Anna Marsh is having quite a year. During CineEurope in June she picked up the International Distributor of the Year award. That was when Marsh was still the CEO of StudioCanal, one of Europe’s largest distributors, releasing around 50 films per year in multiple languages and countries. In October she was promoted Deputy CEO of StudioCanal’s parent company, the Canal+ Group.

Marsh first joined StudioCanal in 2008 as Vice President of International Sales before she was appointed Head of International Distribution Strategy, in 2013 and eventually Executive Vice President of International Distribution in 2017. She became the CEO of StudioCanal two years later.

Thanks to hit releases such as “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” “Top Gun Maverick” and “Smile” Paramount Pictures has had a fantastic year. Helping oversee the success of those releases around the globe was Helen Moss, the studio’s Senior Vice President of International Distribution.

Moss has been with the company since 2008 when she was hired as Vice President of Film Planning in their London office. She was instrumental in moving the studio’s international operations to Los Angeles in 2012 and has been a key part of planning Paramount’s release strategy throughout 65 international markets.

Kathleen Gallagher was promoted to her current position as EVP and General Sales Manager of North America at Universal Pictures earlier this year. She heads up the sales teams in the United States and Canada overseeing the distribution strategies for Universal titles within the territories. In her new role Gallagher works closely with exhibitors as well as Universal’s international distribution team. Prior to this, she was EVP and Managing Director for North America at Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Gallagher has been with Universal in various capacities since 2000.

There are few distribution executives in the business who know how to handle specialty film as well as Lisa Bunnell. She is in charge of all domestic theatrical release strategies and bookings for Focus Features, a position she has held since 2016. Bunnell actually began her career working in exhibition at Loews Cineplex Entertainment for 17 years before moving to Landmark Theatres and serving as their head film buyer. Earlier this year she received the Bingham Ray Spirit Award at ShowEast.

Elizabeth Trotman got her start in the movie business nearly 30 years ago as the Duty Manager at Berkeley on the Shore Cinema in Auckland, New Zealand. For the past 10 years, however, she is in charge of theatrical film and television distribution, acquisitions, development, production and much more at Studiocanal’s operations in Australia and New Zealand. In between Trotman has traveled the world, working in publicity and promotions for Warner Bros. in London, and managing marketing and licensing for BBC Studios across Asia. She returned to New Zealand twenty years ago to work for the Hoyts Group; first marketing the company’s cinemas and eventually taking over its film distribution division. During her tenure at Studiocanal she has overseen the distribution of over 250 films.

As the head of TOHO-TOWA, Japan’s oldest motion picture importer and distributor, Toshi Yamasaki has been in charge of managing all of the company’s international business dealings, including acquisition, since 2008. Toho-Tawa is a subsidiary of TOHO Company, one of Japan’s leading entertainment companies. The firm is responsible for distributing blockbuster Hollywood films for Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures, two partnerships Yamasaki was instrumental in forging. Yamasaki also has extensive experience in the home entertainment sector, where she began her career, and is fluent in Japanese, English and French. She was the first woman president in the entire TOHO group.

Amy Wood joined Crunchyroll in August as its Vice President of Global Theatrical Distribution, just as the company, known for its hit anime films, was about to release its latest title, “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.” Based in Los Angeles, Wood was brought into Crunchyroll to oversee teams in North America, Australia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. She arrived at the company from Lionsgate where she spent ten years in charge of international distribution. Prior to Lionsgate Wood spent eight years at Pacific and Arclight Theatres leading their marketing team.

After joining Disney 15 years ago as a member of Greater China, Carol Choi took on the role of Managing Director of Japan in February 2020. Prior to this, she was a managing director at Disney Korea from 2018-2020, and achieved outstanding results for two consecutive years. Choi oversees the entire business of Disney Japan. She succeeded in integrating the operations of Twentieth Century Fox as a leader, fostering a strong collaborative culture. Choi is responsible for achieving all the strategic objectives of Disney Japan and of facilitating the coordination of all businesses, this includes all corporate functions such as finance, human resources, marketing, corporate communications, strategy, and legal.

