The expert
Wendy Bernfeld is the founder and MD of Rights Stuff, Amsterdam. Prior to founding Rights Stuff in ’99, Wendy was CEO Canal+ International Acquisitions (multi-territory, multi-platform buying, new channel start-ups for Filmnet/Nethold/Canal+,), specialized in MPAA studio ‘output’ deals and international ‘indies’. Earlier roles included M.D. Alliance-Atlantis (international distribution/ coproduction) and SVP The Movie Network (Canada). She has a Juris Doctor Law Degree (L.L.B.)/J.D.) from Queens University.
Rights Stuff (www.rights-stuff.com) is an international consultancy providing content strategy and pragmatic licensing services, including content curation, acquisition, distribution and development, helping maximize the potential of Rights and ‘”Windows’’ across evolving digital and traditional media.
The producers
Izabela Igel - EAVE and Wajda School graduate film producer with a background in television and advertising production, she moved on to focus on film marketing (distribution & festivals), before switching into production.
Her first feature “Floating Skyscrapers” by Tomasz Wasilewski premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and went on to win the top prize in the East of the West competition at the Karlovy Vary IFF. She is now working on Grzegorz Mołda's debut film.
Izabela also serves as a trainer for several institutions: Story Lab, Wajda Audiovisual Center, Full Circle Lab and First Cut Lab.
Sébastien Onomo is a French producer, who graduated from INA (National Audiovisual Institute) in 2010, where he met the producer Serge Lalou. He joined him in Les Films d'Ici as a producer, after a six-month experience with the Belgian company Entre Chien et Loup. In 2015, he created the company Special Touch Studios, of which he is President and now the major shareholder, and in 2019, created Creative Touch Studios, a sister-company based in Les Hauts-de-France to support the capacity of production and fabrication of the company. Sébastien brings its expertise to various university and school programs like INA, La FEMIS or Les Gobelins and he is also an expert for CNC, regional and international funds. In 2017, he was appointed Co-President with Aïssa Maïga of the French-speaking group at Unifrance and was elected in 2019 as a member of the SPI (Production Trade Union) in the Animation Collegue. Among the twenty or so film and television projects produced by him, we can mention "Le Gang des Antillais" by Jean-Claude Barny, "Ebony" by Moussa Touré, or more recently "Funan" by Denis Do (Cristal of the best animated feature film at Annecy International Festival 2018).
Silvana Santamaria is a German-Italian film director, screenwriter, and producer residing in Berlin. She graduated in 2010 from the renowned Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Film Directing/Documentary. In 2013 she co-founded the film production company SOILFILMS where she successfully writes, directs, and produces narrative and documentary features. The company is female-driven and has a joint passion for telling stories that raise awareness of diversity, social justice, migration, and femininity. In 2019 Santamaria was one of seven uprising European female producers selected for the EWA Network Mentorship Program. Since 2007, she has worked regularly with TV channels like ARTE, ZDF, BR, 3Sat, and SWR and was supported by German and international film funds. With her films, she has won important national and international awards (Max Ophüls Prize, Young European CIVIS Media Prize, etc.). Her films were screened in A-Festivals worldwide and presented in co-production markets (Venice Film Festival, BFI London, etc.).
The moderators
Susanne Schmitt is Head of Creative Europe MEDIA Desk Berlin-Brandenburg.
Ene Katrine Rasmussen is Head of Creative Europe MEDIA Desk Denmark.