Professional Development

Overview
Sessions
Guests
Past Events

Meet the Creative Minds Expanding What's Possible

VIFF Industry’s Professional Development program offers a dynamic range of learning opportunities designed to strengthen artists’ skills, deepen creative inquiry, and support long-term career growth.

Presented during Industry Days at the Vancouver International Film Festival, these curated masterclasses, labs, case studies, and panels, connect filmmakers and screen creatives with leading voices from across the sector.

Together, these sessions introduce new tools, practices, and perspectives that help artists navigate changing conditions, embrace experimentation, and transform moments of challenge into opportunities for creative innovation. They foster critical dialogue, artistic exploration, and peer-to-peer exchange, supporting creatives as they push the boundaries of their practice and imagine new paths forward.

How do I access Professional Development?

If you are an industry professional, you can register for an Artist & Industry Pass and get access to exclusive Industry panels and more!

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Professional Development Spotlight

Full line-up will be announced on August 26

Sound of Falling film image; sad child amongst a group of adults all dressed in black

Editing as Discovery: Narrative, Instinct, and the Unpredictable

Masterclass

Berlin-based film editor Evelyn Rack invites artists and industry professionals into her editorial practice across fiction and documentary, where editing becomes a space for discovery rather than resolution.

Featured Speaker: Evelyn Rack, Editor, Sound of Falling

Image: © Fabian Gamper

More on This Masterclass

Drawing from her work on internationally acclaimed films such as Sound of Falling (Cannes Competition, Prix du Jury), We Might As Well Be Dead (Berlinale, Tribeca), and Wo/men, Rack explores how narrative boundaries can be stretched — and sometimes broken — through instinct-driven and material-led processes.

The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo film image; two people hugging each other tightly

Exploring the Art and Strategy of International Co-Productions

Masterclass

Acclaimed producer Giancarlo Nasi shares his expansive approach to international co-productions, drawing on his experience working across more than 17 countries and a slate of award-winning films that have premiered at Cannes, Venice, and Berlin.

Featured Speaker: Giancarlo Nasi, Producer, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo

Supported by

More on This Masterclass

Blending artistic vision with production strategy, Nasi unpacks how to build meaningful creative partnerships, navigate complex cross-border collaborations, and align storytelling with global audiences and industry opportunities.

Flow film image; cartoon cat sitting in a city

The Journey of Flow: From Script to Screen

Masterclass

Academy Award-winning co-writer and producer Matīss Kaža unpacks the creative and collaborative journey behind Flow (2024), the first independent animated feature to win both a Golden Globe and an Oscar.

Featured Speaker: Matīss Kaža, Co-Writer & Producer, Flow

More on This Masterclass

Drawing from his multidisciplinary practice across film and theatre, Kaža explores how a project evolves from early concept to finished work, and how story, form, and production strategy intersect along the way. Get a behind-the-scenes look at how Flow was shaped into a globally recognized film, along with practical and reflective approaches to bringing ambitious ideas to life.

Narrative Sovereignty and Decolonization

Panel

This panel examines how storytelling transforms when creators move from being subjects of representation to holders of narrative authority. It considers who owns stories, who benefits from them, and how editorial power is distributed across the creative ecosystem.

Land Acknowledgment and Location Practices

Panel

This panel examines the meaning and responsibility behind filming on Indigenous territories. It moves beyond symbolic acknowledgments to explore consent, permissions, and accountability in practice.

Curating Cinema in a Shifting Landscape

Panel

This panel explores film curation as a creative and critical act that shapes how cinema is seen, valued, and understood. As the boundaries of storytelling, distribution, and audience engagement continue to evolve, curators play a pivotal role in expanding whose voices are elevated and how films connect across contexts.

Featured Speaker: Pamela Biénzobas (Locarno Film Festival), Ruun Nuur (Vancouver International Film Festival)

Featured Guests

Full line-up will be announced on August 26

Evelyn Rack

Evelyn Rack is a film editor working across fiction and documentary. Most recently, she edited Sound of Falling (2026), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, received the Jury Prize, and was selected as Germany’s official submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. Her work also includes I Spy With My Little Eye, Ararat, We Might as Well Be Dead, WO/MEN, and Drifter, which premiered at major international festivals. Rack is an alumna of Berlinale Talents, serves regularly on festival juries, and is based in Germany, where she holds a master’s degree in editing from the Film University Babelsberg.

Giancarlo Nasi

Giancarlo Nasi is a film producer, political scientist, and intellectual property lawyer. His films include Land and Shade by César Acevedo, winner of the Camera d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival; Oblivion Verses by Alireza Khatami, winner of the Lion for Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival; The Settlers by Felipe Gálvez, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and winner of the FIPRESCI Prize; The Blue Trail by Gabriel Mascaro, which won the Silver Bear at Berlinale 2025; and his most recent production, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes, awarded the Grand Prix of Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival 2025.

Matīss Kaža

Matīss Kaža is an Academy Award-winning Latvian producer, director, and writer. He is best known for co-writing and producing the animated feature film Flow (2024), directed by Gints Zilbalodis, which won both the first ever Golden Globe and the first Oscar for an independent animated feature. Recent producing credits include Sisters (Warsaw Film Festival 2022 1-2 Competition Award winner) by Linda Olte, and Drowning Dry (winner of two awards in the Locarno 2024 Main Competition) by Laurynas Bareiša.

Pamela Biénzobas

Chilean-French consultant, programmer, and critic. She has been a member of the Locarno Film Festival’s feature film selection committee since 2021. She collaborates with film funds, labs, residencies, and industry events, assessing projects and mentoring filmmakers at every stage, from early development to script advising, editing consultation, and pitch training. She also works with festivals, moderating Q&As and press conferences. As a freelance writer, she has contributed to numerous publications for more than 20 years.

Ruun Nuur

Ruun Nuur is an independent cinematic practitioner with a diasporic gaze focused on Black and Muslim communities. She is the co-founder of NO EVIL EYE CINEMA, a radical nomadic microcinema, a features programmer at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and, most recently, a documentary programmer at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Nuur is an organizational leader whose work exists at the intersection of cinema, research, and accessible programming, with a mission to inspire audiences to engage deeply with the moving image and foster meaningful connection.