Since 2004 Kirsten Niehuus has been the CEO of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany’s Capital Region. Since then she has been responsible for Film and High-end TV funding.
As a lawyer she has been engaged in entertainment and funding law since 1991. Previous posts include Deputy Head of National Film Fund, Vice President of Eurimages, head of private and public legal departments. She has served as a board member of several institutions from public broadcaster to film schools. As an Honorary Professor she teaches Film Financing at Film University Babelsberg and other filmschools. She is bearer of the French order Chevalier of Arts and Literature.

Paris based Frédéric Boyer is the Artistic Director of the Tribeca Film Festival, of the Les Arcs European Film Festival since 2009 and of the Reykjavik International Film Festival since 2020. Prior to that he was the Artistic Director and programmer for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Festival. Boyer’s infatuation with cinema began when he frequented the Cinematheque Française in his youth. He attended the master classes of critics of French New Wave cinema at the Universities of La Sorbonne and Censier. He was on the jury of many festivals including Sarajevo, Karlovy Vary, Thessaloniki, Seattle, Busan, CPH:Dox, Munich, Reyjkavik, Cluj.

Mehret Mandefro is an Emmy-nominated and award-winning producer and writer who champions the creative arts as a path to developing a more just society. Her track record in both using narrative to shift culture and scaling media businesses secured her a spot on Variety’s list of most impactful women in global entertainment. Mehret co-founded the independent production company Truth Aid Media in the USA, A51 Pictures in Ethiopia, the Realness Institute in South Africa, and was formerly Executive Producer of Kana Television in Ethiopia, which was subsequently acquired by Canal+. Her latest media venture, TBTM Studios, is headquartered in Dubai and has a slate of projects across documentary and scripted, featuring Africa’s leading voices. Mehret’s credits include the Sundance and Berlinale Audience Award winner Difret,the New York Times Critic’s Pick Little White Lie and showrunner of Ethiopia’s first-ever teen drama series Yegna. She also executive produced the American Masters feature documentary film How It Feels To Be Free and feature narrative film Sweetness in the Belly, both on Amazon Prime. A member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Mehret is a sought-after speaker and has a widely watched TED talk about the impact of the creative industry on economic growth in Africa.

Juliette Schrameck joined the Paris-based collective of producers Agat Films-Ex Nihilo in September 2020. She develops international coproductions (by Joachim Trier, Laszlo Nemes, Laila Marrakchi, Fien Troch, Lukas Dhont…) as well as French films, by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel and Corneliu Porumboiu amongst others. She was until 2020 the Managing Director of mk2 Films, where she initiated the collaboration with Justine Triet, Céline Sciamma, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Mati Diop, Naomi Kawase or Corneliu Porumboiu. The films she coproduced at mk2 were The Worst Person in the World by Joachim Trier (Best Actress Prize – Cannes 2021), Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski (Best Director Prize – Cannes 2018), Ash Is Purest White by Jia Zhang Ke (Competition – Cannes 2018) and Mountains May Depart by Jia Zhang Ke (Competition-Cannes 2015).

Holger Stern works as commissioning editor for the German - French public broadcasting corporation ARTE. He oversees acquisitions and co-productions supported by the ZDF/ ARTE cinema department and works with ZDF’s “Das Kleine Fernsehspiel” on international debut films. He was the commissioning editor on several ZDF/ ARTE co-productions, such as: “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki, “Club Zero” by Jessica Hausner”, “Triangle of Sadness” by Ruben Östlund, “Holy Spider” by Ali Abbasi, “Quo vadis, Aida?” by Jasmila Zbanic, “Las Herederas” by Marcelo Martinessi, “Memoria”, “Cemetery of Splendour” and “Uncle Boonmee, who can recall his past lives” (all three by Apichatpong Weerasethakul); “Il Buco” and “Le Quattro Volte” (both by Michelangelo Frammartino); “Women without Men” (by Shirin Neshat); “Gigante” (by Adrian Biniéz), and many others.
He has been ZDF’s representative at the “Drehbuchwerkstatt” – the screenplay lab of the Munich Film school - and helped to develop the award-winning screenplay “Endzeit” by Olivia Vieweg in the realm of this assignment.
Prior to his employment at ZDF/ ARTE he worked for the independent German film production and distribution company Kinowelt, directed several documentaries for German TV stations and published articles on a variety of film-related subjects.
He received his degree in Berlin after having studied at the LMU Munich, the FU Berlin and the Université Paris III.

Businesswoman, entrepreneur, founder and executive VP of the Irani group (FACTORY 54), the leading luxury fashion group in Israel, Irani has led the way in partnering and supporting young artists in Israel. A graduate of Tel Aviv University, Irani joined the group in
2010. She enhanced the group’s sustainable and ethical responsibilities and champions the role that fashion plays in society.

Osnat Handelsman Keren produces multiple award-winning films and TV series around the world with her producing partner at PIE FILMS Talia Kleinhendler. Working with leading Talent Pie Films productions have premiered in all major film festivals and have been distributed worldwide. Among her productions are Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Oscar Nominated directorial debut “THE LOST DAUGHTER”, "MY HAPPY ENDING" starring Andie MacDowell, Nadav Lapid's Cannes Jury prize winner "AHED'S KNEE" and Golden Bear winner "SYNONYMS" and Hit Israeli TV series "THE WOMEN'S BALCONY" based on the box office hit film by the same name which PIE FILMS produced.