20th Bratislava International Film Festival

(1988, Athens, Greece) is an independent filmmaker based in
Athens, Greece. He studied at the Panteion University of Social and Political Science in
Athens and at the European Film College in Aarhus, Denmark. His amateur documentary,
Eric, premiered at the 18th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in 2016. Brazuca
(2017) is his first professional short fiction film.

Naveen Padmanabha (1981, Bangalore, India) is an independent filmmaker who graduated from the College of Fine Arts in Bangalore in 2006, majoring in Art History and Sculpting, and finished his postgraduate studies in Screenplay Writing and Film Direction at the Film and Television Institute of India in 2012, where he currently mentors film students and teaches film theory.

João Salaviza (1984, Lisbon, Portugal). His feature debut, Mountain (2015), had its world premiere at the Critics’ Week of the Venice IFF, coming on the heels of a trilogy of internationally award-winning short films: Arena (Palme d’Or in Cannes, 2009), Rafa (Golden Bear in Berlin, 2012), and Cerro Negro (Best Director Award at IndieLisboa, 2012).

Chai Siris (1983, Bangkok, Thailand) works in film, video and photography and is dedicated to the reconstruction of personal and social narratives from different local communities. His works were shown at Documenta 13 in Kassel and his films have been screened at film festivals in Oberhausen, Rotterdam and Venice.

Ziad Kalthoum (1981, Homs, Syria) is a filmmaker holding a degree in film studies, currently based in Berlin. In his medium-length documentary Oh My Heart (2009) he portrayed a group of Kurdish women, who have chosen to live in a society without men. During the outbreak of the Syrian revolution he began working on his first feature film The Immortal Seargant (Al-Rakib Al-Khaled, 2014) while serving a compulsory military service. The film had its premiere at the Locarno Film Festival. Refusing to fight his own people, he deserted from the Syrian Army in 2013 and fled to Beirut where he started to work on Taste of Cement.

(1989, Washington, D.C., USA) is a writer, photographer and filmmaker currently
based in Baltimore, Maryland. His work has been broadcast by The Atlantic, Vice,
BBC World News, and other international media outlets. His films have premiered
at prestigious international film festivals in Toronto, Locarno, and Rotterdam,
the SXSW music festival and at the Anthology Film Archives museum in New York.
In 2015, he was listed by Filmmaker Magazine as one of “25 New Faces of Independent
Film”.

Thomas Fürhapter (1971, Vienna, Austria) is a scriptwriter and director. Upon finishing his studies of philosophy, he produced video projections for the Burgtheater in Vienna (2002-2005). His short film essay, Orange without a Zebra (Das Gelb ohne Zebra, 2004), and his documentary film, Michael Berger: a Hysteria (Michael Berger: Eine Hysterie, 2010), have been screened at documentary festivals in Leipzig, Marseille, Kassel and Paris; the latter won the Silver Eye Award – Special Mention for mid-length documentary at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Dmitrii Kalashnikov (1986, Arkhangelsk, USSR) studied law at the Pomor State University and filmmaking at the Saint-Petersburg Film and TV University from which he graduated in 2014 with a contribution to “I am who i am”, an exhibition of young Russian contemporary artists held in Kunst im Tunnel at Düsseldorf, Germany. His installation was later bought by the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow. Kalashnikov is a graduate of IDFA Academy in Amsterdam, the Nether- lands; his feature debut, The Road Movie, also premiered at IDFA.

Viktor Jakovleski (1983, West Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany) attended the German Film and Television Academy, spent time as a Hollywood personal assistant and driver and worked with Benh Zeitlin as a co-producer and assistant director on the short film Glory at Sea (2008). In 2015, Jakovleski was chosen as one of 25 “New Faces of Independent Film” by Filmmaker Magazine. He is a producer of LenaLove (2016). After four years of making, he premiered his feature-length directorial debut Brimstone & Glory at the True/False festival.

Elvira Lind (1981, Copenhagen, Denmark) graduated from City Varsity in Cape Town in 2006, majoring in documentary filmmaking. Since graduation she has directed and shot various-length documentaries for television, cinema and web on four different continents. Lind’s first feature-length documentary, Songs for Alexis, screened at IDFA in 2014. a year later, she received the CPH:DOX New Ta- lent Award. Her most recent film, Bobbi Jene (2017), was screened at Tribeca Film Festival and Visions du Réel.

