Akua Gyamfi, Founder, British Blacklist

Akua Gyamfi has over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, with a career spanning fashion, film, television, theatre, print and online media. In 2012 Akua founded The British Blacklist a platform that celebrates the talents of British Black creatives across Screen, Stage, Literature and Sound. She also produces podcasts Your Aunties Could Never (popular culture, and TBB Talks (interviews with Black creatives from around the globe). Alongside writer/producer Leon Mayne, Akua is the co-creator/co-exec producer and host of industry round table series The Circle. In 2019 Akua joined forces with Soul Film, The New Black Film Collective, and We Are Parable to launch the S.O.U.L. Film Festival, an annual event which showcases the best of Black filmmakers and content creators from the UK and the wider Diaspora.

Alex McDowell,Executive Creative Director, Experimental Design Studios

Alex co-founded Experimental Design Studios where he is executive creative director, building worlds of future-facing holistic narratives for multiple clients and partners. Experimental collaborates with game makers, architects, anthropologists, neuroscientists, musicians, and storytellers to inform outcomes across all media including those not yet defined. The design studio is unique in its integration of design, platform agnostic media and storytelling in a unique practice that is built on a 20-year practice of world building that was honed during McDowell’s film career, particularly the film Minority Report. Beside film and other media industries, Experimental has a diverse range of clients that include Nike, Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Civic Entertainment Group, the Saudi village of Al Baydha, the Alaska indigenous Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Autodesk, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Ulster University, The Freeman group, the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe, and the State of Alaska’s higher education system.

Alex Stolz, Founder, Future of Film (Moderator)

Alex Stolz is Founder and Creative Director of Future of FIlm, including the annual Summit and Future of Film Podcast. He also serves as Head of Film for digital film marketing platform usheru and previously was Head of Distribution at the BFI. Over the course of a two-decade career in film, Alex has also held senior roles at Picturehouse and the UK Film Council as well as numerous consultancy positions.

Amon Warmann (Moderator)

Amon Warmann is a film and TV critic with over nine years of experience encompassing print, online, podcasts, TV and radio. In addition to being a Contributing Editor to Empire Magazine, he is Talk Sport Radio’s weekly film reviewer, has written for outlets such as Variety, Heat Magazine, and Daily Mirror, and has appeared on TV numerous times for Sky Cinema, BBC news, and Channel 4.

Andrew Jones, Production Designer, THE MANDALORIAN

Andrew Jones is a production designer and art director. Since working on The Polar Express in 2003, Andrew has been involved in film and TV projects that employ emerging technology, including Avatar, Tintin, and The Jungle Book. Andrew is a key part of the team that developed and produced The Mandalorian with Jon Favreau, for which he won an Emmy. Andrew lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

Angela Matusik, Head of Corporate Brand, Content and Creative, HP

Angela oversees HP’s brand voice and identity, and leads a team bringing stories of technology, innovation, impact and creativity to life. In 2019, Matusik produced the award-winning documentary series, History of Memory. by visiting HP’s digital magazine, the Garage. Previously, Matusik developed brand content for companies big and small, including Focus Features, Global Brand Group, Olivela and more. She brings over two decades of media experience to the table, after working as an editor, writer, and digital leader at brands like People, InStyle. As a journalist, she covered the film industry and its creators extensively, though her favorite subjects were always directors. Among those that she has spoken with: Sofia Coppola, Tim Burton, Wim Wenders, Allison Anders, and many more.

Anna Bogutskaya, Film Programmer, writer, creative producer and broadcaster (Moderator)

Anna Bogutskaya is a film programmer, writer, creative producer and broadcaster. In the past, she worked at Pedro Almodovar’s El Deseo and was the Film and Events Programmer at the BFI, where she curated many seasons and created the Woman With A Movie Camera Summit. Currently, she is the Festival Director of Underwire Festival, co-founder of horror film collective The Final Girls. As a broadcaster, she has appeared on Kermode & Mayo’s Film Review, Woman’s Hour, Newsnight and others. As a podcaster, she produces and hosts The Final Girls, The Next Supremes and as well as being a contributor to many others. Anna has written for Sight & Sound, Little White Lies, BFI, Tortoise, and regularly hosts panels, Q&As and delivers talks on film, festivals and podcasts.

Anthony Andrews, Founder & Creative Director, We Are Parable

Anthony Andrews is the co-founder and creative director of We Are Parable, an award winning film exhibition company, dedicated to providing diverse audiences with opportunities to experience films featuring people of colour in memorable and innovative ways. Since co-founding the business in 2013, Anthony has worked with the likes of Spike Lee, Idris Elba, Amma Asante, Tinge Krishnan, Rapman and Ryan Coogler, whilst establishing professional collaborations with the British Film Institute, Film London, Sundance, Picturehouse Cinemas, Entertainment One, Disney, Marvel, Paramount, StudioCanal and Violet Pictures.

Ben Johnson, CEO, Gruvi

Ben Johnson has been tinkering with online advertising and social media since the early days of web 1.0 and has always been fascinated by the possibilities to reach and communicate with audiences en masse. Ben runs Gruvi, a technology media company that helps entertainment businesses reach and engage online audiences. Gruvi works on over 300 movie campaigns per year for clients like Warner, Disney and Sony as well as independent distributors like Wild Bunch, Weltkino, Triart or Gutek film. Gruvi has been also collaborating closely with Creative Media Programme Europe.

Brian Newman, Founder, Sub-Genre (Moderator)

Brian Newman is the founder of Sub-Genre, and consults on content development, distribution and marketing to help connect brands with filmmakers with audiences. Clients include: Patagonia, REI, IBM, Yeti Coolers, New York Times, Shopify Studios, Stripe, Unilever, and Zero Point Zero. Brian is the producer of The Outside Story (Tribeca Film Festival, 2020), and Love & Taxes, and executive producer of Shored Up. Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute, and is the founder of the Brand/Foundation Alliance.