Ann-Elizabeth Crotty joined Sony Pictures in 2005 and has been rising through the ranks for the past decade with the motto, “you get out what you put in.” She has been putting a lot in as Manager of Exhibitor Relations, responsible for digital platforms, SVP Strategic Partnerships and senior VP of exhibitor relations worldwide. Ann-Elizabeth has seen the industry evolve significantly since her first role in 1993 and on the cinema side as director of exhibitor relations since 1997. She is driven by a can-do attitude, “I turn ideas into active happenings throughout the world! Hand me a new brand, vision, purpose and I run with it.” She pays tribute to the fact that having started as an assistant, and growing into expanding roles before rising to the level of EVP gave her invaluable ‘hands on’ experience and a developed wisdom for everything that goes into successful brand launches, of which Sony Pictures has been blessed with many during her time at the proverbial wheel.

When it comes to working with movie theatres to market upcoming and current releases, there are few in the business with as much experience as Susan Cotliar. She spent 24 years at Twentieth Century Fox working where she was ultimately named the Senior Vice President of In-Theatre Marketing. When Fox became a part of Disney Cotliar joined the studio as its Vice President of Cinema Partnerships. As a senior manager in North America, Cotliar oversees everything from trailer placement to lobby marketing campaigns to assets for digital movies posters for the company, as well as countless other in-theatre marketing efforts.

Kelly O’Connor first joined Warner Bros in 1988 working at the Los Angeles branch office managing the placement of trailers and one sheets in movie theatres as a materials coordinator for the western division. By 1992 she had made her way to the studio’s Burbank headquarters as the Assistant Manager of Exhibitor Services. The rest is history as O’Connor has spent the past thirty years overseeing the department and is now the Senior Vice President of Exhibitor & Marketing Services at Warner Bros. Pictures Domestic Distribution. Prior to Warner Bros. O’Connor worked at Mann Theaters in the advertising department.

Kezia Williams has been in the film industry for over two decades, having worked at both Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment, before finally landing at eOne in 2013. Since joining the india major she has been responsible for handling the marketing and distribution of all of its film releases, including major titles such as “The Girl on the Train”, “The BFG”, “Arrival”, “12 Years a Slave” and BAFTA Best Picture winner “1917”. In addition to her studio job, she has also been Chair Of The Board Of Trustees of MediCinema since 2018. “Both in a MediCinema, but also in cinemas up and down the country, we’ve seen the impact that film can have, and the power of escapism,” she told Screen Daily in an interview in October 2020. “To see a film in a communal environment, that is safe, is really powerful.”

There are few in the business that have as much experience in event cinema as Kymberli Frueh, the Senior Vice President of Programming, Content Strategy & Acquisitions at Trafalgar Releasing. She spent a decade at Fathom Events heading up the program team when event cinema, then known as alternative content, was in its infancy. During her stint at Fathom she negotiated some of the company’s highest-profile events including championship boxing matches, Broadway anniversary productions of “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Miserables” and much more. At Trafalgar, Frueh has been instrumental in orchestrating event cinema releases such as the very first BTS event in cinemas, “Burn the Stage”, “Neil Young: Harvest Time” and developing the Twenty One Pilots Cinema experience. Frueh also established a global relationship between Warner Bros. and Trafalgar Releasing, including the 30th Anniversary of “The Bodyguard” and “ABBA:The Movie”.

For the past 26 years Ariane Toscan du Plantier has been working at Gaumont and is currently the Director of French and International Cinema Distribution at Gaumont. In this role she oversees a staff of 35 who are charged with managing the distribution of films theatrically both in France and internationally. This year, Toscan du Plantier has an added responsibility; she is one of seven members of the committee selecting the film to submit to the Academy for Oscar consideration.

Trisha Long is General Manager of Disney in Ireland & a Vice President of The Walt Disney Company since 2008, having started with Disney in 1994. Having started as a news reader in pirate radio, she admitted in an interview to not having had a clear career path; ‘I find sometimes people read your title in your bio and they have no sense of the journey or path you had,’ she told Evoke IE in 2018, ‘I sometimes read my own title and bio and think who is this person.’ She is involved in several of Disney’s EMEA initiatives and a member of the Walt Disney Company’s International Futures team. In addition to her daily work responsibilities she sits on the boards of the Irish Film Institute, the Governing Authority of the University of Limerick, the Board of Directors of University Concert Hall, member of the board of the largest film studio in Ireland (Troy Studios and Ardmore Studios) and is also Chair of the MediCinema Ireland charity.

