Wim Wenders attended the Academy of Film & Television in Munich, worked as a film critic for various German publications, and was a founding member of Filmverlag der Autoren. In 1976 he set up his own production company, Road Movies, and, in 2002, Reverse Angle. Often hailed as one of the most important German directors on the international scene, Wenders has received various international awards, including the Golden Lion (THE STATE OF THINGS, 1982), the Palme d’Or and BAFTA (PARIS, TEXAS, 1984), as well as a European Film Award (WINGS OF DESIRE, 1988) and a Silver Bear (THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL, 2000). His latest productions include LAND OF PLENTY and DON'T COME KNOCKING. Throughout his career, Wenders has also made several unconventional documentaries including LIGHTNING OVER WATER, TOKYO-GA, and NOTEBOOK ON CITIES AND CLOTHES. His most famous documentary, BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB about a group of legendary Cuban musicians, received an Oscar nomination and won a European Film Award. Wim Wenders became president of the European Film Academy in 1996.

The Board
Chairman: Yves Marmion, Producer, France

A lawyer by training, Yves Marmion became general secretary of the Centre National de la Cinématographie CNC in 1978 and was responsible for international relations before he joined UGC as head of production in 1991. Among the films he has produced are ARIZONA DREAM (1993), L’APPARTEMENT (1996), THE ABDUCTION CLUB (2002) and LES DALTONS (2004). He was elected Chairman of the EFA Board in December 2005.

In the early 1970s Nik Powell set up Virgin Records with Richard Branson and in the space of ten years the pair turned a small mail-order record operation into a multi-million pound conglomerate. In 1982 Powell formed Palace Productions together with Stephen Woolley and acted as Executive Producer on all of Palace’s productions including Neil Jordan’s award winning COMPANY OF WOLVES, his Oscar-nominated and Cannes award-winning MONA LISA and his Oscar winning THE CRYING GAME. In 1992 Powell and Woolley formed SCALA Productions where they produced Terence Davies’ THE NEON BIBLE, the Oscar nominated and golden globe winning LITTLE VOICE by Mark Herman, with Michael Caine, Brenda Blethyn and Ewan McGregor, and Fred Schepisi’s LAST ORDERS with Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren and Ray Winstone. His latest productions include CALENDAR GIRLS by Nigel Cole and Charles Dance's LADIES IN LAVENDER with Dame Judy Dench, Maggie Smith and Daniel Brühl. In September 2003, Nik Powell took over as director of the National Film & Television School (NFTS) in London. He has been a member of the EFA Board since 1996 and has accepted the Board's wish to step in as Acting Chairman after the death of Humbert Balsan until the next regular board elections in autumn 2005.

Further members of the EFA Board:

Brenda Blethyn, Actress, UK

Brenda Blethyn was born in Ramsgate and trained at The Guildford School of Acting where she now is a member of the Board. She was with the Bubble Theatre and the Belgrade Theatre Coventry, before joining the Royal National Theatre in London in 1975. Since then, Brenda Blethyn has worked extensively and successfully in all areas of entertainment: Radio, Television, Theatre and Film. For her role in SECRETS AND LIES, she was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA for Best Actress in 1997. Some of her other films include GIRLS NIGHT, LITTLE VOICE (for which she was nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA), SAVING GRACE, and, to be released in 2005, ON A CLEAR DAY, PICADILLY JIM and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

In 1999, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Kent at Canterbury and in 2003 was made an OBE (Officer of the British Order of the Empire) in the New Year’s Honours List. She recently won a FIPA Best Actress Award in France for her performance in BELONGING. Brenda Blethyn has become a member of the EFA Board in 2003.

Adriana Chiesa Di Palma, Sales Agent, Italy

Her career in cinema began in 1975 when she became director of sales and acquisitions of the then leading film distribution and production company in Italy: Medusa. In 1990 she created her own organisation, Adriana Chiesa Enterprises S.r.l. (A.C.E.). Although she has presented productions from such renowned filmmakers as Carlos Saura, Akira Kurosawa, Ettore Scola, Lina Wertmüller and many others, her commitment to encouraging new talent and artistic cinema is reflected in the production line-up.

