Meet Blanca Lista Jury of the 12th edition

Meet Blanca Lista, Jury of the 12th edition of the Festival du film Merveilleux

In the history of cinema, the figure of the producer is often juxtaposed with something negative. There are so many films that tell about this aspect, which insert it to sketch something very easy and binary: director=hero, while producer = villain and manipulator. Of course, this is not the case most of the time. Blanca Lista, for example, is an experienced producer who is, along with other people, the first outside look at the work. We all know how friends and family members are often unobjective or too involved with affection to make an unbiased judgment. The producer also plays this role. In the 12th edition of the Festival du Film Merveilleux, Blanca represents precisely that gaze, that of the industry, of production value. Our juror, as if that were not enough, has over 20 years of experience in this task. Specifically, we talk about feature film development, production, and post-production.

Certainly, the figure of the producer only interested in the interest of the audience, in mere profit, is as far from Blanca, who instead has an extreme passion for cinema and the collective vision of a product. Starting in 2009, Blanca joined The Jim Henson Company, in which she served as Production Executive on “Alexander the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” with Disney and “The Star” with Sony Pictures Animation. She then won an Emmy® for Outstanding Children’s Program as co-executive producer of “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” for Netflix and is now producing “The Portable Door” with Christoph Waltz and Sam Neill and co-producing Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” with Netflix.

Blanca built her career and grew professionally at the Jim Henson Company, adopting various jobs as a producer and production executive. Her role is truly that of a lighthouse for a filmmaker, at every stage of the filmmaking and storytelling process. This capacity has led her to develop a large and diverse network of creative people and executives who hold her in high regard. This aspect, which might be of interest only to insiders, must instead be of interest to all Festival participants.

Prior to this experience, she worked as a creative assistant at Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment studios. Her education is also in line with the opinion expressed about Blanca, a film-loving producer who for any filmmaker is an ally and not an enemy. In her academic background, Blanca graduated from Bard College, where she earned a BA in Film and Asian Studies, and earned an MFA with honors from the LUCA School of Arts in Belgium. During this time, Blanca also obtained the prestigious artist residency program at the Bains Connective art lab. We are overjoyed to have such an important figure as Blanca on our jury, who represents what a producer should be. Complementing her role are the various languages Blanca speaks, namely English, Spanish and French, and Mandarin Chinese.

Like all of our jurors, Blanca is someone we could not sum up in these lines, yet we are trying to do so. For all the filmmakers participating in the Festival, the figure of the producer is one of the most important. Being noticed by Blanca can really mean taking a big step in the right direction. Let yourself be guided by a figure like hers, who will be ready to give you the right advice as a producer.

Finally, as always, we want to thank all our jurors and on this occasion Blanca, for lending herself in the role of juror. It is really important for us to have a woman like her on the jury team at the 12th Festival Du Film Merveilleux. Every film needs a producer, but Blanca is the person we would all like to have by our side.