Joëlle Bertossa studied philosophy in the University of Geneva before attending the Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle et des techniques de diffusion (INSAS) in Belgium. After directing two documentary films and working for the first Palestinian Film Festival, she founded CloseUp Films in 2012 where she produces a wide range of projects including fiction, documentaries, TV series and web documentaries. Among her most high-profile films are I Am Not Your Negro for Haitian director Raoul Peck, which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature in 2016, Philippe Garrel’s The Shadow of Women, which played the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and A Skin so Soft for non-fiction auteur Denis Côté. She received her first APSA nomination for Advocate in 2019. She has also represented Switzerland as part of the Producers on the Move event in Cannes.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
