INDUSTRY AND EXPERTS COMMITEE

List of international producers, film distributors, sales agents and festival programmers attending to MECAS 2017.

INGE DE LEEUW

Stray Dogs International Sales

Works as a programmer for the Rotterdam International Film Festival and is in charge of acquiring films for the International French sales company Stray Dogs.
She studied Cultural Studies in Rotterdam and Film & Television Studies in Utrecht. Besides working in film production, she started working at IFFR’s program department in 2005, becoming a programmer in 2010. For IFFR she selects films from North America, Great Britain and Ireland, and curates thematic program for IFFR and other cultural institutions that focus on the relationship between cinema and other disciplines, like the widely travelled OUT OF FASHION (2011) and EVERYDAY PROPAGANDA (2015).
 

Diana Santamaría

Capricci Cine

Graduated in Audiovisual Communication at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. She started working in Paris for the distribution company Capricci in 2013. Joining forces with Thierry and Farid Lounas, she decided to create the distribution company Capricci Cine in Spain in 2014, which she has run ever since. In addition, she collaborates with Sofilm Spain magazine and helps also in organizing the Sofilm Summercamp festival held in Nantes. She is a specialist in French cinema, and, inspired by Henri Langlois’ legacy, she has distributed contemporary auteur films in Spain, as well as films by filmmakers of such a stature as Serge Bozon, Albert Serra, Aleksei German, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Serguéi Paradzhánov or Ado Arrietta, among others.

Hannah Horner

Doc & Film International

After studying Cinema and Media at the Sorbonne and Brighton University, Hannah Horner started working as a Production Assistant at Lazennec Productions on Samuel Collardey’s film LITTLE LION. She then moved on to International Sales at Doc&Film International, where she first worked as Festival Manager before also taking on the role of Sales Manager. She has since worked with directors such as Oscar-nominated Gianfranco Rosi, Frederick Wiseman, Martin Provost and Jacques Doillon.

Montse Triola

Andergraun Films

Founded Andergraun Films in 2003, a production company set out with the purpose of making audiovisual projects of her own together with the director Albert Serra. Since then, she has produced the following full-length films: HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS and BIRDSONG (both released at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight), STORY OF MY DEATH (Golden Leopard at Locarno International Film Festival) and THE DEATH OF LOUIS XIV (Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival). She has also produced various audiovisual pieces for the contemporary art world: THE THREE LITTLE PIGS for DOCUMENTA13 in Kassel, Singularity for the Venice Art Biennale, LORD WORKED WONDERS IN ME  for the CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona) and THE NAMES OF CHRIST for  the MACBA (Museu D’art Contemporàni de Barcelona), amongst others. She combines audiovisual work with the direction of a prison theatre company.

Jerome Vidal

Noodles Productions

Jerome Vidal is Noodles’ main producer. Created in 1997 by Anne Bennet. Noodles Production is a feature film production company based in Paris. Jérôme Vidal focuses his activity on French films and on European co-productions, in particularly with Spain.

Felipe Lage

Zeitun Films

Felipe Lage runs Zeitun Films. He has participated in the production of several feature films, such as TODOS VÓS SODES CAPITÁNS (YOU ALL ARE CAPTAINS, Oliver Laxe, 2010), ARRAIANOS (Eloy Enciso, 2012), O QUINTO EVANXEO DE GASPAR HAUSER (THE FIFTH GOSPEL OF KASPAR HAUSER, Alberto Gracia, 2013), COSTA DA MORTE (COAST OF DEATH, Lois Patiño, 2013), POZOAMARGO (Enrique Rivero, 2015) and MIMOSAS (Oliver Laxe, 2016). All of these films received awards at some of the most important film festivals in the world. Zeitun Films is a Spanish film production company born with a strong commitment to art and culture, and with the willingness to support films engaged with cinema at large.

Manuela Buono

Slingshot Films

Manuela Buono founded Slinghsot Films, a sales agency based in Italy specialized in creative documentaries and art-house fiction films. She has been involved in film and TV production and the organization of film festivals for more than 10 years.  Slingshot Films catalogue includes: THE CHALLENGE, by Yuri Ancarani (Special Jury Prize Locarno ’16), ZUD by Marta Minorowicz (Berlinale, Generation KPlus), A GOOD AMERICAN by Friedrich Moser (CPH:DOX, Rotterdam, Palm Springs), DANCING WITH MARIA by Ivan Gergolet (Venice Critic’s Week, EFA Documentary Nomination) and many others.

Paco Poch

Mallerich Films

Paco Poch is a producer and founder of MALLERICH FILMS, a low-budget and auteur-film production company. He also directs PACO POCH CINEMA, a distribution company willing to distribute the touching work of filmmakers featuring newfangled and intense messages. It is also committed to the distribution of pure cinema, which has hardly been shown in our country. Since its creation in 2009, it has tried to maintain a distribution line based on filmmakers they admire. Furthermore, PACO POCH CINEMA contributes to the development of some projects in their scriptwriting phase.

