Festival Host Kirk Ryde

Your name and project here for the 2026 festival!

Kirk is a filmmaker, music producer, and film professor from Los Angeles who now resides in San Francisco. He received an M.F.A. from the UCLA Film School where he won the Jack Nicholson Award for Screenwriting. He has produced several record albums for Taiwanese recording artists which sold millions of copies throughout Asia. His films have won numerous awards including Best Mystery, Best Science Fiction, Best Sound Design, Best Soundtrack, and Best Music Video. He produced and moderated the Culver City Film Festival Actors Panel and the WeLink International Film Festival Filmmaker Panel, and was a jurist and panelist for the Montgomery International Film Festival, the WeLink International Film Festival, and the Big Shorts Film Festival, among others. He is currently a professor at the Beijing Film Academy where he has taught in the Film Production International Program since 2019, and serves as a jurist for the Cinerent Awards. Kirk will conduct all filmmaker interviews and Q&A sessions at the festival. IMDb

Award Winning Films