DIFF Circle: Discovery Winners catch up & Film Festival Strategy Panel

Catch up with DIFF Discovery Award Winners and Learn how to get your film noticed by film festivals with Tarek Shoukri
About this event
This year, an esteemed jury of industry professionals evaluated a shortlist of the brightest stars in the Irish film industry. From this pool of incredible talent, these four individuals were selected as the 2022 Aer Lingus Discovery Winners: Colm Bairead, Kate Dolan and Rioghnach Ni Ghrioghair. All three filmmakers had films screened in our 2020 festival and we caught up with them to find out how the films have fared since then and what they are working on now.
In the second half of this session, we chatted with Tarek Shoukri - festival manager of acclaimed US based sales agents Visit Films about what they look for in films for acquisition, the best ways to launch films in the current landscape and how to devise the best film festival strategy. We will be joined by two Irish producers to discuss the basic essentials for applying to festivals and how to connect with sales agents.
We were joined by Irish filmmakers Cara Holmes and John Connors to discuss what to do to maximise your festival strategy.
More info:
Tarek Shoukri is the Director of Festivals and Non-Theatrical for Visit Films, a worldwide boutique film sales company, and Monument Releasing, a NY-based distribution company. Working with hundreds of venues annually, he is responsible for forming and executing the global festival strategy for titles that have gone on to win top prizes at major festivals including Sundance, Berlin, and Locarno, in collaboration with a roster of first-rate filmmakers including Joanna Hogg, Josephine Decker, Carlos Reygadas, Kogonada, Amalia Ulman, Mark Cousins and Theo Anthony. Tarek first developed his passion for film in college, heading the Ivy Film Festival, the world's largest student film festival, and founding the Brown University Film Forum, a weekly screening series. Since moving to New York, Tarek has worked at the Tribeca Film Festival and Indiewire, and served as a programmer for the inaugural edition of TIDE Film Festival, celebrating the work of filmmakers of color.