Three Alumnae Selected for Berlinale Talents 2022

By
Felix Van Kann
February 03, 2022

Three Columbia alumnae have been selected to participate in this year’s 20th edition of Berlinale Talents at the Berlin International Film Festival. Alumna Maya Korn '19, alumna Ellie Foumbi '17 and alumna Marta Cruañas Compés '20 are part of the 200 new additions to the Berlinale Talents network and will connect with their new cohort digitally from February 12-17, 2022 during the festival. The initiative is aimed at emerging members from all walks of the film industry with an existing portfolio of work. 

Through their participation in Berlinale Talents, Korn, Foumbi and Cruañas Compés will be given the opportunity to network and place their works on the market for potential collaborations. Berlinale Talents is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, a business division of Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH.

The 200 Talents come from the various disciplines of film: acting, cinematography, directing, distribution, world sales, editing, film critics, production, production design, screenwriting, sound design, score composing, and audience design. 40 participants will also be developing their screenplays, from arthouse cinema to virtual reality, in the four Talents Labs. 

A UK/German native, Maya Korn is an LA based film producer. Her US company MHK Productions is dedicated to uncovering stories in the genre space that highlight political issues, giving a voice to minority cultures. To date, she has produced films in Beijing, New York, Mexico City, Los Angeles and London. Her most recent credits include Deathcember's A Christmas Miracle and Tribeca Untold Stories Grant winner Lucky Grandma. Before turning her attention to producing, Korn worked in marketing and distribution at The Weinstein Company on The Master; at BBC America on the release of Orphan Black Season 2; and at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on the 52nd New York Film Festival. More recently she has moonlighted in companies dedicated to female driven content/ film makers, Refinery 29 & Maven Pictures. She is a participant of the WIF Creative Producing Mentorship Program 2019, a finalist of the Marcie Bloom/Sony Fellowship '17, The Sarah Jones Film Foundation Grant '18 and a proud member of WIF, NYWIFT, BAFTA and PGA. Her first feature as lead producer, Vivienne Vaughn's Lucky Strikes, recently got into the Fantasia Frontieres Lab and Special Mention at Sitges Pitchbox.

Ellie Foumbi is an actor/writer/director from Cameroon whose work has screened at Venice, HollyShorts and Santa Barbara International Film Festival. In addition to participating in Berlinale Talents and New York Film Festival’s Artist Academy, her projects have been supported by the Venice Biennale College-Cinema, SFFILM & the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, The Gotham's No Borders Project Forum, the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab, and the Tribeca Film Institute. Foumbie made her TV directorial debut on BET’s hip-hop anthology, Tales. Her short film Home was commissioned by Netflix, in association with Film Independent, and premiered on their Netflix Film Club’s Youtube channel where it got over 18K views. Her first feature film, Our Father, the Devil premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2021. She’s a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America. Read an interview with Foumbi here

Marta Cruañas Compés is a New York-based, Barcelona-born producer. She holds an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University for which she was awarded the Obra Social La Caixa fellowship. In 2016 she was invited to participate at the IFFR Rotterdam Lab. After a praised festival circuit run of her first feature, Júlia Ist, Cruañas Compés was named by Variety Magazine as ‘a 2007 upcoming Catalan Filmmaker to Watch’. Her recently produced projects include short film Carnivore (Executive produced by Cary Fukunaga), Solastalgia (recipient of a 2020 NY Women in Film Grant), and Forastera, selected for La Semaine de la Critique of the Cannes Film Festival 2020. She is currently an Associate Producer at DoBeDo Represents, while developing Creatura, selected for San Sebastian Film Festival’s screenwriting lab 2020, Marcia Marcela Madre Mujer, directed by alumna Constanza Majluf '21, supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Screenplay Treatment Award and Belleza by Irene Moray, amongst other projects. Read an interview with Cruanas here

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