Cutting Through the Noise: Marketing and PR Strategies for Film

In the competition for attention, films can struggle to stand out without a strong marketing, PR or social media campaign. Our international panel of speakers reveal the lessons learnt from years of work around festival campaigns, national releases, and global markets. From the role of influencers to social media platforms and press junkets, find out how to cut through the noise.

Speakers:

MATHIAS NOSCHIS | Head of Strategy
Alphapanda

JONATHAN RUTTER | Executive Director
Premier PR
KARINA GECHTMAN | International Marketing & Publicity Consultant

Moderator:

ANNA HIGGS | Managing Director
Character 7

About the speakers:

MATHIAS NOSCHIS
Mathias Noschis is a film marketing strategist specialised in social media. He is the founder of Alphapanda, a film marketing agency with team members in Berlin, Warsaw and Milan. Alphapanda’s client list includes The Match Factory, Bankside Pictures, Warner Bros, the European Film Market and several independent producers, distributors and sales agents. Alphapanda’s recent projects include Yellow Letters (Berlinale ’26 Golden Bear), Father Mother Sister Brother (Venice ’25 Golden Lion), Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Sundance ’23) and The Quiet Girl (Berlinale ’21). Mathias is also a speaker and tutor for organisations such as ACE Producers, EAVE and Locarno Industry Academy.

JONATHAN RUTTER
Jonathan Rutter is Executive Director at Premier, the UK’s leading entertainment publicity agency. He began his career as a film publicist in 1985 and between 1993 and 2006 ran the successful agency McDonald & Rutter with partner Charles McDonald. His work covers film productions, festivals, international campaigns and UK distribution, and he has handled films by most of the world’s leading film-makers including multiple titles with Robert Altman, David Lynch, Mike Leigh, Jane Campion, Pedro Almodóvar, Gus Van Sant, Todd Haynes, Anthony Minghella, Danny Boyle, Whit Stillman, the Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson and Yorgos Lanthimos.

KARINA GECHTMAN
Karina is an international film marketing and publicity consultant with over 20 years’ experience across production, sales and distribution for independent film and documentary. She partners with filmmakers to shape positioning and lead global marketing strategies from early development through production, festival launch, and worldwide release, working across both B2B and B2C campaigns. Previously VP of International Marketing and Publicity at Anton, she has also held senior roles at Altitude, Secret Cinema, Paramount Pictures, and Disney. Karina has collaborated with leading filmmakers including Asif Kapadia, Lynne Ramsay, David Mackenzie, Sarah Gavron, Clio Barnard and Kevin Macdonald.

ANNA HIGGS
Anna Higgs is Managing Director of production company Character 7, whose recent work includes heist Culprits and psychological thriller The Undoing. A second season of The Night Manager, in partnership with Ink Factory, premiered on BBC and Amazon in January 2026. A multi-award-winning producer, columnist and host, Higgs Executive Produced Channel 4 mini-series Beth, from writer-director Uzo Oleh, and is Producer on Hassan Akkad's debut feature film, following his successful short film Matar. Visionary work she has supported includes Sundance-winning Nick Cave film 20,000 Days on Earth, BAFTA-winning The End of the F*cking World and Oscar winner Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank.