Based in New York city, David Nugent has worked throughout the independent and documentary film world. After receiving an award for Excellence in Teaching from Harvard University in 2000, he moved to New York where he taught the history of documentary and American independent film at the New School for 10 years. Upon arriving in New York, he co-wrote Isaac Julien’s three screen installation piece BALTIMORE. Nugent coordinated the self-distributed release of Greg Pak’s 2003 feature ROBOT STORIES which played in all major cities in the US after receiving more than 30 festival awards. Nugent previously worked as the Program Director for DocuClub and the Director of Programming for the Newport International Film Festival.

He is now the Artistic Director for the Hamptons International Film Festival where he also directs the festival’s annual Screenwriting Lab. He has been a juror for the Student Academy Awards as well as the Sarasota, Newport International, Silverdocs, Galway, Gen Art, Doc NYC and Newfest Film Festivals. He has written festival coverage for Indiewire and participated on panels at the Sundance Film Festival, the Dubai Film Festival, Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, South by Southwest, IFP’s Independent Film Week & Script to Screen Conference, BAFTA and for the PGA. Nugent is a founding member of the nominating committee for the Cinema Eye Awards, as well as a judge for the International Documentary Association and has been a member of the Selection Committee for the Gotham Awards, and IFP’s Independent Film Week. He has delivered guest lectures at Harvard University, and spoken at Columbia University, Pratt Institute and Hunter College and served as a judge for student films at both New York University and the School for Visual Arts.

Eric Allen Hatch is the Director of Programming for Maryland Film Festival, which will hold its eighteenth annual festival May 4-8, 2016 in beautiful downtown Baltimore, and an avid photoshopper of Paul Blart into transgressive film jpegs.

Eric oversees MFF’s call for entries; recruits and manages the screening committee that evaluates entries; acts as liaison with distributors and filmmaker alum; represents MFF at other festivals such as TIFF and SXSW; and edits the annual MFF program guide. Eric also implements MFF’s year-round programming, including the popular Gunky’s Basement 35mm genre-film series, curated and hosted by musician Dan Deacon and video artist Jimmy Joe Roche.

Eric wrote music, film, and literature reviews for Baltimore City Paper from 1997-2007. He founded, programmed and hosted the Baltimore Museum of Art's Free First Thursdays Film Series (2005-2008), focusing on visionary international cinema of the 1960s and 70s. Eric was a member of the screening committee for MicroCineFest, one of the country's premiere underground film and video festivals. He also co-founded the Red Room Collective, the organization behind the High Zero festival, an internationally lauded festival dedicated to experimental, improvised music. Hatch joined MFF’s programming team in 2007, and became director of programming in 2010.