The San Sebastian Festival will host its fifth-annual Creative Investors’ Conference on September 22 and 23. The conference will welcome the following top global executives and experts: Elisa Alvares (Tower Peak Partners), Laura Austin-Little (Black Bear International), Efe Cakarel (MUBI), Maite Carpio Bulgari (Garbo Produzioni), Julio Chavezmontes (PIANO), Juan de Dios Larraín (Fabula and Pijama), Anders Erdén (Orogen Entertainment), Lorenzo De Maio (De Maio Entertainment), Elissa Federoff (Neon), Frédéric Fiore (Logical Pictures Group), Paul Getto (Animo Strategies), Jae Goodman (Superconnector Studios), Anita Gou (Kindred Spirit), Ron Halpern (Studiocanal), Phil Hunt (Head Gear Films), Ryan Kavanaugh (Acme AI and VFX), Axel Kuschevatzky (Infinity Hill), Pauline Lamy (Why Not Productions), Lavaille Lavette (One Street Studios and Pan African Film Fund), Alexandra Lebret (Axio Capital and Together Fund), Vincent Maraval (Goodfellas), Liza Marshall (Hera Pictures), Teresa Moneo (Good Chaos), Matías Mosteirín (K&S Films), Adrien Nussenbaum (Yapluka / Palatio Films), Gary Raskin (Sherborne Media), Dimitri Rassam (Yapluka / Chapter 2), Andy Roa (A24), Adele Romanski (Pastel), Andrea Scrosati (Fremantle), Rachel Shane (Madison Wells), Raj Singh (Media Capital Technologies), Lars Sylvest (Thank You Pictures), Rodrigo Teixeira (RT Features), Christine Vachon (Killer Films), Patrick Wachsberger (193), Michael Weber (The Match Factory and MUBI) and Rob Williams (Sumerian Pictures).

Several of the companies are attending the conference for the first time, including A24, Acme AI and VFX, Black Bear International, Madison Wells Media, Media Capital Technologies, Pastel, Piano, RT Features, Studiocanal, Sumerian Pictures and Why Not Studios.

Roeg Sutherland, Sarah Schweitzman and David Taghioff from CAA Media Finance, which is the festival’s collaborator on the event every year, will participate in the Conference and moderate some of the talks, as will Wendy Mitchell, delegate and advisor of the San Sebastian Festival.

Topics of discussion will include the shifting landscape of the US industry; challenges and opportunities specific to Europe; lessons learned from sales executives; producers who are financing and shooting films across borders; new streaming models; the ways the Spanish industry is scaling up; how tech innovations are reshaping the content industries; how filmmakers can learn to work in smarter ways with brands; and how global thought leaders are preparing for the changes coming in the near future.

The panels, talks and discussions will be held from 10 am to 2 pm on September 22 and September 23 at Tabakalera. Some of the above VIP attendees, as well as other experts attending the festival, will speak at these sessions open to industry badgeholders. 

In a new collaborative initiative, the San Sebastian Festival is partnering with the Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes and its Investors Circle programme to bring a select delegation of private investors to San Sebastian’s Creative Investors' Conference. Participants will take part in the conference programme, gaining insights and inspiration from leading creative investors and industry figures, while also benefiting from a dedicated programme of educational workshops, private mentoring and exclusive exchanges with top international industry professionals in a curated and intimate setting.

Jose Luis Rebordinos, director of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, says, “We have been thrilled to see the Creative Investors’ Conference grow in influence in its first four years - as we head into the fifth year, we are very proud that it has become a must-attend event for such important executives and experts. In this fifth edition we are proud to also include many companies that have not been to San Sebastian before. We are very grateful for this fruitful collaboration with CAA Media Finance, who knows the current marketplace better than anyone. At a time when so much is changing in the film industry, it is so important to host a Conference like this, to welcome these experts to share their insights with each other and with the festival’s industry badgeholders, as well as having important networking sessions and meetings between the global experts and the Spanish film industry.”

Click here to view the full programme.