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Written and directed by Deborah Kampmeier, Hounddog was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and won the top jury prize, Best of the Show, at the 2009 Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto. The film stars Dakota Fanning, Robin Wright Penn, David Morse and Piper Laurie. Dakota Fanning plays a spirited young girl in 1950s rural Alabama struggles to rise above the repression that surrounds her. She finds comfort and safety, as well as a place to put her hurt and rage, in the music of Elvis Presley, but it will be her own voice that gives her the strength and courage to walk away from her past and into her future.

Deborah Kampmeier is a American filmmaker and writer with three feature-length films to her name. Virgin (2003), Hounddog (2007) and SPLiT (postproduction) — though different in plot and structure, they set out to empower women. Deborah began her career in theater as an actress after training at the National Shakespeare Conservatory from 1983–85, and has taught acting in NYC at such institutions as NYU, Stella Adler Studios, Michael Howard Studios, Playwrights Horizons and The National Shakespeare Conservatory. Deborah is the founder of Full Moon Films, a company dedicated to the development and production of films by and about women.  Full Moon Films is located upstate NY where Deborah lives with her daughter Sophia.

The Film Institute at Montclair State is dedicated to the preservation, growth and experience of the art of film. The Films and Filmmakers series is a weekly program that features filmmakers who come to speak about their work and profession. The series, open to both University students and the general public, welcomes audience questions while being a unique forum to hear inside stories from some of the most innovative filmmakers working in the field today.