After majoring in film journalism and clinical psychology, Ivan worked for leading advertising agencies in Switzerland and Italy. In 2009 he founded CONTRAST FILM in Zurich and Berne, which he runs with his partners Stefan Eichenberger and Urs Frey, who have been joined by Dr. Anke Beining as Commercial Managing Director since 2024. Their films have been selected at A-list festivals such as Venice, Berlinale, Locarno, San Sebastian, and Tallinn, have run for Oscars and Golden Globes, and have won over 70 awards e.g. at the Berlinale, Max Ophüls in Saarbrücken, Swiss Film Awards, two Student Oscars and one Oscar nomination.CONTRAST FILM’s lineup includes high-end series such as DAVOS 1917, commercial TV productions such as TATORT, and festival hits such as Stefan Haupt’s THE CIRCLE, Hannes Baumgartner’s MIDNIGHT RUNNER, the 10 directors collective film WONDERLAND, Oliver Rihs' CAGED BIRDS, and Michael Krummenacher's THE TRAITOR. Also in the lineup are co-productions such as STELLA. A LIFE. by Kilian Riedhof, CAVEMAN - THE HIDDEN GIANT by Tommaso Landucci, OF LIVING WITHOUT ILLUSION by Katharina Lüdin and STRAY BODIES by Elina Psykou.Ivan is an EAVE and ACE Series alumni, was Switzerland’s “Producer on the Move“ at Cannes Film Festival and worked as a jury member at several film festivals such as Venice Film Festival, Molodist Kyiv, Filmfest Hamburg, FICG Guadalajara in Mexico, and Max Ophüls Prize in Saarbrücken. He’s a member of the European Film Academy, Swiss Film Academy, and Swiss Film Commission (EFiK) at the Federal Office of Culture. He's also a board member of the Swiss Film Producers’ Association SFP and FOCAL, the Foundation for professional training in cinema and audiovisual media.