Fernanda Rossi

Writer • Speaker • Documentary Doctor, New York (USA)

Internationally renowned writer and speaker Fernanda Rossi has collaborated for 15 years in more than 500 fiction scripts and documentaries, including two documentaries nominated for the Academy Award®. The grant proposals and fundraising samples she contributed to received funding from ITVS in the United States and the National Film Board of Canada. She has given her lectures in more than 12 countries and at film festivals and markets, such as Hot Docs and Sheffield Doc/Fest. In addition, she’s is a trainer for special programs and a grant evaluator for foundations. Her book Trailer Mechanics: 'How to Make Your Documentary Fundraising Demo,' 2nd Edition, is according to industry professionals the bible on demo production. www.documentarydoctor.com

Alessandro Rossetto

Director, Rome (Italy)

Born in Padova in 1963. Studied cinema and anthropology in Bologna and Paris. Screenwriter, director, director of photography, and cameraman, Rossetto is considered one of the leading documentary makers of his generation. He is also a producer and teaches cinema. His films – distributed internationally and selected at a host of prestigious film festivals – include: 'Il Fuoco di Napoli', 'Bibione Bye Bye One', 'Chiusura' and 'Piccola Patria', which was selected for the Horizons section at the 2013 Venice Film Festival.

Joao Riberio

Cinematographer, Lisboa (PT)

A cinematographer working in documentary, and in feature length fiction film. Since 1993, he has made the photography of more than forty films, including several co-productions between Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany, Guinea, Sweden, USA, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, among others. His name is linked to a new generation of directors who developed Portuguese documentary film in the beginning of the 90s. He co-directed and was the cinematographer of his first documentary 'In Between Walls', selected for several festivals (Cinéma du Réel, Festival Dei Popoli, among others). In 2003, he received the Best Cinematography Award at Doc Lisboa for the film 'Restless', by Catarina Mourão. In 2007, he was attributed two more awards of Best Cinematography (VIII European Cinema festival, Lecce/Italy and Cineport Festival – João Pessoa/Brazil). 'A Corte do Norte' by João Botelho, was selected for the New York Film Festival, and won a Special Jury Award at Rome Film Festival. His last feature, 'Letters from War' (by Ivo Ferreira), was in the main competition program of the Berlinale 2016.

Marzia Mete

Editor, Director, Rome (Italy)

She attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the italian national film school, where she studied audiovisual creation and editing. She works as film editor and director in Europe. Has worked with Vittorio de Seta, Citto Maselli, Paolo Virzì, Helga Reidemeister, among others, on films selected for film festivals in Venice, Berlin, Locarno and many more. She has directed documentaries about Italy, immigration, and music videos for Italian and international artists (Paolo Fresu, Omar Sosa, The Sessions Voices). She has taught dramaturgy and editing since 2000, and has been at ZeLIG since 2003. She has worked as script supervisor and editor on over 100 feature-length and short films. In 2008 she co-founded 'Sorandaye', a multiethnic theater and dance company, which performs in Rome and Senegal. Beginning in 2016, she, along with 5 collaborators from different European countries, heads a film workshop supported by the Ayudh Foundation and the European Union, which works with young people 15 to 30 years of age from all over the world.

Gesa Marten

Freelance Film Editor and Script Consultant, Cologne (Germany)

She studied theatre, cinema and television, German Literature and Philosophy in Munich and Cologne, where she earned her Master of Arts degree. A freelance film editor and script consultant since 1991. Visiting professor at the Filmuniversität in Babelsberg, where she teaches editing, 2014-present. She also teaches at ZeLIG, the Baltic Film and Media School, and the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. She is a member of the European and German Film Academies; VeDRA, the Screenwriters’ Association for Cinema and Television; and BFS, the German Association of Film Editors. She is a founding member of LaDOC, a network of documentary filmmakers. She lives and works in Cologne and Berlin.