Egil Håskjold Larsen (1984, Kirkenes, Norway) has worked as a cinematographer and director since finishing his studies in 2008. Studying fine art photography in Turkey, and finally documentary filmmaking in Norway. In 2016 he released his first short documentary film Ad Astra, which has been screened at festivals and at The Autumn Exhibition 2016 in Norway. His first documentary feature 69 Minutes of 86 Days was premiered at CPH:DOX.

Originally a fine artist and designer, Garth Davis has grown into an internationally renowned television director and acclaimed commercials director from Australia. He has become known particularly for a TV series he co–directed with Jane Campion, Top of the Lake (2013), that was nominated for Emmy and BAFTA awards. Lion (2016) is his first feature–length movie for the big screen.

Danilo Šerbedžija (1971, Zagreb, Yugoslavia) is a Croatian film director of Serbian ethnicity. His debut feature–length film, 72 Days (2010), was selected as Croatia’s bid for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards.

A Croatian theatre and cinema actor, director and musician, Rade Šerbedžija (1946, Bunić, Yugoslavia) is one of the most popular Yugoslavian actors of the 1970s and 1980s. He rose to international fame thanks to supporting roles in Hollywood productions such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, Mission: Impossible II and most recently, The Legend of Hercules

Ruth Beckermann (1952, Vienna, Austria) studied journalism and history of art in Vienna, Tel Aviv and New York and obtained her PhD degree in 1977 at the University of Vienna. She has contributed as a journalist to several Austrian and Swiss magazines. In 1978 she co–founded Filmladen, a distribution company where she worked for seven years. It was during this period that she began to make films and write books. Since 1985 she has worked as a writer and filmmaker.

(1967, Prague, Czechoslovakia) graduated from Prague’s FAMU,
majoring in screenwriting and dramatic art. His creative partnership with former
classmate and long-term collaborator Petr Jarchovský began with a screenplay
for Let’s All Sing Around (Pějme píseň dohola, 1991). He debuted as a director
with a retro musical, Šakalí léta (1993). Together with Jarchovský, they repeatedly
explore dramatic periods in Czechoslovakia’s modern history that become the
background for stories of ordinary families and non-heroic heroes, for instance
Pelíšky (Cosy Dens, 1999), Divided We Fall (Musíme si pomáhat, 2000), Pupendo
(2003), The Teacher (Učiteľka, 2016) and the Garden Store trilogy (2017).

Stanley Kubrick (1928, New York City, NY, USA – 1999, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom) is one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of cinema. He started out as a press photographer but soon switched to directing films, a field in which he quickly earned the reputation of an uncompromising genius. He has made a number of canonistic motion pictures, many of which were genre–defining, for instance Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1972), Barry Lyndon (1975) or The Shining (1980). Although he didn’t live to see the premiere of his swan song, Kubrick reportedly described it as the best film he had ever made.

Alex Ross Perry (1984, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA) graduated from New York University’s film programme in 2006. While studying, he began to work at an East Village–based video store where he met many of his future cast and crew members. He debuted with Impolex (2009) that was shot as a no–budget film. His next two films, The Color Wheel (2011) and Listen Up Philip (2014), brought him success at the Locarno IFF. His most recent film, Queen of Earth (2015), premiered in the Forum section at Berlinale.

Michal Struss (1975, Handlová, Slovakia) graduated from the Department of Film and Television of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, majoring in animation. His stop–motion animation picture, In the Box (1998), was nominated for a Student Academy Award. He worked on animation, visual effects and post– production of Blind Loves (Slepé lásky, 2008), Blue Tiger (Modrý tiger, 2011) or Deadly Stories (Smrteľné history, 2016). He was nominated for the Czech Lion for Blue Tiger in the category of best production design.

Vanda Raýmanová (1973, Nová Baňa, Slovakia) completed her studies of animation at the Department of Film and Television of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava where she currently works at the Animation Studio. She specialises in scriptwriting, illustration and animation. Her award–winning short film, Who Is There? (Kto je tam? 2010), has made it to international commercial distribution.

