New Producers Academy was founded in 2021, by Filmmaker and Producer Claudio Montesano Casillas, Filmmaker Loretta van der Horst and Impact Manager Yassin Karmoudi, as a response to the lack of diversity within a crucial area of the film industry: producers.
Yassin and Claudio met for the first time in 2018 at Doc Society’s Good Pitch event in Amsterdam and stayed in touch over a shared passion for storytelling and representation. As a kid, Yassin – who’s family hails from Morocco – saw namesake characters often portrayed one-dimensionally as either drug dealers and criminals or simply expendable within stories and has made it his mission to break down these kinds of stereotypes.
After looking for ways to collaborate further, Claudio met Loretta through the U.S. initiative Brown Girls Docs Mafia network and they decided to create a similar grassroots initiative in the Netherlands together with Yassin.
Loretta is an award-winning filmmaker and producer based in the Netherlands. As Head of Studies at the NPA, she brings her extensive international network of producers and talent to support the program and its fellows. Loretta focuses on fostering collaboration between directors and producers, drawing from her own filmmaking experiences.
Her feature documentary ‘Behind the Blood’ won Best International Film at the HUMAN film festival in Oslo in 2020. Recently, her film ‘The Border Crossed Us’, exploring the lives of police officers on the US-Mexico border, premiered at IDFA 2023 and was nominated for a Gouden Kalf at the Netherlands Film Festival in 2024. Through the NPA, Loretta mentors fellows, helping them reflect on and enhance their creative development.
As the founder of independent production company The Waves, she develops and produces both scripted and non-scripted films and series, with a focus on socially impactful storytelling. Passionate about elevating diverse voices, Loretta continues to champion projects that address critical global issues through film.
Claudio is an Italian-Mexican producer based in the Netherlands and co-founder of The Waves, a new Dutch production company that creates both unscripted and scripted films inspired by true stories.
As Head of Production at the New Producers Academy (NPA), he guides creative talent from underrepresented communities through the production phase of their films. His role focuses on empowering emerging filmmakers and helping them bring their unique stories to the screen. Beyond his work at the NPA, Claudio works as a freelance producer for 100PRCNT (formerly known as Halal Amsterdam), where he manages a major streaming platform project. His experience spans both documentary and narrative filmmaking, with several of his produced works receiving industry recognition and awards.
Throughout his career, Claudio has participated in prestigious industry development programs, including: ACE Producers, Eurodoc, EAVE and IDFA Emerging Producers. His multicultural background and international experience have shaped his approach to storytelling, allowing him to bridge different cultural perspectives in his productions.
Led by her East-Asian roots and passion to create she researches the beauty of culture looking to shed a light on the unrecognised. As the Project Manager at NPA she manages new projects within the NPA, oversees the art direction and is in close contact with all fellows. She has worked on multiple productions outside of the NPA reaching from fiction and documentary to editorial shoots. By combining her academic backgrounds in anthropology and art it enables her to perceive things in a critical and unique light as a visual storyteller and researcher.
Born to Moroccan parents in the south of the Netherlands, Jasmine moved around before settling in Paris, where she completed her studies in filmmaking. What drives her work is the ability to see the world through different perspectives, which she shares through her storytelling. As Communications Manager at the New Producers Academy, she brings her background in film and eye for design to connect audiences with the organization’s mission. Beyond her work at NPA, her interests span documentary filmmaking, contemplative narrative structures and fashion.
Adeline is a creative professional from Indonesia whose work spans photography, video, and singing. For her, creativity is essential to how she thinks and works, allowing her to express unique thoughts and feelings while maintaining clarity and purpose. Currently interning at the New Producers Academy, Adeline views this role as an opportunity for both contribution and self-discovery. She believes that helping others leads to personal growth, and through her work at NPA, she aims to better understand which aspects of her creativity she is ready to share with the world.
NEW PRODUCERS ACADEMY is a project of the Otredad Foundation – a non-profit organisation supporting non-fiction and fiction producers of colour in The Netherlands.
Help us build a more inclusive industry
By donating to New Producers Academy you become part of changing our industry for the better.
