Film circulation Thinktank: meet the exhibitors • CICAE

On the 11th of June, CICAE and Europa Distribution join forces for a groundbreaking format bringing together exhibitors and distributors from all across the world during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

After her studies in German, Petra began as a cinema manager in the Lichtburg Filmpalast Oberhausen. There she creates, with a young team, a programm, which has been awarded since 2005 by the Film and Media Foundation NRW and by the Commissioner of the Federal Government for Culture and Media. At the same time, she has worked in numerous selection commissions (BKM screenwriting & production promotion of program-filled children's and youth films, the special children's film) as well as juries (LUCAS, commission of the AG Kino-Gilde in the international competition of the Berlinale, DER BESONDERE KINDERFILM) and in the FFA Commission MARKETING & VERLEIH. Since 2010, she has been as guest lecturer at C.I.C.A.E. (Confédération Internationnale des Cinémas d'Art et d'Essai), film theatermanager and since 2015 on the board of the AG Kino Gilde.

Marlena Gabryszewska

Marlena is a Film scholar and cultural manager. In 2016, she took over the management of the Elektronik cinema, at the Warsaw Film School, setting its programme direction and changing its character. She has won the CINEMAKER OF THE YEAR 2018, co-organises the Przejście festival - Accessible Cinema Weekend and is the co-founder of the arthouse cinema platform MOJEeKINO.PL. Since 2019 she serves as the President of the polish arthouse association Stowarzyszenie Kin Studyjnych, as the Deputy President of the Council of the Polish Film Institute and since 2023 as Vice-President of CICAE.

After 20 years of experience in film programming, Michele Crocchiola is now the director of Niels Stensen Cultural Foundation in Florence.

Founder of 3 film festivals (MENF 2025 is on its 16th ed.), he focuses on projects which aim at cultural and educative goals through cinematographic language.

He has had experience also in the field of national distribution and business consultancy (Cinema Srl, Valmyn, Movies Inspired, Tucker Film) and is currently delegate for Tuscany and Vice-President of the Italian Arthouse Association.

Hristo Hristozov works as a cultural and business consultant in the field of leadership, as well as in cinema and cultural management. In 2011 Hristo joined Sofia International Film Festival team. From early 2017 (with a 2-year break) he has been working as Program Director of Cinema House Sofia. He managed to modernize both the program and the atmosphere of the cinema without sacrificing the authentic spirit of the place. From 2023 Hristo is also Programme Director of the biggest audience driven festival in Bulgaria CINEMANIA and Odeon Cinema.

In addition, Hristo runs a small company for art film distribution and serves as program manager of a few film festivals, incl. Master of Art Film Festival showing exclusively documentaries on art.

I am the Head of Programming at Kauno Kino Centras “Romuva” in Lithuania, where I’ve been working for the past four years. My work focuses on curating special programmes for international projects, organizing event-based film screenings, and promoting both contemporary and modern classic cinema. I am also part of the team responsible for acquiring youth-oriented films for distribution in Lithuania. In addition to my role in film exhibition, I have experience as a freelance cultural journalist.

Sylvie is the film festival coordinator and cinema theater programmer at Le Zola, organizer of the Festival du film Court de Villeurbanne (November)

The festival shows every year since 1976, short movies, with a specific focus on animated shorts. Best animated is granted with 2000 euros award.

Le Zola also hosted "What the Fuck » Programme from the Annecy film festival several times and organises with Ecole Emile Cohl, different shows of animated shots.

My name is Hinrik and I am 25-years-old. I am a manager at Bíó Paradís, the only art house cinema in Iceland.

I am here in Annecy to get a better grasp on the animation industry in Europe and bring some new information back home to mobilise the industry in Iceland.

He is a major in Audiovisual Communication and has a postgraduate degree in Cultural Management. Since 2004, he has worked at film festivals and exhibitions in Mexico, such as FICCO, Cinema Global, and Distrital. In June 2012, together with a group of friends, he opened Cine Tonalá in Mexico City's Colonia Roma. This network of arthouse cinemas and cultural centers has had replicas and sister projects in Bogotá, Tijuana, and Querétaro. He has produced some documentaries and experimental works with directors such as María José Cuevas and Camila José Donoso. He has served on the jury at the Monterrey International Film Festival, the Rio de Janeiro Filmmakers' Week, and the Cuenca International Film Festival. He teaches the Distribution Seminar at the Escuela Superior de Cine in Mexico City and has been a tutor at various editions of the Locarno Academy LATAM. As a producer, he is currently developing audiovisual projects that adapt intellectual property.

« I became interested in cinema as a teenager and it immediately turn to a huge passion. I studied it at university and wrote and shot a few short films. Then, my career led me to work for the development of cinema policies in public structures and for film festivals in the south of France. For the past three years, I have been the director of the arthouse cinema Le Navire in Valence (Drôme, France). »

Emna Lakhoua is a cultural practitioner based in Tunis, Tunisia. As assistant director of CinéMadart, Tunisia’s leading arthouse cinema, she oversees the launch of CinéCollections, a media library dedicated to independent films from the Global South.