The Team - New Producers Acadamy

THE

TEAM

THE FOUNDERS

New Producers Academy was founded in 2021, by Filmmaker and Producer Claudio Montesano Casillas, Filmmaker Loretta van der Horst and Impact Manager Yassin Karmoudi, as a response to the lack of diversity within a crucial area of the film industry: producers.

Yassin and Claudio met for the first time in 2018 at Doc Society’s Good Pitch event in Amsterdam and stayed in touch over a shared passion for storytelling and representation. As a kid, Yassin – who’s family hails from Morocco – saw namesake characters often portrayed one-dimensionally as either drug dealers and criminals or simply expendable within stories and has made it his mission to break down these kinds of stereotypes.

After looking for ways to collaborate further, Claudio met Loretta through the U.S. initiative Brown Girls Docs Mafia network and they decided to create a similar grassroots initiative in the Netherlands together with Yassin.

Yassin Karmoudi

- Head of Partnerships

Yassin, born and raised in Roosendaal, a small city in Brabant, Netherlands, carries a rich Moroccan heritage. Inspired by his grandparents, who migrated to Europe with nothing but their dreams of building a better future for their children, Yassin developed a passion for storytelling aimed at inspiring and empowering others to share their voices.

Previously, Yassin has contributed to the film industry through roles at Savage Film, known for their Oscar-nominated film ‘Rundskop,’ and at Submarine, celebrated for the Netflix animated special of ‘Sandman’ and the innovative Submarine Channel. His experience spans various capacities including storyteller, producer, impact producer, and marketing manager, allowing him to influence multiple facets of the industry.

Currently, Yassin is the co-founder and head of partnerships at the New Producers Academy (NPA), an initiative specifically focused on producers. Additionally, Yassin manages talent trajectories for both fiction and documentary genres at NPO, focusing on integrating diverse talent into the Dutch Public Broadcaster. His work at both the NPA and NPO not only benefits these organizations but also enhances their impact, promoting new talent and advancing diversity initiatives within the industry.

Loretta van der Horst

- Head of Studies

Loretta serves as the Head of Studies at the NPA, steering the substantive program that fellows follow. She leverages her extensive international network of producers and talent for the benefit of the program and its fellows. Drawing from her own experiences as a filmmaker, Loretta actively engages with the fellows throughout the program to reflect and build on their creative development and the collaboration between directors and producers. A filmmaker herself, Loretta focuses on character driven storytelling, often paying attention to pressing human rights issues and conflict worldwide. Her past work draws on her academic background in conflict studies and has been centered on stories in Latin America, including her birth country Honduras, where her debut feature documentary Behind the Blood was set; a film that won Best International Film at the HUMAN film festival in Oslo in 2020. Loretta’s second feature documentary The Border Crossed Us, about police officers on the US – Mexico Border, premiered at IDFA 2023 and was nominated for a Gouden Kalf at the Netherlands Film Festival 2024.

Claudio Montesano Casillas

- Head of Productions

Claudio manages the business aspects of the academy and serves as the Head of Production at the NPA, assisting students during the production phase of their films. Beyond the NPA, he concurrently plays an active role in producing and directing films with a more diverse crew and directors. In his capacity as a producer, Claudio has engaged with prominent industry programs such as ACE producers, Eurodoc, EAVE, and IDFA emerging Producers. He meticulously selects stories that illuminate underrepresented communities, offering them the attention they may not otherwise receive. As an independent producer he collaborates with 100%, formerly known as HALAL) and Scenery in Amsterdam. As a filmmaker, Claudio recently earned the Holland Film Meeting award at the Netherlands Film Festival for his personal narrative that focuses on Bangladesh.

Julia Jiàn Stoffer

- Project Manager

Led by her East-Asian roots and passion to create she researches the beauty of culture looking to shed a light on the unrecognised. As the Project Manager at NPA she manages new projects within the NPA, oversees the art direction and is in close contact with all fellows. She has worked on multiple productions outside of the NPA reaching from fiction and documentary to editorial shoots. By combining her academic backgrounds in anthropology and art it enables her to perceive things in a critical and unique light as a visual storyteller and researcher.

Samantha-Lee Capriles

- Marketing Communications intern

Born and raised in Curaçao, Samantha’s passion for storytelling is influenced by her vibrant cultural heritage. Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in International Creative Business at Inholland University of Applied Sciences in The Hague, Samantha is eager to explore the behind-the-scenes workings of the film industry. She wants to know more about the balance between creative vision and business operations, which is why she is interning at NPA to gain hands-on experience in marketing, communication, and production. Viewing her internship as a vital learning experience, allowing her to bridge her passion for storytelling with the strategic insights needed to thrive in the film industry.

Jasmine Bounour

- Production intern

Born to Moroccan parents in the south of the Netherlands, she is currently in her final year at film school in Paris. What drives her is the ability to see the world through different perspectives, and she aims to share that sense of perspective through her storytelling. Alongside her studies, she is working on her first documentary, a personal project focusing on the lives of women from the Rif Mountains, a subject close to her heart.

Otredad Foundation

NEW PRODUCERS ACADEMY is a project of the Otredad Foundation – a non-profit organisation supporting non-fiction and fiction producers of colour in The Netherlands.