NPA

Yordi Werkzam is a Dutch-Surinamese producer and creative based in Amsterdam, working across film, television, and branded content. As co-founder of SOMA B.V., he develops and produces stories rooted in contemporary culture, with a strong visual identity and a focus on identity, community, and ambition. His work spans independent documentaries, narrative films, and youth-driven series, collaborating with broadcasters, cultural institutions, and emerging talent. With a background in line production, Yordi combines creative vision with a sharp sense of execution, building projects from concept to screen. He is driven by stories that reflect modern city life and bring new voices to the forefront of Dutch and international storytelling.

Clove Film helps with the creation of stories that move across generations and emotional depths. Rooted in lived experience and shaped by cultural gaze, our films carry intimacy and scale, crafted for international audiences who crave authenticity and resonance. With a growing body of work and participation in key international network platforms, we are building a future-facing studio where powerful authorship meets international ambition. From fiction to documentary to series, our slate champions bold cinematic voices with the potential to travel globally, artistically and emotionally.

Nizar is an actor, presenter, screenwriter and creative producer. Nizar wants to develop himself as a producer who stays close to the substantive material. He remains close to the stories he wants to tell, but also steps back from them in order to take them to another level. He listens to and absorbs stories, then brings them out into the world. He sees himself as a creative link that connects, while still leaving room for other visions. What continually motivates and intrigues him are stories that reveal the complexity of social issues and human nature. From this starting point, he wants to inspire people, give them enjoyment and encourage them to reflect.

Emilia Lantink is a producer based in Rotterdam. She started working in production during her bachelor in Creative Business, and joined the New Producers Academy as one of the first year’s fellows after graduation. She produced Bittersweet, Tomorrow Will Be Better (IFFR 2024), and We Are The Ghosts (NFF 2024). Her focus is on telling authentic stories about queer, migrant, and other underrepresented communities. In 2025, she took part in the Rotterdam Lab of IFFR and A Post Lab.

Mirwais came to the Netherlands as a child, and Dutch quickly became his primary language. Though he felt like any other kid, his Afghan, Azeri, and Georgian roots often left him feeling culturally conflicted. After 9/11, everything changed—people treated him differently because of his Muslim heritage. This experience drew him towards stories about outcasts, exploring themes of injustice, privilege, and belonging. Filmmaking wasn’t initially on his radar until he met real filmmakers who inspired him to pursue studies at LUCA School of Arts in Belgium. There, he realized his passion for connecting people with shared visions and creating collaborative platforms. As a producer, his mission is simple: “helping good people do good stuff.” The New Producers Academy (NPA) transformed Mirwais in unexpected ways, boosting his confidence and providing him with an invaluable network. Working on a short film at NPA allowed him to embrace trial and error and reinforced the importance of believing in his voice and continuing to refine his craft.

Elizabeth Francisco is a filmmaker and producer operating between the Netherlands and the Caribbean. Rooted in layered, human storytelling, her work gained international recognition with the world premiere of her documentary Horsepower at IFFR. Building on this momentum, Elizabeth was selected for NPA+, where she is currently developing her first feature film. She is also a recipient of the Netherlands Film Fund’s Studio Caribe scheme for her film Wow'i Asombro, currently in pre-production. As the founder of Liza Films, Elizabeth leverages her multi-disciplinary experience as a writer, director, and producer to create connection and opportunity for bold makers with urgent stories to tell.

Karim Mrabti (1990) is a Dutch-born Moroccan film producer, writer, and director working internationally across Europe, Africa, and the Arab world. His work centers on identity, belonging, and the complexities of diaspora. He was the creative producer of Porte Bagage, which premiered at the Marrakech International Film Festival, and the producer and co-writer of Last Shot, selected for the Tiger Short Competition at IFFR and the competition for Best Dutch Film at Go Short. Karim is currently producing the new feature film by Sharif Abdel Mawla. He is also developing his directorial debut feature in collaboration with the award-winning production house Caviar. He was selected for the Doha Film Institute Script Lab, IFFR Lab 2026, and TorinoFilmLab Comedy.