Miroslav Sikavica (1975, Zagreb, Croatia) has directed several short fiction films, Mrs. Before (Gospođa za prije, 2006) and The Fall (Pad, 2002), and around thirty documentary films, most of which have been made as part of Direct (Direkt), a documentary series dedicated to the problems of youth, civil society and human rights.

Petra Zlonoga (1982, Samobor, Croatia) holds MA degrees in graphic design from the School of Design (2007) and in animated film and new media from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (2011). Since 2009 she has worked as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator.

Daina Oniunas–Pusić (1985, Zagreb, Croatia) completed her studies of filmmaking at the London Film School. In 2013 she won Jelena Rajković Award for best Croatian filmmaker under 30 for Elephants (2012). Her latest short film was The Beast (2015). She is currently developing her next short film, Baby Cow and Big Talk.

Jure Pavlović (1985, Split, Croatia) studied film and TV directing at the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art. While studying, he gained precious experience an assistant director on several feature films. His previous shorts, Half an Hour for Grandma (2010) and Umbrella (2012), toured festivals around the world. Currently, he is developing his debut feature, Just Close Your Eyes.

Chintis Lundgren (1981, Tallinn, Estonia) is an Estonian animation director. She has been an independent artist since 2008. In 2011 she founded her own animation studio, Chintis Lundgreni Animatsioonistuudio. She is also a co–founder of Adriatic Animation, a studio based in Pula, Croatia.

Judita Gamulin (1992, Zagreb, Croatia) is in the second year of pursuing her MA degree in film and television directing at the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art where she has earned a BA degree in editing. Flowers were among the finalists of the 43rd Student Academy Awards.

An editor, director and screenwriter, Dubravka Turić (1973, Zagreb, Croatia) completed her MA studies in film and TV editing at the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art in 1998. So far, Dubravka has edited over twenty feature, experimental, and animated films. Her debut short Belladonna was awarded with the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film at the 72nd Venice IFF.

Thomas Johnson (1984, Bath, UK) graduated from the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff, majoring in time–based media, and currently studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.

Ivana Bošnjak (1983, Karlovac, Croatia) completed her studies of graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and of animation at the University in Volda, Norway. She made her graduation film, Crossed Sild (2011), together with Lea Vidaković.

Nenad Puhovski (1949, Zagreb, Croatia) is among prominent personalities that have helped shape modern Croatian documentary film. He has directed over 250 productions for stage, film and television, for which he received a number of national and international awards. His filmography includes controversial documentaries such as Together (2009), Lora – Testimonies (2005), and Pavilion 22 (2002). He founded Factum, an independent documentary production company, in 1997 and ZagrebDox, the international documentary film festival, in 2005. At the Bratislava IFF 2016, he sits on the panel of the Documentary Competition Jury.

Rajko Grlić (1947, Zagreb, Croatia) graduated from FAMU in Prague in 1971, majoring in film directing. He wrote and directed over a dozen fiction features. His films have been shown in cinemas across all five continents and have competed at the most prestigious festivals around the globe, for instance Cannes (Bravo Maestro, 1978; You Only Love Once (Samo jednom se ljubi, 1981)) or Karlovy Vary (Just Between Us (Neka ostane među nama, 2010), receiving numerous awards.

Zrinko Ogresta (1958, Virovitica, Croatia) is a screenwriter and film director, professor of film directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, and a member of the European Film Academy. His films were screened and awarded at renowned international and national festivals (Berlin, Venice, Karlovy Vary, London, Pula, etc.). His most notable achievements include a nomination for European Film Award in the category of Best Young Director for Fragments (Krhotine, 1991), Prix Italia for Washed Out (Isprani, 1995), Special Jury Prize at the Karlovy Vary IFF for Here (Tu, 2003) and Special Mention at the Berlinale for On the Other Side.

Antonio Nuić (1977, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, majoring in film and TV directing. His critically acclaimed first feature, All for Free (Sve džaba, 2006), won the Golden Arena for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director at the Pula Film Festival in 2006, as well as the Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Male Leading Role at the Sarajevo Film Festival in the same year. His next film Donkey (Kenjac, 2009) also had a successful festival run (Rotterdam, Sarajevo, Palm Springs – Best Foreign Language Film).

