Experts

PAULINE CARBO

Pitching Expert
Country: France
Contact: paulinecarbo@gmail.com

BIOGRAPHY
Pauline Carbo is a filmmake, she is specialized in documentary movies. She’s also a coach for personal and professional development. Pauline Carbo helps « The story maker » in the making of theire own « personnel legend » and the way they could influence and impact the world. Having worked on diffrent documentary including in Asia and the Middle East, she works with the Palestinian Director Jamal Khalaily on a trilogy documentary , which is supported by the Doha Film Institute, the subject of the project evolves around the perception of oneself and its influence on the story told in the conflicts area. She also collaborates with the Bejaia Film Laboratory (BFL) in Algeria, which aim to support the new young talents coming from the Maghreb and enhance the movies production by building a network of directors and producers.

ALESSANDRA SPECIALE

Company: Labinnale
Country: Italy
Contact: alessandra.speciale@labiennale.org

BIOGRAPHY
Since 1991 she is artistic director of the African, Asian and Latin America Film Festival of Milan, Italy. With the Association COE she has distributed in the Italian alternative theatrical circuits more than 200 films from the three continents. She has worked as programmer for many international film festivals as Locarno, San Sebastian and Venice Film Festival. Since 2013 she is correspondent for Africa and Arab Countries for Venice Film Festival and head of the project of Final cut in Venice, a workshop to support African and Arab films in post production. She is also creative documentary filmmakers, her films have been broadcast by television channels such as Tele+, Rai and Arte. Recently she has been elected President of Milano Film Network, an association that unites seven festival in Milan and promotes film distribution film industry events and workshops in Italy.

ARNAUD DOMMERC

Company: Andolfi Films
Position: Producer-Distributor
Country: France
Contact: alessandra.speciale@labiennale.org

BIOGRAPHY
Arnaud Dommerc worked in paticular with filmmakers such as Robert Guédiguian, Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu or Jean-Marie Straub. He then established his own production company ANDOLFI. Among its recent productions "Félicité" by Alain Gomis fourth feature film, winner “Grand Jury Prize” at the Berlinale 2017 and “Etalon d’or” in the Fespaco 2017,also the feature documentary film by Claire Simon" The contest ", Lion of the Best Documentary Venice Festival in 2016, or "Kommunisten", last feature of Jean-Marie Straub, which he produced all his films since 2011. Arnaud Dommerc has also founded in 2015 his distribution company JHR Films.

CARA CUSUMANO

Company: TriBeCa Film Festival
Position: Senior Programmer
Country: USA
Contact: ccusumano@tribecafilmfestival.org

BIOGRAPHY
Cara Cusumano is the Director of Programming for Tribeca Film Festival and oversees feature film and TV programming Tribeca TV Festival as well. Prior to Tribeca, she programmed for the Hamptons International Film Festival, including curating HIFF’s signature Conflict & Resolution, competition and Oscar-qualifying shorts program, and has also worked with film organizations including the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, the Brooklyn International Film Festival, IFP, POV, Chicken & Egg, & Sundance. She frequently serves on festival juries and panels, among them CPH:DOX, SANFIC, Silverdocs, DOC NYC, Nordisk Panorama, and the Nantucket Film Festival, and is a member of the nominating committees for the Cinema Eye Honors, the International Documentary Association Awards, and the Gotham Awards. Her first short documentary “The Bloop” was an official selection of a dozen international festivals including Palm Springs Shortfest, AFI Fest, Rooftop Films, and DOC NYC, and was winner of an Audience Award at the 2016 New Orleans Film Festival and a Vimeo Staff Pick. She holds degrees from Columbia University’s Barnard College and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

FRANK W. ALBERS

Company: Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung
Position: Senior Project Manager
Country: Germany
Contact: frank.albers@bosch-stiftung.de

BIOGRAPHY
After his Abitur and civil service in Bremen he studied German and Scandinavian Language and Literature Studies, as well as Cultural Studies in Frankfurt, Göteborg and Berlin. During his time as a student he was a freelancer for the Panorama section at the Film Festival Berlin (supervision of the short film section). After a research project in Central America he worked for a Berlin based television production company. From 1998 until 2000 he was the head of the Goethe-Centre in Reykjavík and a university teacher for German Literature at the University of Iceland. Since December 2000 he works for the Robert Bosch Stiftung in Stuttgart as Senior Project Manager for International Cultural Exchange Programs, including the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung which he initiated and developed.

GJERMUND GRANLUND

Company: Arab Film Days/ SØRFOND
Position: Project Manager
Country: Norway
Contact: gjermund@filmrasor.noo

BIOGRAPHY
Gjermund Granlund is the head of Arab Film Days - Norway’s only Arab film festival. Arab Film Days is owned by a foundation also responsible for Oslo’s largest film festival, Films from the South, and Sørfond (Norwegian South Film Fund). He has a Bachelor's degree in Arabic and Middle East Studies, and a Master's degree in Sociology. On a day-to-day basis, he works as a Project Manager for Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution (NOREF).

