Monika Mack

Headshots - Anja Niedringhaus, photographer | Development Pitch

Monika Mack

Freelance journalist and producer Monika Mack graduated with a MA from the University of Cologne, after which she worked in the PR and language transfer departments of the broadcaster ARTE in Strasbourg, for a postproduction/ subtitling company in Düsseldorf and for the WDR/ARTE department in Cologne. Since 2006, she has been working as a freelance producer and freelance production manager for the film production company Bildersturm. She is a graduate of the Eurodoc training program.

Pitch project | Headshots - Anja Niedringhaus, photographer (directed by Sonya Winterberg)

Photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus created iconic images of crises and wars around the world. Her unique pictures shape our collective memory to this day.

Laura Bouwmeester

Drive off | Development Pitch

Laura Bouwmeester

Laura Bouwmeester is committed to tell powerful stories, especially with a focus on both cultural and sexual diversity, as well as strong role models. In 2017 she established a foundation, and laid the building blocks for – what eventually became – the Dutch Netflix series and film ANNE+ (Valérie Bisscheroux). In 2023 she became producer and co-owner of Labyrint Film, alongside producer Rogier Kramer. Laura believes it is important that her productions are urgent, accessible, authentic, and energetic. This also means she is focused on looking for involvement in themes that play a role in society.

Pitch project | Drive off (directed by Ayla Satijn)

35-year-old Izel confronts her tragic past in her childhood home after her parents' fatal accident, seeking healing and self-discovery.

Monique van Kessel

Shiny New World | Development Pitch

Monique van Kessel

Monique van Kessel studied biology at the University of Wageningen. In 2015, she started her film career with several successful 48-hour films, including the 2017 Rotterdam-winning short horror film Watch Out (Sharrif Nasr). In 2019, she decided to focus entirely on the production of genre films (horror, sci-fi, and fantasy) with her company Make Way Film. She has since produced several features and shorts. She and her team also regularly organize Genre Hub, the new meeting place for genre filmmakers in the Benelux.

Pitch project | Shiny New World (directed by Jan van Gorkum)

A down on his luck construction worker gets caught up in a bloody power struggle between demons in human disguise, and discovers his true purpose in life.

Marco Gilles

Jukli | Development Pitch

Marco Gilles

Marco Gilles is a German producer for national and international television and cinema films and series. As a producer for eitelsonnenschein he has completed several projects in the last 10 years, from tv to feature films. He also as his own production company, gilles-mann, MMC and Senator Film. Next to producing he is also a trained a director and writer and has also been worked as an editor and cameraman.

Pitch project | Jukli (directed by Hannah-Lisa Paul)

A stubborn girl, a cute donkey and a great adventure - Flora has to go to France with the giant donkey foal Jukli, all by herself. She's only 11 and doesn't like donkeys at all.

Nina Payrhuber

The Floor is Yours | Development Pitch

Nina Payrhuber

Nina Payrhuber was born in South Africa and raised in Belgium. She graduated with a master’s in History from the University of Antwerp and a degree in film production (2015-2018) from the Royal Institute of Theatre, Cinema and Sound (RITCS) in Brussels. As part of the Associate Directors team she is currently involved in the (co)-producing of various documentary projects.

Pitch project | The Floor is Yours (directed by Nina Landau)

A young actress is casted to bring to life the story of one woman’s pelvic pain journey.

Livia Perneel

Stilte | Script Pitch

Livia Perneel

As a child by the North Sea, Livia Perneel quickly acquired a taste for the theater, taking classes at the Oostend Conservatory until she was eighteen. She then moved to Brussels to study film direction at the Royal Institute of Theatre, Cinema and Sound (RITCS) from which she graduated with her bilingual short film FRANKIE15 in 2016 which was selected, among others, for the Student Academy Awards of the Oscars. She then took an acting course at the French-language school INSAS.

Pitch project | Stilte

In 2032, Stilte highlights Elli's search for self-love in Brussels, under the threat of a natural disaster that could make the world unlivable at any moment.

Luciënne Venner

A Demon's Gift | Script Pitch

Luciënne Venner

Luciënne Venner graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy with the film A Ride to Moresnet. In 2018, she made her debut film Error of Eros. Her work has been screened both nationally and internationally at festivals and exhibitions. Her latest film Silent Heat won the prize Right of Speech at the Babel Film Festival in Italy, the prize for Best Film Experimental at Porto Femme, and was nominated for The National Competition at Leiden Shorts and was part of The Golden Calf competition at the Netherlands Film Festival.

Pitch project | A Demon's Gift

After the death of her mother, a girl becomes possessed and her world turns demonic and surreal.

Matthijs Wouter Knol | European Film Academy

Matthijs Wouter Knol is a Dutch film programme curator and producer. After finishing his studies at Leiden University his career started in Amsterdam, where he initially worked as a producer of documentary films and for IDFA. In September 2008, Matthijs Wouter Knol was appointed programme manager of the Berlinale Talent Campus. In 2014 he was appointed as director of Berlinale's European Film Market. In 2011, he was one of the co-founders of the “Berlinale Residency” programme. Between 2014 and 2019; Matthijs was a member of the selection committee of the Competition of the Berlin International Film Festival. Since 2021 has been the director of the European Film Academy.

Ido Abram | I DO!

In 1992, Ido Abram graduated from University of Utrecht in Film and Television studies. From 1997 to 2005 he was the director of CineMart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam before becoming director of the Binger Filmlab from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, Ido became the deputy director of the Eye filmmuseum. From 2019 to 2024 he also took on the role of director of SEE NL. In January 2024, Ido created his own company, I DO !, where he works in consulting, coaching and interim management for film and culture.

Christine Kiauk | Coin Film

Christine Kiauk graduated with a master degree in communication sciences and advertisement. From 1995 to 2000 she did press work for film and cultural events, was production assistant for film productions and editor for film funds. In 2001 she joined Coin Film as production manager, and from 2003 producer for numerous feature films and documentaries as well as international coproductions such as Mr. Gay Syria (Ayse Toprak, 2017, nominated at IDFA 2017) or Baghdad in My Shadow (Samir, 2019). Christine is also a member of the German Film Academy and Atéliers du Cinéma Européen (ACE).

Maarten van der Ven | Studio Ruba

Having previously studied Film, TV and Theater Studies, Maarten van der Ven graduated from the Dutch Film Academy in 2009 with the award-winning film Bingo. He then worked for several renowned production houses as an executive producer on award-winning short and feature films, including Meanwhile, he started VENFILM, in which he produced many award-winning films from the short film P (Aaron Rookus, 2014) to the documentary A Goat For A Vote (Jeroen van Velzen, 2014) and the midlength De dag dat mijn huis viel (Thessa Meijer, 2017). In 2016 he produced his first feature film Waterboys (Robert Jan Westdijk), which drew 60,000 people to movie theaters in the Netherlands.

Nicky Ontstenk

Nicky Onstenk (Producer, The Netherlands) completed her Bachelor of Media & Culture at the University of Amsterdam in 2015. In 2019 she graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy with the short fiction film Porfotto, which was nominated for a Student Oscar. After graduation, she started at IJswater Films as a junior producer. The documentary Dunya (directed by Tim Bary) premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival 2021. The short film Vlekkeloos (directed by Emma Branderhorst) won the main prize for the best short (youth) film at Berlinale 2022. Currently, there are several projects, both documentary, and fiction, long and short, in development and production. Magma by Luca Meisters and produced by IJswater Films premiered at Berlinale 2023.