Agustina Chiarino – Producer tutor

Agustina Chiarino is a renowned uruguayan producer with more than 20 Latin-American feature films released in the most prestigious film festivals , with more than 100 prizes and released in over 30 territories.
She holds a BA in Communication Studies, a Technical Degree in Political Sciences and an MFA in reative Documentary. She was a partner in CONTROL Z FILMS, co-founded MUTANTE CINE and in 2022 launched BOCACHA FILMS She produced the features: The Disciple of Speed (Rotterdam, Miguel Calderon), Adrián Biniez’s Giant (Berlinale Competition), El 5 (Venice Days) and The Waves (San Sebastian FF), Pablo Stoll’s Hiroshima (Toronto FF) and 3 (Quinzainne Cannes), Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge’s So Much Water (Berlinale) and Don´t you let me go (Tribeca), Leticia Jorge’s Aleli, Pablo Solarz’s I Woke Up With a Dream and the documentaries Madness On Air and Bosco(IDFA) by Alicia Cano, Alter by Joaquín González, The Last (IDFA, Sebastián Peña Escobar) and Dizer Adeus (Sa). She co- produced History Of Fear (Nahistat, Berlinale), My Friend from the Park(Sundance, Ana Katz), Loveling (Sundance, Gustavo Pizzi), The Heiresses (Berlinale, Marcelo Martinessi), Monos (Sundance, Alejandro Landes) and Shipwrecks (Spataro).
For 8 years she was in charge of developing new projects at Uruguay’s TV Channel 10. She has been a tutor at Biennale College, BrLab, Biobio Lab, EICTV and PUENTES –which she co-organizes along with EAVE–. She’s been a reader and jury for Torino Scriptlab, Doha FI, Sundance, WEMW, Locarno Open doors, BAM, WIP Karlovy Vary, national funds of Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic and is part of the committee at San Sebastián’s Co-production Forum since 2019. She has been a jury member at San Sebastián, BAFICI, Miami, Málaga, Locarno and Cartagena.

Matthieu de Braconier – Script tutor

A writer, producer and screenwriting tutor, Matthieu de Braconier is trained in philosophy, systemic psychotherapy and creative writing. One of three producers working from London based The Bureau, his most recent production, AFTER LOVE by Aleem Khan, won the 2022 Best Leading Actress BAFTA for Joanna Scanlan’s acclaimed performance. The directorial debut was nominated for four BAFTAs including Outstanding British Film and for nine BIFAs of which it won six including Best British Independent Film. Festival credits include Cannes 2020 Critic’s Week label, Telluride lineup, TIFF industry selects, London Film Festival and Rome IFF. Matthieu’s growing slate of film and TV projects includes A-list commitment and support from Film4, BBC Films, BFI, CE MEDIA, Creative Scotland and the BBC. His screenwriting credits include Magritte winning ALL CATS ARE GREY co-written with Savina Dellicour (premiered in Rome), DRÔLE DE PERE co-written with Amélie van Elmbt (produced by the Dardenne brothers and exec produced by Martin Scorsese) and a story by credit on the BAFTA nominated and BIFA awarded ONLY YOU by Harry Wootliff, which he also produced. Sundance Institute alumnus, Matthieu’s credits also include co-producing LONDON RIVER by Oscar-nominated Rachid Bouchareb (Silver Berlin Bear) and executive producing the UK Film Council and Film4′s Cinema Extreme short film scheme that launched a generation of talent including Andrea Arnold, Rupert Wyatt and Andrew Haigh.

Amy Dotson – Pitch trainer

Amy Dotson is the Director of PAM CUT, Portland Art Museum’s Center for an Untold Tomorrow and Tomorrow Theater, as well as the inaugural Curator of Film & New Media at the Museum. Championing cinematic storytelling in all its forms, Dotson oversees PAM CUT’s exhibition, artist services, and educational programming that features an expansive media arts approach to film, series, animation, audio, gaming, XR, and multi-media performance.
Recent exhibitions include the U.S. location for the Venice Biennale’s XR program (2021, 2022) featuring virtual reality and mixed reality from around the globe, VR to Go with PHI CENTER (2021, 2022), the U.S. premiere of Symbiosis (2023), Guillermo del Toro’s Crafting Pinocchio (2023) in association with MOMA, Netflix and ShadowMachine and Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting Edge Kicks (2024) for the Portland Art Museum. Other notable XR projects include the U.S. premiere of SmartPhone Orchestra (2024), as well as Lance Weiler’s Where There’s Smoke (2023), Sam Green’s 32 Sounds and @1minuteworld.
Dotson is also the creative vision behind the museum’s latest project, The Tomorrow Theater, which showcases cinema, media arts and immersive storytelling in all its many forms. She initiated the Carte Blanche series there, where she interviews polymath artists quarterly about their process; recent speakers have included David Byrne, Guillermo del Toro, Ruth E. Carter, Jane Schoenbrun and Julio Torres. Since 2020, she created and produced the annual Cinema Unbound Awards, honoring artists and innovators working at the intersection of art and cinema not content to be contained.
Previously, Dotson served as Deputy Director & Head of Programming for IFP, supporting over 10,000 U.S. and international artists and debut projects including Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, Dee Rees’ Pariah, Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, Daniel Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12, and Chloe Zhao’s Songs My Brothers Taught Me. Her responsibilities included the financial and creative oversight of all domestic and international programming, partnerships and memberships for the organization’s signature programs.