Ognjen Sviličić (1971, Split, Croatia) started his career with a series of TV features, often working as a co–writer and script doctor on films by other directors. Sviličić’s first international success came with Sorry for Kung Fu (Oprosti za kung fu, 2004), a comedy about a young woman who returns from Germany to her native village in the Dalmatian highlands. Armin (2007) was screened in Berlinale Forum. His latest film, These Are the Rules (2014), premiered in the Orizzonti section of the Venice IFF where it won the Best Actor award for Emir Hadžihafizbegović.

Bobo Jelčić (1964, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina) holds a degree in directing from the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art. He still teaches acting at the Academy. He has worked as a director for theatres in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well as the Croatian National Theatre in Mostar. Together with Nataša Rajković, he co–wrote and co–directed an experimental film, All That You Know about Me, in 2005. A Stranger is his directorial debut.

Pim Zwier (1970) is an independent filmmaker and media artist. He obtained his MFA degree at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam in 2003. His films and installations oscillate between documentary and experimental film.

Sheri Wills is an artist specialising in film, video performances, and installation. Her films have been screened at the London IFF, Rotterdam IFF and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Professor and Dean of Fine Arts at the Rhode Island School of Design, Wills currently lives in New York City.

Aura Satz (1974, Spain) has performed, exhibited and screened her work nationally and internationally at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Hayward Gallery, ICA, Wellcome Collection, BFI Southbank, Oberhausen Short Film Festival, Rotterdam IFF and New York Film Festival. She teaches at the Royal College of Art in London.

Esther Urlus (1966) is a Dutch artist working with Super–8, 16mm and 35mm film formats, producing films, performances and installations. Her work is always based on DIY methods.

Jean–Luc Godard (1930, Paris, France) has been making innovative motion pictures from the late 1950s until the present day. He was a prominent figure of the generation of post–war Parisian cinèphiles that had been influenced by American (pop–) culture and modernism. His debut, Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960), is still considered a landmark in the history of cinema due to its unrestrainedness. Evolving hand–in–hand with latest cinema trends, Godard’s early films led the French new wave and gradually turned into militant and political films and essays; in latter stages of his career, he experimented with video and in one of his latest pictures, Goodbye to Language (Adieu au langage, 2014), even with 3D.

Victor Fleming (1889, La Cañada, CA, USA – 1949, Cottonwood, AZ, USA) ranked among the most prominent filmmakers of interbellum Hollywood. He earned his spurs as a cinematographer and later worked as assistant director, for instance, on Intolerance by D. W. Griffith. He shot his first feature film in 1919 and twenty years later he shot not only The Wizard of Oz but also Gone with the Wind, i.e. two breakthrough motion pictures in the history of colour cinema.

Katy Chevigny is an award–winning filmmaker who runs Arts Engine, a non– profit media organization, and its production arm, Big Mouth Films, in New York. Her credits include Deadline, a critically–acclaimed investigation into Illinois Governor George Ryan’s commuting of death sentences, which she co–directed with Kirsten Johnson. She also directed the feature–length Journey to the West: Chinese Medicine Today. Chevigny has also produced several award–winning documentaries. Through her work at Arts Engine, Chevigny oversees MediaRights.org and the Media That Matters Film Festival.

D. A. Pennebaker (1925, Evanston, IL, USA) is a filmmaker, pioneer of direct cinema and one of the most distinguished kronikárov America’s modern social and cultural life. He created several cult music films such as Dont Look Back (1967) or Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1973). In 2013 he won Honorary Award from the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his lifetime achievement.

Chris Hegedus (1952, USA) is a documentarist, long–time associate and lifetime partner of D. A. Pennebaker. She studied photography and experimental film. For her film, Startup.com (2001), she won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary award from the Directors Guild of America.

Robert Drew (1924, Toledo, OH, USA – 2014 Sharon, CT, USA) assembled a group of journalists and filmmakers – among them Richard Leacock, Gregory Shuker, D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles, James Lipscomb, Hope Ryden, Mike Jackson, Anne Drew – developed editing techniques to allow stories to tell themselves through characters in action. Robert Drew expanded on his ideas by forming Drew Associates and producing films that have become known, along with Primary, as the foundation of cinéma vérité in America: On the Pole, Yanki No!, The Chair and Faces of November.

