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CINEGIRL IS MEDIA PARTNER AT BEYOU FESTIVAL 

Cinegirl is proud to be a media partner of BeYou Festival!

Join us for this empowering event…  

EXPERIENCED INDUSTRY LEADER SAM MARGARITIS JOINS FORCES WITH THRIVE AND VALUE SQUARED IN UNIQUE CONSULTANCY PROPOSITION  

Thrive and Value Squared have announced a partnership with independent industry consultant Sam Margaritis to offer modern media companies a range of services to help them recruit, structure, and maximise their growth in order to scale in a socially responsible way.  

Sam is an entrepreneurial leader, formerly MD and partner of a successful B-corp on-set and post-production services company, with deep expertise in production, post-production and technology for film, high-end TV and branded entertainment. She was included in Women in Film & TV’s 2023 cohort of ‘Fearless Leaders’ – a training & development scheme designed for women in positions of senior leadership within the industry.   

Thrive is an innovative executive search and talent strategy company specialising in creative industries. With a unique positioning across TV and advertising, Thrive empowers clients and candidates to achieve their best work while driving positive impact and building sustainable and inclusive cultures.   

Value Squared is a boutique consultancy that boosts the value of businesses and brands, from startups, scaleups, and SMEs to corporations. Value Squared’s tailored approach aligns leaders and teams to a common company purpose and creates a robust financial and operational framework by which to scale responsibly, enabling people and businesses to outperform their market.   

Working in partnership together, Margaritis, Sarah Shields (Thrive) and Juliette Otterburn-Hall (Value Squared), will offer companies an end-to-end service comprising; strategic consulting, organisational change, executive search and specialist advice tailored for the film, television and content creation industries. This partnership’s groundbreaking and holistic approach, designed from within the creative industry, motivates people and companies to foster positive and inclusive cultures whilst reaching individual and company goals – enabling all to thrive.    

Commenting on the partnership, Sam Margaritis said: “I am beyond thrilled to be collaborating with two brilliant female leaders who share my passion and enthusiasm for supporting successful companies through empathetic leadership, social responsibility and positive & inclusive organisational cultures. I look forward to being able to apply my experience to continue to help positively shape the storytelling industries I’m so passionate about.” 

Sarah Shields, founder of Thrive said: “We’re excited to partner with Sam. She has a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the film & television production business, coupled with a genuine passion and expertise in creating positive and successful business cultures. Her leadership skills, experience, energy and enthusiasm make her the perfect partner to help our clients achieve sustainable success.” 

Juliette Otterburn-Hall, Managing Partner at Value Squared, added: “I’m delighted that through partnering with Sam and Sarah, we have created a compelling, dynamic & experienced team that can deliver true value to a wide range of enterprises, empowering business leaders to achieve commercial & organisational success.” 

GARDEN STUDIOS LAUNCHES NEW INITIATIVE TO END DISCRIMINATION ON SET 

Garden Studios is thrilled to announce the launch of a ground-breaking campaign to address a long-standing issue in the film and TV industry. The PMADiverse Squad, Time's Up UK, and The British Blacklist, have joined forces to ensure that the hair and makeup experience on set is professional, fair, and equal for black and global majority actors.

In Cannes, prominent British talents including Fola Evans-Akingbola, Lashana Lynch, Naomie Harris, and Jordan Pitt supported this vital initiative aimed at promoting inclusivity in the film industry. This campaign introduces anew clause to actors' deal memos mandating hair and makeup consultations, ensuring that artists assigned have the expertise to cater to diverse hair textures and skin tones.

Dame Heather Rabbats, Chair of Time’s Up UK and Garden Studios, emphasised the significance of this clause: "Discrimination based on hairstyle or texture has alienated and harmed Black and global majority actors.This new clause is the beginning of our work to ensure inclusivity in hair and makeup services on set."

Join us in supporting this essential movement to create a fair and equal environment for all actors on set. Let's ensure everyone feels valued and represented.