Catherine Downes, COO / CMO, Usheru

Catherine Downes co-founded usheru almost 6 years ago with Ollie Fegan and Andres Macias with the ultimate goal to connect film marketing to the box office, and to provide consumer insight for film distributors through data intelligence. Venture-backed usheru currently operates across Europe and the US, with technology products for film distributors, national film bodies and cinemas. Formerly, Catherine spent 7 years at Google across different product groups. Her roles focused mainly on marketing, and sales partnerships. Her final role at Google saw her lead the global Google Certified Publishing Partner program which she worked on since inception and grew for almost 2 years across Europe and Asia, launching the first US partners before leaving to start usheru. Catherine speaks French, Spanish and Italian, and in a former life was even a snowboard instructor in Canada and an avid cycling road racer.

Christine Hartland, Smash Media

Christine has over 20 -years of experience in corporate film and event production. Her debut feature the thriller WMD in 2008, was one of the first films to follow a reverse distribution strategy. She produced CONTAINMENT which was released worldwide. She received Creative Europe and BFI development funding. She was part of the mentoring scheme Guiding Lights with mentor producer Damian Jones (the Oscar winning IRON LADY). She is a member of Women in Film & TV and fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Claudia Myers, Filmmaker (Moderator)

Claudia Myers was named one of "10 Filmmakers to Watch" by Independent Magazine in 2015. Claudia wrote and directed Above the Shadows, a fantasy action drama starring Olivia Thirlby, Alan Ritchson, Jim Gaffigan and Megan Fox. Prior to this, Claudia wrote, directed, and produced the drama Fort Bliss starring Michelle Monaghan, Ron Livingston & Pablo Schreiber. Outside of narrative fiction, Claudia has worked on high impact interactive films. Between 2006-2009, she designed two large scale Virtual Experience Immersion Learning Simulations (VEILS) for the US Army. She wrote and directed the interactive feature, Outside the Wire to improve junior officer leadership by exploring hypothetical situations and the process of making decisions. The film pushes the boundaries of traditional narrative by melding fiction film, gaming, and educational training. Claudia subsequently wrote The War Inside for the Army Medical Department. This was another large-scale interactive feature that deals with the psychological impact of war and aims to build resilience in soldiers. Claudia is an associate professor in American University’s School of Communication in Washington DC.

Colin McRae, Shopify Studios

Colin McRae is an internationally recognized Executive Producer, Development Executive, Creative Director and Filmmaker who's work for broadcasters and brands has earned accolades and awards, from Promax, New York Festivals, MarCoM and more. Colin leads the development and production on premium, feature and television properties for Shopify's global studio - Shopify Studios. He has secured development and production partnerships with Anonymous Content (True Detective, Spotlight, The Revenant), Wheelhouse / Spoke Studios (Pawn Stars, Alone), Uninterrupted (The Shop (HBO), Shut Up & Dribble), Abso Lutely (Nathan For You, Magic For Humans), Campfire (Innocent Man, Jiro Dreams of Sushi), Bunim Murray (Born This Way, RealWorld) and more.

Colin was also a key part of the award-winning team that developed and produced the inaugural 2016/17 slates for Viceland (Canada / USA) working closely with the New York and Los Angeles teams, under the creative leadership of Spike Jonze. Colin also Executive Produced a number of signature VICE documentaries and series. He continues to play in the white space, creating premium entertainment solutions for brands that also offer value to film and television creators, attract real audiences and that platforms want to buy.

Delphi Lievens, Senior Box Office Analyst, Gower St Analytics

Delphine Lievens is a Senior Box Office Analyst for Gower Street Analytics where she implements box office analysis and forecasting for the UK and other international markets, working with a range of film studios and independent distributors. She started her career as a trainee at Altitude Film Distribution and later she was Theatrical Sales Executive there for over 2 years, working on a variety of critically acclaimed films including MOONLIGHT, LADY MACBETH and I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO. Delphine is passionate about diversifying the workforce in the screen industries to be more representative across race, class, and gender.

Diana Williams, CEO Co-founder of Kinetic Energy Entertainment

Diana Williams has a wide range of experience in the entertainment industry, developing IP and producing creative content for distribution across storytelling media. Throughout her career she has been at the forefront of working with emerging and established talent to ensure that all voices are included in an ever-evolving industry.

Dr Clifford Johnson, Professor of Physics, University of Southern California

Clifford V. Johnson’s work in science ranges from teaching and research to public engagement, where he strives to put science back into the general culture. His research strives to understand and describe the origin and evolution of the universe and its fundamental constituents, as well as the nature of space and time. Clifford works regularly with filmmakers and other artists to help embed science in their storytelling, and he recently wrote and illustrated a graphic novel featuring science called The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe (MIT Press).

Effie T Brown, CEO, Gamechanger Films

Effie T. Brown is the CEO of Gamechanger Films, which launched in 2013 as the first film fund for women filmmakers and now under Brown’s leadership includes projects by and about people of color, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities as well as its expansion into television and digital content. Brown is also an award-winning film, television, and digital producer known for her highly acclaimed, multi-platform repertoire as well as championing inclusion and diversity in Hollywood, both behind and in front of the camera. Brown has produced several critically acclaimed films and award-winning projects including Real Women Have Curves (directed by Patricia Cardosa), Dear White People​ (2015 Independent Spirit Awards Best First Screenplay), HBO’s Project Greenlight (Executive Produced by Matt Damon & Ben Affleck), among several others. Brown also served as an executive producer on Lee Daniels’ ​STAR ​on FOX and Disney Channel’s ​Zombies. Prior to Gamechanger, Brown founded Duly Noted Inc., a company dedicated to ground-breaking narratives that use genre to challenge and advance our culture in a disruptive way. Brown’s dream is to change the world through film and TV – celebrating our differences while bringing us all closer together.