Naomi Wills is a Rotterdam-based film producer. After a decade in the corporate trenches working in HR and management, she transitioned to film fulltime in 2024 and won the NAPA Award for emerging talent in 2025. Currently, Naomi balances her role as a Line Producer at Tangerine Tree with her own production house, PLAN TAIN. Her work centers on (hybrid) documentaries with a strong focus on social urgency. She is dedicated to working with creatives who shed light on the everyday, upholding a mirror to today’s realities by capturing stories from the very veins of society and the lived experiences of real and/or overlooked people. Blending a realistic business mindset with a thorough creative process, she produced the award-winning ‘Teken en Zie de Wereld’ and is currently developing and producing several new works, both independently and in collaboration with Dutch broadcasters.

Terry Tao is a film producer based in The Hague (NL). He primarily focuses on producing stories from the Dutch-Asian diaspora that touch upon themes like bicultural identity and representation. While exploring his interests in filmmaking, Terry managed to build a strong network within the Dutch-Asian creative community. This led him to become CinemAsia’s FilmLAB’s producer in 2023. Soon after, he assisted the production team of Happy Palace (2024), one of the first Dutch feature films with a primarily Dutch-Chinese cast and crew. His ambition to amplify the Dutch-Asian creative community and to close the gap of Dutch-Asian representation in the film and media landscape eventually aligned with the New Producers Academy, where he kickstarted his career as film producer.

Tatevik Martirosyan is an animation line-producer and production coordinator with an extensive background in animation and design. She specialises in 2D and stop-motion production and is actively expanding her expertise in 3D and VFX, as well as live-action. After premiering her graduation film (Rotkind, 2022) at the Netherlands Film Festival and other festivals worldwide, Tatevik refined her network and skills with support from the New Producers Academy, where she is currently producing a 2D and stop-motion short film called Leon Can Feel. In recent years, she has worked with production houses (Volya Films, Studio Biarritz) on several animated films and series as a production coordinator. As someone with a technical animation background and production knowledge, she specialises in bridging the gap between production and artistic departments. Besides technical expertise, she is passionate about bringing critically aware storytelling to life.

Peggy Gemerts is a Dutch-Surinamese film distributor turned film producer from Amsterdam with almost 20 years of experience in media & entertainment. She’s founder of Full Color Entertainment which specializes in distribution, online streaming platform Pepr and Stichting Full Color Films - the body behind all upcoming film productions. With a focus on diversity in front of and behind the camera, and the mission to provide a platform for Black filmmakers, filmmakers of color and women, she has a passion for unique, layered stories with a possibility to reach a broad audience. The short film JAMAL is her first film production, for which she is credited executive producer and producer. 

Jeansen Djaoen is a producer and director, born in Curaçao and living and operating from Rotterdam, Netherlands. From a young age he knew he wanted to work in media, starting with friends making short films and sketches for local TV stations and videoclips for artists.

Despite a rough background and seemingly hopeless opportunities, Jeansen waged a titanic battle and showed that with hard work, you can achieve anything you want. Starting his own production company ‘Goonsquad Media’, with which he has worked on various TV-formats such as ‘Jojanneke in de prostitutie’, ‘Keuzes’, and ‘Drop it’. Subsequently, he progressed to creating standalones with documentaries like ‘Het schooladvies’ as well as different fiction projects.

Rudina Gomez is a producer, writer and talent development consultant from Bonaire. Her work centers around creating space for Caribbean stories and bridging the gap between Caribbean filmmakers and the Dutch and international landscape. 

She made her debut as a producer in 2025 through De Ontmoeting with the short film Black Girl Magic, in which she advocated for authentic casting for a Bonairian character and for hiring professionals from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao behind the camera. With Sòp’i Piská, she further establishes herself as a Caribbean-centered producer who tells stories rooted in local realities, promotes the use of Papiamentu in film and stimulates local collaborations.

Her aim is to support emerging producers and help strengthen professional productions in the region, drawing on the knowledge, skills, and network she has built through the New Producers Academy and beyond.

