With 20 years of experience, award-winning producer, Frederico Lapenda, has built a global career in all areas of the entertainment industry. As a filmmaker, he has produced over 20 films, and his documentary, Kidnapping, competed for Oscar nomination. Lapenda was the founding partner of Mandalay Lone Runner, independent division of Mandalay, a company chaired by Peter Guber, former CEO of Sony Pictures. Mandalay produced Seven years in Tibet,with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie in Beyond Boarders, Donny Brasco with Johnnie Depp, and others. Lapenda also produced two video games with XBox, Fight Game Rivals and with Sony Ericsson, Fight Game Heroes.

Hailed by many industry magazines as one of the originators of the MMA, Lapenda produced over 100 MMA fights in countries like USA, Japan, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Brazil, etc. His TV show Channel 22 “COMBAT MORTALE has been in the air for more than 3 consecutive years in Los Angeles, achieving high ratings and raising Lapenda as the first producer to telecast on broadcast in the United States MMA. He was the fourth producer of conveying his franchise WVC fights on pay per view in the U.S. Introduced pay-per-view in Brazil in 1997 and in May 2011 produced the first pay-per-view on YouTube. This pay-per-view was televised live from Moscow.

In the world of music, Lapenda has already produced 10 shows in Brazil and his latest co-production was in the city of Americana in partnership with the Brahma where Lapenda brought country singer, Alan Jackson, who sang for an audience of 45 thousand people.

London born Arnold Schwartzman is the Oscar winning Producer and Director of the feature documentary “Genocide” (1981), and a renowned designer and prolific author. His other feature documentaries include “Building A Dream” (1989), “Echoes That Remain” (1991) and “Liberation” (1994).

He began his career in British network television, then became an advertising agency art director, producing commercials for Coca-Cola etc. In 1978 he was invited to Hollywood by legendary designer/filmmaker Saul Bass to be his studio’s design director. Schwartzman was later appointed the Director of Design for the1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

He is the designer of several of the Academy’s Oscar commemorative posters, programs and theatrical trailers. A Governor and past Chairman of BAFTA, Los Angeles, and the founding Chair of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Documentary Branch, 2001.

In 2001 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth ll for services to the British film industry in the USA, and in 2006 was conferred the distinction of Royal Designer (RDI) by Great Britain’s Royal Society of Arts.

Roberta Augusto is a 37 years old Brazilian, who has lived in Los Angeles for the last 15 years. She has been working in the Film Industry since 2005. Her career started at Summit Entertainment releasing movies like Mr. & Ms. Smith, Sahara, among others.

She currently works as the Vice President of Marketing, Distribution & Publicity at IDC, a Lionsgate Company, and she is in charge of more than 20 countries in Latin America.

She has released over 140 movies theatrically to date. She was also in charge of successful franchises in Latin America such as The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games, and other movies including the 6 time Oscar winner, La La Land, and most recently, the successful, Wonder.

Carolina Vianna is an executive with 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry, having worked for pay TV channels (HBO Brasil, Sony Pictures Television and MTV Networks) and streaming services (Terra and Netflix). In 2017 Carolina Vianna shifted her career to become an independent Executive Producer of films and TV shows to/from Latin America and the US. During this first year running her company Team Up Entertainment, she sold 3 original series to Brazilian channels and packaged 2 local films – Miss Beach Star and Awkward Love – both in pre production. She is also representing a few feature films to the international distribution market.

Kelly Le Brock, born in New York City to a French Canadian father and Irish Scottish mother. She grew up in high society British boarding schools with an early dream of the bright lights. She started a very successful modeling career at the age of 15. Graced all the vogue and Harper’s covers that a young girl could, she left England to return to New York .she is the only model to have done 22 pages twice for American Vogue . Becoming unsatisfied with modeling,she decided to try acting . Turning up in a number of superb 80s classic films , as well as a number of award winning commercials . Becoming a mother was the most important step and life changing event , that had the actress happily leave Hollywood , feeling that fame and fortune were nothing compared to the greatest joy and gift of mother hood . Now the actress , super model , activist spends her time helping abused woman and children and is returning to Hollywood with a small part in a black comedy called Charlie Boy , Directed by Timothy Hines.

President, –POW! Entertainment – Gill Champion has over 45 years of executive experience in global entertainment, marketing, retail and licensing industries. Prior to joining POW! Entertainment, he was COO of SLM. In November 2001, Mr. Champion again partnered with Stan Lee to form POW! Entertainment and to supervise the development of all new Stan Lee/POW! projects. He is the executive producer on all POW! projects which includes publishing, TV, films, live shows, digital media branded content and other related ancillary markets as well as maintaining and protecting the ownership of his name, likeness, voice, trademarks and publicity rights throughout the world. POW! Entertainment was acquired by Hong Kong-based Camsing International Holding Limited in 2017, one of China’s leading brand licensing, entertainment, marketing and promotion companies.

Previously, he was COO and Vice President of Mirage Holdings, Inc. and concurrently worked as a production executive on the motion picture Jinnah. Mr. Champion was CEO and Chairman of American CinemaStores, Inc., a company that operated numerous location-based retailing outlets and an extensive apparel division that created designs and marketing strategies.Mr. Champion also has exceptional depth and experience in television and motion picture production and technology. Mr. Champion was executive in charge of Faerie Tale Theatre with Shelley Duvall while Vice President of Gaylord Productions. He was the Producer for Fort Apache the Bronx with Paul Newman and won the Hollywood Producer of the Year Award. In addition, he was in charge of production for The Shining and The Boys from Brazil, and the theatrical versions of Chicago and Sweeney Todd while Vice President of the Producers Circle Company.

Gary Shapiro launched his career in the movie business in NYC working for Columbia
Pictures immediately after graduating from college in Los Angeles to the present where
he has moved into the new digital technologies with several major Hollywood film
studios. He spent the 70’s as a very young man thru the present in various executive
marketing and distribution capacities at Columbia Pictures, MGM, Hemdale Pictures,
Sony Pictures Entertainment and Beacon Pictures, initially specializing in the United
States and Canada and later managing the marketing of major Hollywood studio films
and independent films worldwide.  In the early years at Columbia Pictures he created
the prototype for a college/university program which was then adopted by most major
movie studios. He also was one of the early developers of grass roots marketing which
became a valuable tool in marketing movies and still is a valuable tool on the Internet.

In the mid 80’s Shapiro moved into the production arena and was Executive V.P. of
Production and Marketing for Longstocking Productions which produced the first
American PIPPI LONGSTOCKING movie along with legendary Swedish film company
Svensk for Columbia Pictures. He designed the worldwide search for the new PIPPI
which became a media sensation at the time. Shapiro managed worldwide marketing
activities with Columbia Pictures and Svensk.

During this decade, Shapiro also was appointed Senior Executive Director Marketing of
Hemdale Film Corporation which was one of the film industry’s most important
independent companies in Hollywood and London producing award nominated and Best
Picture Oscar winning awards from films like PLATOON, THE LAST EMPEROR, the
first TERMINATOR and HOOSIERS.

During the 90’s Shapiro was a Senior V.P. at Sony Pictures Entertainment working in
the Columbia Pictures division and shifting to Sony’s Triumph Films unit which
developed, produced and marketed the studio’s specialized films. His duties included
managing the studio’s marketing and production development. Triumph morphed into
Sony’s Screen Gems which continues in a similar tradition.

Following that in the 2000’s he moved over to Beacon Pictures as Senior V.P.
Worldwide Marketing. Beacon’s long slate of successful films were produced in
conjunction with and distributed thru Universal Pictures, The Walt Disney Co, and Time
Warner’s New Line Cinema. Among the titles he guided thru the global distribution and
marketing process for Beacon were  SPY GAME, THIRTEEN DAYS, THE FAMILY
MAN, BRING IT ON, THE EMPEROR’S CLUB and TUCK EVERLASTING all with major
Hollywood stars.

Shapiro began consulting to various film and entertainment industry firms several years
ago. In this capacity, he helped create the initial worldwide marketing strategy for
Paramount Picture’s and Steven Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS,  managed the
marketing and grass roots campaign for Anschutz Film Group’s /Walden Media GAME
OF THEIR LIVES,  managed the strategy and execution of the highly successful and
controversial independent film A DAY WITHOUT A MEXICAN.  He has been a U.S.
special consultant to one of Europe’s most important publishing and media companies,

Among the major film makers and talent he recently arranged to appear at major film
festivals are Robert De Niro, Danny Di Vito, Hillary Swank, Michael Douglas, Meryl
Streep, Clive Owen, Richard Gere, Andy Garcia,  Rene Zellweger, Clint Eastwood and
Martin Scorsese.

Shapiro is currently consulting with a number of film companies including the Canadian
company Inner City Films, a major supplier of diverse film and TV content.  Thru his
association with Showbizzee, he has been engaging the Hollywood movie studios
(Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Sony, Warner Bros, Dreamworks, Paramount,
Amazon Studios) on  utilizing a global digital platform and media player for extending
the marketing value and e commerce revenue streams of their content. He has
consulted with The Telluride Film Festival in the U.S., and  with The Karlovy Vary
International Film Festival in The Czech Republic, The Berlin International Film Festival
in Berlin and The Montblanc Company in Hamburg. He has advised The Cuban Film
Institute (ICAIC) in Havana on cultural exchange programs between the U.S. and Cuba.
He has been a periodic guest lecturer at UCLA and is a longtime member of The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on The Foreign Language
Film Selection Committee.

Egil Odegard has been CEO of three different distribution companies and is responsible for the theatrical release of more than 200 films in Norway the last 25 years. Egil has also produced 100 plus documentaries.

With 3 decades in the film industry Egil has also held positions as Vice-President of Federation of Norwegian Film Society and chaired multiple different film societies.

Barbara Montana was born in Calgary, Alberta and is currently the Head of Business
and Legal Affairs for Odyssey Media, an entertainment production company located in
Vancouver, British Columbia. Over the past three years, Barb has been involved in the
financing, development, production and delivery of eight films.

Prior to joining Odyssey Media, she worked in Canada as a Production Manager and a
Producer of smaller boutique projects under her company banner Edgeworld Pictures.
Edgeworld has a slate of projects currently being marketed to various platforms.

She has produced a cross section of genres from music videos to short films to dance
pieces. “The Portside”, one of Barb’s projects, won Audience Favorite at the annual Out
On Screen Film Festival in Vancouver and the film went on to tour throughout the world
at various festivals. She is also a regular attendee at Cannes, Berlin, Tribeca, Toronto,
Venice, Vancouver, Montreal and lesser- known, underground horror and genre-specific
festivals.

She is currently a member of Women In Film and Television, a member in the Directors
Guild of Canada and past Vice President of the Calgary Society of Independent
Filmmakers.

First year students enrolled in the writing program at Vancouver Film School routinely
have the pleasure of hearing Barb speak about the business of film, production and the
general realities of the film business. She passionately encourages students to keep
writing and to continue telling their stories as there has never been a greater need than
now for new content in the film industry.

This fall, Barb looks forward to going to camera on her feature film “Skippity Boom”.

Raul Mendez is considered by many in Mexico as one of the best actors of his generation. Classically trained, he is often referred to as a chameleon, working steadily in film, television and theater.

In Oct 2014, he worked on two Netflix Original Series, taking on totally different characters; An unstable antagonist, Joaquin, on “Sense8” under the direction of James McTeigue and directed & produced by Lana and Andy Wachowski, and President César Gaviria, on “Narcos” produced by José Padilha and Chris Brancato, with multiple directors including fellow Mexican, Oscar winner Guillermo Navarro.

He recently wrapped Texas Rising, playing the role of Juan Seguin, directed by Roland Joffé, and produced by the same team of “Hatfields and McCoys,” scheduled to air on the History Channel May 2015.

Raul has worked on many television series in Mexico including “El Señor de los Cielos” Parts 1 & 2, which aired in the U.S. on NBC/Telemundo.

Raul grew up in Torréon. He followed his passion to Mexico City where he got his degree in Dramatic Arts. He later joined Los Endebles Theatre Company where he began to develop his craft working in numerous theatrical productions. He also did commercial theatre and his last play “No sé si Cortarme las Venas…” was so successful, writer-director, Manolo Caro, turned it into a hit movie with the ensemble cast.

He has worked in more than 30 movies, including “Matando Cabos”, where he was nominated for several awards. He also participated in several American projects shot on location in Mexico, including “For Greater Glory” sharing scenes with Andy Garcia, and with Martin Sheen in “The Kid.” He won the role of Ferroq in “The Legend of Zorro” at the age of 27, when director Martin Campbell saw his self-taped audition. Raul’s first English-speaking role on television was in “Time of The Butterflies.”

His film “The Incident” directed by Isaac Ezban, is on the 2004 Festival circuit, having participated at the Austin Fantastic Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival. The film has its Mexican Premiere in the Los Cabos International Film Festival when it competes as First Feature. Raul’s next film “Visitantes” premieres in Mexico City December, 2014.

Known as a disciplined actor, who is committed to his work, and trains regularly.