Emelie O’Brien, CEO and Founder, Earth Angel

Emellie O’Brien (EOB) is the Founder & CEO of Earth Angel, the leading sustainable production service provider in the U.S. A pioneer of the sustainable filmmaking movement, she has worked with over 50 major motion pictures and television series to reduce their environmental impact as well as their budget since 2011. Recent clients include the Emmy and Golden Globe winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Spielberg’s Oscar nominated film The Post. Her sustainability leadership on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 contributed to it being acclaimed as “the most eco-friendly blockbuster in Sony Pictures’ history.” EOB holds a BFA in Film & Television from NYU, is a Climate Reality Corps Leader, an inaugural Tory Burch Foundation Fellow, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses alum, and 2018 Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 Rising Star.

Emily Best, Seed & Spark

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform built to make entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected and essential. She has raised millions in investment and crowdfunding, secured large brand partnerships, and built a world-class team for Seed&Spark. In addition to her work at Seed&Spark, she has produced films, series and VR projects that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca and more. Her most recent series, "Fck Yes" Refinery 29 called, "The sex education you wish you had in high school." Emily has taught crowdfunding, pitching and creative sustainability in more than 50 cities around the world.

Erwin E Schmidt, MD, German Film Producers Association

Erwin M. Schmidt has worked in production, international sales and for film festivals and has an avid interest in new narrative formats and new distribution and exhibition strategies. He is the managing director of the German Film Producers Association. With the innovation studio Cinemathon he works at the touchpoint between film, storytelling and technology, provides innovation tools for the film industry, builds communities and organizes workshops, conferences and the monthly FilmTech Meetup Berlin

Everett Katigbak, Stripe

Everett Katigbak — is an executive producer and creative director in San Francisco, who's helped several emerging technology companies develop their brands. He is currently at Stripe extending its Stripe Press publishing efforts, into the world of documentary film and new media. He was also an early stage employee at Pinterest and Facebook, where he similarly helped develop their brand narratives through film and creative projects.

Felix Jorge, CEO & Creative Director, Happy Mushroom

Felix Jorge is a cofounder, CEO, and Creative Director at Happy Mushroom Studios, based in LA and New York. Felix has over a decade of experience leading Virtual Art Departments and full production teams for mega blockbuster films, including Jungle Book, Lion King, and Mad Max Fury Road, with roots in previs and on set. Felix’s dreams to shake up Hollywood’s status quo are coming to fruition through he and his team’s game-changing production techniques, harnessing real-time tech in Unreal Engine 4. Happy Mushroom’s high fidelity cinematics coupled with Felix’s inimitable passion for highly collaborative and iterative workflows enable further visionary innovations and developments. Felix is driven to ensure that Happy Mushroom continues to be a haven of forward thinking and transformation that brings together artists, directors, producers, and otherwise disparate entities across the production process. Felix’s profound passion for creating cinematography is nearly unparalleled – singularly matched by his passion for his team

Fiona Gillies, Smash Media

Fiona is an experienced and creative feature film producer. Recent feature films include THE BEAT BENEATH MY FEET which was in competition at the Berlin Film Festival and released worldwide, CITY SLACKER and AFTER LOUISE. She received funding from Creative England/ BFI for SOME SWEET OBLIVIOUS ANTIDOTE starring Sir Lenny Henry and Wumni Mosaku. She has worked for the Film Department of Southbank University and for the LondonFilm School. She is a mentor for Women in Film & TV.

Greg Gertmenian, Slated

Greg Gertmenian is the Head of Development at Slated and the co-creator of the Script Score, the entertainment industry's first screenplay evaluation tool with a proven correlation to Rotten Tomatoes and ROI. At Slated, Greg oversees the evaluation of thousands of screenplays for Slated's community of over 50,000 filmmakers and financiers. Greg is also a part of Slated's EP Service Team, which has brought financing and other key elements to films like SUPER TROOPERS 2, GOD BLESS THE BROKEN ROAD, DEEP MURDER, and CRUISE. Prior to joining Slated, Greg co-founded the script discovery platform Spec Scout, which lets industry members track the spec screenplay market and helps new screenwriters break into the industry. Prior to Spec Scout, Greg worked as a manager, and he has also produced a number of award-winning shorts and web series. THE HAIRCUT, a short drama about the first class of female military cadets, was an official selection at AFI Fest and 44 other film festivals. Greg's Street Fighter mockumentary, BALROG: BEHIND THE GLORY, premiered at the world's largest fighting game competition to rave reviews from IGN, Gamespot, Capcom, and The Escapist and was later canonized in the 30-year retrospective, "The Undisputed Street Fighter" written by Steve Hendershot.

HaZ Dulull, Founder, Hazfilm

Hasraf ‘HaZ' Dulull started his career in Visual Effects for Film and TV, before transitioning to directing and producing with his breakout sci-fi indie feature film - THE BEYOND, which was released by Gravitas Ventures, and premiered at #2 on the iTunes charts before trending on Netflix. His second feature film 2036: ORIGIN UNKNOWN, which starred Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Another Life) earned a limited theatrical release in the US before landing on Netflix.

He was later hired to direct the pilot for Disney’s action comedy mini series - FAST LAYNE, and was also credited as creative consultant on the entire series and directed three additional episodes when he wowed Disney channel executives with his vision for the 8 part series. Other credits include directing the short bridge film - DESCENDANTS - UNDER THE SEA for Disney, and directing a segment in the sci-fi horror anthology PORTALS. Recently it was announced that he is directing & producing the animated feature film adaptation of the hit video game ‘Mutant Year Zero’, utilising the latest in realtime animation & rendering with Unreal Engine.

