Carlos Quintela, Felipe Lage, Diana Santamaria and Mercedes Martínez Abarca will be the advisors behind this year’s Novos Cinemas’ LABs

NOVOSCINEMAS#LAB, Novos Cinemas’ training program for emerging filmmakers, will take place between 13 and 15 December as part of the activities offered within the framework of the festival. In this year’s edition, we will be honored by the presence of Carlos Quintela, Felipe Lage, Diana Santamaria and Mercedes Martínez Abarca –all of them renowned professionals of the cinema industry that will share their perspective and experience with the participant filmmakers to help them make the most of their projects.

  • Carlos Quintela (Cuba). Filmmaker formed in E.I.C.T.V. and F.A.M.C.A. After making several experimental short films he shot the feature film La Piscina, which he won several awards at international festivals. His narrative style is influenced by Asian and European cinemas.
  • Felipe Lage (Galician, Spain), is the CEO of Zeitun Films since 2009 and he participated in the production of long films like Todos vós sodes capitáns (Oliver Laxe, 2010), Arraianos (Eloy Enciso, 2012), O Quinto Evanxeo de Gaspar Hauser (Alberto Gracia, 2013), Costa da Morte (Lois Patiño, 2013), Pozoamargo (Enrique Rivero, 2015) and Mimosas (Óliver Laxe, 2016).
  • Diana Santamaria. Degree in Audiovisual Communication (University Pompeu Fabra – Barcelona). In 2014, with Thierry and Farid Lounas, she decides to create Capricci Cinema distributor in Spain, of which she is Director. She is specialist in French Cinema and inspired by the legacy of Henry Langlois, she distributed contemporary films in Spain and heritage films of filmmakers like Serge Bozon, Albert Serra, Aleksei German, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Serguéi Paradzhánov or Ado Arrietta, among others.
  • Mercedes Martínez Abarca. She works at International Film Festival Rotterdam since 2009, where she is programming adviser. During five years, she coordinated the Holland Filme Meeting Co-Production Platform (Nederlands Film Festival, Utrecht). In addition she worked to Fortissimo Films International Distributor and she cooperated in several festivals and co-production markets.

The #LAB intends to be a meeting point for promising filmmakers and professionals of the cinema industry that are interested in independent film projects. NOVOS CINEMAS#LAB’s main purpose is to help film directors and producers acquire adequate skills to effectively bring their projects into the cinema market.

Participation in the #LAB is open to filmmakers from all over the world that are working on their first or second film. The call for entries closes on September 25.

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