She has a major in International Relations and a minor in Psychology. Martina has gained most of her working experience at the Ministry of Culture, Department for International Cultural Cooperation, being responsible for various cultural exchange programmes between Croatia and other countries; among many activities, she was responsible for the organisation of Croatian film presentation during international film festivals in Berlin and Cannes. From 2008, she has been actively involved in establishing the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, where she has stayed, after being chosen by the European Commission as the Head of MEDIA Desk Croatia. Following immediate and successful results in terms of ensuring the financing by the MEDIA Programme, working thoroughly on the promotion of the Croatian film, resulted in receiving the first Albert Kapović Award by the Croatian Producers Association, given at the opening of Zagreb Film Festival in 2010. As the Head of MEDIA Desk Croatia (today’s Creative Europe Desk – MEDIA Office Croatia), she has been actively involved in organizing innovative and active presentations/workshops – important tools for education and networking – between Croatian but also European film professionals.
Yi Tang is a Chinese film producer and director based in New York, she is winner of Palme d’or at Festival de Cannes 2021.
Most known for Black Goat (2019), All the Crows in the World (2021) and Yokelan, 66 (2022). Studied for Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Film/Video Production at NYU Tisch Grad Film in New York University. She has won Grand Jury Award from SXSW and a Special Mention at AFI Fest.
She is a Qatar-based Sudanese scriptwriter, researcher, and independent filmmaker.
Suzannah is best known for the award-winning 2021 short film Al-Sit which was a part of Linz ISFF 2021. The film won 23 international awards, including three Academy Award (Oscars) qualifying prizes, including winning the Grand Prix award at the Tampere International Film Festival 2021 in Finland.
Currently, Mirghani is developing her first feature film which is part of L’atelier de Cannes 2022. She is also an Assistant Director for Publications at the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar.
FLAVIO ARMONE Lights On – international distribution agency
He studied film history in his hometown of Turin, Italy. He started working at film festivals in 2004 and founded Lights On, an international distribution agency, in 2015.
Lights On focuses mainly on the distribution of short films, but also has a few selected feature films in its program, such as Lúa Vermella (Red Moon Tide) by Lois Patiño, which premiered at the 2020 Berlinale Forum. The short films distributed by Lights On have premiered at some of the most prestigious festivals worldwide: Semaine de la Critique – Cannes, Sundance Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs – Cannes. Lights On is a world distributor of quality films based in Italy, passionate about supporting emerging filmmakers from around the world and helping them take their first steps from short films to feature films.
She has several years of experience as a film festival judge, she holds a Master’s degree in Sound Design and Mix from Bournemouth University in the UK. She has worked on over 60 feature films and documentaries that have won awards or been nominated at more than 100 international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, BAFTA, BFI, Toronto, Sundance, IDFA, Asia Pacific, Chicago, Shanghai, Tokyo, Locarno, Visions du Reel, Karlovy vary, Sheffield, Hot Docs, Bussan, Edinburgh, Goa, San Sebastian and Krakow. She also did the design and sound mixing of Abbas Kiarostami’s last film 24 frames. She lives with every frame and every line of the script, spending many hours capturing the essence of the story and the details of the director. Then she creates sound, or rather stories with carefully designed sounds to match the director’s idea.