He is currently developing genre TV, Feature and animation projects via his production company HaZ Film, and is represented in Hollywood by The Gotham Group.

He Sun, Head of Rebellion VFX, Rebellion Film & TV Studios

He Sun worked in the game industry at his early career. He worked on games such as Golden Eyes, Battlezone VR and Sniper Elite franchises. Besides his games experience, Sun also stepped into Visual Effects for Film and TV. His credits include The Lion King and The Mandalorian. He supervised environment Visual Effects work on Maleficent: The Mistress of Evil. In 2019, he came back to Rebellion, has set up VFX and Animation division, and actively exploring the Real-Time game engine technology for film making, and Virtual production. Recently, Rebellion Film studios filmed the VP short film - Percival.

Iain Dodgeon, Director,OKRE (Moderator)

Iain Dodgeon is Director of OKRE (Opening Knowledge across Research and Entertainment), a new charity and global hub of expertise advancing collaboration between the entertainment industries, research sector and personal lived experience. A producer with over fifteen years’ experience in entertainment, he led the Wellcome Trust’s activities in broadcast, games and film, developing a celebrated programme of industry collaboration including the Wellcome Screenwriting Fellowship in partnership with BFI and Film4 and The Big Data VR Challenge with Epic Games. He pioneered its work with the games industry, supporting the development of multi-award-winning games including the 5-BAFTA winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, as well as television series and films including The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds, Eternal Beauty and Rocks. OKRE builds on this work, providing researchers and entertainment professionals alike access to a network of experts across the sectors, curated events, resources and funding. Its programme includes the OKRE Development Rooms launched in partnership with BBC, BFI and UKIE for creatives seeking inspiration in film, TV, interactive and podcasting. Find out more and join the network at okre.org and @okresocial.

Ilan Benjamin, Interactive Filmmaker

Ilan Benjamin is a founder, interactive filmmaker, and breaker of boundaries in entertainment. In 2016, his interactive murder mystery series VIRTUAL MORALITY, produced by Ron Howard & Brian Grazer's New Form Digital, went viral and won the Caucus Television / New Media Award. In 2019, he wrote and produced 250 episodes of immersive fiction for Inkitt, including THE MILLENNIUM WOLVES, which grossed over $1Mil in six months. Today, at his Berlin-based startup FourFront, Ilan is building a social + cinematic universe for Gen Z. Breaking the fourth wall has never been so much fun.

Jake Hanly, VP, Acquisitions at Gunpowder & Sky

Jake Hanly is the VP, Acquisitions at Gunpowder & Sky, a global multimedia studio backed by AT&T and WarnerMedia. In this role, Jake works across all aspects of the companies distribution operations, including sourcing content and negotiating distribution agreements, overseeing marketing strategy, and licensing films and series to HBO, Netflix, and Hulu. He also works on the companies film financing initiatives and corporate strategy. Recent projects include 50 STATES OF FRIGHT (produced by Sam Raimi), HEARTS BEAT LOUD (starring Nick Offerman), BRON Studios’ PROSPECT, VICE Media’s LORDS OF CHAOS and Alex Ross Perry’s HER SMELL (starring Elisabeth Moss). Jake is an MBA candidate in the Executive program at Columbia Business School, and prior to Gunpowder worked for Cinetic Media's FilmBuff distribution label, VICE Media, and Edward R. Pressman Film Corp.

Jason Blum, CEO, Blumhouse

Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse Productions, is a three-time Academy Award®-nominated, two-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning and a two-time Peabody Award-winning producer. Blumhouse is known for pioneering a new model of studio filmmaking: producing high-quality micro-budget films and television series, and his multimedia company is regarded as the driving force in the horror renaissance. /p>

Through Blumhouse, he has produced over 150 movies and television series.

In film, Blum has produced the lucrative, iconic, genre franchises like Halloween, Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Happy Death Day, Sinister and The Purge, among several others. More recently, he unleashed a fresh, successful take on The Invisible Man, directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Elisabeth Moss, that grossed over $122 million. Blum’s additional feature film credits include, but are not limited to: The Hunt; Glass from M. NIght Shyamalan; Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman; 2017 blockbusters Split from M. Night Shyamalan and Get Out from Jordan Peele; The Gift; Unfriended; Whiplash; and The Visit.

Blum’s television company successfully relaunched three years ago as a vibrant independent studio producing almost 15 series with different networks and streaming platforms, including but not limited to Sharp Objects for HBO; The Loudest Voice for Showtime; A Wilderness of Error for FX; The Good Lord Bird for Showtime; among several others. The company is also in production on a slate of streaming films for Amazon, that are released under the banner, Welcome to the Blumhouse, and they're also in production on Into The Dark, a monthly horror anthology series for Hulu.

The indie studio has also earned critical acclaim, including a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for Sharp Objects; a Golden Globe award for Russell Crowe’s performance in The Loudest Voice; and Emmy awards for its productions of The Normal Heart and The Jinx, for HBO. The division also produced feature-length documentaries, with projects that include: A Secret Love, from executive producer Ryan Murphy, for Netflix; This Is Home, the 2018 Sundance Audience Award winner (World Documentaries) and recipient of the prestigious duPont/Columbia School of Journalism Award and Bathtubs Over Broadway, the lauded documentary.

Blum has been recognized by TIME magazine’s 100 list of the world’s most influential people and has appeared several times on Vanity Fair’s “New Establishment List.” In 2016, he received the Producer of the Year Award at CinemaCon. Jason is on the Board of The Public Theater in New York, the Sundance Institute, Vassar College and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Before founding Blumhouse, Blum served as co-head of the Acquisitions and Co-Productions department at Miramax Films in New York. He began his career as the producing director of the Malaparte Theater Company, which was founded by Ethan Hawke.