Natalie Ralph is Director of Distribution, Europe at streamer-cum-film distributor MUBI. She joined MUBI from Studiocanal UK, where she ended up as Senior Sales Manager in her six-year stint at the European studio major and was responsible for such high profile theatrical releases as “Room”, “Paddington 2”, “Legend” and most recently “Parasite” and “Saint Maud” for the UK and Irish cinema markets. She previously worked in distribution roles at the BFI and Soda Pictures. MUBI has been growing its acquisition and distribution slate with a strong focus on cinema with high profile arthouse releases (“Limbo” and “Petite Maman”), as well as its MUBI GO scheme.

In 2008, Paramount Pictures appointed Niamh McCaul as general manager, Ireland. Prior to this role, from 2002, McCaul was managing director of Eclipse Pictures, Ireland’s largest independent film distribution company. She played a significant role in the Irish releases of titles such as “La Vie En Rose”, “The Passion of the Christ”, “The Magdalene Sisters” and “Pavee Lackeen”, an Irish film.

In her role as EVP Event Cinema and Exhibitor Relations for Spotlight Cinema Networks, Bernadette McCabe is responsible for content acquisition and programming, as well as all day-to-day operations for CineLife Entertainment. McCabe also oversees the company’s consumer-facing app, CineLife, which is devoted to helping audiences connect with indie films and art house theatres across the U.S. Prior to joining Spotlight, McCabe worked at MoviePass as Senior Vice President, Exhibitor Relations & Business Strategy. From 2005 to 2017, she held a number of positions with increasing responsibility at Screenvision Media, rising to Senior Vice President, Business Strategy in 2015.

With a law degree and more than 25 years of experience in the Audiovisual sector, Yolanda Del Val has been managing the Fiction Department of DeAPlaneta Entertainment since 2017 and is in charge of the film and TV distribution area as well as the production of fiction films and series. Throughout these years, Del Val has acquired and distributed more than 1000 titles, many of them widely recognized by critics and audiences, including “The Pianist” (Roman Polanski), “The King’s Speech”, “12 Years a Slave”, as well as big Spanish hits such as “Planet 51”, “The Call” and the “Baztan Trilogy”. In 2021 she produced the TV series “Ana Tramel All In” and in 2022 “The Patients of Dr. Garcia” in 2022.

Elba McAlister had a major career change when she switched from pharmaceuticals to joining her husband Juan David McAllister, and brother-in-law in film distribution. Colombian distributor Cineplex was set up in 1993 when Colombia screened very few arthouse films and fewer overall cinema screens for films to play. Cineplex acquired films for theatrical release, including those of directors such as Wong Kar Wai, Susanne Bier, Lars von Trier, Claude Chabrol, Agnieszka Holland and many others, before they progress to other windows. In 2000 Cineplex moved beyond just Columbia and began distributing their films to Central America and Ecuador as well. Elba is responsible for 20 to 25 films on average that Cineplex distributes in a year. Diana Salcedo (Elba’s daughter) joined the family business in 2015, so there is another generation of women with vision for the potential of non-Hollywood films in Latin America cinemas and beyond.

Sarah Moses believes in film and the film business having a positive impact and purpose. It is this vision of leading the largest social impact entertainment company in Europe that led her to become Founder and CEO of Together Films. She guides a team of dedicated professionals across London and New York, working with filmmakers and film festival clients. Recent films have included “For Sama” and “The Tale”, as well as marketing campaigns for leading film festivals, including the Human Rights Watch Film Festival (London & NYC), Athena Film Festival (NYC) & DOC NYC (NYC). Sarah has raised over four million pounds from a range of non-traditional finance sources to support impact production and distribution. She recently also launched a Foundation arm of the Together Film business as a means to support non-profit work. Having been very active during pandemic and lockdowns, her new sales agency aims for a slate of high impact theatrical titles in 2022 and beyond.