11:00 AM

11:30 PM

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Panel 15

Game Changers: Sports, Myth & Cinematic Momentum

Owning Audience, Expanding Value, Redefining the Business of Storytelling

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Explore how athletes become architects of their own legends on screen. From kinetic biopics to experimental documentaries, this session shows how movement, myth, and cultural narrative intersect to create films that travel far beyond the stadium. Learn to harness streaming audiences craving adrenaline-fueled, identity-rich stories.

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Moderator: Danica Robinson-Liles, CEO, Wes Studios, USA + Jamaica

Speakers:

• Albert Mensah, Founder, Fortune Favours Productions, UK + Ghana 

  Speaker 2

• Speaker 3

11:40 AM

12:40 PM

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Panel 16

 Talk that Talk After the First Deals & Treaties: What’s Next for Global South Co-Production?

From Occasional Breakthroughs to Scalable Systems

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Over the past decade, co-productions across the Global South have moved from exception to possibility., Landmark collaborations, festival breakthroughs, and platform acquisitions have demonstrated that stories can travel beyond traditional North-led circuits. But these moments remain sporadic rather than systemic. The question now is no longer whether Global South collaboration can happen—but how it becomes repeatable, bankable, and structurally embedded. This session moves beyond celebrating milestones to examine what is still missing beneath the surface. While some regions benefit from formal co-production treaties, many Global South partnerships operate without clear legal frameworks, relying on informal structures, workarounds, or third-country intermediaries. What does it take to move from opportunistic deals to sustainable, treaty-backed collaboration—or viable alternatives when treaties don’t exist? The focus shifts from access to scale, from opportunity to continuity, and from visibility to real market power.

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Key Talking Points:

• Beyond the Breakthrough Moment: Turning isolated co-productions into sustained collaboration pipelines.

• Co-Production Treaties: Enabler or Barrier?: When formal agreements exist—and how filmmakers operate when they don’t.

• Designing Repeatable Co-Production Models: Building frameworks that go beyond ad hoc partnerships.

• Distribution as the Missing Link: Why circulation across Global South territories still lags behind production.

• Audience Convergence Across Regions: Leveraging shared viewership patterns to unlock financing and partnerships.

• From Workarounds to Structure: Navigating legal, financial, and institutional gaps—and what needs to evolve next.

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Moderator: TBD

Speakers:

• Moses Babatope, Group CEO, The Nile Media Entertainment Group, Nigeria | TBC

• Enrico Chiasi, Head of Films, OIF (La Francophonie), France 

• Francis Nebot, Producer, Founder, iFind Pictures, France

• Speaker 4

• Speaker 6

12:50PM ​​​

1:30 PM

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Panel 17 | Beyond Subtitles: The Global Language of Storytelling

The Secret Language Behind Stories That Travel

The global success of series like Squid Game—and breakout hits such as Bandi on global platforms—has disrupted a long-standing assumption: that stories need to be culturally neutral—or simplified—to travel. In reality, what resonates globally is not dilution, but precision. Yet too often, stories from the Global South are filtered through familiar frames—village life, migration, hardship—limiting both perception and reach. The question is no longer just how stories travel, but which stories are positioned to travel—and through which systems.

This session goes beyond storytelling craft to examine the mechanics of global circulation. What does it take for a story to move from local success to distribution across platforms and territories such as Globo in Brazil, Reliance Entertainment in India, major Chinese platforms, or broadcasters like MBC Group? From format and censorship considerations to dubbing, pacing, genre expectations, and platform strategy, the conversation explores how filmmakers can create stories that are rooted yet adaptable, specific yet structurally compatible with multiple markets. At its core, this is about designing narratives—and projects—that can cross borders without losing their identity.

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Key Talking Points:

• Beyond the Expected Narrative: Moving past recurring tropes (village, migration, struggle) toward layered, contemporary storytelling.

• From Local Hit to Global Distribution: What differentiates projects that scale internationally across platforms and territories.

• Platform & Market Requirements: Understanding expectations from players like Globo, Reliance Entertainment, Chinese streamers, and MBC Group (format, censorship, language, pacing).

• Relatability Without Reduction: Crafting stories that connect emotionally across cultures without flattening identity.

• The Invisible Language of Film: Structure, genre, tone, and rhythm as cross-cultural storytelling tools.

• Positioning for Multi-Territory Reach: Packaging, casting, and narrative choices that enable circulation across diverse markets.

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Moderator: TBC

Speakers:

• Speaker 1

• Speaker 2

• Speaker 3

2:10 PM

3:00 PM ​​

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Pitch Session 2

The Kongos Stories in Motion

From Kinshasa to Brazzaville, The New Kongolese Screen Wave

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From the early cinematic pioneers of the 1970s and 1980s to today’s globally visible auteurs, the two Congos have long carried a distinct and evolving screen identity. Early Congolese filmmakers helped lay the foundations of national and diasporic cinema at a time when African filmmaking itself was still defining its language—working within limited infrastructures but with a strong cultural and political urgency that shaped how Congolese stories entered the screen imagination. Today, a new generation is expanding that legacy with international reach and renewed creative ambition. From the poetic, genre-bending work of Baloji (Augure) to contemporary productions such as Rumba Royale, Congolese cinema is experiencing a visible resurgence that bridges heritage, music culture, urban storytelling, and global aesthetics. This pitch session connects emerging voices with the historical continuum of Congolese filmmaking—recognising both the pioneers who built its foundations decades ago and the contemporary directors now positioning Kinshasa and Brazzaville as key creative hubs in African and global cinema. The Two Congos as a Shared Cinematic Space where Kinshasa and Brazzaville as interconnected creative ecosystems with mirrored histories and narratives.

