Industry Academy

The Locarno Industry Academy is a training program launched in 2014 at the Locarno Festival with strong European and international components, created to help young professionals expand their network of contacts in the areas of international sales, marketing, traditional and online distribution, exhibition and programming (festivals, film clubs and cinematheques).

In 2024, the Brazilian edition of the Industry Academy, called São Paulo Locarno Industry Academy, will take place in partnership with BrLab as part of the program for its 14th edition.

The program offers a unique opportunity for new generations to understand the challenges of the Industry and connect with established professionals. The selected participants will receive Ibermedia Scholarships, thanks to the incentive of the Ibermedia Program.

In the last decade in Brazil, a new interest in the film industry has emerged, mainly as a means of reaching the international market. With new technologies competing for space in movie theaters and the new content formats that have begun to be produced today, the independent film industry needs to constantly reinvent itself.

The Industry Academy in Latin America has become an unmissable meeting for young professionals in the Latin American industry and an essential connection between professionals in the region. After 6 editions in association with BrLab, we are proud to foster this necessary dialogue between a wide range of Industry professionals and their producers and creators.

Industry Academy has also expanded significantly on the international scene, offering workshops in alliance with film festivals and renowned institutions such as Thessaloniki IFF in Greece, Film at Lincoln Center in the USA, MC Distribution and BCP in Beirut and, recently, the Realness Institute in South Africa.

In Latin America, Industry Academy is present in Mexico with FICUNAM, in Costa Rica with Pacifica Gray at MAUCC, in Colombia with BAM – Bogotá Audiovisual Market and in Brazil in association with BrLab. This year, for the 8th edition of the workshop in Brazil, we have the support of Spcine, Projeto Paradiso and Programa Ibermedia, as well as a media alliance with LatAm Cinema.

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Selected Professionals

Ana Luísa Moura

Participante

Ana Luísa Moura

Participante

She holds a degree in Audiovisual Production from PUCRS and in Public Relations from UFRGS, where she developed the research In Search of the Impact Producer: Connections between Audience Design, Film Distribution and Public Relations. Her most recent work as Executive Producer was the short films “Gato Branco” (Pró Cultura RS FAC/SEDAC, in distribution) and “Nós que fazer giro” (Lei Aldir Blanc, premiered at the 50th Gramado Film Festival). In addition to independent audiovisual projects, she has also worked in production and communication centers for advertising, theater and film screening events. She is currently a producer and distributor at Okna Produções.

Caísa Reis

Participante

Caísa Reis

Participante

Public Relations, curious by nature and addicted to audiovisual. I currently work as a press officer at Atomica Lab, which specializes in entertainment and cultural products such as films, fairs and events. Through my work, I exercise my curiosity about the world, discover different narratives and new perspectives. Immersed in multicultural environments and working on various projects, I continue to seek to improve my skills in the distribution of audiovisual products and work towards building a new cinephilia.

Gustavo de Almeida

Participante

Gustavo de Almeida

Participante

Film producer and distributor, he works as a Business Analyst at Vitrine Filmes and is responsible for hiring and monitoring the company’s distribution and production projects, such as “Amigo Secreto”, by Maria Ramos, and “A Viagem de Pedro”, by Laís Bodansky. Graduated in Cinema from Universidade Federal Fluminense, he worked for 3 years at the ANCINE Development Superintendence, supporting the technical analysis of Brazilian audiovisual projects. He studies the dynamics of the market and its interlocutions with public policies in Brazil and worldwide.

Ignacio Viejo González

Participante

Ignacio Viejo González

Participante

Audiovisual director graduated from PuC – Chile, since 2020 he has been part of Storyboard Media as a producer in the distribution area and as a production assistant in cinematographic works. He participated in the commercial distribution in alternative theaters within the national territory with notable films, such as El Príncipe, Blanco en Blanco, El Cielo Está Rojo and Matar a la Bestia. Since 2021 he has been part of the production team of SAnFIC Industria, a space dedicated to the development and promotion of Chilean and Ibero-American cinema, where he also works as general coordinator of the Guest Workshop. Since 2022 he has been a production assistant at the AMoR Festival.

