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Lab Team
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Film Constellation is an integrated film sales, production and finance company headquartered in London and Paris. We are passionate story tellers, with a reputation for growing award-winning filmmaker brands. The company specialises in packaging, producing and licensing audience engaging films and documentaries, premiering at A-class festivals including Cannes, Venice, Telluride, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin. We continue to expand our diverse slate of talents including Georgia Oakley, David Lynch, Jeremy Comte, Natalie Erika James, Werner Herzog, James Marsh, Ekwa Msangi, Alejando Amenabar, Paco Plaza, Lotfy Nathan, Saim Sadiq, Rashaad Ernesto Green and Carlos López Estrada among others.
Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival is the first and only festival in the Arab region focusing exclusively on modern genre film, bringing the best horror, thriller, fantasy, sci-fi and action films from around the globe to Beirut and, by default, to the Arab World. The festival’s main target is to attract a young and diversified audience through a rich program, giving them the opportunity to discover international genre films that rarely get official theatre releases in the Middle East, while offering a variety of special events such as master classes, conferences, family screenings and outdoor activities. Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival is a member of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation. In 2020, MaskoonFFF launched Maskoon Fantastic Lab to accelerate the development of Arab genre feature films.
Tatino Films is a film and talent development company with initiatives and team presence worldwide. With its flagship initiatives, First Cut Lab, Full Circle Lab, and Pop Up Film Residency, and through its multiple partnerships, Tatino Films’ international team organises development programmes across the world. Annually, Tatino Films delivers labs and residencies to over 200 filmmakers from 50 countries, representing 100 film projects including features, series, and shorts. Tatino Films is dedicated to empowering filmmakers at every stage of their careers, nurturing emerging artists into seasoned professionals. The company's programmes are designed to build capacity for filmmakers, encouraging them to expand their creative vision and providing them with a platform for international exposure.
Team Members
Myriam Sassine
Executive Director
Myriam Sassine majored in audiovisual studies and received an M.A. in Cinema Research. In 2010, she joined Abbout Productions producing several features and documentaries such as “Costa Brava, Lebanon” by Mounia Akl (Venice Film Festival / TIFF 2021), “1982” by Oualid Mouaness (TIFF 2019), “Panoptic” by Rana Eid (Locarno 2017), “Amal” by Mohamed Siam (Idfa 2017), “Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano” by Cyril Aris (KVIFF 2023), and “Diaries from Lebanon” by Myriam El Hajj (Berlinale Panorama 2024). From 2016 to 2020, she was the COO of Schortcut Films dedicated to co-producing international films. In 2016, she cofounded Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the only genre film festival in the Middle East and acts as the festival's executive director. Myriam regularly gives producing seminars in several universities in Lebanon. She has served as a producing mentor for Doha Film Institute, Open Doors Locarno, Atlas Workshops, Red Sea Lodge, Visions du Réel Rough Cut Lab, EFM Toolbox, Berlinale Coproduction Market and Alternativa Film Project. Since 2021, she's the Manager of Aflamuna Connection, Aflamuna’s coproduction platform and since 2022, the co-head of the program Full Circle Lab Nouvelle-Aquitaine Hessen, a capacity building international training program.
Matthieu Darras
Artistic Director
Matthieu Darras is the founder and CEO of Tatino Films. Since 2019, the company has been designing and implementing film and talent development programs worldwide. Its flagship initiatives are the First Cut Lab, the Pop Up Film Residency, and the Full Circle Lab. Matthieu Darras previously worked for major film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, and San Sebastian. He was also at the inception of the TorinoFilmLab, and served as its artistic director until 2018.
