#SHORT_RIGA: Panel discussion “Student Film and Festival”

Panel discussion “Student Film and Festival” is organised in frames of SHORT RIGA Baltic Student Film Competition and aims to gather the festival jury, participants of SHORT RIGA Baltic Student, International and Music video competitions, film school students, graduates and everyone interested in filmmaking to talk about perspective of short film genre and the role of international festivals in filmmakers’ career. Specific focus will be on student short film festival distribution, curating and programming for short film festivals, festival circuit and networking.

Discussion moderated by: Laurence Boyce
Laurence Boyce (Estonia) is originally from the UK though now mostly lives in Estonia. He is an award winning journalist who writes for numerous publications and is a regular correspondent for Screen International, is the Baltic Correspondent for Cineuorpa and the editor of Cineuropa Shorts. He also regularly writes for Estonian newspapers including SIRP and Eesti Ekspress. He also works for Sleepwalkers Short Film Festival in Tallinn, where he is the programme director, as well as for the Black Nights Film Festival and the Leeds International Film Festival. He is a member of BAFTA, FIPRESCI, the London Critics Circle and the European Film Academy.

Participants:
Jukka-Pekka Laakso (Finland) is the festival director of Tampere Film Festival. He has been involved with the selection and programming since 2000. As a festival director he shares the responsibility to strategic planning and programming with a co-director. Jukka-Pekka Laakso acts also as the executive director for Pirkanmaa Film Centre, a local film centre in Tampere. The film centre is a non-profit organisation that runs an art-house cinema, distributes films in Finland and works extensively with media education. Jukka-Pekka Laakso is also a member of the National Film Council of Finland and European Film Academy.
Niels Fonseca (Denmark) has been a film and television script editor and lecturer for twenty-five years. He works in all genres, from TV movies to serials. He develops and edits feature film scripts, both national and international. He is an assessor for the film funding bodies, as well as commissioning editor and development producer. Lately he has worked extensively with TV series and trans media development.

Wouter Jansen (Netherlands) is the head of programming at Go Short – International Short Film Festival Nijmegen since 2009. He has a master’s degree in Cultural policy and patronage. Three years ago he started a festival distribution company called Some Shorts which specializes in visually powerful and daring short films and documentaries, mainly from the Netherlands. The films have received over 250 selections, more than 70 awards and were selected at festivals such as SXSW, Berlinale, Locarno, IDFA, San Sebastian and Visions du Réel.

Representatives of the The Latvian Academy of Culture, Baltic Film and Media School and Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy representatives.