Jaisia Figueroa

Participante

Jaisia Figueroa

Participante

Co-founder of Casa Produtora Videa and Distribution nomad. Master in Distribution and Business in the Audiovisual Industry from ECAM (Spain). Producer graduated from the Regular Course of EICTV, Cuba (2017 – 2020). Graduated in Visual Anthropology from the Centro de la Imagem, in Peru, she participated in Talent Guadalajara 2020 and Talent Buenos Aires 2021. She is currently a postgraduate student in Audiovisual Communication at the Complutense University of Madrid.

João Saldanha

Participante

João Saldanha

Participante

Postgraduate student in Production Management and Audiovisual Business at the Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation. Graduated in Public Administration, with additional training in International Relations, from the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo. Works as an Executive Production Assistant at Boulevard Filmes, having participated in productions such as Libelu – Abaixo a Ditadura and Chão de Fábrica, as well as in the release of different titles such as Carro Rei, Além da Lenda, Açúcar, among others. Still at Boulevard Filmes, he was a production assistant for the Workshop “Designing Audiences – Who are your Audiences?”, a training action aimed at stimulating and disseminating knowledge about audiovisual distribution.

Julia Duarte

Coordenador

Julia Duarte

Coordenador

Julia Duarte worked in music production and book editing before entering the audiovisual industry in 2006, when she began working for the São Paulo International Film Festival. Until 2017, she collaborated with the festival in various ways, including film selection. Between 2013 and 2015, she was the executive manager of the Cinema do Brasil program. In Portugal since 2016, Julia has been an international consultant for some Brazilian films and is a partner in the VOD platform spamflix.com, aimed at the online exhibition of authorial films worldwide.

Lorena García

Participante

Lorena García

Participante

Audiovisual Communicator at PuCP, with studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and currently studying postgraduate studies in Film Commissioning at Elías querejeta zine Eskola. She works in cultural management, film production and programming. She has participated in the Mi Primer Festival, Festival hecho Por Mujeres, Festival ojo de Pescado, EmpoderArte, among others. Her production projects explore transfictions, video art, new media and expanded cinema, and have been shown at Peruvian and international festivals.

Luan Felipe

Participante

Luan Felipe

Participante

Luan Felipe holds a degree in Business Administration from UFRRJ and Documentary, Photography and Film Criticism from the Escola Livre de Cinema de Nova Iguaçu. He has produced over 60 short films, including “Dom Gratuito”, selected for the Huelva Film Festival. He was selected by Ancine to participate in the MIA Market and Ventana Sur market events. He worked on the series “Sintonia” and the feature film “Breve Miragem de Sol” by director Eryk Rocha. He is currently an Administrative Analyst at Spcine, assisting in the management of Circuito Spcine, Spcine Play and Cineclube Spcine.>

Maria Nela Lebeque

Participante

Maria Nela Lebeque

Participante

Born in Holguín, Cuba, she is a curator, programmer and researcher of film and visual arts. Founder and programmer of the Cine Joven Cubano en el Sur festival, based in Montevideo, Uruguay, and member of the FAC Film Laboratory in Montevideo, an artist collective dedicated to the creation and research of experimental practices. With a degree in Audiovisual Distribution and Exhibition from the University of Villa María (Córdoba, Argentina), and a degree in Art History from the University of Havana, she participated in the Berlinale Talent 2020 and Talent Latinoamérica: Memorias de un Território, that same year. She programmed film selections shown in Cuba, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Spain.

Nicole Reyes Lugo

Participante

Nicole Reyes Lugo

Participante

A film producer and enthusiast, she holds a degree in Cinema and Audiovisual Communication from the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (InTEC). She has been working in audiovisual production since 2019, working on commercials, music videos, short films and feature films. At Faula Films, she works as a production coordinator and distributor, in addition to working independently for Dominican and international production companies in the production department.

Participants

Andrea Sánchez Rendón

Participante

Andrea Sánchez Rendón

Participante

Andrea has a degree in Communication Sciences. She gained professional experience at the Morelia Film Festival and, in 2016, founded the magazine Girls at Films, of which she is still the director. In 2017, she began her career in the streaming sector, working as an iVOD coordinator at Cinépolis Klic. She currently holds the position of series and film specialist in the merchandising department at HBO Max Latam.

