Hanna Maylett is Assistant Professor of Film Directing and Head of Teaching at ELO Film School Finland, Aalto University. An educator and practitioner with over 25 years of experience, her work focuses on artistic collaboration, directing pedagogy, and the development of creative resilience and authorship in filmmaking.

Abstract
This presentation introduces the Professional Practices Course at ELO Film School Finland as a pedagogical model for supporting graduating screenwriters and directors in their transition from school to the professional field. The course addresses how to build artistic resilience, professional self-esteem, and sustainable creative careers in today’s precarious film industry. Combining reflective dialogue, mentoring, and industry collaboration, the course functions as a “bridge” between art and industry — a safe yet realistic space where students explore contracts, funding, and well-being alongside questions of authorship, ethics, and artistic identity. The talk reflects on timing, psychological safety, and how film schools can cultivate confidence without losing courage

Benjamin Freidenberg is the Head of Study Programs in Arabic and a lecturer of International Cinema at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, from which he also graduated. He is a film director and cinema studies scholar who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in linguistics and is currently completing his PhD at the Department of Italian and French Studies. His research focuses on film language, targeting the linkage between historical linguistics, the development of film craft and cinematographic theories. Benjamin served as a project manager in international and local philanthropic funds for the arts, education and social justice. In recent years, he has been working as a fundraiser and resource developer for the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School’s programs and for a regional economic think tank focused on social mobility. 

Abstract
In an era of shrinking public budgets and an increasingly competitive audiovisual landscape, film schools face growing pressure to not only educate but also sustain the creative and professional trajectories of their graduates. This presentation explores the strategic role of philanthropy and resource development as integral to the educational and creative mission of film schools.

Who’s afraid of fundraising? – The lecture will examine how cultivating relationships with foundations, individual donors, and cultural institutions can empower schools to provide post-graduation support, alumni film funds, and industry bridges — particularly under pressure, crisis and in complex socio-political contexts. Philanthropy, when understood as an extension of creative responsibility, can become a tool for inclusion, resilience, and innovation, shaping an ecosystem where film education nurtures long-term artistic and societal impact.

The talk will address how schools can translate trust and vision into tangible opportunities for graduates and it invites reflection on how resource development professionals and creative educators can align their missions, turning generosity into infrastructure.

Barry Dignam, IADT, Ireland has spent over two decades at the intersection of film, culture, education, and industry. He currently serves as Vice Dean for the European University (FilmEU) at IADT, Ireland’s Campus for the Creative Industries, incorporating the National Film School. He has served on many industry and educational boards, including the executive board of NAHEMI – the UK’s National Association for Higher Education in the Moving Image – and the Irish National Skills Taskforce.

Barry is a multi-award-winning filmmaker, his films have been shown at over 150 international festivals including the Berlinale and Cannes and distributed through major broadcasters, on-demand platforms, and theatrical releases. As an educator, Barry has over twenty years of experience working with students and researchers at all levels. At IADT, he has served as the Head of the Department of Film & Media, Chair of Film & Television.

He is the Chair of GEECT and serves on the Executive Council of CILECT.

Abstract

ENGAGE (2008–2014) was a European training network that tried to answer a brutal post-film-school question: how do you stop talented graduates evaporating between their first short and their first real industry foothold? The programme put emerging producers, writers, and writer-directors into a nine-month, three-workshop pressure cooker across partner schools in Dublin, Edinburgh, and the Helsinki–Tallinn corridor. The trick wasn’t just mentoring or pitching practice, but engineered collaboration: cross-border teams, escalating deadlines, repeated “project surgeries,” and a final public pitching forum. As one of the teachers on ENGAGE, I’ll unpack what actually worked (and what occasionally imploded), using the last cohort in 2014 as a snapshot. The case study argues that resilience and professional longevity can be taught, but only if we treat networking, co-development, and pitching as core curriculum rather than optional extras. In a moment when graduates face longer development timelines and higher funding pressure than ever, the ENGAGE model can offer a practical model for keeping early-career filmmakers in the game without sanding off what made their voices interesting in the first place.

Assoc. Prof. Katarína Moláková studied Screenwriting at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratisla. She is actively involved in original screenwriting, particularly in animation for both children and adults (e.g., the series and films Mimi & Líza, directed by Katarína Kerekesová; the films Snow and Yellow, directed by Ivana Šebestová; the series Forest Five, produced by Fool Moon). She also writes for television (e.g., TV series Wild Wine, The Hospital, and the TV fairy tale The Magical Apple). The works she has collaborated on have received 37 national and international awards. Since 2004, she has been teaching at the Film and TV faculty, where she previously served as Vice-Dean for Studies and currently heads the Screenwriting Department.

Mgr. Jakub Gejdoš, ArtD. , Head of the Production Department and lecturer at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. He specializes in television production, format development, and location management, and collaborates on Slovak television projects. His work focuses on connecting academic education with contemporary industry practice.

Lorenzo D’Amico De Carvalho, (born in Roma in 1981) has worked as director (Gli Anni Belli European Film Festival Palić), screenwriter (I’M endless like the space 74° Mostra d’arte Cinematografica di Venezia – Venice Days), documentarist (The Rossellinis co-directed with Alessandro Rossellini, David di Donatello 2021 nominee; Rua do prior 41 17th Biografilm Festival), and editor (Gli Immortali 18° Festa del Cinema di Roma). He teaches creative writing  at RUFA-Rome University of Fine Arts, since 2021 is Head of International Office of Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.


Vít Schmarc is a trained literary historian who later became a film critic, distributor, and producer of independent films. He currently serves as Vice-Dean of FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) and is deeply interested in bridging the interests of the audiovisual industry with the academic world.

Abstract
The presentation focuses on FAMU’s practical experience in developing the CME Content Academy project, which connects the academic sphere with the television industry. Who gained? Who lost? Who got burned? And what have we learned — about our kind and about the other?

Christian Checa graduated in directing from ESCAC in 2006 and earned a degree in Philosophy the following year. He also holds a Master’s in Contemporary Cinema and Audiovisual Studies and a PhD in Social Communication from UPF. His doctoral research, presented in the thesis Los cuerpos del cine, focused on changes in staging brought by digital technology and was awarded cum laude in 2016. He has published the book No Trespassing, contributed to collective volumes, and written articles for specialized journals. Since 2013, he has taught at ESCAC, and he currently serves as Head of the Master’s and Postgraduate Department and Director of the Barcelona Arts Summer School (BASS), a transdisciplinary creative lab supported by the Barcelona City Council, Generalitat de Catalunya, ESCAC, ESMUC, and the Institut del Teatre.