As the Company continues to diversify, A.C.E. has created a music division and is distributing in exclusivity a prestigious collection of concerts, special musical events and operas and has recently also focused its interest in distributing animation feature films for international theatrical distribution. A.C.E. was also Italian producer of the three-act Broadway success DEATH DEFYING ACTS by Woody Allen, David Mamet, and Elaine May and is noe producing the new play of Woody Allen, WRITER'S BLOCK. Indeed today, thanks to the company’s professional approach, solid world wide experience, and multilingual and multi-cultural emphasis, A.C.E. reflects a truly international profile while being based in Italy. A.C.E.'s most recent involvement is in the feature film ALL THE INVISIBLE CHILDREN directed by Mehdi Charef, Emir Kusturica, Spike Lee, Katia Lund, Jordan Scott, Ridley Scott, Stefano Veneruso and John Woo.

Adriana Chiesa di Palma has been on the EFA Board since 2000.

Pierre-Henri Deleau, Festival Director, France

Pierre-Henri Deleau is the founder of a number of French film festivals which today belong to the major events in the international festival calendar. Among others, he contributed to the establishment of the Director's Fortnight at Cannes in 1969 and was its General Delegate for 30 years, until 1998. He also co-founded the FIPA (Festival International des Programmes Audiovisuels) of which he has been General Delegate since 1987, and the Strasbourg European Film Forum that he managed from 1996 until 2001.

Pierre-Henri Deleau also worked as a publisher for several cinema books, for example the collection Cinéma & Litérature by Edition Jean-Claude Lattès. He has been a member of the EFA Board since 1998.

Mike Downey, Producer, UK

Mike Downey founded the UK-based independent production house Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) in 1990. He spent most of the eighties as a theatre director and producer in France, Germany, the former Yugoslavia and the U.K., as well as working as a publisher, contributor and critic for various international publications including Variety, Screen International and Moving Pictures International.
He was associate producer on Rajko Grlic's award winning feature film CARUGA, and co-producer of Sebastian Niemann's SEVEN DAYS TO LIVE. His most recent productions include Michael Bassett's DEATHWATCH starring Jamie Bell, Venice competition entry SJAJ U OCIMA (LOVING GLANCES), FALCONS and NICELAND by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Peter Timm's MY BROTHER IS A DOG, Hillmar Oddson's COLD LIGHT, and STRINGS by Anders Ronnow Klarlund. In 2005 he completed GUY X by Saul Metzstein starring Jason Biggs, HEADSMAN by Swiss director Simon Aeby, the Icelandic production ELEVEN MEN OUT by Robert Douglas, MURK by Denmark's Jannick Johansen and the UK/Polish/German adaptation of the Günter Grass novel UNKENRUFE (Call of the Toad) directed by Robert Glinski.
Downey is a tutor on Sheffield University's Creative Writing for Film course, is Thomas Ewing Visiting Professor of Film at Ohio University, a member of the board of advisors in the film school of Oklahoma University and the president of the Board of Advisors of the Motovun International Film Festival in Croatia. He currently also works in an advisory capacity with Amnesty International establishing humanitarian film prizes at festivals around the world, and joined the EFA Board in 2004.

Ulrich Felsberg, Producer, Germany

Since the early eighties, Ulrich Felsberg has produced and executive-produced more than 60 films. His feature credits include 9 films directed by Wim Wenders, amongst them THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL (Silver Bear, Berlin 2000), as well as Michelangelo Antonioni’s and Wim Wenders’ BEYOND THE CLOUDS, and BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (European Film Award 1999) for which Ulrich Felsberg was nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) in 2000. Ulrich Felsberg’s producer credits include seven films directed by Ken Loach, among them LAND AND FREEDOM which received the European Film Award 1995 (European Film of the Year), and, in 2003/2004, AE FOND KISS (Just a Kiss). In 2002, he produced BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM directed by Gurinder Chadha. He has worked with directors such as Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Stephen Frears, Gerardo Herrero, Robert Lepage, Paul McGuigan, Manuel Gómez Pereira, Carlos Saura, Julien Temple and Juanma Bajo Ulloa.

His films received various national and international film awards. Ulrich Felsberg has been a member of the EFA Board since 1998.