Angel Pajares

Participante

Angel Pajares

Participante

Director of www.residenciaotronorte.com, a residency for film experimentation between the sea, the countryside and the huacas of northern Peru. He has curated exhibitions of Peruvian and Latin American cinema for FIL Guadalajara, FIL Trujillo, Residencia Otro Norte and the traveling exhibition Cinema Peruano Fora do Eixo in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Todos os Muros que Pode a Pele (Peru, Brazil) is his first feature film.

Fernanda Parrado

Participante

Fernanda Parrado

Participante

Graduated in Cinema, with a double minor in Fine Arts and Theater (City College of New York), she is a filmmaker and coordinator of the production company CELLULOID, where she catalogs national films and teaches about film preservation. Member of the Academy Gold Rising and the Brazilian Academy of Cinema, she has participated in the Gramado Festival, Academy Awards (Oscars), Cannes Festival and Tribeca Film Festival.

Gabriel Gomes Macedo

Participante

Gabriel Gomes Macedo

Participante

Film and social media distributor, he holds a degree in Audio and Video Production from ETEC JRM. He holds certifications in distribution from Spcine, Projeto Paradiso and Cabíria Festival. He worked at O2 Play as a social media representative for the release of MUBI films, such as Aftersun and Close. He recently worked as a social media representative at Sinny Assessoria, and is part of the audiovisual collective Cine Sucata as a distributor of short films.

Humberto Rodríguez Rauda

Participante

Humberto Rodríguez Rauda

Participante

Humberto Rodríguez Rauda is a PhD candidate in Art History at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, specializing in Film Studies. In 2017, he began his career in film festivals, and is currently the guest coordinator for the UNAM International Film Festival and responsible for the traffic of copies for the Morelia International Film Festival.

Jazz Mota

Participante

Jazz Mota

Participante

A Tupinambá indigenous filmmaker, activist and publicist, Jazz is a specialist in executive production, TV/Film management and multimedia sciences and technologies in the Amazon. She holds a master’s degree in Partnership, Shamanism and Native Traditions from the Università Degli Studi di Udine (Italy), and is also the director and producer of the Ava Amazônia festival and a state councilor for Audiovisual in Pará.

Jesus Enrique Monroy

Participante

Jesus Enrique Monroy

Participante

A social communicator with a specialization in Cinematography, he currently runs the advertising studio Atómico Creativo. He is the co-founder of the production company Cinema Claroscuro, where he exercises his skills as a communicator and producer, with the mission of distributing and connecting cinematographic works with social themes by Guatemalan filmmakers at international film festivals.

Louise Lyrio

Participante

Louise Lyrio

Participante

Louise holds a degree in Cinema and Audiovisual from UFF. She has worked in film shows and festivals, including the Rio Festival. Her experience in production and curation led her to join Sofá Digital in 2021, working on the evaluation and monitoring of international and local productions, focusing on the acquisition and sale of films in Latin America, under the distribution label of Synapse Distribution.

Lucila Frank

Participante

Lucila Frank

Participante

Lucila Frank, born in Buenos Aires, is a seasoned filmmaker in the film industry. Since 2020, with the aim of promoting independent cinema in the region and the consumption of high-quality art cinema on VOD and television platforms, she has been working on the theatrical releases of more than 20 films annually for the renowned distributor Cinetren.

Luis Felipe Raguá

Participante

Luis Felipe Raguá

Participante

He is a programming advisor at the Cinemateca de Bogotá. He is a programmer at the Lichter Filmfest Frankfurt International (Germany), and has been a programming coordinator and programmer at the Bogotá International Film Festival and the Mostra de Cinema Espanhol de Colombia. A curator of independent programs in Colombia and the Netherlands, Luis Felipe is an anthropologist with a master’s degree in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image.

Rayanne Layssa

Participante

Rayanne Layssa

Participante

Curator and distribution producer, Rayanne was born in Recife. She has participated in the curation of important film festivals in the country, such as CacheiraDoc 2020 (BA), Drive-In Paradiso, in 2020 (SP), and Terceira Semana de Cinema Negro de Belo Horizonte 2023 (MG). She is currently a distribution producer at Descoloniza Filme and creative director at Mostra Correnteza de Cinema Atlântico.