BFI SOUTHBANK REVEALS PROGRAMME FOR TIGRITUDES: A PAN-AFRICAN FILM CYCLE 

The BFI announces  full details for Tigritudes: A Pan-African Film Cycle, taking place at BFI Southbank from Saturday 1 June – Wednesday 31 July. Africa and its diaspora are rich in diverse and powerful film cultures, despite the heavy legacy of colonialism on the structuring of their cultural industries and the significant challenges faced by artists in producing cinema on the continent. Yet, these cinemas remain largely unknown. Originally launched in France, before touring across the African continent, TIGRITUDES is a subjective and chronological anthology of Pan-African cinema, offering a broad, accessible, and eclectic programme to share the range, inventiveness, and vitality of a moving image culture afflicted by chronic international under-distribution. Throughout June and July, BFI Southbank will present a selection of films, including several restorations, from the vast anthology (the complete project comprises 128 films from 42 countries), chosen by curators and filmmakers Dyana Gaye and Valérie Osouf, while selected additional screenings will also take place at Tate Modern and The Garden Cinema. 

BFI Southbank’s season will feature works from critically acclaimed directors such as Julie Dash, Med Hondo and Souleymane Cissé, as well as artists whose names are less recognisable, but whose work contributes to the myriad of richly diverse and powerful film cultures across Africa and its diasporas, articulating an unprecedented plurality of styles, themes, and languages. As well as film screenings, Tigritudes will include a number of introductions, Q&As and discussions, including a season introduction on 3 June; special guests taking part in the season will include Tigritudes programmers Dyana Gaye and Valérie Osouf, Tony Warner of African Odysseys and Black History Walks, writers and curators Matthew Barrington, Abiba Coulibaly, Elhum Shakerifar and Xavier Pillai, and Keith Shiri of Film Africa. 

Further venues in London showcasing the Tigritudes programme will include Tate Modern, who will host an evening of Pan-African artist films on 5 June, with a conversation with artist filmmaker Randa Maroufi, and on 7 June a double-bill of Karingana – The Dead Tell No Tales (Inadelso Cossa, 2019, Mozambique) and Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You (Lemohang Mosese, 2019, Germany-Lesotho-Qatar), followed by a conversation between Tate curators and filmmaker Lemohang Mosese. The Garden Cinema will also host two events – on 8 June, there will a screening of Sarah Maldoror’s Sambizanga (Sarah Maldoror, 1972, Angola), which will be introduced by Maldoror’s daughter, Annouchka de Andrade, who is currently completing a digitised archive of her mother’s remarkable body of work. Also screening at The Garden Cinema will be the ambitious, multilayered epic Ceddo (Ousmane Sembène, 1977, Senegal), with a screening on 17 June being introduced by Estrella Sendra from King’s College London. 

Season curators Dyana Gaye and Valérie Osouf said: “After Paris, Bobo Dioulasso, Dakar, Marrakech, Tangiers, Köln, Kinshasa, Goma, Bukavu, Lusaka, Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos and soon Geneva, Algiers, Kigali and Lisboa, we're thrilled to bring Tigritudes to London with this major season at BFI Southbank, as well as further screenings at the Tate Modern and The Garden Cinema! This opportunity to present these rare cinematic works, on the big screen, in such prestigious and popular venues mark a step towards the widespread recognition of Pan-African cinema.” 

MANCHESTER-BASED COMEDY DUO RELEASE DEBUT BFI FUNDED SHORT

Mo and Steph are a comedy-duo based in Manchester. “We met at Bournemouth University and have been making sketches and short films ever since, with our short Pancake Jam making it to the finals of the Funny Women’s Comedy Shorts Award in 2020. Our debut BFI funded short film, A Television Broadcast From Outer Space (2023), has gone on to get multiple festival selections, as well as winning best writers (Women X), Best Local Short, and Best UK Short (Fisheye Festival). Our aim to continue writing and directing comedy until our mutual untimely deaths.” 