Baran Sedighian (she/her) is a producer and animation filmmaker with a deep passion for storytelling, originally from Iran. As a fellow of the New Producer Academy, she is committed to helping artists bring their visions to life. Currently, she is working as a producer and animation line producer on several projects.

Marre Tramper is a Dutch-Indonesian film producer shaped by a diasporic perspective, where identity is fluid rather than fixed. Rooted in this in-between cultural space, her work focuses on characters and stories that move beyond singular narratives and reflect layered, hybrid lived experiences.

Chesney is a filmmaker, producer and director based in The Hague and the founder of The Rehearsalroom, an acting school that offers a safe space for new talent, with a strong focus on diversity and representation.

In her short films, including Uncool Kid and My Name Is Queen, she explores themes such as freedom, identity and intergenerational trauma.

In 2024, Eye Filmmuseum highlighted her in the article Gaze into the future: Chesney Giersthove as one of the creators who are renewing the film industry with an entrepreneurial and independent perspective. These days, she divides her time between the Netherlands and Atlanta, where she focuses on developing knowledge and strategies to serve not only the Netherlands but also the global market with Dutch-language film productions.

Nizar is an actor, presenter, screenwriter and creative producer. Nizar wants to develop himself as a producer who stays close to the substantive material. He remains close to the stories he wants to tell, but also steps back from them in order to take them to another level. He listens to and absorbs stories, then brings them out into the world. He sees himself as a creative link that connects, while still leaving room for other visions.

What continually motivates and intrigues him are stories that reveal the complexity of social issues and human nature. From this starting point, he wants to inspire people, give them enjoyment and encourage them to reflect.

Boaz Schoevaars is a Rotterdam-based producer whose passion for cinema began early, discovering directors such as Werner Herzog, Andrei Tarkovsky and Stanley Kubrick opened his eyes to film as a philosophical language capable of exploring the human condition.

Boaz is drawn to auteur-driven cinema—creators with a distinct vision who understand not only what stories need to be told, but how to tell them. Across genres, he seeks stories rooted in human complexity: the mistakes we make, the choices we chase, and the internal and external forces that shape who we become.

He holds bachelor’s degrees in Arts & Culture and Philosophy, and a master’s in Film Studies. He gained industry experience as an intern at Circe Films, and then worked his way up from production assistant on various film sets to assistant producer at The Rogues. He now works for VPRO-HUMAN as a producer, co-organizes Roffa Film Club, and produces short films, documentaries and feature films through his own company: Nahshon Film.

Elizabeth is an emerging film producer from Curaçao, based in Rotterdam. With a background in writing and directing, her work centers on layered, character-driven stories that explore colorism, familial bonds, absurdism, and magical realism—often inspired by Caribbean folklore and social urgency.

A New Producers Academy fellow, Elizabeth produced her first short documentary Horsepower, set to premiere at IFFR 2026. She is currently in pre-production on Wow’i Asombro, a short fiction film developed under Studio Caribe with support from the Nederlands Filmfonds. Her upcoming projects include Chabelita, a feature-length horror rooted in Caribbean folklore, and a feature documentary about a queer community in West Africa.

As a writer-director, her short Roba Alma premiered at the Curaçao International Film Festival (2024) and won Best Narrative Short at the Belize International Film Festival, marking the first Filmfonds-funded production from Curaçao.

Elizabeth is dedicated to building bridges between Dutch Caribbean filmmakers and the Dutch film industry—creating opportunities and visibility for underrepresented voices in cinema.

Jeansen is a producer and director, born in Curaçao and living and operating from Rotterdam, Netherlands. From a young age he knew he wanted to work in media, starting with friends making short films and sketches for local TV stations and videoclips for artists.

Despite a rough background and seemingly hopeless opportunities, Jeansen waged a titanic battle and showed that with hard work, you can achieve anything you want. Starting his own production company ‘Goonsquad Media’, with which he has worked on various TV-formats such as ‘Jojanneke in de prostitutie’, ‘Keuzes’, and ‘Drop it’. Subsequently, he progressed to creating standalones with documentaries like ‘Het schooladvies’ as well as different fiction projects.