Chiara Laudani – Script tutor

Attend to Holden Master Contemporary Humanities. Training at Screenplaywriting course Rai and Mediaset Lab, winner of the Premio Solinas. Author, creator, screenplay writer for tv, documentary and features. On may 2022 was published her first novel “Per non scomparire”. Series creator and author of “Mrs Playmen!” Netflix, “883”, “Lolita Lobosco”, “Carla Fracci” for Rai. “Tutta colpa di Freud” Amazon. “Il Commissario Montalbano” and “Il Giovane Montalbano”. Author of “The Comedians” sit-com for Sky (Italian adaptation of “The Comedians”) Features “The guests” director Alessio Cremonini. “Dove non ho mai abitato” director Paolo Franchi. Medusa Award. Best original comedy treatment and screenplay for “Shimessalinu!” (“Shimessalinu” – God forbid!). “Fellini” Award for screenplay of “Voci” (Voices). Screenplay of the mockumentary “Il mondiale dimenticato” (The forgotten World Cup) 68th Venice Film Festival. People’s Choice Award at the Sao Paulo Int. Film Festival. Documentaries “La Guerra dei Vulcani” author of the documentary. 69th Venice Film Festival, Venezia Classici, 50th New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Fest, “Looking for Kadija”, docufilm’s author, winner of the People’s Choice Award, Rome Film Fest 2014. Consulting Biennale di Venezia College, TFL Lab – extended – Next Script, Les Alpes Film Lab – Annecy – script consultant. Creare Storie Anica-Netflix Roma CSC Roma, Holden University.

Aida Holly Nambi – Group leader

Aida Holly-Nambi is a story development specialist. She has supported the production of projects around the world and across various mediums, including film, virtual reality, theater, and audio. From 2017 to 2020, Aida served as the Director of Arts and Culture for None on Record, an Africa-wide LGBT digital media organization. Before joining None on Record, she was the Outreach Director for the Doc Society Foundation in London and, prior to that, an Outreach Director for Docubox: The East African Documentary Film Fund. From 2014 to 2016, Aida was the Artistic Director of Maisha Garden, a multidisciplinary performance arts space in Uganda founded by filmmaker Mira Nair. She was also part of a select cohort of East African directors who honed their skills with the Sundance Theater Lab in Addis Ababa and Utah in 2012 and 2013. Currently based in the UK, Aida is the co-founder of Fathom Sirens, an audio production company.
A Ugandan born and raised in Kenya, Aida earned a dual PhD in Drama and Humanities from Stanford University in 2013, where she was awarded the Geballe Dissertation Prize fellowship for her work. Aida serves on the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in Kenya, and is also part of the Black Queer Travel Group steering Committee in the U.K. Additionally, Aida was a story developer for the Venice Biennale College Cinema Virtual Reality program from 2019 to 2021 and has been a group leader for the Venice Biennale College Cinema film program from 2020 to 2024.

Raymond Phathanavirangoon – Group leader

Raymond Phathanavirangoon is a Hong Kong-born, Bangkok-based film producer who was Executive Director of Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC) which helped develop the award- winning CU LI NEVER CRIES, PLAN 75 and AUTOBIOGRAPHY that won in Berlin, Cannes and Venice, respectively. Previously he was programmer for Toronto International Film Festival as well as Programme Consultant for Hong Kong International Film Festival and Programme Delegate at Cannes Critics’ Week. Prior to that, he was Director of Marketing & Special Projects (Acquisitions) for sales agent Fortissimo Films.
He was advisory member of Asian Film Awards (AFA) and was selection committee member for Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), Rotterdam Cinemart, TorinoFilmLab ScriptLab and more. His producing credits include Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s TOKYO SONATA (Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize 2008), Pang Ho-Cheung’s ABERDEEN and DREAM HOME (Tribeca 2010), Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s SAMUI SONG (Venice Days 2017) and HEADSHOT (Berlin Panorama 2012), Boo Junfeng’s APPRENTICE (Cannes Un Certain Regard 2016) and SANDCASTLE (Cannes Critics’ Week 2010), Josh Kim’s HOW TO WIN AT CHECKERS (EVERY TIME) (Berlin Panorama 2015), Ron Howard’s THIRTEEN LIVES (2022) with Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell, Patrick Dickinson’s COTTONTAIL (Rome Best First Feature 2023) among others. He was named Future Leaders: Producers in 2013 by Screen International and was awarded Producer of the Year in 2017 by Asian Film Commission in Busan.

