Meet our friends and network
Poul-Erik Heilbuth
Journalist, Documentarist & Director
Poul-Erik is part of the jury for the selection of projects for Boosting Impact.
Poul-Erik Heilbuth is a price-winning Danish documentary filmmaker. Over the years, he has produced more than 20 documentaries and received over 25 international awards.
"The Americans have been much more efficient in transforming real life into fiction and fictional series. When I was invited to work with EWC, my big motivation was: Let´s not copy but learn from them and do it the European way" Poul-Erik Heilbuth
Poul-Erik is an investigative journalist that digs deep in order to tell stories that seem impossible to put on screen. In 2022, Poul-Erik's latest documentary JEG VAR TORTURBØDDEL / IN SEARCH OF MONSTERS received the International Emmy for current affairs. He spent four years investigating who the Americans behind the torture happening in Guantánamo prison were. In addition, he is the writer and director behind TERMINAL F/CHASING EDWARD SNOWDEN, where the world-famous whistle-blower appeared on TV for the first time.
It is safe to say that Poul-Erik takes chances and is not scared of investigating ‘impossible’ stories. He even says it himself: ”I have a passion and love for doing what can’t be done. To see people where you think: you can forget about getting them on screen. It’s insanely challenging”.
Poul-Erik has been one of EWC's advisor since the beginning of the Boosting Impact journey. His expertise and experience within the field of both journalism, research and fiction have been key to shaping the program that awaits our 6 selected projects.
It is and has been a pleasure to collaborate with such a generous and wise story teller.
Axel Gordh Humlesjö
Investigative Journalist & Senior Producer at Mission Investigate at SVT
Axel is part of the jury for the selection of projects for Boosting Impact.
Axel Gordh Humlesjö is an internationally acclaimed award-winning investigative reporter at the Swedish public broadcaster, SVT. He specializes in organized crime, corruption, digital research and cross border-reporting.
"Our story about the murder of UN expert Zaida Catalan is being developed for a fiction TV-series and we have learned so much from this process. Through EWC, I can help others to get their stories from facts to fiction" Axel Gordh Humlesjö
In 2019, Axel's team won an Emmy for the documentary DECEPTIVE DIPLOMACY - COVER-UP BY THE UN about the murders of two UN experts in DR Congo. The next project exposed massive money laundering in the Baltic states from Russia through Swedbank, Scandinavia's largest bank. The documentary DIRTY BANKING was nominated for an international Emmy in the current affairs category. His latest story revealed bribes and corruption in Securitas, one of the world's largest security companies.
Axel was one of our guest speakers during our Boosting Impact launch at MIA Market, in October 2023. Axel and SVT head of Drama, Anna Croneman took us through their journey from facts to fiction with their documentary “Deceptive Diplomacy - Cover-up by the UN”, which is being developed into a TV-series.
Elizabeth López
Director of SGAE Audiovisual &
EWC Advisory Board Member
As director of SGAE audiovisual, Elizabeth makes it her goal to fight for authors rights in Spain (writers and directors), and around the world. She represents her colleagues and makes sure their demands are being heard.
"For SGAE audiovisual, it was very important to jump on this project (EWC) because it is what the market is demanding. We are in a global market right now (...). There is a new behavior in the audiovisual sector that is coming up, which is the co-production between many countries, many languages, many ways of working, and all that is put together in the EWC camps." Elizabeth López
Elizabeth has a strong proven track as head of audiovisual contents, programming and acquisitions, and as an international executive producer. On top of that, Elizabeth has more than 30 years of experience in the audiovisual industry as both a writer and director. Before joining SGAE as their audiovisual director, Elizabeth had a rich career as head of programming and contents at Aragon, Spain; as founder and director of Canal Cocina, Spain; and as the Spanish correspondent for NBC Europe; in addition to being the author of several books such as “Communication on TV. A guide for TV presenters” and “Big brother and what’s next.”
The Spanish Society Authors and Publishers / Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE), based in Madrid, is the main society for composers and lyricists (Music section), scriptwriters, screenwriters, directors, translators and adapters (Audiovisual section) and playwriters and choreographers (Performing Arts section). On top of being an organism for the management of rights, SGAE promotes the continuous formation of its members and the diffusion of their works around the world.
Pauline Rocafull
Director of the Cité Européenne des Scénaristes
Pauline's role at the Cité Européenne des Scénaristes is to manage the team of La Cité to implement the major guidelines of the Board of Directors. She also actively make suggestions to ensure La Cité retains its spirit of innovation.
"The collaboration between La Cité and EWC is a daily delight. Kindness, fluidity, creativity are the key words. We take pleasure in our work and deliver excellent results. What more could you ask for?" Pauline Rocafull
As graduate of Science-Po Toulouse and Celsa, Pauline initially worked in the communication sector (especially within the Nuclear Production Department at EDF) before becoming a screenwriter. She has written for several French series such as CAÏN (France 2), POUR SARAH (TF1), and the soap opera PLUS BELLE LA VIE (France 3). She was also the screenwriter for several films that provide a perspective on the contemporary world, like UNE FEMME À ABATTRE (Arte), which won the award for best screenplay at the La Rochelle Festival in 2008.
Parallel to her writing work, she served as the President of the French Screenwriters Guild from 2017 to 2019. During this period, she signed two industry-wide agreements (Amendment to the Development Charter of France Televisions and Transparency Agreements for fiction, documentary, and animation) and a partnership agreement with the Ministry of the Armed Forces. In 2018, she became the president of the Cité Européenne des Scénaristes before taking on the role of General Manager. She lives between Paris and Biarritz and is passionate about sports.
La Cité Européenne des Scénaristes is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational and cultural training and awareness-raising initiatives to democratize access to the screenwriting profession and to audiovisual and cinematographic creation as a whole, and to support screenwriters in their training throughout their careers. As such, La Cité is a Qualiopi-certified training organization.
La Cité is taking care of Boosting Impact's emerging writers.
In collaboration with EWC, the Cité Européene des Scénaristes will be recruiting 6 emerging scriptwriters from the 27 EU countries and immerse them in European and multicultural writing teams.
