September 15, 2020 | 6:00PM-7:10PM
Session 8: European Film Labs Roundtable Discussion: A Panel Discussion with Rotterdam Lab and Locarno Open Doors Program
Film labs are intensive training programs that allow producers and filmmakers to explore and improve their stories and projects in development. This also serves an opportunity to network and colleagues meet mentors from the industry to partner with in the future. This panel introduces two of the most important Labs in the world that are championing Southeast Asian content, the Locarno Open Doors and Rotterdam Lab filmmakers can apply and take advantage of.
*FREE Registration
Panelists:
Sophie Bourdon | Head, Locarno Open Doors
Paolo Bertolin | Consultant, Locarno Open Doors
Alessia Acone | Rotterdam Lab
Inke Van Loocke | Rotterdam Lab
Moderator: Bianca Balbuena | Producer
Sophie Bourdon is the Head of Open Doors at Locarno Film Festival. In the cycle 2019-21, the Open Doors initiative is focusing on South East Asia and Mongolia.Sophie has a 25-year experience in the European and international film industry, mostly in international sales, co- productions, festivals and training. Among other responsibilities, she had been Chief Executive of the European organisation ACE – Ateliers du Cinéma Européen, for 11 years (2000-2011) during which she supported 200 or so independent producers through the creation of the ACE Network (over 40 represented countries), designed workshops and seminars and contributed to open up the doors of ACE to non-EU producers and build bridges with other continents.
Prior to ACE, she worked as an international sales agent for 9 years in Paris (for the companies MK2, Mercure Distribution) with filmmakers such as Claude Chabrol, Michael Haneke, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen and Samira Makhmalbaf, Jonathan Nossiter.
Paolo Bertolin is a film programmer, writer and producer. Since 2016, he is the Artistic Consultant of the Open Doors initiative of the Locarno Film Festival. Since 2008, he is a regional consultant of the Venice International Film Festival, covering diverse territories, such as South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Oceania, and Turkey. Last year, he also joined the selection committee of Cannes' Directors' Fortnight. He has worked for several international festivals and institutions, including the IFFRotterdam, the Doha Film Institute, Locarno Open Doors, the Udine Far East Film Festival, Nyon Visions du Réel, Mumbai IFF, Beijing IFF, Hanoi iFF, IFFBratislava, etc. He ventured into production with a string of Asian films, including Phan Dang Di’s Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories (Vietnam, 2015), Lav Diaz’ A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (Philippines, 2016) and Amit Dutta’s short film Chitrashala (India, 2015), all entries in the Berlinale Competition.
Alessia Acone graduated from Venice University in 2013 with a master’s degree in Economics and Management of Art, with Film curriculum. Since then she worked for several international cultural institutions, focusing on film festivals. From 2015 till 2018 she was part of the programming department at Venice Film Festival.
She attended Utrecht University in 2011 as visitor student, and moved definitively to The Netherlands in 2015, where she has been working for Impakt Festival, Cinekid Festival, and IDFA. Since 2017 she coordinates Rotterdam Lab, talent development programme organised during IFFR (International Film Festival Rotterdam). She is also part of IFFR Pro team and a recent member of the preselection committees for HBF and CineMart.
Inke Van Loocke has worked for the International Film Festival Rotterdam in various capacities and is part of the IFFR Pro team since 2011. As manager of CineMart; Rotterdam Lab she focuses on long-term strategies, innovation, supporting talent, and creating new programmes for all IFFR Pro activities. She is part of the selection committee of CineMart and Hubert Bals Fund, and served on several juries for international festivals.
Bianca Balbuena is a Philippine-based producer, writer and CEO of Epicmedia Productions Inc. which has produced over 30 feature films and series most notably Venice Film Festival 2009 Lion of the Future and Orrizonti Best Film “Engkwentro" by Pepe Diokno, Berlinale 2016 Silver Bear "A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery" by Lav Diaz and Antoinette Jadaone’s topgrossing and critically acclaimed independent film “That Thing Called Tadhana”. Currently a mentor at Locarno Film Festival Open Doors and EAVE’s ambassador for Asia, she is also the recipient of the 2018 Busan’s Asian Film Commissions (AFC) Network Producer of the Year and the youngest awardee of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) FIAPF Award for outstanding contribution to Asia Pacific cinema.
