Goodridge adds China film expert to his team

For the second year in a row, Mike Goodridge is IFFAM’s artistic director. Having guided the festival through its extremely successful second year, the director reminds us that IFFAM “is a young festival” where the “international competition should consist of work from young directors who can offer fresh perspectives on the world we live in.”

Before taking on this role with IFFAM, Goodridge was the CEO of the London-based production company Protagonist Pictures, where he was responsible for overseeing the production and distribution of up of 60 movies. Experienced in the film industry, the ex-journalist hopes that IFFAM “can be an informal gathering place where East and West can really celebrate film.”

Head of festival management again this year is Lorna Tee. The pan-Asian producer and consultant has vast experience with festivals as she has also worked on the board of numerous international film festivals. Presently, Tee serves as the Festival Director of the Netherlands-based CinemAsia Film Festival and as the Asian representative for the France-based Back Up Media Group.

IFFAM 2018 works with four programming consultants: Giovanna Fulvi, a veteran of the Film Festival industry; Fionnuala Halligan, the Reviews Editor and Chief Film Critic for Screen International, the British magazine and website; Violeta Bava, currently working with the Venice International Film Festival as their Latin Consultant and Hiromi Aihara, renowned Japanese producer.

New to this year’s festival is Maxine Leonard – the US consultant – who has over 20 years of experience in the film industry as a marketing and publicity expert, with special expertise and experience in Asian and Chinese cinema. The team is complete with June Wu, returning as Head of Industry.