Angelo Loy

Documentary director, AMREF Rome (IT)

As a PhD fish biologist he worked as researcher at the University of Rome. In 1996 he co-produced Emanuele Crialese’s first feature film, an experience that made him drop a promising university career to jump into the uncertainty of filmaking. Since then, he’s been working in directing social documentaries (among others, the feature length 'Black Pinocchio' and 'An Italian School'). Starting from 2000 he collaborates with AMREF (the African Medical and Research Foundation) where he promoted, along with Giulio Cederna and John Muiruri, a participatory video (PV) training within the AMREF street children rehabilitation project in Nairobi, Kenya. Here he directed several awarded participatory films for national and international TVs (such as TV Slum, African Spelling Book, Millennium News, The Turkish Glance). Besides Nairobi, he has been running PV workshops in Italy, France, Switzerland and Morocco.

Susan Gray

Director + Broadcast Development, Northern Light Productions, Bosten (USA)

Susan Gray is an American documentary filmmaker whose films have aired on PBS, National Geographic, Discovery, Arte, Channel 5, NHK, Canal Plus, Sundance, Showtime, and television channels worldwide, as well as theaters and festivals.  She has a masters degree from the Columbia School of Journalism and from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.  Her films have won the best of Input, the Prix Europa, and (controllare) and nominated for the Adolph Grimme Award. She is a dual American/Italian citizen and teaches documentary writing in Italy and the United States.

Achim Dunker

Engineer and Photographer, Cologne (Germany)

Achim DUnker works as a cameraman, director and film editor, and is the owner of the Zwo-Filmproduktion production company. He has written extensively on lighting and camera technique. His books include 'Die chinesische Sonne scheint immer von unten' (Lighting in Cinema, 6th editione) and 'eins zu hundert' (a photography manual, 2nd edition). Teaches seminars and workshop on cinema and lighting.

Claas Danielsen

Filmmaker, Festival consultant, Leipzig (DE)

Claas Danielsen, born in April 1966 in Hamburg, is a filmmaker, producer, lecturer and festival director living in Leipzig/Germany. He made seven documentaries of which several did an extensive festival tour, won international awards and were sold to European broadcasters. In 1997 he became assistant to the professor in the documentary department of the Munich Film Academy where he built up a new chair for TV-journalism. In 1999 Danielsen became Head of Studies of Discovery Campus (nowadays Documentary Campus). From 2004 till the end of 2014 he was Artistic and Managing Director of DOK Leipzig, the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Films, which he developed into one of the leading international doc festivals. Claas Danielsen was board member of the German documentary filmmakers’ association AG DOK and the European Documentary Network EDN for several years. He is a member of and an advisor to the European Film Academy, board member of the Balkan Documentary Center and has served on many international festival juries and the selection committees of different German film and media funds.

Katerina Cizek

Indipendent filmmaker, Toronto (CAN)

Katerina Cizek is a two-time Emmy-award winning, internationally recognized director and writer in the digital space. Her media work has documented the Digital Revolution, and has itself become part of the movement. She has built collaborations with a diverse range of community, academic and media partners to co-create media. She works across many media platforms: digital media, broadcasting (radio and television), print and live presentations/installations. She is the director of an award-winning digital documentary media project at the National Film Board of Canada, called HIGHRISE. She realized the acclaimed NFB Filmmaker-in-Residence program, winner of a Webby Award, among others. Her media projects have instigated criminal investigations, changed UN policies, and have screened as evidence at an International Criminal Tribunal. Cizek's Films include the Hampton-Prize winner 'Seeing is Believing': Handicams, Human Rights and the News (co-directed with Peter Wintonick), and 'The Dead are Alive: Eyewitness in Rwanda', the First global television documentary (1995) made about the genocide. Her work has been seen by millions around the world, through TV broadcasts and publishing on the web. She has travelled the world with her projects, teaching and mentoring with her innovative approaches to the documentary genre, community-based collaborative practices and digital media. She is currently a Visiting Artist at MIT, completing her Final iteration of the NFB HIGHRISE documentary.

