PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Adrian Sitaru and Mariette Rissenbeek, members of the jury of the 34th Torino Film Festival.
Romanian Director Adrian Sitaru and General Manager of German Films Mariette Rissenbeek are two members of the official competition jury at the 34th Torino Film Festival. Chaired by cinematographer Ed Lachman, the jury is also composed by actress Hadas Yaron and actor-director Don McKellar. What’s the role and the importance of film festivals nowadays? The jurors try to analyze arthouse cinema situation at the moment and how film festivals can help in distributing it to a wider audience.
Mariette Rissenbeek (The Netherlands) studied German Language and Literature. After working at an advertising agency in Berlin, she switched to the film industry and started working at the distribution company Tobis Film, where she was also involved in the co-production of Wim Wenders’ Faraway, So Close! In 1995, she joined Regina Ziegler Filmproduktion; she then founded her own production company in Hamburg and produced Mika Kaurismäki’s Highway Society. She later joined Hofmann & Voges Entertainment in Munich and in 2002 moved on to German Films Service + Marketing GmbH, where she is currently General Manager. Adrian Sitaru (Romania) lives and works in Bucharest. In 2007, with the short film Waves, he won the Golden Pardino – Leopards of Tomorrow at the Locarno Film Festival for best international short film. His debut feature film, Hooked (2008), premiered at Venice Days and established him as one of the most important new voices in Romanian post-communist cinema. He will be presenting two films at this year’s Torino Film Festival: Ilegitim and Fixeur, both made in 2016.