Mentors: International
Films are finding success abroad today - how do you make your film viable abroad, find the right distributor and capitalize on International markets? Find out here.
Mentor session signup is open to all Film, Gold and Platinum badge holders at a first-come, first-served basis. Registrants who signed up online must check-in 30 minutes before your mentor time slot to guarantee your spot. Limited on-site signup is also available for a small number of mentor sessions and will begin 30 minutes before the first time slot of each session.
To sign up for a session with Cristina Garza: http://mentor.sxsw.com/mentors/218
To sign up for a session with Andy Whittaker: http://mentor.sxsw.com/mentors/114
To sign up for a session with Christine Davila: http://mentor.sxsw.com/mentors/181
To sign up for a session with Diego Marambio: http://mentor.sxsw.com/mentors/112
To sign up for a session with Hugues Barbier: http://mentor.sxsw.com/mentors/71
To sign up for a session with Martijn Te Pas: http://mentor.sxsw.com/mentors/69
To sign up for a session with Sheena Morjaria: http://mentor.sxsw.com/mentors/110
To sign up for a session with Danny Rhee: http://mentor.sxsw.com/mentors/232
Presenters
Christine Dávila is a first generation Mexican-American born and raised in Chicago and living the life in LA. Since 2008 she has been a Programming Associate, World Cinema for Sundance Film Festival, and a reader for Sundance Institute's Artist Development programs; evaluating international and U.S. projects for the Screenwriters lab and Documentary Feature Program. She is a Programmer for CineFestival in San Antonio and a Programming Correspondent for Ambulante, the traveling international documentary film festival founded by Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in Mexico. Screening films throughout the year for various festivals, also including LA Film Festival and Morelia International Film Festival, she specializes in Latino cinema, and writes about emerging American Latino filmmakers on her blog, http://chicanafromchicago.com/
Ventana Sur Program Coordination. The Market focus in Latin American Film Industry. Every december more than 400 feature films are presented and more than 350 international buyers for cinema release, TV and VOD platforms, festival programers, exhibitors attend looking for the production from Latin America.
Hugues Barbier is a long time genre films lover that grew up watching Giallos, American Grindhouse and other exploitation flicks. He’s been involved for over 5 years in the organization and programming of the Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival and is the Co-Founder/Artistic Director of the Ithaca International Fantastic Film Festival upstate NY. Hugues is also working for the Toronto based International sales/production company: Raven Banner as well as recurrent writer for the French film magazine CUT.
As the coordinator of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA, www.idfa.nl) program department I am responsible for overseeing all research activities, processing and viewing film festival entries and I select the short films, music films and compile the IDFA Competition for Student Documentary. I have been working for IDFA since 2000.
Every year since 1988, more than 300 international documentaries are screened at IDFA for a huge number of film lovers and professionals. IDFA is unique for its international film program, the variety of genres, its committed program and the many European and world premieres featured each year.
Aside from the festival, IDFA consists of three other components: the IDFA Bertha Fund, the FORUM and the market Docs for Sale (Online).
Sheena Morjaria is CEO and founder of Flick the Switch, a boutique studio providing a one-stop shop for international investors, distributors and production houses looking to gain access to the vibrant, growing and exciting Indian market.
Under her banner, Flick the Switch, she produced a collection of award-winning short films and documentaries in the UK and US and structured the finance deals for a number of feature films with budgets below $5 million, including creating the prospectus for EIS schemes in the UK. She has worked with Full Circle Films on the THE MORTICIAN following the success of their first feature KILL KILL FASTER FASTER, which won Best International Feature at the London Independent Film Festival. She was also involved in sourcing finance for ONE ARM BANDIT an action thriller with Tommy Lee Jones and the 3-D horror thriller DEADEYE with director Brett Leonard (HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE).
In 2008 she collaborated with producer/director Tom Donahue on THE GUEST OF CINDY SHERMAN, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and another documentary CASTING BY in conjunction with the who’s who of Hollywood – including Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Glenn Close, Robert Redford and many many more. In addition she worked with Tom Donahue (THANKSGIVING, THE WAKE) on the WAITING ROOM a high budget short film shot in New York, MILKMAN directed by James Rumsey, associate produced THE PRIEST and co-financed and produced FRANKIE TEARDROP starring John Dagliesh (BBC’S LARK RISE TO CANDLEFORD) and Olivia Grant (BBC’S LARK RISE TO CANDLEFORD).
With the launch of many tax schemes to attract foreign films and Sheena’s experience in handling them she is ideally placed to ensure Indian film productions make shooting abroad as cost effective as possible. She has worked with some of the leading producers and directors, structuring their budgets in the most cost effective way and taking advantage of worldwide incentives.
Her vision of a ‘Boutique Studio’ has come to fruition and Flick the Switch is now a growing and successful business, with a variety of exciting and diverse projects currently in the company’s portfolio.