French born and Toronto-based Hayet Benkara has years of international experience working extensively with some of the most prestigious festivals. After managing the Sales Office, the unofficial market, at TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival, she has been managing and producing all the Talent Development Programmes at TIFF including Studio, a year-round professional training programme for mid-career producers, directors and screenwriters and the Talent Lab. Benkara has worked for Cannes (Producers Network), Berlinale (Co-production market), IFFR (Rotterdam Film Festival), Locarno (Open Doors Lab), DFI (the Doha Film Institute), the Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Film Festival (Arab Emirates), the Guanajuato Film Festival (Mexico), T-Mobile New Horizon (Poland), Pristina Film Festival (Kosovo), the Bosphorus Film Festival (Turkey) and, recently, the Marrakech Film Festival (the Atlas Workshops). Because of her extensive knowledge of the international market place, Hayet is often hired as a Mentor, a Programmer and/or an Industry Advisor. She has been invited to many festivals to participate as a jury member and to conduct workshops for film students and professionals. Throughout her career, Hayet has consistently placed a high value on the quality of the relationships she has fostered and has developed an extensive network of contacts among artists and professionals working in virtually every aspect of the film industry in North America, Europe and the Middle East. She also created her company, Prodigy 360, to advise young and established filmmakers, producers and screenwriters on Development, Production, Co-production, Distribution, Marketing and Festival strategies.