He is married to screenwriter Lauren Blum and they have a daughter, Roxy, and a son, Booker.

Jim LeBrecht, Director, Crip Camp

James LeBrecht has over 40 years of experience as a film and theater sound designer and mixer, filmmaker, author and disability rights activist. LeBrecht co-directed and co-produced, with Nicole Newnham, the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winning feature length documentary, Crip Camp. Jim began his career in the theater in 1978, working as the resident sound designer at Berkeley Repertory Theatre for 10 years. His theatrical sound design work took him to many, well known theaters, including the New York Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse and ACT in San Francisco. In 1989 he found a home at the legendary Saul Zaentz Film Center where he started out as an apprentice and worked his way up the ladder to become a sound designer, mixer and sound supervisor. In 1996, LeBrecht founded Berkeley Sound Artists, an audio postproduction house. He quickly found a home in the documentary and independent film community. His film credits include Minding the Gap, The Island President, The Waiting Room, Audrie and Daisy and, of course, Crip Camp. A complete list of his film credits (over 180) can be viewed at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0495898/ Jim co-authored Sound and Music for the Theatre: the art and technique of design. Now in its 4th edition, the book is used as a textbook all over the world.

Jim’s work as an activist began in high school and continued at UC, San Diego, where he helped found the Disabled Students Union. Jim is currently a board member at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, which works for the rights of the disabled through education, legislation and litigation. LeBrecht is a founding member of FWD-Doc, a organization of documentary filmmakers with disabilities - and their allies - working for greater support for D/deaf and disabled filmmakers. Some of LeBrecht’s additional accomplishments include being a character consultant for PixarAnimation Studios for 2 of their films. He has been a mentor at the SFFILM’s FilmHouse residency fellowship for 3 years. Jim is honored to be a member of the Disability Futures Fellowship, an initiative of the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Joanne Reay, Filmmaker

Joanne graduated from the University of Cambridge and joined the BBC as a documentary producer before moving to BBC Films, where she originated, wrote and produced drama formats and feature films for Screen One. Joanne has currently produced seven films, six of which she co-wrote, including a family drama, a gothic western and a sci-fi mind bender. Her screenplays have attracted world-class talent such as David Bowie, Wesley Snipes, Sam Neill and Jean Reno. From 2012 -17 she headed up Red Bull’s cinema division, during which time she also produced the award-winning feature doc “The Ivory Game”. In 2020, Joanne made her directorial debut with the feature “This IsThe Night Mail” which she wrote. Joanne is an internationally published author with Heinemann and Simon&Schuster. Her works span a series of six books for the first- time reader, the picture book Bumpa Rumpus and the Young Adult action-fantasy novel “Romeo Spikes”.

Johanna Koijonen, Media Analyst

Johanna Koljonen (Participation Design Agency) is a media industry analyst, broadcaster, writer and experience designer. She is the author of the Göteborg Film Festival’s annual Nostradamus Report, which charts the near future of the screen industries with a focus on scripted content. She lectures internationally on changes in the media sector, as well as on participation and narrative design for games and experiences in analogue and virtual spaces. Her background is in public service broadcasting in Sweden and she serves on the board of the Swedish Film Institute. In 2011, she received the Swedish Grand Journalism Award in the Innovator category. Her latest book is Larp Design: Creating Role-Play Experiences (2019).

John Gaeta , Creative Executive, Immersive Entertainment

John Gaeta is an inventor, innovator and an Academy Award-winning designer. He is best known for his work on the original Matrix trilogy where he explored first of kind media formats such as Bullet Time, Virtual Cinematography and Volumetric Capture. These approaches foreshadowed today’s “XR” (Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Holo Cinema) platforms.

In 2015 John co-founded Lucasfilm’s Immersive Entertainment division: ILMxLAB and established its mission to “Develop, Produce and Release premium, story based Immersive Entertainment Experiences for Star Wars and other imaginative universes”. In October 2017, he joined Magic Leap as SVP Creative Strategy to develop roadmaps and northstar initiatives (future platform, future form of content). Of primary note was his origination and establishment of the Magicverse. Today, 2020, he provides strategic advisory for some of the most progressive XR platform companies in the world.

John Giwa-Amu, Good Gate Media

John Giwa-Amu runs production and gaming company Good Gate Media Ltd. John’s first produced feature film, Little White Lies, won two BAFTA Cymru Awards and director, Caradog James, was BIFA nominated. His follow up feature, sci-fi cult hit The Machine, also directed by Caradog, was selected from over 6,000 films to premier in Tribeca and won three BAFTAs Cymru including Best Picture, a BIFA and the Screen Award for UK distribution also managed by John. The film was commissioned to be made into a $9m TV Pilot by NBC Universal/SyFy which John Executive Produced in 2017. Brit List winning screenplay The Call Up premiered at BIFF 2016 and is released in cinemas by Altitude. Co Production, The Silent Storm, starring Damien Lewis and Andrea Riseborough was also released in cinemas in May 2016 by Sony. Don’t Knock Twice, by director Caradog James, has been sold internationally by Kew Media and was released in the UK by Red and Black Distribution and Kew Media during spring 2017 - the film generated c.$4m at the international box office and spawned a computer game released on Playstation, Xbox and Nintendo.

Joshua Ness, Senior Manager, Verizon 5G Labs

Joshua Ness is a Senior Manager at Verizon 5G Labs in New York City. He partners with enterprise, startups, and academic teams to drive innovation around 5G and co-create 5G concepts. He also works to educate, inspire, and connect the dots for businesses interested in moving forward with emerging technology.

