Alberto Barbera (Italy) – Director

 

Born in Biella in 1950. After graduating in Modern Literature with a thesis on the History and Criticism of Film, he began his collaboration with the AIACE (the Italian association of Friends of Art-House Films) of Turin, for which he served as president from 1977 to 1989. From 1980 to 1983 he was the film critic for the daily newspaper “La Gazzetta del Popolo” and since 1982 has been a member of the Order of Journalists, on the list of publicists. He has collaborated with many magazines, and has curated or participated in many radio and television shows for RAI.

In 1982 he began his collaboration with the Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani (now the Torino Film Festival), first as a press agent, then as the Secretary General and member of the Selection Committee, from 1984 to 1988. From 1989 to 1998, he served as Director. From December 1998 to April 2002 he was the Director of the Venice International Film Festival. From 2002 to 2006, he was the co-director of “RING! Festival of Film Critics” in Alexandria. From 2004 to 2016 he was the Director of the National Museum of Cinema in Turin. Since 2008, he has been President of the Advisory Board of TorinoFilmLab.

 

 

 

Savina Neirotti (Italy) – Head of programme

 

Born in Genova, she graduated in Philosophy and completed the first year of Master in Aesthetics at the University of Pennsylvania. After returning to Italy, she became Head of the Press and Communication Office of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, where she was also in charge of the Educational Department.

In the same years she founded Scuola Holden in Torino together with Alessandro Baricco. She has been Director of Scuola Holden’s Master in Narration Techniques, and supervising all the school activities, focusing on the international contacts.

In the last ten years she has written articles and interviews on narration and classical music, book reviews and film reviews for Italian and international newspapers. She has ideated and directed Script&Pitch Workshops since 2005, and TorinoFilmLab, an international Lab that includes 5 training courses, a co-production event and a funding system, since 2008 where she currently acts as Executive Director.

 

 

 

Jane Williams (UK) – Head of studies

 

Jane Williams set up Dubai International Film Festival’s Industry Office in 2006 which became the Dubai Film Market in 2009. She has played a leading role in the development of a number of initiatives to support filmmakers in the Arab region including: the establishment of the Dubai Film Connection the only co-production platform in the Middle East; Interchange a training and development programme bringing Arab and European filmmakers together to work on 10 projects for the international market organised in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab, EAVE and the Media Mundus. Jane comes from a background of training and development and in the UK worked for a number of organisations and companies including the BFI and NFTS. In 1998 she moved to Amsterdam to become Head of Training at the Maurits Binger Film Institute in Holland. Since 2002 she has been working as a freelance consultant for a number of funding organizations and international festivals. She has worked for the Cinemart and Hubert Bals Fund at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Balkan Fund, Thessaloniki International Film Festival Greece, the Industry Office at

the BAFICI in Buenos Aries and Taormina Film Festival Sicilie, Italy. She is an expert for the European Commission and currently consults for the Royal Film Commission in Jordan.

 

 

 

Michel Reilhac (France) –Head of studies

 

Executive director of ARTE France Cinema for more than 10 years, until November 2012. Director of several organizations, tv producer, producer-curator-author of participative events, he’s also a filmmaker. Among his films: the documentary film All alike?, To Be a Man for Canal +, Kenya Islands for Arte, The Good Old Naughty Days. Since 2000, he has started his own production company, Melange: his first film production, a first short by Licia Eminenti, Intimisto, has been selected for the official competition as the opening film at Venice Biennale in 2001. Among his film productions: Cry Woman by Liu Bing Jian, L’Intrus by Claire Denis and 7 days, 7 nights by Joel Cano.

 

 

 

Joana Vicente (USA) – Group Leader

 

Joana Vicente has been the Executive Director of the IFP – the oldest and largest non-profit organization for independent filmmakers in the U.S – since 2009. In 2013 in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and the New York City Economic Corporation she founded the Made in NY Media Center by IFP a new incubator space and exhibition venue designed to connect the next generation of artists, innovators and entrepreneurs through education, events and industry resources.

 

 

 

Vincenzo Bugno (Italy/Germany)–Group Leader

 

Vincenzo Bugno was born in Venice, has lived in Berlin since 1988. After graduating in literature, art history and cinema he worked as a journalist and film critic for Swiss, Spanish and particularly Italian (“Corriere della Sera”, “Manifesto”) media and later on for various TV broadcasters (“Arte”, “ZDF”, “Tele+”, “Sky Italy”) particularly as a writer/director of many reports on cinema. For several years he has been a consultant and curator for international film festivals. From 2006 to 2009, Bugno became a member of the Programming Committee at the Locarno Film Festival and the Head of its Open Doors section.

He is the Project Manager and a jury member of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, founded 2004 and initiated by the Berlinale and the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Alongside the WCF Vincenzo Bugno is Berlinale Delegate for Italy, and a member of the selection committee for the Berlinale International Competition.

