Scientific Committee

María Paz Peirano is a Professor in Film and Cultural Studies at Universidad de Chile. She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Kent (UK) and was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). Her research examines Chilean cinema, film festivals, cultural diplomacy, and the formation of audiences and film cultures in South America. She has published extensively on these topics, including the book Film Festivals and Anthropology (2017). She was the principal investigator of the projects Film Festivals: Experiences of Formation and Expansion of the Chilean Cultural Field (Fondecyt 11160735) and Chilean Film Audiences (Fondecyt 1211594), bridging academic research, cultural policy, and public anthropology. She also co-curated the exhibition Cine en Chile: Historia(s) en Movimiento (Cinema in Chile: Histories in Movement, Santiago, 2026).

Skadi Loist (they/them) is Associate Professor of Film Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim. Hailing from (East) Germany, they previously worked as Assistant Professor for Production Cultures at the Film University Babelsberg. Their research focuses on film festivals and circulation, labor conditions, diversity, sustainability, and queer film culture. They have led major research projects such as Film Circulation on the International Film Festival Network (BMBF, 2017–22) and Gender Equity Policy (GEP) Analysis (DFG/ESRC/SSHRC, 2021–24). Loist has published widely in leading journals and co-edited collections and special issues, including Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice (Routledge, 2016). They co-founded the Film Festival Research Network in 2008 and worked with queer film festivals for over a decade in various capacities spanning archive intern, pre-selection, anniversary book editor, and board member.  They regularly serve on festival juries, e.g. at Uppsala, the Berlinale Teddy Award, Prix Jeunesse. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8299-4103
 
 Photo credit: Michael Kaltenecker

Rich Warren is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Media at Bath Spa University (Bath School of Art, Film and Media) and a PhD researcher exploring how short films and emerging filmmakers circulate through international festival networks. 
 
His Network Effects project uses data-driven methodologies, including the analysis of rejection patterns alongside acceptances, to evidence the artist development impact of festival ecosystems. As part of this research, he is developing a data visualisation prototype to help festival organisations evidence their cultural impact to funders and policymakers. 
 
Rich is the former CEO and Festival Director of Encounters Film Festival (2008–2023), one of the UK's leading short film and animation festivals and brings over fifteen years of industry experience to his research.
https://networkeffects.myportfolio.com/network-effects
https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/our-people/rich-warren/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rich-warren-r1ch/