Kate Dimbleby, Stornaway

Kate has worked for over 25 years as a producer, writer and performer and is co-founder of Stornaway.io - a drag & drop application that lets video producers create interactive branching narrative stories without coding. She has recorded 6 albums, and has toured the world with theatrical music shows, working with world-class musicians, writers and other artists to tell stories about women's voices. Her work has increasingly focused on interactivity and improvisation, which led her to founding Stornaway.io. Her 2017 album and show Songbirds (2017) was made using acapella voice loops and described by Tom Robinson (BBC Radio 6) as 'an artist absolutely at the top of her game'. Kate has developed a structure for writing and developing her ideas to allow for maximum creative freedom and flexibility particularly live on stage, which is at the heart of Stornaway’s creative writing tools.

Lina Flint, Nordisk Film SPRING

In 2015, the Copenhagen based producer Lina Flint graduated from The National Film School of Denmark. The same year she produced her first feature film ”The Elite” (directed by Thomas Daneskov) which won the New Talent Grand Prix at CPH PIX. In 2015 Lina Flint also founded a new talent department at Nordisk Film A/S called SPRING. She is currently developing and producing low budget concepted films - both fiction feature films, documentaries, animation shorts and TV series.

Kim Libreri, CTO, Epic Games

Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri is responsible for continuing Epic's tradition of fusing state-of-the-art technology with the pinnacle of visual artistry, and for defining the studio's Unreal Engine as the platform of choice for all types of interactive experiences including games, movies, visualization, augmented reality and virtual reality.

Prior to joining Epic Games, Kim was the Chief Strategy Officer at Lucasfilm, where he was responsible for the company's Star Wars technology strategy and innovations in interactive storytelling, including the highly-awarded 1313 prototype.

Kim’s career in digital technology and visual effects spans over 20 years, and he has credits on more than 25 films including ‘Super 8’, ‘Speed Racer’, ‘Poseidon’ and ‘The Matrix Trilogy.’

He led the development team for the award-winning ‘What Dreams May Come’ as well as for the original ‘Matrix,’ developing the now-legendary Bullet Time technology.

Kim is a respected member of many visual effects bodies, including the visual effects branch of the Academy. He has received numerous awards for his work and contributions to Motion Picture technology including an Oscar nomination in 2006 and two Academy Awards in 2000 and 2015.

Lyndsay Duthie, CEO, The Production Guild of Great Britain

Professor Lyndsay Duthie is the CEO of The Production Guild of Great Britain, at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden UK. She is an award winning film and television expert with over 20 years experience in the media industry: as an educator, television executive producer and broadcaster - with credits for BBC, ITV, C4, C5, SKY and Discovery. Lyndsay’s academic career led her to become the Head of School for Film, Media and Performing Arts at the University for the Creative Arts and University of Hertfordshire, where she was awarded the title of professor.

Maria Tanjala, Co-Founder, FilmChain

Maria Tanjala is a UK-based, Romanian-born entrepreneur. With over a decade of experience in film and TV, project management, as well as sociology, with her company FilmChain she uses the blockchain technology to bring financial transparency in media. Before FilmChain, winner of Startup of the Year at London Business Awards 2020, Maria worked in the film industry as a producer. She is experienced in creating and managing budgets, assembling and managing crews of up to 70 people, creating marketing and distribution strategies. Maria is a keynote speaker and holds masterclasses in film finance and film recoupment at major film markets. She is passionate about creating level playing fields between industry professionals to leverage the power of technology and take better ownership of their work and data.

She was nominated for “Rising Star” Screen International 2018 and has an MA in Filmmaking.

Mariana Acuña Acosta, Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder, Glassbox

Mariana Acuña is a technologist, pixel pusher, and entrepreneur. During her years at Foundry she focused on Virtual Reality post-production workflows, as the Head of Creatives in the Americas. She was instrumental in the launch of ExploreVR and Cara VR. Mariana is a pioneer in her hometown Mexico City, where she founded the first VR and 360 video production and branding agency JoltVR. Most recently she co-founded Glassbox Technologies, where she leads the roadmap for new and existing technology, developing tools for Virtual Production using Virtual Reality to transform the way filmmaking is done today. Before her switch into software, she worked as an on-set VFX supervisor & senior digital artist and has over 13 years’ experience in the motion picture industry working at studios such as Sony Imageworks, CIS Hollywood, Digital Domain, HBO, Columbia Pictures and FuseFX.

Martin Bell, Proof, Inc / Yes Commissioner?

With a background in character animation and computer graphics, Martin is a professional film visualisation artist and supervisor with Proof London. His credits include NO TIME TO DIE, 1917, DORA & THE LOST CITY OF GOLD, HOBBS & SHAW, ALADDIN and JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM. In addition to his work for Proof, Martin writes screenplays and develops his own films and properties; in 2020 he began production on his first real-time animated short - PRAZINBURK RIDGE, a true story from World War One, made in Unreal Engine. He lives near Slough with his fiancée and two dogs.

Matt Madden, Director of Virtual Production, Epic Games

Matt Madden is the Director of Virtual Production at Epic Games, his main area of focus includes leading the growth and development of the Unreal Engine in Virtual Production, with a current emphasis on in-camera visual fx. Matt’s career has spanned over 25 years in film, episodic, and game production, with his primary emphasis one the integration of virtual worlds and characters with live action photography. Matt received a Sci-Tech Academy Award for his contribution to the Vfx industry in 2005, and his recent achievements include serving as Virtual Production Supervisor on The Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, as well as season one of The Mandalorian.