Stephan Hutter, Producer/Distributor, Germany

Stephan Hutter is Chairman of the present Prokino Group who in the past 27 years has transformed the entity into one of the most significant independent companies in Germany. The group’s activities cover the whole spectrum of film business from development, production and theatrical distribution to exploitation in the video, TV and future markets.
Prokino was not only involved in production and/or distribution of the most important trend-setters in European cinema such as TRAINSPOTTING, RUN LOLA RUN and AMÉLIE, but just recently has also contributed to the huge success of extraordinary documentaries like BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, SUPER SIZE ME and THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL. Stephan Hutter was elected onto the EFA Board in 2002.

László Kantór, Producer/Director, Hungary

Cedomir Kolar, Producer, France

Cedomir Kolar has long worked as a film critic for various Yugoslav magazines in Rome and was an assistant to the delegate of the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema in Venice, as well as representative and selector for the Belgrade International Film Festival.
In 1984, he moved into film and TV production, among his many credits are films such as Giuliano Montaldo´s LES LUNETTES D’OR, ARIZONA DREAM by Emir Kusturica, or WHEN STARS WERE RED by Dusan Trandick, VIRGINIA by Srdjan Karanovic or PRAGUE by Ian Sellar.
Since 1991, he has been acting as producer for Noé Productions in Paris. His credits include BEFORE THE RAIN by Milcho Manchevski (nominated for an Oscar), AFRICA MY AFRICA and KINI AND ADAMS by Idrissa Ouedraogo, AS YOU LIKE ME by Carmine Amoroso, TRAIN OF LIFE by Radu Mihaileanu, THE ADOPTED SON and THE CHIMP by Aktan Abdykalykov, NO MAN’S LAND by Danis Tanovic (European Film Award 2001, Oscar-awarded) and Danis Tanovic’s short film in the collection 11’09”01-SEPTEMBER 11, produced by Galatée films and StudioCanal.
In 2003, he started the new production entity A.S.A.P. FILMS together with director Danis Tanovic. In 2005, A.S.A.P. Films produced the new feature by Danis Tanovic, HELL (L'Enfer), written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz in collaboration with the late Krzysztof Kieslowski. Cedomir is currently working on THE LIGHT by Aktan Abdykalykov and SHIP HIGH IN TRANSIT by Danis Tanovic.
He was elected onto the EFA Board in 2004.

Stefan Laudyn, Festival Director, Poland

Born in 1959 in Warszawa (Warsaw), Poland, Stefan Laudyn graduated from the Warsaw Polytechnical School. In the 1980s he was involved in the local alternative music scene as band manager and promoter. He also worked in film distribution - for a US studio (Warner Bros.) and independents (Film Art Foundation, TL7). 
Since 1991 he is the director of the Warsaw International Film Festival. He is also founder (1995) and general manager of the Warsaw Film Foundation. Since 1996 he has been an expert of the Polish Script Agency and he is founder (2001) and one of the coordinators of CentEast - The Alliance of Central and Eastern European Film Festivals as well as adviser to numerous film directors, producers, and festivals.

Stefan Laudyn also takes part (as a guitar player) in the international music project The Festival Band. He became a member of the EFA Board in 2005

Francesco Ranieri Martinotti, Director/Writer, Italy

Antonio Pérez Pérez, Producer, Spain

After studies in engineering, biology and music, Antonio Pérez Pérez has been involved in the writing, producing and directing of numerous TV commercial, short subjects and TV documentaries. He was a founding member and shareholder of the production companies Videoplaning in 1983 (leader of Andalusian TV studios) and Omeya T.V. in 1987. In 1989, he founded Maestranza Films, his film production company, producing, amongst others, SOLAS (Alone) which won the Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1999 and 5 Goya Awards, NOBODY KNOWS ANYBODY (Goya awarded), FUGITIVAS (2 Goya awards), IBIZA DREAMS (Berlin Panorama 2002), SEVILLE SOUTHSIDE (Berlin Panorama 2003), TUNA & CHOCOLATE and HABANA BLUES. Santa Isabel Fine Arts academic, board member of Egeda (Spanish producers ass.) and vice-president of Spanish Media Desk Fund, he was selected by Variety as one of the "Ten Producers to Watch" 1999 in Cannes. Antonio Pérez Pérez has been a member of the EFA Board since 2000.

Antonio Saura, Producer, Spain