Who's Who
Edmond Coisson
Founder
Edmond was born in Torre Pellice, Italy. He grew up with his mother and father and two sisters, in a farming community. He first became fascinated by a TV drama at the age of 7. He went to the only theater in town, every Sunday afternoon. Sometimes, watching the same film for weeks. As a teen, he had a few parts in local theater, where he was involved in summer plays.
He wrote his first screenplay at age 17. He traveled all over Europe, working as a waiter, welder, carpenter, plasterer, and factory worker. Studied drafting and worked for Fiat; got a barbers license, and also did some bartending. He moved to Los Angeles, CA., in 1981, to work on the Princess Cruise Line.
His passion for film, acting and writing never went away. After moving to Illinois in 1983, he became more active in films, but his heart was still in writing. He attended the Screenwriters Group of Chicago, and he and his wife, Glessna, went to the Screen Writers Awards in L.A. each year. They started their own production company, Our Path Productions, and made short stories, documentaries, and feature films. While entering a film festival on the internet, the comment was made that they should have their own film festival. A year later, that dream has came true and the Naperville Independent Film Festival was born.
After 5 years of devoting all of his time and effort to overseeing NIFF, which has become a successful film festival, Edmond is now able to resume his original passion, writing and directing.
He is in production and ready to start filming, in the Chicago area, June 2013, as a co-writer and director. The film "Precious Mettle" is a drama filled with intrigue, corruption, addiction and revenge. Forgiveness and justice prevail.
Glessna Coisson
Founder
Glessna Coisson was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, and moved to the suburbs of Detroit. After graduation from Allen Park High School, she met her first husband. They had two children, Stephanie and Jeff. Because of their jobs in marketing and sales, they lived in 6 different states, including Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Oregon, and settled in Naperville, Illinois.
After 23 years of marriage she became a widow at age 42. After meeting her second husband, Edmond, she became involved with the movie industry, because of his work in films. They began making short stories, documentaries, and feature films, with their own production company, Our Path Productions. They began entering film festivals, and she jokingly said "we should start our OWN film festival," and they laughed.
Four months later, she said it again, and they didn't laugh. The wheels started turning and many people saw her vision. This is how the Naperville Independent Film Festival (NIFF) was born.
Her busy lifestyle include, marketing and promoting NIFF. She is a member of the local Woman's Club, enjoys screenwriting and is involved in a company called "World Ventures" (NIFF.WorldVentures.biz), which enables Filmmakers or for that matter anyone, to travel here at a much discounted cost. This year adds a dream come true as she and Edmond co-wrote their feature film "Precious Mettle", which will start shooting June 2013. This a compelling story of passion, human trafficking, drug addiction and redemption.
Gary Pradel
Founder & CEO, Arthur Ray Foundation
Gary Pradel is a Naperville native who started making movies at the age of ten. He started working for video production companies when he was still in High School.
After College he worked for Video Impressions of Aurora, working his way up to Producer/Director. Later, Gary worked for NETG in Naperville, where he produced interactive training videos.
It was at NETG where Gary started learning about computers, mostly because video production technology was moving from analog to digital. His knowledge of computer programming and project management grew, even though his heart was still in filmmaking.
Gary continues to work on independent productions including documentaries and short films. He loves to encourage independent movie makers and their visions.
Daniel Nigg
Honorary Co-Founder
Daniel was born in Switzerland, where he studied design engineering. After receiving his degree he followed his dream to "see the world" and embarked on a six month, 50,000 mile backpacking adventure through North America. In pursuit of a business career and driven by the opportunities available, he immigrated to the U.S. in the late seventies. First jobs demanded much and required cultural adjustment, but he persevered and was fortunate to connect with the "right people and companies". His unique approach to engineering and technical innovation created opportunities that resulted in multiple awards of U.S. Patents, for technical inventions of interconnect systems designs.
Later, he moved from engineering to sales, marketing, manufacturing and to executive management. Language skills helped secure several important multi-year overseas assignments that also demanded extensive business travel to most regions of the world. Overall experience gained coupled with continuing education, rewarded him with a successful 30-year international business career. Despite the demands, Daniel has always devoted as much time as possible to his passion of documentary filmmaking. Throughout his career, Daniel has produced countless industrial, product and promotional films for the various companies where he happened to work at the time.
He discovered his interest for the creative arts growing up in Switzerland, freelancing as camera assistant, sound and lighting technician. He worked on documentaries and in television field production. In 1990, Daniel moved to Naperville with his family and started his own company. He is founder and President of NIGGMEDIA Productions, a Naperville-based commercial video production and media marketing company. Catering to the business community, NIGGMEDIA produces documentaries, web commercials, promos and special event videos.
A chance meeting with Edmond Coisson in early 2007 led to a partnership that became one of the corner stones in the original foundation of the Naperville Independent Film Festival, now in its 6th year. The Film Festival provided an opportunity to combine Daniel's business acumen, creative talents and his passion for film. To help promote the Film Festival, Daniel continues to produce documentaries, shorts, commercials and promos. With his lifelong passion for the creative arts, he is excited for all filmmakers and the opportunity to get their film screened at the Naperville Independent Film Festival. The dedication, passion and commitment of the founders, volunteers and sponsors will ensure its success for years to come.
Daniel is a member of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce and past member of the board of directors. He is past chairman of the International Business Council (IBC). He is a member of the Chicagoland Italian American Charitable Organization - CIACO. He is past President of the Lyon County Chamber of Commerce in Western Kentucky, and served on the board of directors of the Caldwell/Lyon Partnership for Economic Development. He is fluent in French and German.
