The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), the European cinema trade grouping, today launched the fifth edition of its Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme, a 12-month mentoring programme for women in cinema exhibition.
Following the success of the previous four editions, this year’s programme will provide 11 talented female cinema professionals with an exclusive opportunity to receive one-to-one career advice and networking opportunities, and to learn from an outstanding group of women executives from across the cinema landscape, each recognised for their leadership and business success.
The programme remains UNIC’s flagship initiative to help address the current gender imbalance at senior levels of the industry and works to encourage and empower female professionals in order for the industry to realise its full potential. Its 2021/22 edition welcomes the following key female leaders and rising female professionals from the cinema exhibition landscape, representing 19 countries and 22 companies:
Mentors
Greta Bisetto-Donelan, Global Director of Content Distribution, GENERATION MEDIA
Nuria Bronfman, Executive Director, Movie Theatre Association of Canada
Seneit Debese, Founder & CEO, Greta & Starks
Kassandra Dommisse-Reebergen, Country Manager Operations, Kinepolis The
Netherlands
Daniela Elstner, Executive Director, UniFrance Film International
Yit-Ching Lee, Vice President EMEA, Paramount Pictures
Hannele Marjavaara, Cinema Manager, Kino Tapiola, Espoo, Finland
Funmilayo Marian Onuma, Country Manager, Silverbird Cinemas, Ghana
Zvjezdana Pavic, Director of Finance and Accounting, Blitz-CineStar
Bettina Schmidt, Head of Operations Cinema, blue Entertainment, Switzerland
Inés Trementino, Operations Director, Cinépolis Argentina
Mentees
Nevena Brašanac, Booking & Exhibition Manager, CINEPLEXX INTERNATIONAL, Serbia
Nisha Denton, Head of Screen Content, CinemaxX, Germany
Patricia Edeline F. Antunes, COO and Booking Manager, Sociedad Cinematográfica de Centros Comerciales, SA, Spain
Elisabetta Hoch, General Manager, UCI Cinemas Bicocca Milan, Italy
Natalia Mackiewicz, Cinema Programmer, Kinokawiarnia Stacja Falenica, Poland
Chloe Monteiro, Account Manager, EMEA, Movio
Boglárka Nagy, General Delegate, International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas (CICAE)
Charlotte F. Neumann, Senior Film Booking Manager, ODEON Kino Norway
Ogbonna Nkemakolam Chizoma, Business & Operations Manager, Filmhouse Cinema, Nigeria
Becky Tobin, Regional Manager, Curzon, UK
Julia Vinokurova, Operations Management Consultant EMEAR, RealD
Welcoming this latest edition of the programme, UNIC CEO Laura Houlgatte commented:
“It’s incredibly rewarding to see how our inspiring community has grown – we’ve come a long way since 2017, when the programme was first launched! We owe the success of the scheme to our wonderful mentors and mentees, who have been our champions since the very beginning.
We know that more initiatives are needed to achieve more diversity and inclusivity in the industry – and we hope that we are doing our part.
This year, we received a record number of applications and the selection process was a challenge! We are thrilled to welcome a fantastic group of mentors and mentees for the fifth edition – the biggest to date. We are honoured that the programme is expanding into new territories and bringing more diverse profiles to our community.
We also want to thank the graduating cohort for their dedication, ambition and hard work in what has been a very challenging year. We can’t wait to see everyone again – in person and not on Zoom!
I would like to wish an empowering journey to the new cohort!”
Notes for editors
The UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme is a 12-month cross-sector, international mentoring scheme for women in cinema exhibition.
Launched in 2017, the Programme is rooted in the belief that gender-balanced leadership in cinema exhibition is imperative for business success, better governance and more equity in the industry.
More information can be found on the UNIC website here.
The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC)
The Union Internationale des Cinémas/International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) represents the interests of cinema trade associations and cinema operators covering 38 countries in Europe and neighbouring regions.
Further Enquiries
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