The Pop Up Film Residency Eurimages is our special program created with the financial support of the Conseil d’Europe’s Eurimages Fund to promote women filmmakers. From the applications collected in an open call, we select one project. And who else is better to assess the projects and challenges of an experienced filmmaker than an experienced filmmaker or producer?
Therefore, this year again, the Pop Up Film Residency invited special guests to take up the seat on the Pop Up Film Residency Eurimage selection committee.
Please, meet Liza Diño, Kaleena Kiff, and Caru Alves de Souza.
Liza Diño is the president and CEO of Fire and Ice Media and Productions, a Philippines-based entertainment company with an international reach that takes Filipino creativity to the next level. She is passionate about celebrating the global Filipino talent and creativity through innovative, collaborative executions that bring together diverse and unique perspectives for the world to experience. “Chair Liza” as she was fondly called, recently finished her term as the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the country’s national film agency. During her 6-year stint, she made it her mission to bring Philippine cinema to the world stage and be at the forefront of global collaboration. Landmark programs and initiatives were launched and implemented that positioned the Philippines to be more globally competitive and ready to work with international stakeholders. In 2020, amidst the pandemic, the Philippines’ launched its first global film incentive program, the FilmPhilippines Incentives, promoting the Philippines as a filming destination and a coproduction hub for foreign productions.
Kaleena Kiff developed & produced the BAFTA Scotland award-winning feature The Legend of Barney Thomson. The black comedy stars Academy Award Winner Emma Thompson and BAFTA winners Robert Carlyle & Ray Winstone. Additionally, Kaleena produced the comedy feature No Men Beyond This Point (TIFF 2015), released by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Recently, Kaleena and her partners premiered the documentary feature film Stuffed in competition at the SXSW Film Festival. Kaleena is currently developing a rock n’ roll origin story about The Doors with guitarist Robby Krieger as well as a television series based on a best-selling novel by Academy Award-winning author John Irving Until I Find you, developed in the Pop Up Film Residency EAVE (2020) and selected for the 2021 Berlinale Co-Pro Series. Kaleena is an alumna of the EAVE, Toronto Producers Lab, Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talent Project Market, and an ACE Producer.
Kaleena worked on Until I Find you also within the Pop Up Film Residency EAVE.
Caru Alves de Souza is a director, screenwriter and producer from São Paulo, Brazil. She graduated with a degree in History from the University of São Paulo and decided to change her career after taking a script class as a listener at USP Film School. Since 2008 she has been making TV documentaries, short and feature-length films, as well as documentary and fictional series. Caru is also a member of artists and filmmakers’ collectives Vermelha and casadalapa.
It has been an honour.