Melanie Dicks, CEO, Fingerprint Content and Co-founder, Greenshoot

Melanie is an award-winning producer, setting up and running three creative companies in a 30-year career, starting at the BBC drama department through to leading teams globally across the entire production process from script to screen. Working with talent including, Naomi Watts, Kevin Costner, David Schwimmer, Colin Firth, Thandie Newton and Stephen Frears. As well as working on numerous international features, Melanie produced BAFTA winner, The Dark Mile, also nominated for 'Best UK Feature' at Raindance. In 2010 she co-founded Greenshoot, an award-winning sustainability consultancy, the first of its kind, which has helped over 500 entertainment and content projects to reduce their environmental footprint, saving on carbon and cost. Melanie has written several international papers on sustainable development for the filming industries and been invited to represent the UK at international film festivals as an expert in the field of environmental sustainability and the arts.

Mia Bays, Producer & CEO, Bird’s Eye View

Mia Bays is an Oscar winning twice BAFTA nominated creative producer. Prior to producing, Mia worked in some of the top sales, marketing, distribution and exhibition companies in the UK, across both documentary and fiction. In 2016 Mia took over Birds’ Eye View, pivoting it from being a film festival about to close into a year-round charity – running the Reclaim the Frame exhibition project (a mission to bring ever-greater audiences to films by women) and Future Leaders in Distribution, a leadership training programme for women with 7+ years of film distribution experience. Alongside this, Mia continues to make films and also produces Sundance London.

Naysun Alae-Carew, Managing Director, Blazing Griffin

Naysun Alae-Carew is the Managing Director of Blazing Griffin, a BAFTA-winning Glasgow-based digital entertainment company which specialises in storytelling, with a specific focus on video game development, film and TV production and post production services. Naysun produced the multi-award winning feature film Anna and The Apocalypse (Orion/MGM), and the company has several dramas in development with UK broadcasters and US studios and is gearing up for their next feature film shoot in Q1 2021.

Blazing Griffin Post Production offers end to end post-production services and staff from their state-of-the-art 4K HDR post production facility in Glasgow. Providing services to some of the largest productions in Scotland, recent credits include editorial service on Outlander (Starz/Sony TV), strong factual output for episodes of specialist documentaries including; Dispatches (C4), Imagine (BBC) and Murder Case (BBC) and full picture post on the highly acclaimed BBC drama ‘Guilt’.

Naysun is a graduate of the University of St Andrews with a first-class MA(Hons) in Economics and International Relations. He won the William Blair Memorial Prize for best academic performance in Economics because he loves spreadsheets so much.

Nicole Newnham, Director, Crip Camp

Nicole Newnham is an Emmy-winning documentary producer and director, Sundance Film Festival alumnus and five-time Emmy-nominee. She has recently produced two virtual reality films with the Australian artist / director Lynette Wallworth: the breakthrough VR work Collisions, which won the 2017 Emmy for Outstanding New Approaches to Documentary, Previously she co-directed The Revolutionary Optimists, winner of the Sundance Hilton Sustainability Award, Nicole also instigated, co-produced and directed the acclaimed documentary The Rape of Europa, about the Nazi war on European culture, which was nominated for a WGA award and shortlisted for the Academy Award. With Pulitzer-prize winning photographer Brian Lanker, she produced They Drew Fire, about the Combat Artists of WWII, and co-wrote the companion book, distributed by Harper Collins. A 1997 graduate of the Stanford Documentary Film Program, Nicole lives in Oakland with her husband Tom, and two sons, Finn and Blaine.

Paul Franklin, VFX Supervisor & Creative Director, DNEG

Paul Franklin is one of the world’s leading visual effects designers with over 30 years of experience in filmmaking, two Academy Awards and two BAFTAs to his name. Paul supervised visual effects for all three films in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, earning his first Academy Award nomination for his work on ‘The Dark Knight’. Paul then went on to design and supervise the visual effects for Nolan’s ‘Inception’ and ‘Interstellar’, winning Academy Awards for both films. He has also received five BAFTA nominations for his work, resulting in two Wins. Paul serves as DNEG’s Creative Director, overseeing a wide range of projects within the company. His work as a visual effects supervisor and designer can also be seen in films such as ‘Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix’, ‘Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince’ and ‘Venom’.

Peter Mavromates, Co-Producer of 'Mank

Peter Mavromates has worked in Post Production for more than 35 years. Peter produced his first DI on “Panic Room” in 2002, and he produced his first DI of a digitally acquired movie on “Zodiac” in 2007. Most of the last 25 years have been spent working on projects with David Fincher, but he has also worked on projects with Quentin Tarantino, Stephen Gaghan, and George Clooney. He is currently wrapping up “Mank” with David Fincher which streams on Netflix starting December 4.

Ru Howe, Director, Stornaway

Ru launched Stornaway.io in May 2020 - a drag & drop application that lets video producers create interactive branching narrative stories without coding. He directed interactive short Life Moves Pretty Fast (www.LifeMovesPrettyFast.io) which was recently released at Immersive Encounters 2020.

Ru’s film work as director and editor has taken him from shooting and cutting on 16mm in the 90s to being the first mobile videoblogger in the mid 2000s, long before iPhones and apps and making the first ever interactive film on YouTube (Indecision, 2008). He has spent the last 10 years as a senior consultant in large media organisations translating between top producers and technologists, who rarely speak the same language.

Sallyann Houghton, Business Development, Epic Games

Sallyann Houghton is Business Development based at the Epic Games London Innovation Lab. Based in Fitrovia, the lab is a hub for the creative community, helping customers to generate benchmark realtime content and solutions using Epic Games Unreal Engine’ software.

Prior to Epic, Sallyann worked at renowned global content creation studio, The Mill. Based at the New York studio, she headed up a content division working directly with high profile and luxury brands to create stand out tech driven creative content, which included AR, VR and immersive pieces along with live action and CG animation.

She also produced commercials for many years for big advertising agencies which then inspired her to set her own production company in London.

