Meet The Board
Richard VanNess
President
Black Hills Film Festival
Rick recently retired from his own business, Crow Ridge Productions. He is an experienced sound mixer/recordist, often recording concerts for South Dakota Public Broadcasting in addition to his film and TV work. Rick worked on the Walt Disney production National Treasure: Book of Secrets as an Assistant Location Manager; was a sound recordist for the Full Throttle Saloon reality TV series and has many contacts in the film industry. Rick co-founded Open Stage in 2008 - the Hill City Arts Council’s winter program for emerging performers - and the Black Hills Film Festival in 2009. Rick continues to help train students to run sound and projection for these activities and his expertise in the technical realm greatly benefits the Film Festival
Richard VANNESS
Richard Vanness
Egija Hartmane-Salem
Vice President
Black Hills Film Festival
Egija was born in Latvia and spent much of her childhood, and later her summer breaks, in the film, culture, and art house that was run by her grandparents for more than 40 years. That’s when she fell in love with films and many different art forms very early on. She worked as a freelance feature writer for one of the leading newspapers in Latvia but developed a passion for documentary filmmaking after moving to America in 2006. Egija received her MA in broadcast journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder and has been working on various documentary and educational projects since then. Egija has worked on the media crew for the Boulder International Film Festival for 10 years and joined the Black Hills Film Festival Board of Directors in 2019.
Egija Hartmane-Salem
Egija Hartmane-Salem
Molli Cameron
Secretary
Black Hills Film Festival
Molli was born in Indiana. Her maternal great-grandfather was from South Dakota and her great-grandmother moved to the state to teach. Molli is the director, co-producer, screenwriter, video editor, and costumer for the feature film Lakota Girls, shot in the Black Hills and at Pine Ridge. Her film won the People’s Choice Award at the 2016 Black Hills Film Festival at the US Premiere. An official selection at twelve festivals in the US, Canada, and Europe, it is currently streaming. Molli has a BS in Business - Marketing from Indiana University and a Teacher’s License in Secondary Education in Social Studies. She owned a yarn shop, which won Best Arts & Crafts store four times. Molli’s husband is from Custer, and her son and daughter enjoy time there. Molli continues to travel the world and is currently working in documentary film. She joined the BHFF Board in 2024.
molli cameron
Molli Cameron
Brian Ellis
Brian Ellis
Treasurer
Black Hills Film Festival
Brian has a Bachelors of Arts majoring in animation. He has a basic knowledge of filmmaking, loves being behind a camera, and working with technology. Brian enjoys learning about 3D modeling and studying animation frame by frame. He wants to learn more about the process of filmmaking to help bridge his gap in knowledge about making a good film/animation/video game.
BRIAN ELLIS
Ryan Hall
Ryan Hall
Board of Directors
Black Hills Film Festival
Ryan portrays the face of the Black Hills Film Festival in advertising and as the MC. He also helps with the website, marketing, and social media. After deciding to pursue his love of film in South Dakota, Ryan produced a low-budget feature called Dust of War which gained international distribution. He is a producer on the feature film Tater Tot and Patton which opened the 2018 BHFF and won Best Feature Film. In addition to features, Ryan has produced 5 award-winning short films. He works for a Marketing and Design company, Evergreen Media in Rapid City.
RYAN HALL
Ryan Hall
Randal Iverson
Board of Directors
Black Hills Film Festival
Randal owns Iverson Productions LLC - a small production house located in South Dakota. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Mass Communications from Black Hills State University and years of experience with commercial and documentary production in both still and motion. He is used to wearing many different hats, producing, directing, cinematography, sound, editing, and stills. Some of the companies he has worked for include ABC, PBSNews Hour, McDonald’s, and Walmart. Randal loves telling unique stories and sharing them with the world.
RANDAL IVERSON
Meet The Panel Moderator
Brian Ellis
Rick & Chris Vanness
2025 Filmmakers with BHFF Founders
Black Hills Film Festival
BHFF is a true celebration of cinema and the mavericks who do what it takes to get their vision to the screen. The festival spot lights the Black Hills Community of Rapid City, SD to promote world-class films and powerful workshops.
The filmmaker is the star of the Black Hills Film Festival. 2026 will be our seventeenth annual festival with 3 days of live screenings at the Journey Museum in Rapid City which are solidly attended by an engaged community of artists and movie buffs and paired with great receptions and mixers.
black hills Film Fest
Ryan Hall
Mato Abourezk
Board of Directors
Black Hills Film Festival
Mato is from South Dakota and a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe. Mato was born with Cerebral palsy and found films and television as a way to deal with recovery from his surgeries. Wanting to provide resources that he didn’t have access to growing up, Mato founded a production company Strong Bear Media, LLC that focuses on empowering mid western filmmakers where he serves as president and works as a Producer/Filmmaker. He’s also worked with an LA based non-profit Movikarma where he learned how non-profits organizations work. He has also worked in partnership with the likes of; TIME Studios, Invent TV, and HBO, through these partnerships he honed his producing and artistic craft. He is currently working on a documentary.
Mato Abourezk
Ryan Hall
Ryan & egija
2025 People's Choice Award
Black Hills Film Festival
Winning films in Feature Narrative, Feature Documentary, Short Narrative and Short Documentary competition receive custom bronze sculptured trophies - the coveted “Bronze Fedora” valued at over $1,000. The winning Student film receives the "Rising Star" award and there is also a Star Award for "People's Choice" voted upon by the audience over the course of the festival. This award is given out at the end of the Festival. In 2026 BHFF will introduce a new award for films shot in South Dakota.
​BHFF Awards
Meet The Staff
Richard VanNess
Executive Director of the Black Hills Film Festival
A founder of the Black Hills Film Festival in 2009 and its Executive Director, Chris helps manage and fund the growing event located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Chris holds a BA degree from the University of Minnesota in theatre arts and has experience in event
planning from Sled Dog Races to Art, History and Music experiences. She was also the coordinator/director for Heart of the Hills Economic Development Corp. for 6 years. Chris recently retired from Crow Ridge Productions, a film production company she started with her husband, winning multiple National Telly awards and American Advertising Federation awards for television and cinema commercials. Chris demonstrates the ability to initiate new programs, develop/manage tight
budgets, and fund raise.