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Making Meaningful Change in the World of Film Financing

September 12th 2022
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12September

Cents and Sensibility

Making Meaningful Change in the World of Film Financing

September 12th 2022

Breaking Through the Lens joined Film Fatales at the Toronto International Film Festival for an in person panel discussion about making meaningful change in the world of film financing with Apoorva Guru (Producer, Joyland), April Shih (Founder, Diversity Hire), Luis De Filippis (Director, Something You Said Last Night), Nikkia Moulterie (Producer, Nanny), and Sophia Dilley (SVP, Concord Originals). Moderated by Jasmin Morrison (Sky Original Film)

The constant search for funding is one of the hardest aspects of creating a film. Access to finance and budget size are the major barriers for under-represented groups in the industry. This talk brought together directors, producers, sales agents and financiers who walk the walk to find creative ways to fund a diverse slate of projects. Through their experiences, we explored how one can move the needle on whose story gets to be told and what you can do to find funding for your films!

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Date:
September 12, 2022
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Details

Date:
September 12, 2022
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Panelists

Apoorva Guru Charan is an LA based producer who was born in India, raised in Northern California, and started her career as a digital producer in Singapore. An alumnus of Columbia University’s MFA Film program, Charan’s short films include Lonely Blue Night which won the Audience Award for Best Short Film at AFI Fest 2020 and is available to stream on HBO Max空间 Distance which won Film Pipeline’s Best Film Award in 2020, and Interiors which premiered at TIFF in September 2018. Charan was a 2022 Sundance Producing Lab Fellow, a 2021 Women in Film Emerging Producers fellow, a 2020 Film Independent Creative Producing Lab fellow, a 2019 Project Involve Creative Producing fellow and has worked in development at Big Beach, Walt Disney Studios’ live action department and at Blue Harp. Her producorial feature debut, Joyland premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 and won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and the Queer Palm.

April Shih is a WGA Award-winning writer/producer and filmmaker with several series in development at FX, WBTV, and Paramount+. She has written for FX’s critically acclaimed comedy You’re the Worst, Mrs. America (starring Cate Blanchett), and Amazon‘s Undone, and served as Supervising Producer for Season 2 of Dave. April is currently a co-executive producer on Season 5 of Fargo. April has been a fellow of the Sundance Episodic Story Lab, CAPE New Writers Fellowship, CBS Writers Mentoring Program, and the inaugural Film Independent Episodic Lab. April is currently under an overall deal at FX where she is creating, developing, and producing meaningful, soul-oriented content under her production banner DIVERSITY HIRE LTD. The company’s first feature film, Joyland, was an official selection for the 2022 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize.

Nikkia Moulterie is a creative producer born and raised in New York City. She is a 2019 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow and Silverman Honoree. She co-produced the premiere season of the Peabody Award-winning Random Acts of Flyness for MVMT / HBO. In 2019, she produced Suicide by Sunlight with writer/director Nikyatu Jusu, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and continued a successful run at BAMcinemaFEST, BFI London Film Fest, MoMA’s Black Women Film Conference, AFI and more. Jusu and Moulterie more recently collaborated on the feature film Nanny – a 2020 Sundance Screenwriting / Directors / Catalyst Lab project premiering at Sundance 2022. In addition, her work as a producer also includes projects at ABC News, MTV, T Magazine, Nike, Louis Vuitton, as well as numerous works in the commercial and branded content world.

Luis De Filippis is a Canadian-Italian filmmaker whose work has played at festivals such as TIFF, Rotterdam, and Sundance where her most recent work, For Nonna Anna received a Special Jury Prize. She is currently in post-production on her debut feature, Something You Said Last Night, which is Executive Produced by The Florida Project‘s Kevin Chinoy and Francesca Silvestri. Luis‘ films explore the complexities of family, the bond between generations, and the realities of living as a transwoman. Through her work with The Trans Film Mentorship Luis uplifts the voices of other trans filmmakers; recently the program wrapped its second iteration on the HBO show Sort Of and plans are underway for its third run on the upcoming Jackie Shane documentary executive produced by Elliot Page.

Currently serving as the Head of Business Affairs for Original Film at Sky, Jasmin Morrison has been involved in the financing of over 100 feature films and has experience working from conception to distribution. Jasmin is an expert public speaker having talked at numerous events worldwide including at SXSW, Film London’s New Entrants course and having been featured on Women Vs Hollywood podcast with Helen O’Hara. Jasmin also serves as a consultant for Breaking Through the Lens. Jasmin is also co-owner of Unmannered Limited, alongside Annika Ranin. In 2020 the company’s first feature documentary Boarders was released in the UK by Bohemia Media. Their second feature documentary My Everest is currently in post-production. In 2019, Jasmin founded Soul Cognition, a consultancy company committed to providing education and support to a diverse range of storytellers.

Sophia Dilley is the Senior Vice President of production at Concord Originals, which will develop and produce a slate of scripted and unscripted films, television shows and premium podcasts centered around artists and IP that Concord owns or represents.

Event Partners

Breaking Through The Lens is a grassroots movement focused on measurable actions to overcome the greatest barrier to women and non-binary directors – access to finance. Each year, ten feature films in late stage development are selected to take part in a year-long program which offers the opportunity to pitch in front of leading sales, distribution and investment executives at TIFF and Cannes. This pioneering initiative aims to be a practical resource for underserved filmmakers, one that is multicultural, intersectional and results-driven.

Film Fatales organizes panel discussions, educational workshops and networking mixers focused on amplifying underrepresented voices in film and television. Capacity is limited. Your participation constitutes your consent to being photographed during the event and to Film Fatales sharing those photos with the world. Join or upgrade your membership to attend our events for free or at a discount.