Darko Fritz (1966, Croatia) is an artist, independent curator, researcher and graphic designer. His artworks make use of various materials and mediums, trying to fill the gap between contemporary art techniques and media art culture. Currently he lives and works in Amsterdam, Zagreb and Korčula, an island off Dalmatian coast.

Abbás Kiarostamí (1940, Tehran, Iran – 2016, Paris, France) debuted with a short film, The Bread and Alley, in 1970. In 1997, he won Palme d’Or at the Cannes IFF for his film, Taste of Cherry, and two years later he claimed the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice IFF for The Wind Will Carry Us.

Yi Lian (1987, Jianxi, China) obtained his BA from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou’s Department of New Media Art in 2009 and his MA from the correspondent School of Intermedia Art. His works have been part of group and solo exhibitions around the world.

Eitan Efrat (1983, Tel Aviv, Israel) and Sirah Foighel Brutmann (1983, Tel Aviv, Israel)
have been working together for several years, creating works in the audio-visual field.
Their works have been presented at international film festivals and exhibited in solo
exhibitions.

Sirah Foighel Brutmann (1983, Tel Aviv, Israel) and Eitan Efrat (1983, Tel Aviv, Israel) have been working together for several years, creating works in the audio–visual field. Their works have been presented at international film festivals and exhibited in solo exhibitions.

Daniel Barosa graduated from Universidad del Cine, a film academy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He specialises in directing short films, commercials and music videos for Nimboo’s, a production company based in São Paulo, Brazil. He visited the Bratislava film festival two years ago with his short film, Tennis Girl (A Tenista, 2013).

Issa Touma is a Syrian photographer and curator based in Aleppo, Syria.

Floor van der Meulen (1989) was educated at different art academies in Rotterdam and NYC. After graduation she made her first feature documentary film, Storming Paradise (Paradijsbestormers, 2014).

Thomas Vroege (1988) graduated from the Sint Joost Academy of Arts.

Vincent Moon (real name Mathieu Saura – 1979, Paris, France) was the main director behind Take Away Shows by Blogotheque, a web–based project aimed at recording field work music videos of indie–rock related musicians such as R.E.M., Bon Iver or Arcade Fire. For the past six years he has been working to put together an extensive collection of short films and music recordings under his own label, Petites Planètes. He works alone or with people he finds on the road, with low or no budget, trying to produce and distribute films without following the established industry standards.

Michał Marczak (1982, Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish documentarist and cameraman. He has studied in Los Angeles, Poznań and Warsaw. He debuted in 2010 with At the Edge of Russia (Koniec Rosji). His second film, Fuck for Forest (2012), focused on members of an NGO of the same name who raise money for their environmental cause by selling home–made erotic films via the Internet. For his latest picture, All These Sleepless Nights (Wszystkie nieprzespane noce, 2016), he won Directing Award at this year’s Sundance film festival.

Zhengfan Yang (1985, China) has been making films since the age of 22. His debut feature, Distant (2013), premiered at the Locarno IFF and later cruised through festivals and galleries worldwide, including Vancouver, Nantes, Warsaw, Boston, and Taipei. His second feature, Where Are You Going (2016), premiered at the Rotterdam IFF. Zhengfan has also produced two documentary films: Out of Focus (Cinéma du Réel, 2014) and Another Year (Visions du Réel, 2016).

Kleber Mendonça Filho (1968, Recife, Brazil) was raised and lives in his hometown. Upon his graduation from college, Kleber worked as a journalist with Jornal do Commercio while also writing for Folha de S. Paulo and other publications. In the 1990s, he made several documentaries and experimental shorts, produced through his own company, CinemaScópio. In 2012 Kleber made his debut feature, Neighboring Sounds (O Som ao Redor), in Recife.

Piotr Stasik (1976) graduated from the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Warsaw and later completed a documentary course at Wajda School in Warsaw. He co–founded Association for Artistic Initiatives „ę“, an NGO that focuses on supporting cultural undertakings in small towns. His short and mid– length films such as 7 x Moscow, A Diary of a Journey or The Last Day of Summer have been well received and awarded at prestigious documentary film festivals around Europe

Martin Kollár (1971, Žilina, Slovakia) completed his studies of camera at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. His reputation of a photographer and a cameraman has crossed Slovakia’s borders a long time ago. He has worked on films 66 Seasons (66 sezón, 2003), How History Is Cooked (Ako sa varia dejiny, 2009) or Velvet Terrorists (Zamatoví teroristi, 2013). He received the Sun in the Net national film award for working as DP on Koza (Koza, 2015), a film by Ivan Ostrochovský

Paula Ďurinová (1987, Žilina, Slovakia) is a documentary filmmaker, photographer and journalist. The main focus of her storytelling is on people and places that surround her. Post–communist countries, social issues, religion, spiritual life, mental borders and dreams are the main topics she deals with.

