Game Changer Award going to Christoph Krachten, co-founder and President of Mediakraft Networks.

Michael Shamberg, producer of Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained, is to give the opening keynote at the inaugural Zurich Summit (Sept 28).

Shamberg, who more recently produced Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here and A Walk Among the Tombstones starring Liam Neeson (both of which will be at the Zurich Film Festival), will discuss ‘Storytelling across platforms’ in his speech. Shamberg is also set to receive the Career Achievement Award at ZFF (Sept 25 - Oct 5).

Nicolas Chartier, president of Voltage Pictures and producer of Dallas Buyers Club and Good Kill, will deliver a keynote on ‘Producing award-winning films at the right budget’.

Other keynote speeches will be given by Ubisoft Motion Pictures CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet about ‘Turning popular games in box office hits’, and Joiz Group CEO Alexander Mazzara on social media and TV.

Game Changer Award

The summit, organised by ZFF’s Karl Spoerri and Winston Baker, will also see the award of the first Game Changer Award to Christoph Krachten, president of Munich-based online TV channel Mediakraft Networks. The award will be presented during the closing dinner of the Zurich Summit.

According to a Zurich Summit statement: “Christoph Krachten has become one of Europe’s most successful and prolific online TV producers. After having worked as a TV journalist and producer for many years, he was one of the first media creators in Germany to recognize the potential in online video. In 2011, he founded Mediakraft Networks, which has become one of the leading online TV broadcasters in Central Europe.”

Krachten will also deliver a keynote on ‘The future of digital consumption’.

Panels

Panels throughout the day will include a discussion on marketing and distribution with panelists including Toronto artistic director Cameron Bailey, Fox Searchlight Pictures svp of finance and operations Jill Gwen Braginets, and upc cablecom managing director Eric Tveter.

Screen International will moderate a session on the new wave of cinema in India with speaker Guneet Monga, producer and CEO of Sikhya Entertainment/Anurag Kashyap FIlms.

There will also be discussions on ‘The new breed of studio’ with the Weinstein Company’s Negeen Yazdi and Sierra/Affinity’s Marc Butan among others; and a focus on China that includesYu Gong, founder and CEO of Chinese video streaming platform iQiyi.

In addition to the all-day conference and awards night, the Zurich Summit will include networking activities, such as a gala reception with screening, tennis tournament and after-party.

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