Elias Ribeiro – Group leader

Producer Elias Ribeiro has worked internationally since 1999. A resident in South Africa since 2010, he launched Urucu, a production company dedicated to making authentic and thought-provoking films by Africans. They have won awards globally, from Sundance to Locarno, Durban, Rio and Beijing. His work as a producer has also represented Mozambique and Lesotho for the Oscars for the first time. Out of 9 features, Ribeiro’s most successful film, INXEBA was shortlisted for an Oscar after winning 6 SAFTAS and 28 International awards.
In 2015 Ribeiro co-founded Realness African Screenwriters’ Residency, a content incubator that has developed over 50 feature projects, and evolved into the Realness Institute, a Not-For-Profit Organisation, housing 2 capacity-building programmes as well as 2 content incubators. The Institute launched with Netflix support, caters to writers, producers, directors, programmers, sales & distribution professionals, episodic content creators. In 20XX he was appointed by Locarno as a regional manager of the Southern Africa-Locarno Industry Academy. He enjoys consulting across the audio-visual value chain, contributing as a jury member to organisations like FESPACO, Paradiso and Hubert Bals. He often speaks or moderates at international industry events, mentors at professional development initiatives such as EFM’s Toolbox, IFFR’s Cinemart, Biennale College Cinema and La Fabrique du Cinema in Cannes. He is a voting member of the European Film Academy.

Anna Seifert-Speck – Script tutor

Anna Seifert-Speck is a script & story editor with an international background in talent development and experience as an executive producer. She works with production companies, public funds, and individual talent during all stages of development and can provide support during the editing process. Anna is currently lead tutor for the National Film and Television School’s (NFTS) Script Development Diploma and script editing a bespoke slate of projects for independent producers. Past projects include Francis Lee’s Ammonite (Cannes 2020), God’s Own Country (BIFA winner 2017), Ben Sharrock’s Limbo (Cannes 2020), Harry Macqueen’s Supernova.
Anna is a regularly mentor for Berlin Talents and has worked as Development and Talent Executive for independent producers and regional film funds such as Creative England, EM Media and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. In her capacity as a script consultant, she has worked closely with the British Film Institute’s Film Fund and continues to regularly work on supported project. Executive Producer credits include Nick Whitfield’s Skeletons and Andrew Haigh’s Weekend as well as several highly successful short. She has a background in continental philosophy and literary translation and studied screenwriting at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb).

Konstantina Stavrianou – Producer tutor

Konstantina Stavrianou co-founded Graal, a production company with an inhouse post-production facility in Athens, Greece. Currently, in its 25th year of operation, the company has produced & co- produced 74 films to date and has a portfolio of more than 477 titles. Among them, TRIUMPH (2024) by Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov, a Bulgaria-Greece co-production, premiered at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival in the Official Selection. TIGER (2023) by Andrei Tanase, a Romania-France- Greece collaboration, premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), also in the Official Selection. SOW THE WIND (2020) by Danilo Caputo, world premiered at Berlinale (Panorama); THE FATHER (2019) again by Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov, premiered at Karlovy Vary and winning the Crystal Globe-Grand Prix; WHAT COMES AROUND (2018) by Reem Saleh, a multi National co- production between Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, Qatar and premiered at 68.Berlinale (Panorama).
Since 2014, is a tutor on workshops, collaborating with Doha Film Institute, Locarno open doors, Red Sea Lodge and others. She is a MEDIA programme expert, an EAVE & an EAVE+ graduate and a member of the European Film Academy. Since 2021, she is an awarded member of the Hellenic Film Academy.

Kelly Thomas – Producer tutor

Kelly Thomas is an independent producer and educator who has produced nine feature films. The latest, Louder Than You Think, premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival where it won an Audience Award. Thomas received a 2017 Film Independent Spirit Award as a producer for Andrew Ahn’s Spa Night, a feature that premiered in Dramatic Competition at Sundance and played festivals worldwide.
Thomas’s other producing credits include films with acclaimed directors including Rodrigo Garcia, Phedon Papamichael, Robin Swicord, and Brad Silberling.
Previously, Thomas was the Producer-in-Residence for Film Independent’s Artist Development programs where she managed labs for writers, directors, producers, and documentary filmmakers. In addition to producing, Thomas is adjunct faculty at Temple University’s Los Angeles Study-Away.
Program. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America and mentors for Film Independent’s Global Media Makers program.

