Perspectives on Independent Cinema and Global Content
How different is the world of global cinema these days and what does it have to offer? How can independent productions effectively position themselves in the streaming realm using new trends and strategies? What are the main challenges for arthouse films seeking international distribution? And can films from small territories truly resonate and achieve international recognition?
SPEAKERS
MARIE ZENITER
VP of Sales, Utopia / US
JESSICA KIANG
Film Critic, Variety / DE
JIM KOLMAR
Independent Film Programmer, South by Southwest Film & TV Festival and Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival / US
SÉBASTIEN CHESNEAU
CEO, Cercamon / AE
MODERATED BY
Elad Samorzik
Artistic Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival / IL
TIME
Tuesday, August 15th, 2023
15:00 – 16:00 (CET)
LOCATION
Hotel Europe Atrium
Marie Zeniter
Born in Paris, Marie has lived on both US coasts, in Japan, and in Canada. In 2012, she was selected by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop French businesses abroad and moved to New York. Shortly after, she joined US in Progress to handle filmmaker outreach before becoming Senior Programmer / Organizer of the biannual event. Before joining Utopia in 2022, Marie worked at IFC, where she handled Midnight and repertory titles, and Magnolia Pictures in International Sales.
Jessica Kiang
Jessica Kiang is an Irish-born, Berlin-based freelance film critic with regular bylines in Variety, Sight & Sound, The Criterion Collection, The New York Times, The LA Times, Film Comment, Mubi, The Playlist, Rolling Stone, etc. She has served on numerous festival juries, including Toronto, London and IDFA and has frequently led or participated in Critics' Workshops, including twice being a mentor on the Melbourne Film Festival Critics Campus. In 2022 she made her first foray into programming and is now the International Programmer of the Belfast Film Festival.
Jim Kolmar
Jim Kolmar is an independent curator, consultant and writer and has programmed international and feature films for South by Southwest Film & TV Festival since 2009. He also programs for Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival and was a founding committee member at Festival Internacional de Cine Tulum (FICTU). Most recently, Jim curated the 2023 KINO! Germany Now program for Goethe Institute/German Film Office, and the upcoming PANORAMICA for PLAY Acción Cultural in Spain. Jim has consulted and participated on numerous international festival juries, panels and committees, including Adelaide Film Festival, BAFICI, EFM, FICCALI, REC Festival Internacional de Cinema de Tarragona, Seattle International Film Festival, Tokyo Docs, and Ventana Sur. He has also mentored Latin American students for London Film School for the last two years.
Sebastien Chesneau
In 2014, Sébastien founded Cercamon, a Dubai-based global film sales company with a catalogue of over 60 feature-length films, all selected for prestigious A-festivals and receiving numerous prizes. He has since continued to grow the company's portfolio. Sébastien spent 20+ years in international distribution at companies such as Celluloid Dreams & France Televisions, where he was responsible for worldwide sales of prestigious films that premiered at major film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, Venice & Toronto. He has collaborated with an array of filmmakers such as the Dardenne Brothers, Xavier Dolan, Jacques Audiard, Julie Delpy, Michael Haneke, Todd Haynes, and Kore-Eda Hirokasu, among others. Sébastien holds a Master's Degree in International Economics from Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris.
Elad Samorzik
Elad Samorzik has been the Artistic Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival since 2014. Prior positions include Head of Programming for six film channels on Israel's leading cable platform HOT, Programmer at the Haifa International Film Festival and Correspondent at Israel’s leading daily newspaper Haaretz. Samorzik taught film theory courses at Tel Aviv University and the Bezalel Arts Academy in Jerusalem. He also served on the juries of several international film festivals, including the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece, the Cartagena Film Festival in Colombia, the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema in Argentina, the Vilnius Film Festival in Lithuania and the Les Arcs Film Festival in France.