The countdown begins!
WIFTI and WFT Ireland are thrilled to announce that General Admission tickets are now on sale for the 2026 WIFTI Summit, taking place in the stunning surroundings of Adare, Co. Limerick, from 4–7 February 2026.
🎟 Secure your ticket today!
Join a global community of creatives coming together from Australia, Jamaica, Africa, the United States, Canada, and beyond for a few unforgettable days of inspiration, collaboration, and connection.
Furthermore, we are thrilled to reveal the first speakers in our extraordinary lineup — bold, visionary voices shaping the future of screen, storytelling, and creative leadership. This is just the beginning, and we can’t wait to share more.
✨ Scroll below to discover just a few of the incredible speakers joining us — with many more to be announced.
WIFTI SUMMIT 2026 SPEAKERS
Anna Serner
Former CEO, Swedish Film Institute and 50/50 by 2020 Champion
Anna is a lawyer but has spent her professional life as a CEO at three major organisations; The Swedish Advertising Association (Komm), The Swedish Media Publishing Association (TU) and The Swedish Film Institute (SFI) where she was CEO 2011-2021.
In all her positions Anna has worked with equality and inclusion in order to make sure the highest possible quality and freedom of expressions.Â
During her period at Komm she published a book ”A Man Called Rolf, And Other Stories”, written by female copy writers. It was a book about being a copy writer in the advertising world. The book led to a leadership educations for women in creative works, an education that she offered in the film world (called ”Moviement”) at SFI, as a strategy to get more women behind the camera in big budget films. ”Moviement” was a part of the action plan to reach equity behind the camera, a strategy that became ”50/50by2020 which was released by SFI in Cannes 2016. That inspired the big festival movement for equality with the same name.
Anna is now starting an organisation called ”The Swedish Center for Investigative Journalism” to support a diversity of investigative reports to ensure an open democratic society.
Dame Heather Rabbatts
Chair, Time’s Up UK
Dame Heather Rabbatts’ career spans law, government, media and sport. She is currently Chair of Saatchi PLC, Associated British Foods PLC (where she is also Senior Independent Director) and Soho Theatre and until recently was MD of film & TV production company Cove Pictures where she produced The Drifters and The Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu. In 2018, Heather became Chair of TIME’S UP UK and in 2019 joined TIME’S UP global board. Born out of the revelations of #MeToo, TIME’S UP advocates to end sexual harassment, change representation and pay parity to achieve long-term cultural change. She was previously Chair of CIISA, the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, currently in development. Heather began her career as a lawyer, then a government advisor and was the youngest CEO of a Local Authority. She was the first woman and person of colour on the board of the English FA in 150 years, served on the boards of the BBC, Bank of England, the Foreign Office and the Royal Opera House and commissioned award-winning content as a senior executive at Channel 4 Television.
Debbie Ging
Professor, Digital Media and Gender, DCU & Director, DCU Institute for Research on Genders and Sexualities
Debbie Ging is Professor of Digital Media and Gender in the School of Communications at Dublin City University and Director of the DCU Institute for Research on Genders and Sexualities. She teaches and researches on gender, sexuality and digital media, with a focus on digital hate, online anti-feminist men’s rights politics, the incel subculture and radicalisation of boys and men into male supremacist ideologies. Debbie’s research also addresses youth experiences of gender-based and sexual abuse online and educational interventions to tackle these issues.
Guneet Monga Kapoor
Academy Award-Winning Producer CEO, Sikyha Entertainment
Guneet Monga Kapoor is an acclaimed Indian film producer, a two-time Academy Award winner, and the first to bring home an Academy Award for an Indian production with The Elephant Whisperers (2023). She also served as Executive Producer for the 2019 Oscar-winning documentary short Period. End of Sentence. A BAFTA nominee, Guneet is among the first Indian producers invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Guneet is the founder of Sikhya Entertainment, a Mumbai-based production house. She has produced close to 40 feature films, including ground-breaking cinema such as Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), The Lunchbox (2013), Monsoon Shootout (2013), and Masaan (2015) all of which received critical acclaim at prestigious international festivals such as Cannes, TIFF, and Sundance.
Guneet is a recipient of the prestigious French Honour “Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”. In 2019, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awarded her the prestigious Sloan Science and Film grant. Guneet is passionate about issues of representation and diversity in the film industry and discovering, amplifying & distributing the work of Indian women filmmakers across the globe.
Her recent projects include groundbreaking actioner – KILL, which earned a spot among IMDb India’s top 10 films of 2024 and achieved mainstream international distribution in a first of it’s kind deal with International Studio Lionsgate. Other successes include the sci-fi thriller web series Gyaarah Gyaarah (ranked No. 4 by IMDb India), Gutar Gu on Amazon MX Player, a first-of-its-kind Netflix documentary film on globally celebrated Hip Hop Artist – Yo Yo Honey Singh, and the 2025 Oscar-shortlisted live-action short film Anuja.
Iris Zappe-Heller
Deputy Director, Austrian Film Institute
Iris Zappe-Heller joined the Austrian Film Institute in 1993.
She took over the Austrian representation at the Board of Eurimages from 1997 to 2021.
In 2011 she became deputy to the Director of the Film Institute.
In 2013 she installed the department for Gender*Diversity*Inclusion within the Film Institute, taking a package of measures as Gender Incentive, Gender Budgeting, Gender Reports, ProPro, Script competition… In this function she represents Austria in Eurimages’ Gender Equality Working Group that she has chaired from 2016 to 2021. She joined the EFAD’s Gender Inclusion Working Group in 2018, where she took over the chair in 2021. In 2015 she has been the Austrian expert of the Sarajevo Conference Declaration and therefore actively involved in the drawing up of the European Council’s Recommendation on Gender Equality. Since 2024 she is member of the board of European Women’s Audiovisiual network, EWA.
In 2023 she was appointed Deputy Director of the Film Institute and is member of the board of Filmarchiv Austria since.
Liselott Forsman
CEO, Nordisk Film & TV Fond
Liselott Forsman is the CEO of Nordisk Film & TV Fond since 2019. As Yle’s International Drama Executive and EBU’s Head of Fiction Group, her focus was on international collaboration and media strategies. When Head of Fiction at Swedish Yle, she commissioned and co-produced feature films, drama series and content for young audiences. Her MA combines film, drama, and media studies. Liselott has been a speaker at forums on five continents, lectured at European master educations, produced drama and documentaries, and written for TV, radio and stage. She co-founded and headed the international event Helsinki Script.
Get your ticket today and we’ll see you in Limerick!