Debra Markowitz, President

Debra Markowitz created and served as the Director of the Nassau County Film Commission. Serving four administrations during her 33-year tenure, Ms. Markowitz had steadily increased production of movies, television programs and commercials that were shot in Nassau County.

Debra is also a novelist (the Karmic Wind Trilogy – Naked in the Rain, Sarah and Caleb and Karmic Wind), award winning screenwriter and director of shorts, features and TV pilots, film consultant, casting director and teaches director to actor workshops. Debra was a judge for potential incoming drama students at the LaGuardia Arts High School (The FAME school) for several years.

Several of Debra’s films have screened at Academy Award Qualifying Film Festivals. A couple of her screenplays were in the semifinals at Academy Award Qualifying Film Festivals as well.

Debra’s feature film, The Only Woman in the World, is on Tubi, Prime Video and several other platforms. Her newest feature film, Wait List: A Love-ish Story, is in negotiations with distributors. Her feature film, From the Embers, is in post production, her feature, Couple of Guys, is in editing, and she is in development on feature film, Yule Tides.

She has several short films on the festival circuit, Brimstone, A Brimstone Lullaby, Silent Harmony, and Assassin.

You can find out more about Debra’s films and projects at www.IntentionFilmsandMedia.com and her IG page at @debramarkowitzfilm

Anne Maselli-Stampfel, Acting Vice President/Acting Secretary

Born in Queens and residing in Nassau County Anne has always been a big fan of all the arts with an emphasis on film.  Anne is co-owner with her husband Henry (President Emeritus of this foundation) of The Bellmore Movies & Showplace. The Bellmore Movies is the oldest continuously operating movie theatre on Long Island.  However this was not their first Theatre venture.  The first was the Park Avenue Theatre in Long Beach in 1985 and later the Malverne Cinema & Art Center, The Oceanside Theatre, the Calderone Theatre and the North Shore Towers Cinema.  At one point during their careers as Independent Theatre operators they had the highest screen count in Nassau County!

Anne attributes their success in Theatre entrepreneurship to her background in accounting and experience in Film booking and her husband’s background in all things technical as well as their shared interest in film.  Together they took the Malverne Twin Cinema and transformed it into a 5 screen Art Center as well as the Bellmore Movies into the multi-use venue it is today.

Anne and her husband, along with Debra Markowitz, co-founded the Long Island International Film Festival Expo in 1998. Anne is currently a judge for the Long Island International Film Expo and joined the Long Island Film/TV Foundation Board in 2023, after having served as their financial advisor and bookkeeper for more than a decade.

Yet with all these many years of working in the entertainment industry Anne feels her biggest accomplishment is raising two successful daughters and now a proud grandmother!

Karen Rizzo, Treasurer

Karen M. Rizzo is the Founder and Owner of Silver Lining Consultants, LTD (“Silver Lining”) an exclusive financing and consulting firm for Real Estate and the Entertainment industry. Each project is accepted on an individual basis. Karen has worked in Entertainment business consulting and finance for 25 years, as well as owning and operating a Mortgage Brokerage firm in New York for 39 years.

Silver Lining Consultants, LTD. was formed to merge her practical understanding of finance and business offered in the entertainment industry stemming from private requests from professionals in entertainment since 1996. 

Karen has provided film financing options and consultative services to many film projects over the years, as well as literary and theatre productions. The company specializes in funding independently produced films with budgets typically between $5-25MM. These projects vary in size and distribution channel types. It is a confidential liaison for production companies, writers, and directors for funding, and can assist or direct clients to professional partners to assist with the completion of a project. Due to the nature of the project selection process Silver Lining dedicates its time and resources selectively and exclusively. 

For the Real Estate clients, Karen offers an array of programs and consults on the transactions directly with qualification and approval in mind. From residential purchases or refinances for primary use or investment, first time homebuyers or seasoned investors to commercial building financing, construction, private funding, fix and flip programs, Reverse Mortgages, and credit lines for both business and personal, there is a program for most all clients with good or marginal credit scores.