 

 

 

Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten (Sweden) – Script Consultant

 

Swedish screenwriter Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten wrote and co-produced CALL GIRL which won the Fipresci at Tiff (competed in Torino, Buenos Aires, Taipei etc) and was selected at Film Society Lincoln Center, NYC. Since 2007 Marietta has been connected as script consultant for Torino Film Lab and the Binger Amsterdam. Other related programs are Feature Expanded; Hezaya labs; Cinelink Drama Sarajevo; Locarno Open Doors, and Sundance Labs in Utah. As independent consultant Marietta has worked with filmmakers from at least 50 countries. She writes and develops Television Drama for Scandinavian production houses. She is a member of the Swedish Drama Union and the European Film Academy and studied cinema in Stockholm and at Tisch New York City.
Marietta is the Minister of a micro-nation called Elgaland-Vargaland, or K.R.E.V.

 

 

 

Giacomo Durzi (Italy) – Script Consultant

 

After completing university studies in Law, Giacomo Durzi attended courses at the London Film School and later graduated from Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. Durzi is a screenwriter, director and producer.He has worked with broadcasters like NBC Universal and Fox International Channels Italy, overseeing product selection and production development. As an author and director, he has created shows for channels like Fox, RAI and La7. Over the years, he wrote and directed several television documentaries for NBC Studio Universal, Rai, The History Channel, Channel 4 and MTV Europe.His last films are “SB I knew him well” (in competition at the 2012 Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma, selected in many other international film festivals and released in theatres and tv in Europe) and “Ferrante Fever” (2017, Rai Cinema-SKY) distributed worldwide by The match factory. As a screenwriter, he wrote long and short TV series. Durzi also acts as a script consultant for Torino Film Lab, Biennale College Cinema and the IDM-Alto Adige Film Commission. In his multifaceted career, Durzi also teaches serial narration at the Scuola Holden and had taught at the Berlin DFFB and Cologne International Film School. Currently, Giacomo Durzi is story editor/creative producer for Sky Italia original productions and is head writer on the new italian original Netflix series “Baby”.

 

 

 

Eilon Ratzkovsky (Israel) – Producer Consultant

 

Eilon Ratzkovsky produced feature films and TV series over the past 25 years, as CEO of July August Productions, an Israeli production company which he has created in 2003. Among the 22 films that he produced are “The Band’s Visit”, “Mountain”, “Zero Motivation” – all of which participated and won prizes in major film festivals. He produced numerous TV series in Israel, some have been remade into local versions around the world. In the past year, he has been tutoring for TorinoFilmLab as well as heading the TFL Extended. He also heads “Quiddity”, a content company that specializes in developing high quality TV dramas for European networks.

 

 

 

Violeta Bava (Argentina) – Producer Consultant

 

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2002 she received a double degree in Theory, Aesthetics and History of Cinema & Drama at Buenos Aires University (UBA).

She has worked at Buenos Aires International Film Festival (BAFICI) during twenty years: she was Film Programmer as well as Founder and Co-director of BAL, a leading co- production market for Latin American films. She was Professor of Cinema Aesthetics and Ethics at Centro de Investigación Cinematográfica (Buenos Aires) during more than ten years. Violeta comes from a background of training and development and she has worked as film consultant and production tutor for several funds, organizations and festivals world wide. She has worked at the programming team of Bratislava International Film Festival, has collaborated during three editions with Locarno International Film Festival at the Open Doors Programme and was part of the Advisory Board of Torino Film Lab during ten years. She has played a key role in the

development of initiatives devoted to support filmmakers and producers in Latin American region such as: Puentes workshop in connection with EAVE, Produire au Sud Buenos Aires in collaboration with 3 Continents Film Festival (Nantes), 3 Puertos Cine (with AustralLab and Cinemart – IFF Rotterdam) and BAL goes to Cannes with Marché du Film – Cannes Film Festival. Since 2012, Violeta is the Latin American Consultant for Venice International Film Festival. She is also Industry and Programme Advisor for Doha Film Institute. Recently, she become part of the Programming team of International Film Festival & Awards Macau and Industry Advisor of Visions du Réel. Founder of Ruda Cine, among other films, she has produced Eduardo Williams debut feature The Human Surge (2016), winner of Pardo d’Oro for Best Film, and Abrir puertas y ventanas (2012), by Milagros Mumenthaler, winner of Pardo d’Oro for Best Film, Pardo d’Argento for Best Actress and FIPRESCI Award at Locarno Film Festival.

 

 

 

Gino Ventriglia (Italy) – Story Developer for all projects

 

Screenwriter and script consultant for cinema and television. He’s a tutor and pitch trainer on international development programs, TorinoFilmLab and SeriesLab among the others. He teaches drama and serial drama writing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the Italian National School of Cinema.