Sam Sutaria, Head of Strategy, Waterbear

Sam is the Head of Strategy for WaterBear. His day-to-day is centered on driving the overall WaterBear strategy and business development with the management team, with a particular focus on building out the brand partner network of the platform. Sam also manages operations and fundraising for the Resilient Foundation, which works in close partnership with WaterBear raising funds for high impact, educational storytelling. Prior to WaterBear, Sam was GM at The European Nature Trust, where he developed the organisation through a new strategy focused on ecotourism, documentary, and events across the continent. Before that, Sam spent several years producing film and digital content for the award-winning ethical creative agency 'Nice and Serious' in London.

A life-long conservationist, Sam is also a photographer with a Masters in ‘Wildlife Filmmaking’ from the BBC’s Natural History Unit and UWE; he is also a Trustee of the Barnes Film Festival.

Sarah Gilarsky, Content Partnerships & Business Development, Verizon

Sarah Gilarsky is a business development lead for Verizon's next gen entertainment partnerships, highlighting the power of 5G and connectivity. She works with game developers, publishers, XR/AR/VR companies, and audio entertainment providers across consumer facing promotions, activations, and innovation.

Shola Amoo, Filmmaker

Shola’s debut feature was a multimedia Film called A Moving Image. It had its European Premiere at The BFI London Film Festival 2016 and was released theatrically in the UK in 2017 through Verve Pictures. It’s currently available through BFI Player and Netflix UK.

Shola’s second feature was the drama, The Last Tree, which Premiered at Sundance 2019 in The World Cinema Dramatic competition. The Film was released theatrically in the UK through Picturehouse Entertainment. The Last Tree received The Best Screenplay Award from The Writers Guild of Great Britain and won two British Independent Film Awards, including, Most Promising Newcomer for Samuel Adewunmi and Best Supporting Actress for Ruthxjiah Bellenea.

Simon Carr, VFX Supervisor at Territory Studio

Simon Carr is VFX Supervisor at Territory Studio, with more than a quarter-century in the industry and close to twenty as a VFX Supervisor. With film and TV credits that include Oblivion, Star Trek Into Darkness, MiB: International, Mindhunter and Mank he brings a wealth of experience of all stages of the VFX process from pre-production to final delivery.

Sol Rogers, CEO & Founder, RWD

Sol Rogers is the CEO and founder of REWIND. The studio combines creativity with deep expertise in real-time 3D and spatial technologies to design and build immersive experiences, platforms, and tools for future-facing companies. Sol is also the Chairman of the BAFTA Immersive Entertainment Advisory Group and the Chairman of Immerse UK, the first nation-wide network for immersive companies. Sol's leadership of REWIND and his respected position within the industry sees him regularly speaking at international events and quoted in the media. Prior to founding REWIND, Sol was a senior university lecturer for 15 years in digital animation, VFX, and emerging technology. Teaching over 1,300 students, writing four degrees, two masters and supervising PHDs during his tenure.

Stephen Follows, Film Industry Data Researcher

Stephen is a renowned data researcher in the film industry whose work has been widely covered in numerous major publications. He has acted as an industry consultant and guest on the BBC Radio 4 series The Business of Film, which topped the iTunes podcast chart, and has consulted for a wide variety of clients.

Tim League, Founder & Executive Chairman, Alamo Drafthouse

Tim League graduated from Rice University in 1992 with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Art/Art History. After a two-year stint at Shell Oil in Bakersfield, California, Tim left the engineering profession and opened up his first movie theater, the Tejon Theater, in east Bakersfield. When that theater closed after a short run in 1995, he and his wife Karrie loaded a truck with 200 seats, a projector, screen, and speakers and headed to Austin, Texas. They founded Alamo Drafthouse in 1997, where, as Executive Chairman, League remains committed to providing creative programming and a zero tolerance policy for disruption during the theater experience. League also co-founded Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the United States, and NEON, the newest powerhouse in US Film Distribution with titles such as COLOSSAL, I, TONYA, and PARASITE.

Tomas Jegeus, Founder & CEO, Mad Science

Tomas is a global entertainment executive with unparalleled experience in producing, marketing and distributing content. Jegeus is the founder and CEO of startup Mad Science, a content- and media-agnostic production company of filmed entertainment. Launched to create, produce and distribute premium commercial entertainment content with world class experience, consumer insights and demonstrated creative instincts. Mad Science will launch officially in December 2020, but has been actively developing projects – both features and TV series – and building partnerships since January 2020. Between 2015 and 2018 Tomas was the President of Fox International Productions (FIP), overseeing all local language, and select English language, feature productions across the world.

Victoria Emslie, Actor & Founder, Primetime

Victoria Emslie is a British Actress known for her work on Downton Abbey, 12 Monkeys and The Frankenstein Chronicles. She is the Founder & CEO of Primetime, the vetted global visibility platform for women working above and below the line behind the camera, providing the Industry with a simple solution to look at its hiring practices and find inclusive teams. Launched at Cannes Film Festival in 2019, Primetime has members in over 50 countries, including BAFTA, Emmy and Academy Award winners. Sign up is free at www.primetime.network. Follow on Instagram @primetime.network & Twitter @PrimetimeNetwrk.

Vivienne Medrano, Director, Creator, Animator

Vivienne Medrano is an indie animated series director! Creator of the two adult animated comedies "Hazbin Hotel" and "Helluva Boss". Founding her success on youtube she is continuing to develop and run her series and hoping to push the boundaries of adult animated storytelling and possibilities for indie voices!

Wendy Mitchell (Moderator)

Wendy Mitchell is a journalist, moderator and film festival consultant. She is a contributing editor and Nordic Correspondent at Screen International and is the editor of the European Film Academy’s Close-up magazine. She also works for the San Sebastian International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Zurich Film Festival and Zurich Summit.