GROUP LEADERS

Aida Holly Nambi

A Ugandan born and raised in Kenya, Aida Holly-Nambi received a dual PhD in Drama and Humanities from Stanford University in California in 2013, where she won the Geballe Dissertation Prize fellowship for her work. She works as a story editor across mediums and she is passionate about dream-making, innovating and storytelling. For the past four years, Aida has worked as the Director of Arts and Culture for an Africa-wide LGBT digital media organization, None on Record, where among many projects, she produces the award-winning podcast AfroQueer.

Aida was a story developer for the Venice Biennale College Cinema Virtual Reality program in January 2019 and again in January 2020. She sat on the International jury for the One World Documentary Film Festival in Prague in March 2019. Prior to None on Record, Aida worked in London, U.K at Doc Society as the Outreach Director for Good Pitch Europe 2017, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was the Outreach Director for Docubox: the East African Documentary Film Fund in Nairobi, Kenya, where she put on Good Pitch Kenya in 2016. In 2014 and 2015, Aida worked as the Artistic Director of Maisha Garden, a multidisciplinary performance arts space, founded by filmmaker Mira Nair in Kampala, Uganda.

As an artist, she trained with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) and she represented Uganda at the first Sundance Theatre East Africa Director’s Lab in Ethiopia in 2012, and, again in 2013, at the Sundance Theatre Lab in Utah. Aida is a member of the multidisciplinary arts collective, Salooni, with whom she has put on installations in London (Southbank Centre), Ghana (Chale Wote festival), and delivered the 2018 TEDxEuston talk, “On Being Enough”. A lover of the arts, Aida seeks to center stories from the margins and support meaningful, creative work.

Michele Turnure Salleo

As Principal/Producer at Feracious Entertainment, Michele Turnure-Salleo develops, finances and produces films across a range of elevated genres. Recent Executive Producer/Co-Executive Producer credits include; FAREWELL AMOR (Sundance 2020), BEFORE YOU KNOW IT (Sundance 2019), THE SOUND OF SILENCE (Sundance 2019) and BUOYANCY (Berlinale 2019). In 2019, BUOYANCY won Best Indie Film at The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards and was selected as Australia’s submission for Best International Feature at the 2020 Oscars. Turnure-Salleo is also Executive Producer on STRANGER WITH A CAMERA which is currently in post-production. Previously, at San Francisco Film Society (now SFFilm) Turnure-Salleo was instrumental in developing filmmakers who are defining today’s generation of film and television storytellers including Ryan Coogler and Chloe Zhao. As founder/head of the San Francisco Film Society’s Filmmaker360 (2008-2016) she provided more than $5 million in funding to support filmmakers including Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre – THE MUSTANG (Sundance 2019) Boots Riley – SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (Sundance 2018) Geremy Jasper – PATTY CAKE$ (Sundance 2017), Mohamed Diab – CLASH (Cannes 2016), Jonas Carpignano – MEDITERRANEA (Cannes 2015), Chloe Zhao – SONGS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME (Sundance/Cannes 2015), Josef Wladkya – MANOS SUCIAS (Tribeca 2014), Kat Candler – HELLION (Sundance 2014), Destin Daniel Cretton – SHORT TERM 12 (SXSW 2013), Ryan Coogler – FRUITVALE STATION (Sundance/Cannes 2013), Benh Zeitlin – BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Sundance/Cannes 2012) and Maryam Keshavarz- CIRCUMSTANCE (Sundance 2011)

Earlier in her career, Turnure-Salleo produced PSA’s, documentary series and shorts for Bravo, CBC and The Knowledge Network in Canada, and was Assistant Producer on the Academy Award-nominated documentary REGRET TO INFORM. Michele Turnure-Salleo holds a BFA (Film) from the University of New South Wales and a MFA (Film) from the University of British Columbia.

