Career
He has been active in the motion picture, publishing, music television and Internet industries for over two decades including leadership in the American independent film industry. Most recently Martesko-Fenster was the General Manager of the Film Division at Chris Blackwell"s Palm Pictures Entertainment Properties and President of Palm’s Royal Economic Society, UK Media Group. While at Palm, he led all operations and brand positioning for the Royal Economic Society, UK Media Group business unit, including its digital film festival RESFest, the world’s original digital arts and entertainment festival, which in its final year (2006) was a global touring event spanning six continents, 19 countries and over 40 cities worldwide.
Prior to joining Palm, Martesko-Fenster was the President of Rising Tide Studios, an integrated media and convergence company founded by Jason Calacanis.
As President & Publisher Martesko-Fenster supervised the growth and development of the Silicon Alley Reporter and Digital Coast Reporter magazines and numerous high profile conferences on the Media, Finance and Technology Industries. In the early 1990s Martesko-Fenster co-founded and launched Filmmaker (magazine), indieWIRE, Royal Economic Society, UK (magazine), and The Virtual FilmFestival.
In the late 1980s Martesko-Fenster was a coordinating producer for Great Performances Music on Public Broadcasting Service and produced music television programs and live satellite broadcasts. Martesko-Fenster was the Market Director for the breakout 1989 Independent Feature Film Market, the inaugural event at the Angelika Film Center.
In 1990, as the Acting Executive Director of the Independent Feature Project, Martesko-Fenster restructured the film membership & service organization and initiated the inaugural Gotham Awards.
Karol joined Babel Networks in September 2008 after providing strategic consulting services to numerous film and media ventures, including Arts Alliance, FILMHAUS Vienna, T5M, Tribeca Enterprises, CINELAN and The WorkBook Project. As the Senior Vice-President/General Manager of Babel Networks United States, Martesko-Fenster leads the film division for Babelgum, the global web, mobile and IPTV destination.