Alberto Sedano

Cine Binario

Alberto Sedano holds a diploma in Film and Audiovisual Media from Sorbonne University in Paris, and a Masters degree in Management of Audiovisual Companies from the Charles III University of Madrid. He has taken part in some film festivals and film contests as a member of the jury. In 2015, he got elected to become part of Sales&Distribution Studio of Berlinale Talents at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. Since 2011, he has become partner and co-founder of CINEBINARIO, a distribution cooperative of arthouse cinema founded that same year. His catalogue, having received awards in major film festivals, consists of an exquisite choice of contemporary international cinema. CINEBINARIO, as well as following a multidisciplinary approach in film distribution, develops an editorial line of Blu-rays and DVDs, programming services for cultural institutions and marketing and distribution consultancy of feature films.

Mercedes Martínez Abarca

International Film Festival Rotterdam

Mercedes Martínez-Abarca has been working at International Film Festival Rotterdam since 2009, where she is currently a programme advisor. For five years she has coordinated the Holland Film Meeting Co-Production Platform (Nederlands Film Festival, Utrecht). She has also worked for the sales agency Fortissimo Films and has collaborated in various festivals and co-production markets.
 

Paz Lázaro

Berlin Film Festival

Member of the Selection Committee for Competition and Panorama Programme Manager for the Berlin International Film Festival (since 2006-7), Paz Lázaro is also the delegate for Hispanic films and serves as an Expert for the European Film Academy since 2012.
She holds a Degree in Spanish Philology, English Philology and Sociology. As a script consultant she has collaborated for The Match Factory, the Spanish Film Commission (ICAA) in Spain, ICAU in Uruguay, and FOPROCINE in Mexico for IMCINE.
Prior to the curating festival experience, she was engaged in Film Production over the years with feature films such as Nómadas (Spain, 2000), Sobre el arcoiris (Spain, 2003), as well as Theatre Production with Constanza Macras‚ Dorky Park Company (No Wonder, Sure).

Ramiro Ledo

NUMAX

Ramiro Ledo Cordeiro is head, shareholder and co-founder of NUMAX. He is responsible for NUMAX Cinema and NUMAX Distribution. NUMAX cinema combines the planning of premiering films in their original version with avant-garde screenings and new digital restorations of film classics. NUMAX Distribution is an independent distribution company in contemporary art-house cinema. Amongst its last releases there are works such as Rita Azevedo Gomes’ A VINGANÇA DE UMA MULHER (2012), Pedro Costa’s CAVALO DINHEIRO (HORSE MONEY, 2014), Oliver Laxe’s MIMOSAS (2016) or Milagros Mumenthhaler’s LA IDEA DE UN LAGO (THE IDEA OF A LAKE, 2016). NUMAX Bookshop and NUMAX Laboratory, a graphic, video and communication studio, is part of the project as well.

Sebastián Álvarez

Volcano Films

Sebastián Álvarez founded Volcano Films, where he has been Executive Producer, D.O.P. and Director, professional activities that he continues exercising today. His last works in cinema includes being Representative Producer of Sogecine for “Intact”, a movie by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; Associate Producer in “Chaotic Ana”, by Julio Medem; besides being Executive Producer and D.O.P. in all the short films produced by this house. Lastly, two decades of dedication to the field have made 20th Century Fox to choose Volcano for covering all logistical needs of Ridley Scott ́s “The Book of Exodus” in Fuerteventura. Currently, Sebastián Álvarez is in charge of the Executive Production of Volcano Films ́ own projects, as well as Tuco Films’ plot projects. 

Diego Rodriguez

RiverLab / Márgenes

Head of RiverLab, a distribution and film programming enterprise specialized in Spanish art-house cinema. He is the founder and director of Márgenes Film Festival, Spanish Cinema on the Margins. He was also in charge of production and headship of Hispasat4k Festival, Exhibition of European Cinema by Madrid LUX and Majadahonda Visual Festival. He is also a coordinator for exhibitions like “Cine Español en Ruta” and “14,4kms, Dialogue between two shores”. He is a member of the executive committee of the Filmmakers Union and has been head of FILMAD, a coordinating entity of film festivals in Madrid from 2008 to 2014. MÁRGENES is an exhibition and distribution platform specialized in the most independent, edgy and innovative Spanish and Ibero-American cinema, which was born as a proposal to greenlight the most innovative, attractive and hidden side of today’s Ibero-American cinema.

Luis Renart

Canary Islands Connection

Luis Renart is head of the Canary Islands Connection, a local international sales agency founded in 2014 as a strategic project of Cluster Audiovisual in the Canaries. Right before heading back to his homeland, he developed his professional career in several Catalonian film and television production companies, as well as in Latido Films, an international film sales agency. Canary Islands Connection serves as a link between regional production and the international market. Offering a delicate catalogue of art-house films, it is present all year round in the main international film and TV markets.