Producers Unite: Together, Are We Stronger?
Presented by Documentary Campus
TIME
Wednesday, August 17th, 2022.
17:30 – 18:30 (CET)
LOCATION
Hotel Europe Atrium
Following a conversation we started in 2020 on re-imagining distribution strategies for independent films, two years later, this panel invites independent producers to discuss the challenges presented by the current film distribution model and how this is changing the producer's scope of work. Are producer collectives the only possible future of independent films? Or will going rogue and nimble provide a better chance to thrive? This joint conversation is meant to reflect on the producer’s role in a landscape where the fight for rights and audience access is just the tip of the iceberg.
Speakers
- Alexandra Lebret - Managing Director, European Producers Club / FR
- Farah Abushwesha - Producer & Writer, Rocliffe Limited / UK
- Rodrigo Areias, Producer - Director, Bando à Parte / PT
Moderated by
- Paula Vaccaro - Producer and Scriptwriter, Pinball London Ltd / UK
ALEXANDRA LEBRET
After graduating with a master's degree in macroeconomics at Dauphine University, and an MSc in international economics at ESSEC and at the Università di Bocconi, ALEXANDRA LEBRET has dedicated her career to the film industry. In 2002, she was named managing director of the EPC and since then has driven the association into a new era, transforming it into the renowned institution it is today. In 2013, she was decorated Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, for her work and dedication in favour of European cinema. In 2014, she became a producer herself, founding the production companies Mare Nostrum Productions and Halley Production, and producing 8 films in two years, which received 16 awards.
FARAH ABUSHWESHA
FARAH ABUSHWESHA is a BAFTA-nominated producer and founder of Rocliffe, a showcase for emerging writing and directing talent to develop diverse stories, which she set up in 2000. As a producer, recent credits include ITV drama NO RETURN (2022) and upcoming feature film WOKEN. Among her other film and TV credits are THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH (2017), IRREPLACEABLE YOU (2018), THE SINGAPORE GRIP (2020) and THE ABC MURDERS (2018). In 2016, Farah produced a short film THE PARTY, which earned her a BAFTA nomination. For more than a decade Rocliffe has partnered with BAFTA on the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum and Competitions, and in 2020 she was the recipient of a BFI Vision Award. Farah herself was an American Academy Gold Fellowship for Women finalist in 2021 and a Screen International Star of Tomorrow in 2017. She has also written two Amazon bestselling books, both Rocliffe Notes, on professional screenwriting and filmmaking (2015) and low budget filmmaking (2017).
RODRIGO AREIAS
RODRIGO AREIAS started his professional life as a musician. His filmmaking career began with sound editing for directors such as Paulo Rocha or Edgar Pêra. Since 2001, he has been working as a producer on more than 150 feature films, shorts and documentaries, with renowned authors such as Edgar Pêra, João Canijo and F. J. Ossang and young directors like Ana Rocha de Sousa. His co-production credits include, among others, collaborations with Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Japan, USA, Argentina. Winner of the Orizzonti Jury Prize and a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, as well as the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Festival, he has received more than 300 international awards. His productions have premiered at renowned film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Rotterdam. As a director, his films have won more than 40 international awards, and he recently debuted his fourth fiction feature film SURDINA and his last documentary HÁLITO AZUL premiered at the Locarno festival.
PAULA VACCARO
PAULA VACCARO, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is an award-winning producer, scriptwriter, and journalist, with three decades of experience in film, TV, digital, radio, and printed media. In 2009, she founded Pinball London, a production company based in London, UK, delivering films and TV series created to this date, by established and new filmmakers from over 15 countries. Under her leadership, their films have launched at most A list festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale, Venice, and TIFF, receiving over sixty international awards, including three Lions at Venice Film Festival: the Young Golden Lion for ON THE MILKY ROAD, directed by Emir Kusturica, in 2016, and Lion of the Future and Jury Lion as a writer and producer of LISTEN, the most awarded film at the festival’s 2020 edition. She is a BAFTA and EFA member, as well as a permanent member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain.