The Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-Production Forum of San Sebastián will enjoy the participation of outstanding Commissioning Editors in its next edition

With the format adapted to the new situation, the 16th edition of the Lau Haizetara Documentary Co-Production Forum of San Sebastián, which will take place from 22nd to 25th September 2020, confirms the presence of renowned Commissioning Editors on its wide and engaging panel this year.

Each year, this forum organised by IBAIA [Association of Independent Audio-Visual Producers of the Basque Country] with the collaboration of the Industry Department of the San Sebastian Film Festival, welcomes an increasing number of professionals from the film industry related to the documentary genre, who are keen to discover from the experts the latest trends in this field and thus obtain tools that benefit the development and strengthening of new projects and appropriate distribution.

The panel members, made up of first class television companies, sales agents, producers and national and international distributors, will share their knowledge of the documentary industry and will try to transmit to the selected producers and directors the best elements that will ensure their projects have a successful journey:

AL JAZEERA (Qatar)
Mehdi Bekkar – EP of In House Production | Production Department

ARTE FRANCE (France)
Ali Delici – Deputy Director – Arts Department

CAT&Docs (France)
Aleksandra Derewienko – Sales & Acquisitions

EITB (Spain)
Aintzane Pérez del Palomar – Co-prod. Commissioning Editor

INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY FILM (Czech Republic)
Zdenek Blaha – Programme Director

MOVISTAR+ (Spain)
Cristina Merino – Head of Non-fiction Selection

NHK (Japan)
Natsu Kawakami – Producer (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE (United States)
Bruni Burres – Senior Consultant

SVT (Sweden)
Axel Arno – Commissioning Editor

TG4 (Ireland)
Proinsias Ní Ghrainne – Commissioning Editor

THE HISTORY CHANNEL IBERIA (Spain)
Sergio Ramos – Vice President of Programming

TREELINE DISTRIBUTION (Spain)
Elena Mera Dios – International Business

TVE (Spain)    
Andrés Luque Pérez – Executive Producer

WOMEN MAKE MOVIES (United States)
Debra Zimmerman – Executive Director

YLE (Finland)
Erkko Lyytinen – Commissioning Editor

QATAR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY SUPERVISOR (Qatar)
Mohammed Belhaj

MEDIAMORPHOSIS (United States)
Ignacio Sanz de Acedo – General Director

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY LATAM (Chile)
Ana María Nuñez – Acquisitions Director

During the two pitching days (24th and 25th September), the project director and producer will have 7 minutes online to pitch all their project’s potential and show the teaser to the panel members and the other accredited attendees. The program will be complemented with one-to-one meetings of approximately 15 minutes between the Commissioning Editors and the representatives of the presented projects, with the aim of facilitating financing through possible collaboration, co-production or pre-sales agreements.

All information can be found at the forum’s website: www.lauhaizetara.eu