Kristina Leidenfrostová (1991, Bratislava, Slovakia) currently studies documentary filmmaking at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. In 2015, she earned her bachelor’s degree with a short documentary, The Nest, which premiered at the Kraków IFF and was screened at other film festivals in several countries.

Lucia Nimcová (1977, Humenné, Slovakia) is an artist with a passion for the complicated, tragic and sometimes absurd set of social and cultural relations that form everyday reality in Eastern Europe. Consisting of photography, video, performance and sound recording, her work attempts to capture both public and private experiences within groups and communities of artists.

Jan Bubeníček (1976, Prague, Czech Republic) graduated from the Department of Animation of the Film Academy of Performing Arts where his mentors included Břetislav Pojar and Pavel Koutský. During his stint at Eallin animation studio he collaborated with Noro Držiak, David Súkup, Tomáš Luňák and Martin Duda. He also worked for Universal Production Partners as the head and supervisor of the 3D department. He was part of the team that created Alois Nebel, which won European Film Award for Best European Animated Feature Film. He is currently pursuing his own film projects and part–timing for the R.U.R. post–production company.

Anna Grusková is a Czecho–Slovak film, theatre and radio author and director. She graduated from Charles University in Prague, majoring in theatre and film studies. As a filmmaker, she has directed documentary films Rabbi Woman (Rabínka, 2012) and Return to the Burning House (Návrat do horiaceho domu, 2014), mapping out the lives of WWII heroines born in Slovakia, Gisi Fleischmann and Haviva Reick, respectively. In 2015 she founded her own production company based in Bratislava.

Sahraa Karimi (1983, Kabul, Afghanistan) grew up in Tehran, Iran, and although she immigrated to Slovakia at the age of 17, she is currently living and working in her native Kabul. She obtained her PhD degree from the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Her feature–length debut, Afghan Women behind the Wheel, collected about 25 awards at major film festivals around the world while her graduation film, Light Breeze, received Sun in the Net, the Slovak national film award, for Best Short Fiction Film.

Juraj Mravec (1987, Levice, Slovakia) graduated from the Camera and Photography Studio at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. As a photographer, he covered some of the most important news events at home and abroad between 2008 and 2016 (e.g. Ukrainian crisis, migration crisis, or Slovak prisons). In the “reportage” category, he won 2nd place at Czech Press Photo in 2014 and 2015 and 1st place at Slovak Press Photo in 2015. As a cameraman, he has worked on several documentary films. Peace to You All (Mir vam) is his debut as a director.

Maren Ade (1976, Karlsruhe, Germany) is a German producer, scriptwriter and directress. She is particularly interested in the most prosaic aspects of human relations. Be it teacher Melanie’s complicated emotional life in her debut, The Forest for the Trees (Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen, 2003), a detailed portrayal of a decaying relationship in Everyone Else (Alle Anderen, 2009 – Silver Bear from Berlinale) or an exceptional analysis of the bond between a father and a daughter in Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade remains faithful to her civil and empathetic methods of directing that have placed her among the most successful German filmmakers today

Claude Barras (1973, Sierre, Switzerland) is a Swiss director. Barras studied illustration and computer graphics at École Emile Cohl in Lyon. Before directing his first feature film, My Life as a Courgette (2016), Claude Barras directed several short films, including The Genie in a Ravioli Can (2006), which received numerous awards at film festivals around the world. Claude Barras’ unique connection with childhood transcends time and age differences; he has the rare gift of being able to make you laugh and cry at the same time. His stories are filled with realism and fantasy, humour and poetry.

Leyla Bouzid (1984, Tunis, Tunisia) is a daughter of director Nouri Bouzid. In 2003 she went to study French literature at Sorbonne but eventually ended up graduating from the iconic La Fémis, majoring in film directing. Her graduation film, Twitching (Mkhobbi fi Kobba, 2012), which she shot in Tunisia, won the Jury Prize at the Premiers Plans IFF in Angers, France. A year later, she made another short film, Zakaria. As I Open My Eyes is her fiction feature debut.

Clemens von Wedemeyer (1974, Göttingen, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. He studied photography and media at Fachhochschule in Bielefeld. In 1998 he transferred to HGB Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig where he graduated from Astrid Kleins’ class in 2002 and earned a Master’s Degree in 2005. He has had many national and international solo exhibitions.

Christoph Girardet (1966, Langenhagen, Germany) studied at Braunschweig University of Art and has collaborated with Matthias Müller since 1999 in the fields of film, video, installation and photography. One of their previous films, Meteor, was in competition at the Bratislava IFF in 2014.

Matthias Müller (1961, Bielefeld, Germany) has collaborated with Christoph Girardet since 1999 in the fields of film, video, installation and photography. One of their previous films, Meteor, was in competition at the Bratislava IFF in 2014.

Mark Olexa (1984) is a Swiss director and producer. He is working with Italian director and editor Francesca Scalisi. They are based in Fribourg, Switzerland, where they run the film production company, DOK MOBILE. Their work combines social commitment and intercultural curiosity with an artistic point of view.

Francesca Scalisi (1982) is an Italian director and editor. She is worikng with Mark Olexa. They are based in Fribourg, Switzerland, where they run the film production company, DOK MOBILE. Their work combines social commitment and intercultural curiosity with an artistic point of view.

Having studied modern literature and undertaken a course at the Centre for Writing and Communications (CEC) in Paris, a self–taught filmmaker Arnaud Pelca became an editor and proof–reader of all kinds of texts. He also reads and advises on screenplays. Half Time is his first film as a director.

Laurits Flensted–Jensen (1985) was educated at the National Film School of Denmark. In 2013, he graduated with the short documentary, Snow.

Konstantina Kotzamani (1983, Komotini, Greece) is a graduate of the Film Department of Fine Arts in Thessaloniki. Her short movies have participated in several international film festivals and have gained several awards. Her film, Washingtonia, premiered at Berlinale 2014 and was nominated for Best Short Film at the EFA Awards in 2015. It was screened last year at the Bratislava IFF.

Donna Verheijden (1989, Netherlands) lives and works as a visual artist in Amsterdam. Majoring in graphic design at ArtEZ, she holds a Master from the Sandberg Institute. In her short films, she combines historical material from vintage Hollywood films with found footage and her own shots of everyday life.

Boris Sverlow (1986) is a Belgian–American film director. In 2011 he graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Gent with his animation short film, Shattered Past. This film made over 20 selections at prestigious festivals worldwide and was awarded several prizes, including the coveted VAF Wildcard.

A skateboarder and an award–winning artist from Sahalahti, Finland, Anssi Kasitonni (1978) is a unique man who is in love with his work and craft as well as with life itself. Besides music and making films, he also delves into drawing and sculpture.

Gudrun Krebitz (Graz, Austria) graduated in animation from the University of Film and Television ‘Konrad Wolf’ Potsdam–Babelsberg in Germany and studied in the animation class at the Royal College of Art in London until 2015.

Francy Fabritz (1985, Dresden, Germany) grew up in Russia and Germany. During her studies of cultural sciences, aesthetics & applied arts, she lived in San Francisco for one year and worked in the field of theatre and documentary film. Since 2013 she has been studying at the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) in Berlin.

Émilie Pigeard works as film director, scriptwriter, voice actor, editor, music writer, and narrator. She was co–animator of Adrienne Nowak’s 3D short Gusla ou les malins (2016).

Virpi Suutari (1967, Rovaniemi, Finland) studied journalism and communication studies at the University of Tampere, and obtained her MA at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki in 1996. A former artistic director of DocPoint festival in Helsinki, she has focused on writing and directing documentary films.

Massimo Loi also works as second unit director or assistant director on feature–length films, TV series, commercials and music videos.

Gianluca Mangiasciutti works primarily as second unit director or assistant director, including big Hollywood productions. Besides, he has directed three short films as well as a number of commercials and music videos.