Joana Vicente

Who is Joana Vicente?

Joana Vicente is an independent movie producer and executive. A prominent figure in the New York film industry, Vicente has produced over forty films with her producing partner and husband Jason Kliot. In 1999 Vicente and Kliot produced Tony Bui's feature debut, Three Seasons, which took the three top awards at the Sundance Film Festival, including the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize. Vicente and Kliot have since worked with directors such as Steven Soderbergh, Brian De Palma, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Jim Jarmusch, and Alex Gibney.

Vicente graduated from the Masters program at The Catholic University of Portugal with a degree in Philosophy. She began her career as the Press attaché for the Portuguese delegate at the European Parliament, and then as a radio news producer for the UN.

Vicente has served as the Executive Director of IFP, the nation's oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, since December 2009. Under Vicente's leadership, the IFP was bestowed with the honor of developing and operating the Made in NY Media Center after an RFP was issued by the NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Opened in DUMBO, Brooklyn in October 2013, facilities open to the public include an education center, featuring multiple classrooms designed to host a wide array of educational programs partnership with General Assembly, including hands-on workshops, live demonstrations and expert seminars; a media arts gallery, showcasing cutting-edge, new-media storytelling installations from artists within the international art and filmmaking community; a 72-seat screening room for exhibiting and sharing the latest work from our Center and around the world; and a 1,600-square-foot café encouraging casual collaboration and discussion in a social-eating setting. The state-of-the-art Media Center aims to bring together professionals from the film, television, advertising, new media, gaming, marketing and branding industries for collaboration and new opportunities.