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Speaking Faculty (subject to updates)
Dave Bishop - CEO, Protagonist Pictures
Dave Bishop became CEO of Protagonist Pictures in 2017, having joined the business in 2012 as Director of Sales before moving into the role of Head of Worldwide Acquisitions. With over 25 years in both the studio system and independent films business, he is recognised as one of the most experienced film executives based in the UK. Dave brings a strategic and target-focussed approach, along with an unparalleled network of relationships and partners across the global film industry.
Lee Broda - CEO & Founder, LB Entertainment
As a celebrated producer, Lee Broda’s intelligent and passionate creative drive has culminated in the creation of LB Entertainment, where Lee has shepherded over sixty five films to success as CEO and founder of the company. Beyond her work in film, she is also on the advisory board of IRCODE, a technology that transforms visual content into an interactive gateway that eliminates the need for QR codes, and Glow In The Dark, a storytelling initiative that reimagines how Jewish stories are seen and told.
LB Entertainment’s mission is to tell powerful stories and champion cinematic voices that challenge, inspire, and create impact beyond the screen. The company specializes in developing, financing, and producing independent films, television, and documentaries. These projects have premiered in the world’s top film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Venice, Toronto and SXSW, and have gone on to be distributed worldwide, garnering international recognition and numerous awards. The Apprentice starring Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong received 2 Oscar nominations, 2 Golden Globe nominations, and 3 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations in the 2025 award season. May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore received four Golden Globe nominations, one Oscar nomination, three Critics' Choice nominations, one Gotham Awards win, and one Film Independent Spirit Award win in the 2024 award season. The Card Counter starring Oscar Isaac received two Gotham awards in the 2021 award season, A Private War starring Rosamund Pike and Jamie Dornan received two Golden Globe nominations in the 2019 award season, and Driveways was nominated for two Spirit Awards in the 2020 award season.
Since its inception in 2015, LB Entertainment has attracted the best talent in the industry, including The Wizard of the Kremlin (Jude Law, Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jeffrey Wright), Paper Tiger (Miles Teller, Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson), By Any Means (Mark Wahlberg, Yahya Abdul-Mateen), Freud’s Last Session (Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Goode), Bride Hard (Rebel Wilson), Call Jane (Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver), Lansky (Harvey Keitel), The Kindergarten Teacher (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter (Peter Sarsgaard, Winona Ryder), and The Trust (Nicolas Cage, Elijah Wood).
Justin Wilkes - President, Imagine Entertainment
Justin Wilkes is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning producer and is currently the President of Imagine Entertainment, overseeing Imagine’s creative endeavors spanning film, television, and documentaries as well as corporate strategy and business development. Wilkes began his journey with Imagine in 2012 as the producer of Ron Howard’s first documentary Jay Z: Made in America and later created and produced the groundbreaking National Geographic series MARS in 2016. In 2018, Wilkes co-founded Imagine Documentaries, the successful premium non-fiction unit of the company, responsible for over 30 feature documentaries and 15 series since its inception. As a producer, Wilkes has made a notable slate of projects including the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary What Happened, Miss Simone?, Lucy and Desi, Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues, My Next Guest with David Letterman, The Dynasty: New England Patriots, The Super Models, Light & Magic and most recently, Ron Howard’s Jim Henson Idea Man, which premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and went on to win five Emmy Awards. Upcoming projects include the highly anticipated thriller After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri, set to be released in theaters this October.
Tifanie J. Acosta - Founder & Managing Partner, Entertainment Law Partners
Tifanie J. Acosta is the Founder and the Managing Partner at Entertainment Law Partners, PC, where she specializes in representing entertainment, corporate, entrepreneur clients as well as individual actors, performers, writers, authors, directors, executive producers, musicians, agents, PR agencies, managers, and producers in all aspects of the corporate, business, and entertainment industry.
Tifanie began her career as head of Business and Corporate Affairs for the prestigious personal management company of Royal and Associates in Beverly Hills, California, representing entertainment talent (mainly for Nancy Cartwright of the SIMPSONS) as well as corporate interests in the industry. From Royal, Tifanie was recruited by TFN, The Football Network, as General Counsel, to manage corporate governance, talent negotiations, development and acquisition of programming including options, live and taped sporting events, documentaries, home video/DVD and digital distribution, news shows, reality, Internet content development and syndication. Then, Tifanie maintained her own practice before she joined MindFusion Law, LLP as partner in the Entertainment and Business Affairs Department. Last, she also served as Senior VP of Business and Legal Affairs for Saddle Ranch Productions where she Executive Produced 3 feature films and conducted production legal on various projects.
David Acosta - Managing Director and Head of Entertainment Banking, East West Bank
David Acosta is a Managing Director and Head of Entertainment Banking at East West Bank, which focuses on clients in the film, television, music and sports industries.
Mr. Acosta and his team of nearly a dozen colleagues are responsible for sourcing and structuring single- and multiple-picture film financings, financing for television productions, and financings for sports teams, music companies and other media businesses.
Mr. Acosta has approximately two decades of experience in the entertainment and media financing business. Prior to his current role, he spent 13 years as a Team Leader within the Entertainment Division of City National Bank. Prior to that, he served as a senior vice president, head of the entertainment, sports and syndicated finance group, and head of mid-corporate banking for Israel Discount Bank of New York.
Mr. Acosta earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Columbia University in New York.
Amy Baker - CEO, Winston Baker
As CEO of WINSTON | BAKER, Amy Baker oversees the company’s global strategic planning, business development and vendor relationships. Amy Co-Founded the FILM FINANCE FORUM® in 2008, which provides the leading series of events dedicated to bringing seasoned finance and entertainment executives together from around the globe. Winston Baker is a renowned leader in the entertainment industry, known for curating content and organizing Forums worldwide. Amy has successfully organized sold out conferences, film festival programming and private events across the United States, Europe, Saudi Arabia, China, Pacific Asia and Latin America, along with a lineup of exciting virtual programs.
Prior to establishing Winston/Baker, she was at SRI which was acquired by ALM. At ALM, as Vice President of Business Development, Amy provided finance executives and marketers with targeted channels for reaching decision-makers within the legal, entertainment, healthcare, sports and tech sectors. In her previous position, Director of Business Development at RPMC, she worked with entertainment, music, and sports companies, creating event marketing programs, travel incentive services, sweepstakes, and media promotions.
Amy lived for many years in Europe, while working as a professional Model before receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with Honors from New York University. Amy proudly sits on the National Board of Advisors for the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida since 2018. She has recently started producing and developing projects for Film and Television.
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