EXCLUSIVE: The Gotham has announced its selection of fellows for its 2026 Festival De Cannes Producers Network Program.
They are Kamala Avila-Salmon (The Gate), Sophie Luo (The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire), J. Daniel Torres (Selena Y Los Dinos), Trevor Wall (Slanted), Rita Walsh (The Wolves Always Come at Night), and Patrick Wengler (Love, Brooklyn).
The Gotham annually selects U.S. fiction and nonfiction producers to participate in this program running concurrently with the Cannes Film Festival and Marché du Film. Designed for experienced producers, it offers an opportunity to expand their international networks and deepen their knowledge of international production, financing, legal frameworks, and packaging. This year’s fellows will be participating in person at Cannes from May 13-18.
“Alongside our incredible partners at the Festival de Cannes, we’re thrilled to support our Producer Fellows by elevating their promising careers,” said The Gotham Executive Director Jeffrey Sharp. “This year’s cohort of Fellows stand out not only for their impressive track record of bringing powerful projects to life, but also their genuine dedication to honing their craft.”
Alongside its work on the Producers Network Program, The Gotham supports Colgate University, Quinnipiac University, and American University— partners in its career development program, Gotham EDU — by providing students with access to Gotham resources and opportunities to connect with the Gotham/Cannes Producers Network Fellows on the ground at Cannes.
The Gotham Managing Director said the organization is “proud to support our Gotham EDU partners and to provide students with access to the wider global film community.”
Read on for more information about this year’s Producers Network Program fellows.
Kamala Avila-Salmon
Kamala Avila-Salmon is the Founder and CEO of Kas Kas Productions, a film and television company with a first-look deal at Lionsgate focused on commercially viable, culturally impactful storytelling. Previously, as Lionsgate’s first Head of Inclusive Content, she drove inclusive decision-making across the studio’s film slate and launched Story Spark, a framework to advance equity in greenlight discussions. Through Kas Kas, she develops genre-forward projects—horror, thriller, action, rom-com, comedy, family drama, and prestige series—centered on underrepresented leads in stories designed for broad audiences. Her work sits at the intersection of culture, commerce, and representation. Her executive producing project The Gates, directed by John Burr, is being released in select AMC Theatres.
Sophie Luo
Sophie Luo is a producer and filmmaker based in Lenapehoking/New York City, working across film, art, and commercial spaces. She produced the feature film The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, directed by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Tiger Competition, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, and was released in 2025 by Cinema Guild and TAPE. Her recent work includes Without a Song, directed by Mark Armijo McKnight, exhibited at the Whitney Museum; Onlookers, directed by Kimi Takesue, which premiered internationally at the Centre Pompidou in Paris; and Conspiracy, directed by Simone Leigh and Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, which screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, MoMA Doc Fortnight, and the Venice Biennale. Sophie received the 2024 Gotham Global Producer of the Year Award and is a Gotham/Rotterdam Producers Lab Fellow, as well as an inaugural member of Women In Film’s Emerging Producers Program.
J. Daniel Torres
Through his work at Motto Pictures, Emmy Award-winning producer J. Daniel Torres has nearly a decade of production experience across films for multiple streaming platforms. He produced Isabel Castro’s Selena y Los Dinos, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, and co-produced Patricia Gillespie’s award-winning The Fire That Took Her, which screened at the 2022 Woodstock Film Festival. His additional co-producer credits include Love to Love You, Donna Summer, directed by Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano, which premiered at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival and was released by HBO; Victim/Suspect, directed by Nancy Schwartzman, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Netflix; and The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile, directed by Kathlyn Horan, which won the Audience Award at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. He was an associate producer on Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn, directed by Ivy Meeropol, which screened at the 2019 New York Film Festival and was released by HBO, and The Velvet Underground, directed by Todd Haynes, which premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and was released by Apple TV+. Torres is currently developing and producing a slate of new projects.
Trevor Wall
Profiled in Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch: Class of 2025,” Trevor Wall began his entertainment career as an awkwardly shy Squanto in a problematic kindergarten Thanksgiving play. After a year at Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment, he joined The Mission Entertainment, where he worked on projects including Queen & Slim and Being Mary Tyler Moore, and collaborated closely with Emmy Award winner Lena Waithe to help build the foundation for Hillman Grad Productions. He later joined 30K FT, a former production company founded by Drake, where he produced his first feature film, Ponyboi. The film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for Outstanding Film at the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Directed by Esteban Arango, the film stars River Gallo, Dylan O’Brien, Victoria Pedretti, Murray Bartlett, and Indya Moore. Now an independent producer, his latest feature, Slanted, written and directed by Amy Wang, premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. The film was released theatrically in the United States by Bleecker Street in March 2026 and stars Shirley Chen (Didi), McKenna Grace (Scream 7, Ghostbusters: Afterlife), and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever). Outside of work, Trevor can be found wandering art museums or doom-scrolling through the news.
Rita Walsh
Rita Walsh is an award-winning fiction and non-fiction producer working between Australia and the United States. She recently produced The Wolves Always Come at Night, directed by Gabrielle Brady, which screened at more than 30 international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, True/False Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, and IDFA. The film was Australia’s official submission for the 2025 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Her other credits include The Assistant and Casting JonBenet, both directed by Kitty Green; Buoyancy, directed by Rodd Rathjen; I Used to Be Normal, directed by Jessica Leski; and Now, Hear Me Good, directed by Dwayne LeBlanc. She is currently producing a new feature by Kit Zauhar, is in production on Mackie Mallison’s debut documentary feature, and is developing projects with a range of collaborators. Walsh also works as a co-producer specializing in post-production, with credits including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, directed by Mary Bronstein; Reality, directed by Tina Satter; The American Society of Magical Negroes, directed by Kobi Libii; and Never Rarely Sometimes Always, directed by Eliza Hittman.
Patrick Wengler
Patrick Wengler is a Los Angeles-based producer with Bay Area roots. He most recently produced Love, Brooklyn, directed by Rachael Abigail Holder, which premiered in competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and won Outstanding Independent Motion Picture at the 2026 NAACP Image Awards. He is currently building a slate of independent film and television projects through André Holland’s production company Harper Road, with a focus on bold, character-driven storytelling. Previously, he was a development executive at Scott Rudin Productions, where he worked on films including Uncut Gems and The Woman in the Window, as well as television series such as Barkskins and Dispatches from Elsewhere. Prior to that, he was a creative executive at Red Granite Pictures, where he served as an associate producer on Papillon, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and contributed to projects including The Wolf of Wall Street, Daddy’s Home, and Horns. Wengler is an alumnus of Chapman University and began his career in the UTA talent department.