Mike Kelly - the financial side
On the financing side, Mike Kelly was part of the management team that turned the monolithic former ITV franchise holder Thames Television into a leading independent producer. He subsequently worked as FD of Majestic Films and TV, a sales agency and British Screen, the public-private partnership owned by Channel 4, Granada, Rank and United Artists that helped finance and produce around 15-20 British and European films per annum.
As its inaugural head of finance, Kelly helped establish the UK Film Council. He was recruited by Warner Bros to help expand their local language production activity in Europe and then extend it to Asia. In 2006 Kelly established Northern Alliance, a chartered accountancy practice specialising in providing accounting and consulting services and business advice to public and private sector clients operating in the entertainment and media industries.
Luciano Gloor, has produced and co-produced a number of feature films working with prolific directors such as Daniel Schmid, Markus Imhoof, Lea Pool, Otar Iosseliani, Jacques Rivette, Jaco van Dormael and George Sluizer, and with actors such as Donald Sutherland, Geraldine Chaplin, John Hurt, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Alice Krige. He also led the creation of the Swiss Film Centre and has been a trainer in numerous producer training and project development programmes, such as EAVE for Europe, AVEA for Southern Africa, and IFA-SC for the South Caucasus, and TrainEastFilm in East Europe.
Clare Downs will cover aspects of scriptwriting, production. She began her career in the film business as co-director of the Association of Independent Producers and Director of International Creative Affairs for the Ladd Company/Warner Bros. Since the 1970's she has been involved in the production of a number of award-winning short and feature films.
In 1989 she set up, and was director of, First Film Europe, to select and fund first feature screenplays in each of the EU member countries. She also joined in that year the EU's Media Producer training programme, EAVE, as a founder member of the script analysis team. She was joint head of studies of the Scottish/Irish EAVE Regional programme in 1993, the EAVE Greek Regional programme in 1994 and script analyst of the EAVE.
From 2000-2005, she was joint head of studies of the Southern African Producer Training Programme, AVEA. In 2006 she joined IFA-SC, the Independent Filmmakers Association - South Caucasus Training programme as its script trainer and consultant and is the content trainer for the new Media International project, TrainEASTFilm - involving the ex-CIS countries (and Turkey) located around the Black to the Caspian Seas.
Downs has presented numerous scriptwriting workshops and master classes in screenwriting and in development strategies internationally and has her own script development consultancy, working on individual projects with both film funds and filmmakers throughout the world. She re-wrote Independent People for Pegasus Pictures (2003), was the co-writer on The Immortals (2004), for Samsa Film in Luxembourg and is writing for Dor Film in Austria, the project, Taken in Twilight (2008), and Underbelly (2009) for VR Productions, Norway. Downs is on the advisory board of Scriptwriter Magazine.
"We look forward to welcoming industry professionals, producers, funders and financiers to an event jam-packed with workshops and networking opportunities," says Toni Monty, head of the Durban Film Office (DFO). "The lineup of speakers and topics promises delegates a focused look at the world of filmmaking in Africa from varied perspectives and we encourage early registration," Monty adds.
In addition, a partnership has been established with International Film Festival Rotterdam's Cinemart, with Cinemart head of industry, Marit van den Elshout, actively involved as international liaison and in project selection processes for DFM. The International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA), has confirmed that they will co-ordinate a number of DFM sessions devoted to preparing documentaries for international markets, for selected projects as well those participating in the Producers Forum.
"IDFA believes its participation will be a good step towards a longer collaboration," says Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen, IDFA's head of industry office. The manager of IDFA's Jan Vrijman Fund, which supports filmmaking in a developing world, will also be present at the DFM and it is anticipated that such partnerships will allow DFM to act as a feeder of African product to other festivals and markets such as Cinemart, IDFA and others.
The selected projects, 12 in all, from as far afield as Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia and Burkina Faso, in both Feature Film and Documentary genres, will pitch their projects to film financiers within the Finance Forum and also participate in the Producers Forum. The four-day Producers Forum is open to filmmakers who should apply online. The Durban FilmMart (DFM) is a joint programme of the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), and registration for the Producers Forum includes access to DIFF screenings.
To register, go to www.thoughtfire.co.za/filmmart+registration.aspx.
For more information or to register as a delegate for the Durban FilmMart, go to www.durbanfilmoffice.com or contact Musonda Chimba via email at az.vog.nabrud@mabmihc or Kamille Padaychee at az.oc.erifthguoht@ofni.
