2021) and Director of Educational Programs and Strategic Partnerships at the International Documentary Association (2013 – 2016). From 2008- 2013, he was Documentary Programmer and Programming/Education Outreach Coordinator at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He has served on numerous festival juries and as a grant reviewer for the NEA, NEH, Sundance Institute, and IDA Enterprise Fund.