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Moderator: Serge Noukoué, Founder, Nollywood Week & Okadia Media, France + Benin

Pitchers:

• Giresse Kassongo, Producer, Founder, Kongo Konnect, DR Congo

• Speaker 2

• Speaker 3

2:14 PM

3:10 PM

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Spotlight On 4 Sonic DNA: The Music Supervisor’s Role in Shaping Film Identity

Where Sound Becomes Story, Memory & Market Value

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In today’s global screen ecosystem, music is no longer a finishing layer—it is a core narrative and strategic asset from development onwards. For a music supervisor, the role has expanded far beyond licensing tracks or scoring scenes. It now sits at the intersection of storytelling, cultural identity, and audience positioning, where sonic choices directly influence how a film travels emotionally and commercially across markets. This 20-minute spotlight explores how music supervision shapes the DNA of a film’s world-building—from the integration of traditional instruments and regional sound archives to the use of AI-driven composition tools and hybrid sonic design. It also examines how music supervisors are increasingly acting as creative partners in defining tone, authenticity, and market resonance, ensuring that a film’s soundscape is not only emotionally precise but also globally legible. In an era where audiences consume stories across platforms and formats, sound has become one of the most powerful tools for differentiation, recognition, and cultural impact.​

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Key Themes:

• Music Supervision as Narrative Design How sonic choices shape story structure, emotion, and audience perception.

• Cultural Identity Through Sound Blending traditional instruments, regional motifs, and contemporary composition.

• AI & Hybrid Composition Tools How emerging technologies are transforming music creation and supervision workflows.

• From Scene Support to Story Architecture Music as a driver of tone, pacing, and world-building—not just enhancement.

• Global Audience Translation How sound helps films cross cultural and linguistic barriers.

• Music as Market Strategy How sonic identity influences branding, memorability, and international positioning.

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Moderator: TBD

Speaker: Clementine Koumenda, Music Supervisor, France

3:20PM

4:10PM

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Town Hall Panel 18 | When the Image Sells First: The Visual Language of “Must-See” Cinema

How Films Like Sinners and Other Bold Aesthetic Works Turn Look, Tone & Identity into Financing Power

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In an oversaturated market, some films don’t get “explained” into existence—they get felt before they are understood. Projects like Sinners, alongside a growing wave of visually distinctive, auteur-driven cinema, demonstrate a shift where visual identity is not decoration, but persuasion. Before audiences arrive, investors, festivals, and distributors are already making decisions based on tone, framing, colour logic, and the confidence of the image. The question is no longer just what the story is—but how convincingly it exists in visual form at the earliest stage.

This panel unpacks how visual storytelling has become a form of financial and strategic language in today’s industry. From pitch decks that function like mood films, to cinematography that signals market positioning, to production design that communicates scale and ambition, the “look” of a project now often determines whether it moves forward. Filmmakers, producers, and creative leads explore how narrative identity is increasingly built through image-first thinking—shaping not only audience attraction, but also packaging, greenlight decisions, and global distribution pathways.

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Key Talking Points:

• The Film That Sells Before It Exists: How visual identity drives investor, studio, and distributor confidence early.

• Image as Financial Language: Why cinematography, tone, and design now function as pitching tools.

• Aesthetic Authority & Market Trust: How a strong visual world signals viability, scale, and artistic control.

• From Script to Lookbook Culture: The rise of visual decks, mood reels, and cinematic pitch environments.

• Audience Pull Through Visual Identity: How striking aesthetics create anticipation before release or marketing.

• Global Case Studies & New Auteur Strategies: What recent visually bold films reveal about financing and distribution success.

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Moderator: TBD

Speakers:

• Moufida Fedhila, Filmmaker, Producer, Founder, Yol Film House, Tunisia + France

• Ogo Okpue, Director, Writer, Graphic Designer, UK + Nigeria

• Violeta Sofia, Award Winning Photographer, Visual Artist, UK + Cameroon + Equatorial Guinea

• Speaker 4

4:40PM

5:40PM

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Masterclass 4 |

​The Financing Blueprint | Building Film that Attract Capital

From Public Funds to Private Investors, Brands & Multi-Format Funding & Revenue Strategies

Most films don’t fail in production—they fail in financing design. In today’s industry, creative ambition is only one part of the equation; filmmakers are increasingly required to build projects that are financially intelligible to multiple types of capital at once. From film funds and soft money systems to private investors, co-production structures, brands, and emerging platform financing, the real challenge is no longer just raising money—but designing projects that are built to attract it.

This masterclass breaks down how financing actually works across today’s fragmented global landscape, and how filmmakers can strategically position their work for different funding sources from the earliest stage. It explores how public funds assess cultural and regional value, how private investors evaluate risk and return, how brands integrate into storytelling as funding partners, and how multi-format thinking (film, series, vertical, digital) is increasingly shaping investment decisions. At its core, this session reframes financing as a creative architecture problem—where structure, positioning, and audience logic determine whether a project gets funded, packaged, and ultimately made.​​

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Key Talking Points:

• Financing as Creative Positioning: How financial structure influences storytelling scope, scale, and market potential.

• Film Funds & Soft Money Systems: How public incentives and regional funds shape project viability.

• Private Capital Logic: What investors and financiers actually respond to in packaging and pitch strategy.

• Brand Integration as Financing Layer: How product placement evolves into structured, narrative-driven partnerships.

• Multi-Format Monetisation Strategies: Financing films across theatrical, streaming, vertical, and hybrid ecosystems.

• From Concept to Capital-Ready Project: How filmmakers can structure ideas to attract funding from the outset.

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Host:

• Erik Gordon, VP Corporate Partners, FilmHedge, USA

6:00 PM

Cocktail Reception