IRIT NEIDHARDT

Company: MEC films
Position: Distributor
Country: Germany
Contact: irit@mecfilm.de

BIOGRAPHY
Irit Neidhardt is running mec film, an international sales and distribution company for films exclusively from the Middle East and North Africa. She is co-producer of several Arab feature documentaries, curator and tutor in the field of cinema and the Arab World, since 1995 Irit Neidhardt is a member of the German Association of Arthouse Theatres, the German Documentary Association and the German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation. She is a member of the advisory board of the German edition of the Global Media Journal and of the editorial board of German Quarterly inamo.

JEAN HUBERT NANKAM

Company: MARTIKA PRODUCTION et Société DIFFA
Position: Producteur
Country: Côte d'Ivoire
Contact: jhnankam@hotmail.com

BIOGRAPHY
French with a Cameroonian origin, has a background training in International Trad and Communication, he founded his own company MARTIKA PRODUCTION in 1993 based in Paris. Going Back in Africa (Ivory Cost), He produces documantary, TV programms , Talk Shows and TV Shows through the African branch of the group MARTIKA AFRICA . Those productions were broadcasted in more than 10 french speeking African’s Networks, including TV5, networks in Europe and the USA. Since 2014, Jean Hubert Nankam, works as a consultant at A+ TV Channel, and founded in association with Lagardère Groupe DIFFA company.

JULIE FRERES

Company: Dérives Production
Position: Producer
Country: Belgium
Contact: julie@derives.be

BIOGRAPHY
After 15 years of documentary and television directing, Julie Freres produces documentaries at Dérives (Belgium) since 2012. Founded by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne in 1977, Dérives is an association that develops, produces and promotes creative movies that express authors’ personal visions on social and human issues.

KARIN ANGELA SCHYLE

Company: Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stifung
Position: Coordinator
Country: Germany
Contact: schyle@filmprize.de

BIOGRAPHY
Studied history of modern and contemporary art at Christie’s Education in London followed by studies of cultural management at the bbw accademy in Berlin. From 1998 to 2003 she has been organising international cultural events such as the transmediale -media art festival, the ICMC – International Computer Music Conference, the Croatian Cultural Weeks in Berlin/Germany. From 2004 to 2009 she was the festival manager of six editions of the goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Wiesbaden/Germany organised by the Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF. Thereafter she established as a freelance cultural manager in Berlin/Germany, working for film festivals like Filmkunstfest Schwerin, Saas-Fee Filmfest in Switzerland, or the Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the University of the Arts Berlin amongst others. In April 2012 she launched her own company Schyle Filmwork offering project management mainly in a film related context. She organizes and manages the year-long program of the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung for International Cooperation Germany/Arab World, and is responsible for the editorial supervision.

MOUHAMAD KEBLAWI

Company: Malmo Arab Film Festival
Position: Founder & General manager
Country: Sweden
Contact: keblawi@malmoarabfilmfestival.se

BIOGRAPHY
Swedish /Palestinian, producer and director in television and documentary film production. Broad experience in project management in media production and business development within the cultural and creative industries with particular focus on diversity. Founder and General Manager of the West's largest and most influential film festival focusing on Arab films - Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden.

OUALID BAHA

Company: Tact production
Position: Producer
Country: France
Contact: oualid@tact-production.com

BIOGRAPHY
"Oualid is graduate in Production from French Institut of Audiovisual (INA) and in Law and Economics of Cinema from La Sorbonne University (Paris - France). In 2013 he joins Tact Production base in Paris, as associated producer. Used to work in international coproduction he had produced fictions and creative documentary with partners from Belgium, Morocco, Senegal, Gabon and Cameroon such as « La route du pain » by Hicham Elladdaqi 2015 « L'Africain qui voulait voler » 2016 by Samantha Biffot .He’s producing his first long feature, “The Mercy of the Jungle”, an international coproduction with Belgium and Germany developed by La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde (Cannes Film Festival), Open Doors Locarno, Atelier Grand Nord and supported by CNC Cinéma du Monde and International Organization of Francophonia.

Tessa Boerman

Company: International Film Festival Rotterdam
Position: Programme advisor
Country: Netherlands
Contact: t.boerman@iffr.com

BIOGRAPHIE
Tessa Boerman is a film programmer, cultural advisor and documentary director. She is a program advisor and curator for the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). Her work focuses on issues of representation, diversity and inclusion. She was a crown member of the Dutch Council for Culture, the advisory council for the Dutch Ministry of Culture, she is an advisor of the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, member of the supervisory board of the Amsterdam Museum. As a board member of the Dutch Directors Guild she advocated cultural diversity in the Dutch Film and TV industry. For IFFR 2017 she has programmed the Black Rebels section focussing on international films about and predominantly by black people navigating the cultural divide since the origin of cinema. She is currently working for IFFR on a Pan-African Cinema programme.