SCOUTS AND PITCHING

Elad Samorzik is an experienced film programmer and consultant who is a member of the selection committee of the Berlin International Film Festival. Previously, he served for over a decade as Artistic Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival. Samorzik consults for the Sarajevo Film Festival’s Cinelink platform and programs for the Arava International Film Festival. His extensive career includes managing six film channels on Israel’s largest cable platform, HOT, and writing full-time for Haaretz. He has held key roles at the Haifa International Film Festival over seven years. Samorzik has also taught film courses at Tel Aviv University and conducted workshops at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Over the years, Samorzik has participated as a jury member at international film festivals, including Thessaloniki, Cartagena, BAFICI, Vilnius, Les Arcs, Reykjavik and Festival Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal. He is a member of the European Film Academy and the Batsheva Dance Company’s Public Council.

Caroline Daube graduated in Film Producing from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Prior to that, she worked as a Marketing Manager at Kinowelt Filmverleih and studied theater in Munich, Paris, and Madrid. Since 2007, she has been an independent producer, founding Royal Pony Film while also working as a freelance producer. She later established Strange Bird, a company that collaborates with WOLF Consultants to bring innovative projects to a global audience. In 2009, Caroline completed the EAVE program. From 2011 to 2014, she served as Head of Marketing at The Match Factory, and from 2016 to 2023, she was involved with the co-production market PITCH POINT at the Jerusalem Film Festival (JFF).

In 2012, after more than 20 years in distribution, Dominique Welinski founded DW, a production and consulting company. Since then, she curates and produces the Factory program at Director’s Fortnight in Cannes. She has produced or co-produced among others: Sanjeewa Pushpakumara Burning Birds; Alireza Khatami’s Oblivion Verses; Midi Z Road to Mandalay; John Tengrove The Wound; Suba Sivakumaran House of My Fathers and Yona Rozenkier The Dive and The Road to Eilat. DW is currently developing films in Sri Lanka, Israel, India and Greece.
The pitch training is in courtesy of the Shuster Polakoff foundation.