Tutors

Catherine Ulmer – Workshop Tutor and Pitching Moderator

After studying Philosophy and a foray into journalism, Catherine Ulmer López began to make documentaries in 2003. Her first film, Despoblado, dealt with the theme of mass graves under Franco’s regime for Canal Sur. The second film, ¡Compañeros! about the International Brigades, won a prize at the CMCA Festival. In 2006, she took an interest in the young priests in Rome training for a career in the Church and made a film for ARTE ZDF and TVE.  Then, in 2008, she followed the life of Mukhtar Mai, a victim of gang rape who fought against Pakistan’s repressive system by setting up schools for young girls. Presented at IDFA, After the Rape is distributed by Women Make Movies.  In 2013 she co-directed the documentary feature film  Érase una vez las 1001 noches for ARTE. As an author she has participated, always for ARTE, in the documentary Mezquitas:  Arte y Espacio.

She regularly collaborates with the France 5 documentary series Une maison, un artiste / Une maison, une légende for which she has made films about Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Federico García Lorca, Gaudí, André Breton, Joan Mirò, Dora Maar, Joan of Arc, Charles Darwin, Jean Moulin, etc.

In 2020, she directed the only documentary about Bryan FerryBryan Ferry: Don’t Stop the Music, for ARTE and RTBF.  And a 52′ film on the Château de Chantilly for France 5.

In 2022, she made a documentary feature film to be premièred at cinemas Fucking Rabbit! which followed the workshops of student actors and young patients in a psychiatric day hospital for a year and a half.  In 2023, she made a 60-minute portrait of Pedro Almodóvar for France 5 which received the student prize at the International History Film Festival in Pessac.

The 3 x 52’ series she has written for ARTE about human migrations from the Rhine Valley between the Thirty Years’ War until the mid-20th century will be broadcast in 2025. She is currently developing a documentary about high-risk communities in East Harlem and a feature film for cinema.  She has just finished filming a portrait of the American actress Glenn Close for ARTE.

Ventura Durall i Soler – Tutor of the Pitch Preparation Workshop

Ventura Durall is a screenwriter, director and producer of documentaries and fiction. He is a graduate of the ESCAC (Escuela Superior de Cine y Audiovisuales de Cataluña) [Higher School of Cinema and Audiovisual Art of Catalonia], specialising in scripts. He founded the production company NANOUK FILMS (www.nanouk.tv) in the year 2000. He has been the chairman of ProDocs and for 10 years he has been the coordinator of the Documentary Department at ESCAC. His films have been shown at the biggest international festivals such as Sundance, San Sebastián, Locarno, Málaga, IDFA and HOTDOCS.

He has directed films such as La ofrenda (2019), Bugarach (2014), Los años salvajes (2009), El perdón (2009) and Las dos vidas de Andrés Rabadán (2008). He has produced films such as Yo la busco (Sara Gutiérrez, 2018), Alcaldesa (Pau Faus, 2016) and Dead Slow Ahead (Mauro Herce, 2015) and the TV series Esto no es Suecia.

Major works:

As director, scriptwriter and producer:

  • 2022 Sis nits d’agost (95 min. Nanouk Films, TVC). TVMOVIE. Gaudí Prize for best movie for television.
  • 2020 La ofrenda (111 min. Nanouk films, Suica Films, Fasten Films, Bord Cadre Films, Televisió de Catalunya, À punt). Málaga Film Festival, D’A. Gaudí Prize for best supporting actress.
  • 2018 Primer estrato [First Stratum] (28 min. Nanouk Films). Málaga Film Festival. Mediterranean Film festival, best director award. https://www.filmin.es/corto/primer-estrat?origin=searcher&origin-query=primary
  • 2014 Bugarach (90 min, Nanouk Films, Filmtank, WDR, TVE, TVC) -VISIONS du Réel, Hotdocs, DOCUMENTAMADRID, DOCSBARCELONA, Official Selection. IDFA, Best of Fests. FIPRESCI Prize at the MESSAGE TO MAN FILM FESTIVAL (ST. PETERSBURG).
  • 2014 El caso de los catalanes (75 min, HD, TVC, TV movie).
  • 2013 Los años salvajes [The Wild Years] (70 min, HD, Nanouk Films, Televisió de Catalunya) -IDFA Competition for Feature Length Documentary: Munich Film Festival, Magnolia Award (Shangai), Best Photography. International Film and Human Rights Festival of Valencia, Best Film.
  •  2011 La sonrisa escondida [The Hidden Smile] (13 min, HD, Nanouk Films) – Sundance Film Festival – Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Black Pearl Award -SHNIT International Short Film Festival Berne & Cologne (Switzerland), Best Short Film – Wimbledon SHORTS 2011 (UK ), Best Short Movie – Paris Courts Delante (France) Special Jury Award -10th Euganea Film Festival (Italy) Best International Short Film – Madrid Imagen (Spain) Best Short Film / Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography -Corti a Ponte (Italy) Best Short Film.
  • 2009 El perdón [The Forgiveness] (Nanouk Films, C+ 2009, HD, 65 min.), prizewinner at the Belgrade International Documentary Festival, Audience Award at the Mon-Doc International Documentary Festival, and special awards at different international TV programme festivals. Winner of Second Prize at the World Media Festival. It has also won prizes at several International Documentary Festivals such as IDFA, DOKLEIPZIG, THESSALONIKI and DOCSDF.
  • 2008 Las dos vidas de Andrés Rabadán (Nanouk Films, TVC, 2008, 35mm, 84 min.) has received, among other awards, the Best European Independent Film prize in 2009 at the ECU Festival in Paris, the Jury Grand Prix at the Annecy Spanish Cinema Biennial in 2010, three Gaudí Awards from the Catalan Academy in 2010 (Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress), Best Catalan Feature Film Award in 2009 at the Festival International du Premier Film de Annonay

As producer:

  • 2023 Esto no es Suecia 8-part TV series (TVE, TVE, YLE, NDR). CANADERÍAS (FIRST SERIES), EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRIX EUROPA.
  • 2022 Quest (75 min.) NANOUK FILMS, LA PERIFÉRICA.
  • 2018 Yo la busco (83 min.) NANOUK FILMS. Málaga Film Festival: Movistar Prize for the Best Film, Bisnaga Prize for the Best Actor.
  • 2015 Dead Slow Ahead (75 min. NANOUK FILMS, EL VIAJE FILMS, TVC)- Locarno Film Festival: Jury Grand Prize.

As producer and scriptwriter:

  • 2016 Alcaldesa [Ada for Mayor] (88 min. NANOUK FILMS). Málaga Film Festival: Best Director.