Hello, Howzit, Zdravo. My name is Martin Cuff and I am a creative industries and nation branding specialist currently living in Belgrade, Serbia with my Sealyham Terriers Freddie and Alfie.
For the last five and a half years I have served as advisor for Creative Industries and Tourism to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic of the Republic of Serbia. I am also Strategic Advisor for the nation brand platform Serbia Creates and I was additionally Content and Programme Director for the Serbia Pavilion at the Dubai 2020 World Expo.
I am the former Executive Director of the Association of Film Commissioners International (Los Angeles), the former Executive Director of the Colorado Film Commission (Denver), and the former acting Executive Director of the Cape Film Commission and the Cape Town Film Permit Office and the former Chief Operating Officer of Sithengi, the Southern African International Film and Television Market (Cape Town). In a career spanning three decades, I have worked on projects and programmes on all five continents including in Peru, Tanzania, Namibia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Republic of Georgia, Indonesia, Sweden, the Western Balkans and all across South Africa. I am a leading proponent of film tourism and the links between tourism and the creative industries generally. I also write business plans and feasibility studies for Film Studios.
I am first and foremost a pattern-maker; I make sense of complex concepts, events, ideas or challenges, and recognise the connections between them. I am especially proficient at getting to the root of an issue, sourcing best practice solutions from around the world, and devising practical & strategic solutions that respond to those problems at a local level. My core skills is communication across a range of platforms including website content, policies, strategies, reports, live presentations, exhibitions, videos, podcasts and television broadcasts. I have planned for, spoken at or moderated conferences, panels and presentations from Kigali to Berlin to Djakarta.
My personal writing projects can be viewed via my Martin Cuff Portfolio. I have recently completed the first draft of a science fiction novel, Batavia. My second novel Shrill went live on Amazon Kindle in December 2022. You can find out more about my original content here.