Mon 27 Sept, 3.00pm-4.30pm (est)
location: online via Zoom
tickets: free of charge; early registration required
presented in partnership with the US Embassy, Port of Spain

In this open forum, audience members will be given the In recent years, film festivals have become the go-to exhibition stop for independent filmmakers, many of whom would struggle to find distribution and audiences otherwise. But, with so many film festivals all over the world, and with clear hierarchies in the festival circuit, choosing which ones you should send your film to, and in what order, needs to be considered as part of an overarching strategy that can guide your decision making as you seek to release your film. In this open forum, audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions of veteran producer, Kathleen McInnis. This is intended to be an introductory, general overview, in which Kathleen will explain the importance of planning your festival strategy from the script development stages of a project.

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Kathleen McInnis

McInnis uses her 30 years of experience in festival programming, film publicity and producing to help world cinema filmmakers merge their creative and business development. As a strategic publicist, Kathleen represents world cinema films premiering at TIFF, Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, Hot Docs and Tribeca film festivals. As a creative producer, McInnis curates the SIFF New Works In Progress Forum, bringing together filmmakers, industry mentors and audiences at critical creative junctions. Her recent films as co-producer include “Retablo” (2019 BAFTA and Film Independent Spirit Award-nominee; Peru’s official Oscar submission), and the Swedish feature documentary-in-production, “Broadcast”. 

McInnis’s tenure at the Palm Springs International ShortFest & Short Film Market allowed for both discovery and support of the hundreds of international filmmakers attending the festival each year. She left the festival in 2014 as festival director. While creating the first international shorts programme at TIFF, McInnis built strategic platforms to bridge the gap between short film-makers and industry decision-makers.

Fri 24 Sept, 1.00pm-3.00pm (est)
location: online via Zoom
tickets: free of charge; early registration required
presented in partnership with the US Embassy, Port of Spain

Filmmakers tend to spend most of their time focusing on “film as a visual medium” but it’s just as important to remember that a powerful score can help to inspire the emotions that the creator wants their audience to experience. Incorporating this layer of storytelling into a film ultimately results in a more impactful outcome. In this open forum, audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions of veteran composer, Miriam Cutler. This is intended to be an introductory, general overview of the process of creating meaningful stories through music.

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miriam cutler

Three-time Emmy-nominated composer Miriam Cutler is passionate about documentaries. Her career has encompassed work for HBO, CNN, PBS, Sundance, Emmy and Oscar-nominated films such as “Flannery”, “Dilemma of Desire”, “Not Carol”, “RBG”, “Love Gilda”, “The Hunting Ground”, “American Promise”, “Lost in La Mancha”, “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” and many others films. 

Cutler is a lab advisor for the Sundance Documentary Composer Lab, and a doc juror for Sundance, AFI, Spirit and the IDA Awards. She is a consultant who has led workshops for CNN, the International Documentary Association, Concordia and Global Media Makers. Cutler has presented workshops in Iceland, Vienna, Spain, Tbilisi/Georgia, Malaysia, Germany and at various universities, including USC, UCLA, Chapman College and Loyola Marymount. She is part of the Motion Picture Academy documentary branch and an executive committee member. She has served on the boards of the Society of Composers and Lyricists and is the co-founder of the Alliance for Women Film Composers.