LINA TODD

As a producer, casting director and creative consultant Lina Todd has worked extensively on more than 40 feature films. She served as Vice President of Creative and Talent for the former Shooting Gallery from 1997-2001, where she headed the NY development office and cast a number of films including the Oscar-nominated, Sundance Winner, You Can Count on Me. Other award-winning films she has cast include Nicholas Nickelby, for MGM/UA, which was nominated for a Golden Globe and was awarded the Best Ensemble Cast by the National Board of Review; Me Without You, which was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Film; Second Best (Think Films, Sundance 2004); Homework (Slamdance Winner 2004); and Little Man Tate. She is currently co- producing, Four Women, by writer/director Jay Anania, starring Olympia Dukakis and Martin Donovan.

Lina is also the creator and programmer of the Hamptons International Film Festival’s discovery section for acting talent, Rising Stars, now in its fourth year. Mentors for the program have included the legendary James Coburn, Joan Allen, Gena Rowlands, Alec Baldwin and Miranda Richardson and actors taking part are chosen from both the US and abroad. In 2003, Lina played a key role in establishing a relationship between the Hamptons Festival and the Talent Campus at the Berlin International Film Festival, whereby Rising Star actors are invited to participate in Berlin’s international Talent Campus.

Lina has moderated panels and taught classes on auditioning, directing actors and casting for the Hamptons International Film Festival, IFP Market, Lake Placid Film Forum, the Berlin International Film Festival’s Talent Campus, and European Film Promotion’s Shooting Stars. She is a consultant with the Amsterdam-based Film Firm which consists of film experts from around the world, and at the Berlinale 2005 she was one of the founding members of the International Casting Network.

In 2005, she created Theodora Films with Karen Arikian, the Deputy Director of The European Film Market. Theodora Films is a company dedicated to producing, packaging, developing, and consulting on films and has a special interest in co-productions. Based both in New York and Berlin, with several projects in development, the company seeks to build a solid bridge between the film communities of Europe and the US.