Meinolf Zurhorst

After studying history of art, film and television and anthropology work as a film critic and author of almost 20 books about cinema and actors. Script studies at Frank Daniel. In the Eighties co-founder of a production company which produced special interest programs for German TV. In the late Eighties co-founder of second company for post- and film-production. Co-writer, director and producer of several documentaries about German cinema and TV. 1992 commissioning editor in the cinema department of ARTE in Strasbourg, 1994 head of this department. 2000 move to German broadcaster ZDF to direct the ARTE film department (ZDF is one of ARTE’s shareholder and acquires and co-produces movies and series for the French-German cultural channel). Since 2017 head of fiction ZDF/arte, in charge of acquisition and coproduction of international movies, TV dramas, series and shorts. Member of juries in Guadalajara, Sarajevo, Sao Paulo, Thessaloniki, Tallinn, Istanbul and other festivals. Tutor and expert at Mediterranean Film Business School, EAVE, EAVE programs “Ties that bind” (Busan, Udine) and “Interchange” (Dubai), ACE-Ateliers du Cinéma Européen, ifs – International Film School Cologne, ScriptEast and Bela Tarr’s Film Factory. ZDF/arte’s film department co-produced in the last years the films of directors like Sergei Dvortsevoy, Marco Belocchio, Lars von Trier, Roy Andersson, Elai Suleyman, Eran Riklis, Olivier Assayas, Carlos Reygadas, Amat Escalante, Semih Kaplanoglu, Yesim Ustaoglu, Syllas Tsoumerkas, Andrea Staka, Barbara Albert, Jessica Hausner, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Srdan Golubovic and many others. Since February 20019 consultant, lecturer, tutor and producer.

SCRIPT TUTORS

Christina Kallas

Christina Kallas is the New York based writer-director of critically-acclaimed ensemble dramas THE RAINBOW EXPERIMENT (2018) and 42 SECONDS OF HAPPINESS (2016) and the writer and producer of the John Hurt starring, Golden Berlin Bear nominated political thriller THE

COMMISSIONER. THE RAINBOW EXPERIMENT was lauded as a ’21st Century Rashomon’ and debuted at Slamdance and Moscow Int’l Film Festivals in 2018. It had an impressive run at festivals such as Cinequest, Cleveland, St. Louis and FIRST Int’l FF in China, winning several accolades. In 2016, Kallas scored on the international film festival circuit with her award-winning feature, 42 SECONDS OF HAPPINESS. Prior credits as a producer include BBC Films’ hooligan drama, I.D. and the feature film MOTHERS directed by Milcho Manchevski, in official selection in Toronto and Berlin 2012. Her prior credits as a writer include European TV series hits EDEL&STARCK and DANNI LOWINSKI. Kallas has taught in several distinctive film programs over the years—including the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, Columbia University’s School of the Arts, Barnard College and the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema—and is also known as author of books such as ‘Creative Screenwriting: Understanding Emotional Structure’ and ‘Inside the Writers’ Room.’ She was the President of the FSE, the European equivalent of the Writers Guild of America for eight consecutive years and has served as chair of committees, funds and subsidies in several countries, including the German Federal Film Board FFA and the Balkan Fund. Most recently she was a narrative features programmer for Slamdance Int’l FF and Head of Jury for the Emerging Director Award at the St. Louis Int’l FF. In 2019 she was nominated for Film Threat’s inaugural Award This! in the category of ‘Best Directress’ alongside Debra Granik, Josephine Decker, Jen McGowan, Angie Wang, Chloe Zhao and Mimi Leder. Kallas is a member of the European Film Academy and of the German Film Academy.

Françoise von Roy

Based in Berlin, Françoise von Roy works internationally as a script advisor on diverse projects, including genre, experimental, documentary and art film. Apart from consulting on individual productions, she tutors for the Torino Film Lab, the Venice Biennale Cinema College and consults regularly on projects selected by the German Ministry of Culture and Media. She is an Affiliate Professor at the University of Malta, a guest lecturer at theG erman Film and Television Academy in Berlin (dffb), the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon and a mentor at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Together with Franz Rodenkirchen she holds the bimonthly script development workshop Script Circle for writers and filmmakers and the yearly intensive workshop 6 Days of Practice for producers, development executives and others involved in script development. Françoise has worked in the film and television industry since the mid 1990s and holds an MA in Media Production and a BA in Film and Philosophy from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

Anita Voorham

Based in Amsterdam, Anita recently finished a four-year term as a film commissioner at The Netherlands Film Fund evaluating projects for funding at all stages. She began her career in the writer’s room; story-lining and writing for a number of successful tv-series. She attended the Binger Filmlab, worked as a development executive for public broadcaster NTR and was invited by Torino FilmLab as one of their core tutors working within its ScripLab, FeatureLab and SeriesLab. Furthermore, she joined Berlinale Script Station, Venice Biennale Cinema-College, Midpoint and the selection committee for IFFR’s CineMart and has helped design new initiatives such as the Incubator program for the Czech Film Fund aimed at training script editors. Anita lectures on Creative Collaboration and on Script Consulting for EAVE, Midpoint and the University of Amsterdam. Films she consulted on range from experimental to mainstream and have been selected to major festivals, among them: LAS HEREDERAS by Marcello Martinessi, DIRTY GOD by Sacha Polak, TOUCH ME NOT, by Adina Pintilie, THE WOUND by John Trengove, HOME by Fien Troch, A CIAMBRA by Jonas Carpignano, QUIT STARING AT MY PLATE by Hana Jusic and THE FITS by Anna Rose Holmer. Additionally, she was the associate producer on Duccio Chiarini’s L’OSPITE, premiering in Locarno 2018. Anita studied at the University of Amsterdam and holds a MA in Cultural Studies and an MA in Film and Television. She is a graduate of the EAVE 2018 Producers Workshop and currently works as a script consultant and as a producer.

PRODUCER TUTORS

Amra Baksic Camo

Amra is one of the founders of SCCA/pro.ba, independent film, video
and TV production from Sarajevo. She has produced and coproduced awarded short films and art videos, documentaries, TV programs and feature films. For 17 years, she is head of the CineLink, regional co-production market, work in progress and project development workshop of Sarajevo Film Festival. She is a member of ACE and EAVE networks and member EFA. Since the beginning of 2019, she is one of curators of Torino Film Lab.Amra is working at the Academy of Preforming Arts in Sarajevo, Production Department as a lecturer.

Agustina Chiarino

Agustina Chiarino is a renowned Uruguayan producer with more than a dozen Latin-American feature films released in the most prestigious film festivals worldwide, that have obtained more than 100 international prizes and have been released in over 30 territories.
A BA in Communication Studies, with a Technical Degree in Political Sciences and an MFA in Creative Documentary, she has produced feature and short films, music and corporate videos and documentaries in Mexico, Barcelona and Uruguay.
She joined CONTROL Z FILMS and later co-founded MUTANTE CINE with Fernando Epstein. She produced The Disciple of Speed directed by M. Calderón (Rotterdam IFF); A. Bíniez’s Gigante (three awards at Berlinale competition), El 5 (Venice Days) and The Waves (San Sebastián IFF); P. Stoll’s Hiroshima (Toronto IFF) and 3 (Cannes Film Festival, Quinzaine); A. Guevara and L. Jorge’s So much Water (Berlinale IFF) and Alelí (Chicago IFF); as well as the documentary feature Madness On Air, directed by A. Cano and L. Cuba. She co-produced B. Nahistat’s History Of Fear (Berlinale Competition), A. Katz’s My Friend From The Park (Sundance IFF, Screenwriting Jury Award), G. Pizzi’s Loveling (Sundance IFF), M. Martinessi’s The Heiresses (four awards at Berlinale competition) and A. Landes’s Monos (Sundance IFF, Special Jury Award).
For 8 years she was in charge of developing new projects and co-productions at Uruguay’s TV Channel 10. Furthermore, she has taught courses at various Uruguayan universities and EICTV in Cuba. In addition to tutoring workshops at Biennale College, Br Lab, Biobio Lab and PUENTES –of
which she is a co-organizer alongside EAVE international–, she has been a project evaluator at the Torino Scriptlab, INCAA’s Incubator and the Doha Film Institute, among others. She is part of the pre-selection committee at San Sebastián’s Co-production Forum. She has been a jury member at international film festivals such as San Sebastián, BAFICI, Miami, Málaga, Locarno and Cartagena.

Mike Ryan

(USA) Mike S. Ryan is the bold independent producer behind such remarkable and ground-breaking art-house films as Todd Solondz’s Palindromes and Life During Wartime, Bela Tarr’s Turin Horse, Phil Morrison’s Junebug, Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy and Meek’s Cutoff, Rick Alverson’s The Comedy and Jake Mahaffy’s Free in Deed.Mike S. Ryan is president of GREYSHACK FILMS and a veteran of the independent film community. He started out as a Location Manager in the industry’s 1990’s heyday withfilms like Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm and Todd Haynes’ Far from Heaven. As a producer and executive producer, he has helped realize many ground-breaking films in the last fifteen years, most made for under $3 million. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit “Producer of the Year” Award, and was one of Variety’s 2007 “10 Producers to Watch.” His films have garnered nominations and prizes from the Academy Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Gotham Awards, and many more. He has taught workshops and given lectures at universities and festivals including Columbia, Yale, NYU, Bard, Sacred Heart, Emerson, the Atlantic Film Festival, VIFF, Indie Memphis, the San Francisco Film Society, and for the past several years has mentored as a Producer Leader at the Venice Biennale College and participated as a producer/mentor at EAVE PLUS in Luxembourg. An avid film lover, he writes criticism for the online site Hammer to Nail, which he cofounded with Ted Hope, and is a regular contributor to Filmmaker Magazine.

