Team Black Bear
Darian Rivera
President Bear 🐻🎥
Darian Rivera is the Event Planning Specialist at a National Historic Site where he is good friends with Smokey Bear. Darian has been professionally managing events at notable and iconic locations throughout the northeast and Washington, DC for twenty years. Darian’s specialty with events is in media production. Darian coordinated several Ken Burns events from 2009-2014 surrounding the promotion of the documentary television-series The Roosevelts, where he also learned that the teddy bear was named after President Teddy Roosevelt. From 2020-2022, Darian was the lead event and virtual production coordinator for the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, and assisted in virtual event production for the annual National Book Festival and the Library of Congress’ weekly virtual education programming. Darian likes giving back to his community of bear cubs. He has worked with student filmmakers from the Next Generation Angels, National History Day, Pare Lorentz Film Center, and Children’s Media Project.
Darian has coordinated events with documentary film festivals in upstate New York and Durham, North Carolina, and worked on documentaries for the television show Learning in Progress.
Currently, Darian enjoys creating music, traveling, and studying movies… And watching out for bears on trash day.
Max Brinson
Treasurer Bear 🐻🎬
Max is native of Texas and a graduate of Baylor University, home of the Bears! Max has lived in the northeast since 1985. He earned his Master's degree in Studio Art from New York University and has taught high school and college math to local cubs for over 30 years. He lives in Dingmans Ferry with the bears and his wife, Johanna. Max led Black Bear Film Festival’s executive board as president bear through the pandemic from 2019-2025. Today, he manages the ‘honey’ … we mean ‘money’ as Treasurer Bear. He is a wise papa bear.
Veronica Coyne
Director Bear 🐻🍿
Veronica Coyne has been a Board Member at Black Bear Film Festival since 2017 and now serves as Director Bear. Veronica has an M.A. in Literature/Rhetoric and is an Adjunct Professor of Composition and Effective Speech at Sussex County Community College. She is a published writer and poet. Veronica also coordinated all Black Bear Den events in her valuable roles worked throughout the years.
Keith Camire
Director Bear 🐻🍿
Keith Camire is Milford’s new State Farm Insurance agent serving the surrounding tri-state region! A proud U.S. Air Force veteran, Keith served as an F-16 Avionics Technician, where precision, accountability, and mission-focused problem solving were essential. Following his military service, Keith expanded his knowledge of the financial services industry.
Keith brings a unique balance of structure and creativity to his work. In addition to his professional background, Keith is an abstract artist, writer, television actor, and photographer. He is a renaissance man… or bear! ;) He and his wife recently moved to Milford, PA from Rockland County, NY and are both very involved in the arts.
Matthew Ragucci
Director Bear 🐻🍿
Matthew is the Director of Institutional Product Marketing at global publishing and education company Wiley… Yes, the company who produces the “Filmmaking …For Dummies” books, and much more in college academia and beyond. In his role, Matthew works to ensure that products, policies, services, and messaging are featured in their products. Matthew is on a number of Executive Boards in the industry; and presents frequently at global conferences, events, and universities. He has his college degrees from Marist College and Rutgers in MLS. Matthew brings his expertise in business, library science, marketing, presentation skills, audio-visual proficiency, events, and bear coordination to the film fest!
Brenda Kunz
Director Bear 🐻🍿
Brenda Kunz is one of the original board members of Black Bear Film Festival from the early-2000’s when den showcases were tented on the streets of Milford! Brenda took a break to raise her bear cub in nearby Montague, NJ. In her career, Brenda has served as Mama Bear in Learning Program Development and Logistics Specialist for companies in the New York-metro area, and has been an analyst and instructional designer for BMW. Brenda is now a Sr. Principal Product Owner at Northrop Grumman Corporation. She is eager to re-join the Black Bear Den once again and assist us here in beautiful Milford, Pennsylvania and execute an amazing film festival event!
Dennis Sema
Director Bear 🐻🍿
Dennis Sema is a film director and writer originating from suburban New Jersey. Although his concentration is directing, he also specializes in various stages of film production including screenwriting, cinematography and acting to become as self-reliant as possible, but has recently begun collaborating with talent both local and across the globe in bringing his often eerie ideas to life.
Dennis is working his way up to making his first feature film - a psychological horror thriller aimed to be released in the late 2020s. Apart from running a growing YouTube channel and building a portfolio of award-winning short films, Dennis is also in the process of writing four books comprising short stories and poetry collections, allowing him to express his creative ideas through more than one art form.
John DiLeo
Director Bear Emeritus & Interviewer🐻
Film historian John DiLeo is the author of eight books on the subject of classic movies, including his latest: Not Even Nominated: 40 Overlooked Costars of Oscar-Winning Performances (2024).
He has been an annual participant in the Black Bear Film Festival (Milford, PA), conducting onstage interviews with bears and such notables as Farley Granger, Arlene Dahl, Marge Champion, Keir Dullea, Jane Powell, Rex Reed, Tab Hunter, Lorna Luft, Jane Alexander, and Illeana Douglas. DiLeo spends most Sunday afternoons introducing classic movies (and leading post-film discussions) at the historic Milford Theater in Milford, Pennsylvania, home of the black bear.
Join us at the Fest!
The Black Bear Film Festival exists and functions because of the contributions of an amazing team of volunteers who contribute their time, energy and diverse range of talents. We welcome help for a day, a week, a month or a season!