THE BOARD
SUSANA GATO (PT)
President
Susana Gato is a lawyer who developed a special interest for the protection of artistic content, first in the area of music and, later, on television.
She specialized in the negotiation of Contracts and Protocols, contacting with the various public and private entities that operate in the audiovisual sector, namely as regards the negotiation of the rights of Independent Tv producers. She takes part in all the legislative process relating to audiovisual, issuing opinions on the regulation of the sector as well as participating in Parliamentary Meetings and bodies for this purpose. Since 2009, she has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of GEDIPE, representing Independent Producers in this body of collective management and seeking to defend their interests and related rights and to follow the national and international developments of the content market, seeking to anticipate solutions to new problems, in the dense area of Copyright and Related Rights. In January 2018 she was appointed Executive President of APIT.
FILIP BOBINSKI (CZ)
Board Member
Filip is a Czech TV producer. He graduated with a Master’s degree in Production from FAMU (University-Film school in Prague).
He has co-created and produced more than 350 hours of prime-time fiction in Dramedy Productions since the company was found in 2003.
Dramedy was the first independent producer in the country to produce a TV series with the major commercial broadcaster TV Nova.
Since then Dramedy produced e.g. a hit-retroseries Vypravej (Wonderful Times) for CzechTV (CT), awarded Golden Nymph at Monte Carlo TVF 2011 for Outstanding European Producer, or internationally well received The Manor House (aka Prvni Republika/Ambition), a period saga set in the 1920’s.
Recently Dramedy produced The Swap (Kukacky) for CzechTV (CT), Guru for Voyo platform or Golden Swan (Zlata labut) for Nova/CME.
Dramedy is also running studio production facility in Prague and participating on co-productions or production service.
Filip is a pioneer in AV field and a strong opinion leader focused on fair business relationships between producers, broadcasters, platforms and other stakeholders.
SØREN HENRIK JØRGENSEN (DK)
Board Member
Søren has been the Chief Legal Adviser at the Danish Producers' Association since 2008. Søren advises members particularly on labour and rights issues and has in recent years worked intensely on negotiating with TV stations and authors organisations on contracts and rights transferral in the media world. Not only on TV productions but also on feature films, documentaries, commercials and games.
Before Søren joined the Producers' Association, he has worked the Danish Working Environment Authority, the Theater Council and at the Danish Film Institute.
ANTONELLA BARBIERI (IT)
Board Member
Antonella Barbieri joined APA - Audiovisual Producers Association in the role of General Director starting September 2021, after more than twenty-five experience as lawyer in transactional, Intellectual Property, copyright, audiovisual legislation, and Media regulatory, both in Law Firms and in-house departments of Italian companies and of multinational groups (last role held, Head of Legal in Fox Networks Group Italy and Germany). As General Director, she supervises all the Association’s activities, and deals with institutional affairs (at national and international level) and trade union negotiations.
MONIQUE GOESCHL (AU)
Board Member
Monique A. Goeschl represents the audiovisual sector in Austria. She has been active in and for the international film industry for over twenty years. Her focus is the cross-functional and cross-sectoral coordination of good practices for content protection and internet governance on a national and EU level. She co-represents CEPI in the EUIPO Observatory Stakeholder Network and is a member of the Expert Group on “Cooperation with Intermediaries.”
EMMANUELLE MAUGER (FR)
Board Member
Emmanuelle has been working in the French audiovisual sector for over twenty years. Graduate in law, at the university of Paris Pantheon-Assas, she is specialized in intellectual property, and French and UE audiovisual regulation. After having begun her career at the Corean embassy in Paris, she has worked at the feature film purchase department of the ARTE TV channel before joining the Media direction of the French Prime minister services working on the audiovisual regulation.
In 2007 she has joined the French Independent producers union (SPI) where she is now Deputy General Delegate. The SPI gathers 470 French independent societies producing features films, audiovisual documentaries, drama, life performances, animation and immersive creations. She negotiates cross sectorial agreements in order to secure good practices between all partners of the audiovisual sector, protect independence of creation, and promote cultural diversity in France and Europe. She liaises with members of Parliament and the Government concerning the law and regulation processes. She is also vice-president of the ISAN (International standard audiovisual number) agency and representative of the SPI in the ALPA (Association de lutte contre la piratrie audiovisuelle - The Anti-piracy association).
ANTHONY MULDOON (IE)
Board Member
Anthony has been working for Screen Producers Ireland since September 2017 and is now based permanently in West Cork. Before joining SPI, Anthony was Advocacy Manager with EQUATE (Education Reform organisation). Anthony was formerly Parliamentary Assistant to Dominic Hannigan T.D. for six years and has a Masters in Political Communications and Public Affairs and a B.A. in English, Media and Cultural Studies. He is currently on the Board of the European Producers Association CEPI and is on the BelongTo Board advocacy sub-Committee.
Board co-opt Members
JEROME DECHESNE (FR)
Co-Opted Board Member
Following studies in business law and political sciences at the University of Paris Panthéon Assas, Jérôme Dechesne obtained a specialisation in media law through a Master course at the University of Aix-en-Provence in 2000. He began his career as an Associate at the Société Générale Investment Banking Media & Telecom sector (2001-2003), before joining the French Austhors Society (SACD) for a ten years’ period (2004-2013). In SADC, he created a cluster on Studies and Perspectives, he created different transversal projects and assumed direction of the Audiovisual until 2013. In 2014, he joined the Society of Graphic and Plastic Arts’ Authors (ADAGP) as Secretary-General. In August 2015, he took up his current role as Assistant Delegate General at the French Union for Audiovisual Production (USPA).
BOŠTJAN IKOVIC (SI)
Co-Opted Board Member
Boštjan was born in 1979 in Ljubljana and he studied Economics in Ljubljana and Graz, Austria. After graduation, he started his career in the film industry. He participated in the program “Producers on the move” during the Cannes film festival 2016. Boštjan has produced feature films, documentary films, TV series, short film. He is a member of the European Film Academy EFA.
His recent productions include notable feature films and feature-length documentaries such as "Sarajevo Safari" (2022), "The Space Among Us" (2021), "Once Were Humans" (2020), and "Sing Me a Song" (2018).
Boštjan's documentary work includes "Intertwining threads of a modern artist" (2018) and "Navigare Necesse Est" (2017).
Boštjan remains open to diverse collaborations in the film industry, whether in co-productions, tax rebates, equipment rental, or film services.
ALICJA GRAWON - JAKSIK (PL)
Co-Opted Board Member
President of the Board of Polish Producers Alliance (KIPA). Associate Producer, Production and Finance Consultant, specialised in legal and business issues related to the activity of entrepreneurs in the audiovisual and creative sectors (e.g.: “LAMB” dir. Valdimar Johhansson, “The Adventures of the Mathematician” dir. Thorsten Klein, , “Thaw” dir. Xawery Żuławski). Former Managing Director of Polish Producers Alliance, 2013-2017. Representative of the Minister of Culture on the EU Media Program Committee in Brussels, 2011-2013. Arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration of the Audio-visual Market (SARA) in Warsaw, 2018.
She earned her degree in Film Production from the Faculty of Radio and Television, University of Silesia in Katowice and she is a Ph.D. graduate at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. She also attended national certified training for Board of Directors at Ministry of Treasury. Former member of Digitization Council at Ministry of Digitization, 2016-2018. Author and co-author of numerous publications related to the legal aspects of audiovisual production. Creator of the first Polish Accelerator for Young Entrepreneurs of the AV Sector, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (from 2017). Lecturer at several universities and courses (Łódź Film School, Gdańsk University, AMA Film Academy, Story Lab Pro).
MARIO MAURI (IT)
Co-Opted Board Member
Mario is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Paypermoon Italy Srl., as well as treasurer of Television Producers. He has a degree in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan and has since 1990 been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the British private equity fund Cambria Ltd. In 2001 he created the production company Paypermoon Italy Srl., which made its debut in the television market in 2002 with an social information campaign. Paypermoon has since asserted itself with high-quality series primarily broadcast by RAI. The main products for the network's flagship titles are “Mammamia!”, “Raccontami” – Chapters I and II, “Questo nostro amore” and “Questo nostro amore 70.”