Evrim Ersoy
Co-Head of Studies
Evrim Ersoy is a consultant, producer and festival programmer who has spent the last decade honing his skills within the industry. Born in Turkey and raised in London, he first worked as a film critic for various publications before moving into film curation - he's been the head of programming at Beyond Fest for the past 10 year, served as the creative director at Fantastic Fest for 6 and is currently a senior programmer at Imagine Film Festival and MotelX. He has worked as an acquisitions consultant and festival strategist for a number of sales and distribution companies and most recently started producing - 'Hostile Dimensions' by Graham Hughes was selected for Frontieres Buyers Showcase at Cannes and 'To Fire You Come At Last' by Sean Hughes had a successful festival run including Frightfest, Imagine and more. Currently he has at least 6 projects in various stages of post-production and production including 'Above The Knee' which was selected for this year's edition of Frontieres Buyers Showcase at Marche Du Film.
Antoine Waked
Co-Head of Studies
Antoine Waked is an experienced professional in cinema mentorship and education. Since 2011, he has served as a development executive at Abbout Productions, a leading film production company in Lebanon. Antoine is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the only festival of its kind in the Arab world, and the Maskoon Fantastic Lab, focusing on the development of Arab genre films. He also held the position of director of the cinema section at ALBA University from 2021 to 2023 where he teaches writing and directing since 2005. Antoine’s activities include script consultations for international films, mentorship in screenwriting labs, and delivering lectures on Arab genre cinema. He co-directed the award-winning documentary A Certain Nasser, exploring the life of Lebanese pioneer filmmaker Georges Nasser. He also co-wrote and co-produced the upcoming ghost story thriller In This Darkness I See You by Nadim Tabet.
Fabien Westerhoff
Manager
Fabien’s career path took him from Paris to London, working for leading production and sales companies on both sides of the channel, including HanWay Films, WestEnd and The Coproduction Office. His work provided first hand access to award winning filmmakers including David Lynch, Takashi Miike, Michael Winterbottom, Pablo Larrain, Jeremy Saulnier, Eran Riklis, David Gordon Green, Errol Morris, Fernando Leon and Wim Wenders amongst others. A French and German national by way of West Africa and South East Asia, Fabien speaks fluent English, Spanish, French and German. He currently resides in Amsterdam. He founded Film Constellation in 2016.
Danuta Krasnohorska
Financial and Administrative Director
Danuta joined Film Constellation in 2022, leading Business Affairs and our collaboration with Playtime Group. She is a business affairs manager and a film/TV producer. She obtained her MA in Law from the University of Warsaw and later pursued her passion for film by working for leading film industry players in Central Europe. She has worked on various film and TV series projects for HBO Poland and CANAL+, overseeing their production and development.
Edward Parodi
Creative Director
Edward joined Film Constellation soon after its creation in 2016, and was an integral part of its rapid growth. After 3 years managing International Sales & Distribution, where he most notably worked on films by Werner Herzog and David Lynch, he started spearheading Acquisitions, contributing to the launch of several new directorial voices, such as Georgia Oakley ('Blue Jean') and Natalie Erika James ('Relic'), but also working with more established filmmakers such as Oscar-winning director James Marsh ('Dance First'). He now also manages Film Constellation's growing production slate alongside Fabien Westerhoff, across both London and Paris. Before joining, Edward worked in Sales at HanWay Films, where he helped manage a prestigious library of titles, including films by Bernardo Bertolucci, David Cronenberg, and Wim Wenders. Prior to that, he held several development positions for leading UK production companies such as DNA, Wildgaze, and Qwerty Films. A dual French and British national, Edward grew up near Marseille and now resides in London.
Ji Lacerna
Head of Business Development
Ji Lacerna is a film industry professional from the Philippines. She organised and led several international film training and industry programs. Previously worked at the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) where she served for almost six years. She has spearheaded film labs and industry events for Southeast Asian filmmakers such as Full Circle Lab Philippines, the International Film Industry Conference, FDCP Project Market, and the Sine Kabataan Short Film Lab & Festival to name a few. Since 2023, Ji has been the Head of Business Development at Tatino Films, she oversees partnerships for global film and talent development programs. She is also currently the program manager of Netflix Grow Creative Labs for Indonesia and Thailand.
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