Paul Tyler – Handling Ideas session

Story consultant getting writers, directors and producers closer to their ideas, financing and production. 16 years of consultancy building on 12 years BBC television production, 4 years theatre production, and 2 years graduate lecturing, Paul brings a wealth of both production and development expertise to the table. From stage manager to multi-camera studio director, from runner to series Producer, he has gained useful insights working in factual entertainment, light entertainment and drama.
His company Handling Ideas has delivered for hundreds of international clients and projects spanning over twenty countries, including Venice Biennale College Cinema since 2013, Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) TV Series development programme since 2019 and Red Sea Labs since 2021 to name but a few. Paul employs an analytical, creative, and often humorous approach to unravel the intricacies of storytelling ecosystems, ensuring the creation of compelling narratives. He is based in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Alec Von Bargen – Visual advisor

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, and Gabriel Beristain, among others. 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 La Biennale di Venezia – International Art Exhibition, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the OCAT Museum, Shanghai and Les Rencontres D’Arles Festival, France. His work has won numerous awards and is included in public and private collections worldwide.
Alec Von Bargen is the Creator/Head of Program of the SWATCH artistic mentorship program (Swatch @rt Pe@ce Hotel) in Shanghai and Director/Chief Curator of The Living Archives project of the Ex Convitto Palmieri in Lecce, Italy. He is also visual advisor/creative storytelling mentor for the Venice Film Festival’s Biennale College Cinema, Talents Sarajevo and The Red Sea Film Festival’s Red Sea Lodge.

Amra Bakšić Čamo – Creative producer

Amra is one of the founders of SCCA/pro.ba, independent film, video
 and TV production house from Sarajevo. She has produced and coproduced award-winning short films and art videos, documentaries, TV programs and feature films. Recently, Amra ventured into serialised content in a threefold role as writer, creator and producer. She was Head of the CineLink, regional co-production market, work in progress and project development workshop of Sarajevo Film Festival, for 21 years. She is a member of ACE and EAVE networks and EFA. Since the beginning of 2019, she is one of the curators of Torino Film Lab.
Amra is a professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, in the Production Department.

Katie Mustard – Executive producer

Katie Mustard’s  career spans 30 countries and covers all facets of production, including roles as a line producer, producer, and production executive. Notably recognized in Variety’s Top 10 Producers to Watch, Katie has led the production of over 40 feature films and 30 TV shows, including acclaimed titles such as Otherhood, Custody, and The Greatest and documentary films like Framing John DeLorean and Console Wars.
In 2018, Katie joined Netflix as a Director of International Production responsible for supporting the global expansion of Netflix’s original productions across EMEA. She oversaw Netflix Original TV shows on a diverse slate including Into the Night (Belgium), The Woods (Poland), Young Wallander (Sweden), Rise of the Empires: Ottoman (Turkey/US), and The Club (Turkey). Her work on such a broad slate made her a key contributor to establishing best practices, workflows, and cross-functional collaborations that serve as the basis for Netflix’s continued scaling across these regions. In 2021, Katie relocated to Istanbul to build a Netflix studio in Turkey. She shepherded numerous growth initiatives to reach high volume and quality goals, driving Netflix’s long term success in the region.
In 2023, Katie returned to producing and production consulting with a focus on US content shooting in EMEA and launched Pathfinder Pictures, a Dutch based Production Service company, partnering with veteran studio finance exec Skip Henfling.  Katie received her B.A in Cinema-Television from the University of Southern California and attended high school TV and Film camp at Northwestern and UCLA. She is based in Amsterdam with her husband and two children.

Mary Stephen – Editor

Based in Paris, Mary was born in Hong Kong and graduated from Communications Arts at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.  She was French New Wave director Eric Rohmer’s film editor and music co-composer, collaborating from « The Aviator’s Wife » to his last feature « The Romance of Astrea and Celadon ».  She worked extensively, in English, French, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, with fiction and documentary filmmakers from several continents as editor, script advisor or associate producer, including Yoïchiro Okutani’s “Nude at Heart” (Doc NYC Kaleidoscape Award); Ann Hui’s « Love After Love » (Venice Biennale 2020); Nicole Shafer’s « Buddha In Africa » (NHK Award); Tiffany Hsiung’s « The Apology » (Peabody Award); Seren Yüce’s « Majority »(Venice Lion of the Future); Du Haibin’s «1428» (Venice Orizzonti Doc Award); Lixin Fan’s « Last Train Home »(IDFA Grand Prize); 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). See Full List on IMDB.  Nominated for Golden Horse, Asian Film Awards etc, Mary regularly does coaching  at training workshops, consults for Rough Cut Service, guest-teaches at film institutions.  Her directorial films include “The Memory of Water” (short fiction) and “Vision From The Edge: Breyten Breytenbach Painting The Lines”(documentary). She is currently at work on her new film coproduced with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Arte in France:  “Palimpsests of a Name”, slated for spring 2025.   She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.