In A Television Broadcast From Outer Space, Earth receives a mysterious broadcast from an ‘alternate earth’, showcasing random fragments of day-time television that aired on the day their world ended. This ‘social commentary’ is a high-octane fever dream, riddled with bizarre sketches and pitch-perfect pastiche that only a couple of film buffs could’ve created.  

JOIN THE CLUB 

Cinegirl Members will soon get their hands on our brand-new Spring/Summer 2024 issue, packed with fabulous, female-focused features.  

Enjoy all the benefits of the Cinegirl community by becoming a Cinegirl Member. As well as our print issues, you’ll get exclusive invites to our exciting events, where you can make new, long-lasting connections with others making their mark in the industry, in a relaxed atmosphere.  

SAVE THE DATES – FESTIVALS ROUND-UP

London Indian Film Festival (LIFF): 17 June - 3 July 2024 

Sheffield DocFest: 12-17 June 2024 

Windrush Caribbean Film Festival: 1-30 June 2024 

Sundance Film Festival: London: 6-9 June 2024 

Raindance Film Festival: 19-29 June 2024 

Ramsgate International Film Festival: 25-30 June 2024 

Venice Film Festival: 28 August - 7 September 2024 

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF): 9-19 September 2024 

British Film Festival: 9-20 October 2024 

MPTS CELEBRATES BUMPER SHOW 

After two buzzing days of inspiration, learning and an abundance of networking, the biggest and best The Media Production & Technology Show (MPTS) yet attracted a record 12,000+ attendees from 52 countries. Cinegirl was a proud media partner of the show.  

Held at London’s Olympia on 15-16 May, the editorially driven programme comprised of over 100 live sessions of free content across eight theatres and featured more than 350 speakers. Combined with a bustling show floor of 300+ exhibitors and sponsor partners, the event showcased the depth, diversity and sheer talent of the UK’s creative and technical community.   

MPTS kicked off with a call by leading directors James Hawes (Slow Horses), James Strong (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) and Christiana Ebohon-Green (Call the Midwife) for enhanced tax breaks for UK indies to preserve the future of British drama.  

Voicing concern about the lack of opportunities for freelancers in the industry, Priya Singh, director of operations, commissioning & content at ITV, Sarah Asante, scripted commissioning editor for UKTV and Katie Benbow, director of strategy, BBC Studios shared advice on how broadcasters can better mentor young talent.   

Supporting freelancers in the industry was an urgent theme cutting across many sessions at the show, including at the Freelancers Landscape – What’s Next? session led by BECTU, Film & TV Charity and ScreenSkills. They are vital to the strength of the community and MPTS will continue to support them.    

Diverse representation in the industry is another vital sign of health and MPTS is leading this by setting the standards by going the extra mile to secure equal representation in the programme, which was also clearly witnessed across the show floor amongst exhibitors and attendees. 

MPTS acknowledges the crucial importance of sustainability in the industry and collaborated with organisations like BAFTA albert to bring this conversation to the fore with experts including Rachel Lyon, production executive and sustainability lead UKTV and David Garrido, presenter and sustainability lead at Sky Sport News. 

Headliners at MPTS included executive producer and author Sam McAlister, the real life star of Netflix feature Scoop who gave us the lowdown on how the story was adapted for screen alongside director Philip Martin. Fresh from winning an Oscar and BAFTA award sound designer Johnnie Burn drew crowds at the Audio Theatre for a behind the scenes masterclass into making The Zone of Interest. 

The Post Production stage featured state of the nation panels with leading industry figures in post and VFX from Picture Shop, Run VT, Azimuth, Ghost VFX, BlueBolt, Cinesite, 1185 Films and more.  

Charlotte Wheeler, event director, said, “The quality, diversity and sheer range of our speaker programme at this year’s show underlines the unique heritage of the UK’s world class creative industries and demonstrated how passionate everyone is to see it survive and thrive.” 

Save the date for MPTS 2025 when we return to Olympia London on 14-15 May 2025.