Asta Wellejus – interactive director and producer, digital pioneer Summary: Asta Wellejus has 19 years of experience as a cross-media director and producer. CEO and founder of Die Asta Experience Aps., former CEO and co-founder of Zentropa Interaction Aps. and Zentropa Works Aps. Asta Wellejus b. 1973 Asta Wellejus was headhunted by Lars von Trier in 1997 to develop new ways of combining film, theater, roleplaying and games, Asta co-founded Zentropa Interaction in 1999, producing interactive formats (Films, Games, ARG´s, Alternate Launch, Exhibition, Roleplays etc.). In 2007 she founded ”Die Asta Experience" to focus internationally on digital interactive media and audience participation. Markets; Broadcast/ film, NGOS, brands, games, attractions and experimental art. She has produced 30+ interactive formats, from ARG´s for Lars von Trier’s/ Thomas Vinterberg’s titles, to the North Sea museum, transforming the whole attraction into an interactive experience on mobile, games, interactive films, web, installations and augmented reality with a budget of 54 mill. DDK, to the Globe in COP15, on mobile, web and physical installation on the central square, where more than 10.000.000+ users joined the virtual global demonstration. She has developed and produced the National Museums permanent exhibition Brede Værk, with interactive cinemas onsite and online, interactive tickets and physical installations. She has been a mentor in Swedish/ Danish transmedia project SWIM running from 2013-2014, and has been a member in the Digital Emmy jury for factual content. She has been an expert in SOLID; the recent programme from Shareplay/ Interactive Denmark, mentoring companies in digital content, made for web (MFW) and business cases, for example the Sun Creature Studio from Viborg. From 2012-2014 she co-leaded Medea, Malmö University Media Development department, running a lab that experimented with digital prototypes for broadcast, museums and cultural activities. For the last 3 years she has been a resident digital creative with Yle, the national Finnish broadcaster, developing their interactive formats for TV/ online together with Jason Daponte, The Swarm, former BBC mobile commissioner. Currently she is helping The Financing Forum for Kids content in Malmö to develop their interactive profile and platform. Die Asta Experience is a company specialised in creating digital interactive cultural experiences. It focuses on project that creates a positive change. Markets; Broadcast/ film, NGOS, brands, games, museums, attractions and experimental art. With more than 40 productions from leading museums, film production companies, NGO´s and broadcasters, the company has more than 19 years of experience with creating digital product of a high quality, that has a huge user attraction. Mixing the tools from dramaturgy, architecture and attarctions, games, learning methods, user driven design and web and mobile applications, A specialised team is created for each production. Die Asta has freelancers and work partners in Europe, Middle East, USA and Canada. Specialty: Story-architecture, expanding narratives across platforms. New design driven development processes with user engagement. Creating and leading cross disciplinary teams to solve complex projects. Development of new types of storystructures for online and onsite, co-developers is for example Joe Pine experience economy guru, Søren Robert Lund, architects and former CEO of development in Tivoli, Chris Vogler, Hollywood scriptwriter and author among others. Blended funding and tailormade business plans. As Asta Wellejus has produced for 19 years where there was no existing finance structure she has been developing blended finance. launch and business models on digital platforms with amongst others Wendy Bernfeld, Rights Stuff, international expert in licensing and digital platform sales. Examples of recent titles/ productions: Ghost Rocket, Swedish documentary, creating and producing the interactive concept together with Portaplay (gamecompany and the documentary team We have a Plan and former mobile commissioner from BBC Jason Da Ponte.) Der Polder, film, webinteractive and city space game, development of narrative structures and interactive formats, with Samuel Schwarz, 400 ASA, Switzerland. Film and interactive financed in collaboration between Switzerland and Germany. Opus Lux, creating new digital interactive experiences for classical concerts and music event, in collaboration with Malmö University, The Danish Royal Theatre Copenhagen and Malmö Symphonic Orchestra. Funded by Interreg, Øresundskomiteen. Anna Frank in Candys World – Arte/ CNC. (consultant) The World Brain - The Dataseductress. Interactive concept in close collaboration with Polar Star Films, launched for Al Jazeera on their online channel. The film was in the Sundance competition. Produced with The Swarm and Portaplay. Mythic landscapes - experience HUB, digital/ physical experience hub based on Icelandic myth and landscape, for Iceland Air, in collaboration with architect Søren Robert Lund and experience economy guru Joseph Pine. Deadline Athens an interactive documentary about the Afghan refugees in Greece, created together with journalist and “Red Barnet” supported by Danish Broadcast Cooperation. The project won the multimedia award in the danish pressfoto competition. ( march 2015.) The project has won interantional prizes and a new season- Deadline Syria is in preproduction and will be shoot winter 2016 and spring 2017. The ICE project – Interactive Culture Explorers – creating interactive formats for children, age 7-10 and 13-16 for the culture region of Funen, collaborative development with artists, museums and gamedevelopers creating 6 interactive formats for exhibition, indoor an outdoor. For example the grave of the Viking King an augmented exploration experience about myth and facts of the Viking age or Pythagoras Key a game of architecture and mathematics. Or the Artmobile a 6 meter long interactive installation where the audience experience and experiment with the meeting of music words and visual art. 5 of the 6 projects are Apps, and al have gaming elments and structures weaved into the cultural heritage experience. Funded by the Danish Ministry of Culture. ARoS exhibition on art, and connectedness. Developed in collaboration with ARoS, Japanese artist Mariko Mori, and Aarhus University. Dear Wendy - The Dandys. The first Nordic ARG (alternate reality game) for Lars Von Trier/ Vinterberg´s collaborate underground film ”Dear Wendy” running as a campaign in UK for UK distribution of the film. Art stories – a collaborative museum project with 8 museums across Denmark creating an learning experince where students explore historical periods via artworks in the national museums. The process ends a cre-creation of the original artwork after the hidden historical stories have been discovered. Supported by the Ministry of Education, Denmark and Culture Region Funen. 1917 – Interactive narrative for youth for YLE. In 1917 a major v series and an online teenage narrative launches at the same time, exploring Finland’s past and birth as a nation. The interactive project is an immersive web/ mobile experience, where the life and death decisions a teenager face everyday is mangled with historical events that changed a nation. It has a strong female lead, Olivia. (in development, external digital director and digital producer consultant.) Other information: Asta wrote a rapport in end 2014 about the digital potential and perspectives in Denmark and Sweden, including an overview over the last 10 years of international interactive productions. Commisioned by the Øresund Comitee. http://blog.thefinancingforum.com/preview-for-forum-participants/ Asta is an experienced speaker and teacher. She gives around 30 lectures a year in Danish and English on transmedia, learning games, interactive design, narrative structures, business models and organizing digital teams and finance. She arranges and runs workshops, teaches and mentors at Film/ TV events and organizations. Example of lectures/ workshops/ mentoring: the Danish Filmschool, Danish Broadcast, Magnifier Wales, Ravensbourne Business school London, the MAIA program, Media (now Creative Europe), Forum Economi and Culture Switzerland, Power to the Pixel London, MIPTV & MIPDOC France, Italian Doc Screenings Italy, CPH Docs Denmark, The TV festival Denmark, Galahad Interactive platform USA, Aalto Media Factory Finland, Nordic Panorama, MEGA Spain, Cross Media Zen Litauen etc. See facebook updates for recent adventures: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Die-Asta- Experience/230778410277518?ref=hl .