VISUAL ADVISOR

Alec Von Bargen

Alec Von Bargen (USA): Born in New York City, Alec Von Bargen studied Dramatic Arts, Art History and Photography. He has worked as an actor in productions screened at the Cannes, Berlin and Sundance film festivals, helmed by the likes of Robert de Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Gary Walkow, Salim Nayar and Gabriel Beristain, among others. He has participated in television productions for both the US and the Latin markets, working fluently in both English and Spanish. He has produced, directed and written for the stage, film and television. He studied dramaturgy in Mexico City under renowned Mexican playwright Hugo Argüelles and at Oxford University, UK. He adapted the award-winning stage production of Closet Land (winner of Mexico’s FONCA grant) and wrote ‘Tarantata’ (Onassis Playwriting Competition Finalist, Greece).

Von Bargen is also a well-established visual artist, most recently exhibiting at the 54th and 56th editions of the Venice Biennale, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the OCAT Museum, Shanghai and Les Rencontres D’Arles Festival, France. His work has won numerous awards, the latest being the Aesthetica Art Prize, the BBA Photography Award, the International Fine Art Photographer Award in Paris, the IPA’s, the Terry O’Neill Award and the Pollux Awards, amongst others. His work is included in pubic and private collections worldwide.Alec is also a published author having had three of his photographic series published and a play for the theatre. His latest series ‘So.lil.o.quy’ saw him travel to 23 Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) missions around the globe.

www.alecvonbargen.com

VISUALIZER

Paul Tyler

Paul Tyler (UK) founded Handling Ideas, from a twenty-year career spanning television and cross-media production at the BBC, theatre management, format development and undergraduate teaching. Paul makes production companies more effective at responding to the ever-growing need for deeper user engagement and consistent user experience across multiple devices. He applies a toolkit for mapping, visualization and prototyping. Paul works with businesses developing film, television, cross/trans-media, games, products, services and campaigns across communication, marketing, commerce and design. Starting at the bottom of the production ladder,

Paul worked his way up through BBC apprenticeship to Producer and multi-camera studio Director. A flirtation with online in late nineties took him to cross-media production. With one of BBC’s first innovative cross-media productions under his belt, he found himself supporting others within the industry across Europe, as they wrestled with how to interact with their audiences.

 
Mary Stephen – editor

Born in Hong Kong, graduated from Communications Arts at Concordia University in Canada, Mary is based in Paris and was French New Wave director Eric Rohmer’s film editor and music co-composer, from « Winter’s Tale » to his last feature « The Romance of Astrea and Celadon ». She also worked extensively with fiction and documentary filmmakers from several continents as film editor, associate-producer or script advisor. A partial list of these include Yoïchiro Okutani’s “Nude at Heart” Japan-French (Arte) coproduction; Ann Hui’s « Love After Love » (Venice Biennale 2020 Life Achievement Award), « Our Time Will Come », “Septet, a story of Hong Kong” (Cannes 2020); Nicole Shafer’s « Buddha In Africa » (NHK Best Film and Youth Film Awards); Tiffany Hsiung’s « The Apology » (Peabody Award); Seren Yüce’s « Majority »(Venice Lion of the Future); Du Haibin’s «Umbrella», «1428» (Venice Orizzonti Doc Award), and « A Young Patriot »; Lixin Fan’s« Last Train Home »(IDFA Grand Prize); Joan Chen’s « Shanghaï Strangers »(China Golden Rooster Web-film award); Li Yang’s « Blind Mountain »(Cannes Un Certain Regard) ; Hüseyin Karabey’s « My Marlon and Brando »(Tribeca Best New Director), and « Do Not Forget Me Istanbul » omnibus film with directors from the Baltic region : Hany Abou-Assad (Palestine), Aida Begic (Bosnia), Stefan Arsenijevic (Serbia), Stergios Niziris (Greece), Eric Nazarian (Armenia). She has been nominated for her editing for the Golden Horse, the Independent Eye, the Turkish Yeşilçam, the Hong Kong Film and Asian Film Awards. She is in juries and training workshops at IDFA, Venice Biennale, Yamagata Documentary Dojo, Asia Pacific Screen Academy, Hong Kong, Kerala, Busan, Salaya (Bangkok,Thailand), Wathann (Yangon, Myanmar), Singapore etc, Mary is also editing-consultant with filmmakers on works-in-progress and guest-teaches with universities and film institutions. Her directorial films include “The Memory of Water” (fiction short) and “Vision From The Edge: Breyten Breytenbach Painting The Lines”(documentary). She is currently in pre-production of her new documentary “Palimpsest: Re-writing the Self from Wuhan to Bloomsbury”. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.