Hayet Benkara
(Consultant)
Hayet Benkara is a French-born, Toronto and Europe-based film industry advisor. In 2012, she created and managed TIFF Studio, the first year-round training programme at TIFF for film professionals, and produced TIFF Talent Lab. Benkara worked for many prestigious film festivals such as Cannes (Producers Network), Berlinale, International Film Festival Rotterdam (co-production market CineMart), Dubai, Abu Dhabi International Film Festivals (UAE), The Doha Film Institute, Guanajuato Film Festival (Mexico), Era New Horizon (Poland), the Bosphorus Film Festival. In the past three years, she has been head of studies at the Open Doors Lab of the Locarno Film Festival, and pitching coach at the Atlas workshop of the Marrakech Film Festival. In 2021 she launched a new co-production market at the Festival du nouveau cinema in Montreal. Over the years, Hayet Benkara has developed a very strong international network and a very good knowledge of the international market place. Year round she advises young and established filmmakers and producers on development, production, co-production, distribution, marketing, and festival strategies.