Sabine Bubeck-Paaz

Commissioning Editor ZDF/ARTE; Head of Studies ESoDoc, Mainz (DE)

Sabine Bubeck-Paaz is commissioning editor at German public broadcaster ZDF for various documentary slots on ARTE, the European Culture Channel. At ZDF/ARTE, where she is deputy head of the department 'Thema', they are coproducing one offs, Theme Evenings, documentary series and cross-media projects. The topics Sabine Bubeck-Paaz is handling, range from culture, science and history to current affaires, human interest and sociopolitical issues. Her list of projects include award winning films like 'The Act of Killing' and 'The Look of Silence', 'Drone', 'netwars', 'Claude Lanzmann – Spectres of the Shoah', 'Ingrid Bergman in her own words'… Sabine Bubeck-Paaz started her career as a print journalist. As a tutor for documentary projects, she has been participating since many years in international pitching and training workshops. Since 2015, Sabine Bubeck-Paaz is, next to her job at ZDF/ARTE, also Head of Studies of ESoDoc - European Social Documentary, the training initiative for cross-thinkers and media professionals, who want to increase impact and outreach of their documentary projects.

Tarek Ben Abdallah

Director of Photography (A. I. C.), Rome (Italy)

Born in 1961 in Tunisia. Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, University of Tunis. Studied photography at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Rome, 1988-1990. Works as Director of Photography, and teaches at several film schools.

Films:

'Esercito più piccolo del Mondo' (2015) and 'Sul Vulcano' (2014), directed by Gianfranco Pannone; 'Kaspar Hauser' (2012) and 'Beket' (2008), directed by Davide Manuli; 'Palestine Stereo' (2013) and 'Laila's Birthday' directed by Rashid Masharawi, selected for the San Sebastian Film Festival (2008); 'Riparo' (2008), directed by Marco Simon Piccioni; 'Ce n'è per tutti' (2009) and 'Gas' (2005), directed by Luciano Melchionna; 'Pouppées d'Argile' (2002), directed by Nouri Bouzid; 'Latina - Littoria' (2001), directed by Gianfranco Pannone, winner: Best Documentary at the Torino Film Festival; 'Crudo' (2000), directed by Irma Immacolata Palazzo, nominated for a European Golden Globe Award; 'L'America a Roma' (1998), directed by Gianfranco Pannone, selected for the Locarno International Film Festival; 'Giro di luna tra terra e mare' (1997), directed by Giuseppe Gaudino, selected for the Venice Film Festival.

Lars Barthel

Director of Photography, Berlin (Germany)

Born in Erfurt in 1953. Following military service, studied camera at East Germany’s Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen, and with Deutsche Film AG. Left East Germany with his wife and daughter in 1982 for India, and the following year began work as a freelance cameraman in West Berlin. Further training led to work in documentary and docufiction. Teaches at film schools in Germany, Italy and Myanmar, where his focus is on fine-tuned observation of reality.

Sibylle Kurz

Pitching Expert, Erbach (DE)

Born 1958, since 1995 she works as communication skill trainer for production companies, producers and writers. For renowned national and international universities, and for film schools and academies, she teaches 'The Art Of Pitching'. In her intensive workshop sessions she enables producers, writers, directors to hone, fine- and time-tune their projects prior to pitching as well as gain insight into their own professional practice. Her book 'Pitch It' has been published in 2015 for the third edition. Her motto is: say, what you think - do, what you say, - be, what you do. Her focus is on project presentation, proposal development, dramaturgical doctoring, consultancy and personal coaching. Additionally she helps in project development through dramaturgical advice. Projects include all feature fiction, documentary, animation and children formats. Furthermore she offers communication skills and negotiation training as well as personal coaching, also for creative people in the fields of “Arts & Culture”.