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Two Australians at Producers Lab Toronto

Producers Lab Toronto has today announced its participants, which include Australian producers Melanie Coombs and Matthew Dabner.

Australia is a guest country at the lab this year, to be held 4–7 September during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Melanie Coombs and Matthew Dabner, supported by Screen Australia, will join two producers from other guest country New Zealand, as well as 10 producers from Europe and Canada in this fourth edition of the event.

The participants take part in pitching sessions, case studies and roundtables over the four days. Various networking events with key people from the film industry and film funds complement the program. For the first time in 2013, with Australia and New Zealand as guest countries, Producers Lab Toronto will extend the platform and enable European and Canadian producers to find reliable new co-production partners in the Australian and New Zealand film industries.

The Producers Lab Toronto is an initiative of European Film Promotion, in partnership with the Ontario Media Development Corporation and TIFF. It is financially supported by the European Union’s MEDIA Mundus Programme. It has successfully enabled the development of several European-Canadian co-productions over the past few years.

Melanie Coombs has produced award-winning shorts, animation, documentaries and features since 1999 under her Melodrama Pictures banner. Harvie Krumpet won a 2003 Academy Award® for Best Short Animation, while Mary and Max opened the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, won the Grand Cristal at Annecy and Best Animated Feature Film at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and released worldwide.

Matthew Dabner co-wrote and executive produced the critically-acclaimed feature film The Square with actor Joel Edgerton. Matthew’s debut film as a producer was Cedar Boys, an IF Award nominee for Best Feature Film and 2009 Sydney Film Festival Audience Award-winner. Matthew is a renowned script editor, assessor and development executive.