20th Bratislava International Film Festival

Pedro Peralta (1986, Lisbon, Portugal) earned his Masters in Film Studies at Universidade Lusófona in 2012 for his graduation short film, Mupepy Munatim (2012), which has been selected and awarded in several national and international film festivals. Since 2013, he has been working with the Terratreme Films cinema company. Currently, he is writing his first feature film, KA.

Bartosz Kruhlik (1985, Lubsko, Poland) graduated in film directing from the National Film School in Łodż. His films have had over 500 projections at film festivals all over the world (e.g. in San Sebastián, Karlovy Vary, Montréal, Amsterdam), winning nearly 150 awards. In 2013 he received the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Prize for outstanding artistic achievement.

Kirill Serebrennikov (1969, Rostov–on–Don. USSR) graduated from Rostov State University with majors in physics in 1992 and had no formal theatre education prior to his stage directorial debut in 1994. He has staged drama productions in Moscow Art Theatre, Latvian National Theatre, and State Theatre of Nations as well as opera productions for the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg and the Bolshoi Theatre. He is one of the most talented theatre and film directors of modern Russia. His films have been screened at film festivals in Cannes, Locarno and Rome where he won Golden Marc Aurelio Award in 2006 for his comedy, Playing the Victim.

Mano Khalil (1964) is a Kurdish–Syrian film director. Having studied history and law at Damascus University, he moved to Czechoslovakia in 1987 to study film directing. Between 1990 and 1995 he worked as an independent film director for Czechoslovak and later Slovak Television. Since 1996 he has lived in Switzerland. His documentary, The Beekeeper, was screened during the 2015 Human Rights Arts & Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia. The Swallow is his first feature fiction film.

Having worked for some time as an independent filmmaker, Marco Danieli decided to pursue formal education at the Experimental Centre of Cinematography in Rome, which he completed with a degree in directing in 2007. Since 2011 he has been teaching at his alma mater. Worldly Girl is his first feature film.

Hana Jušić (1983, Šibenik, Yugoslavia) obtained MA degree in film and TV directing at Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. She also graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, majoring in comparative literature and English language and literature; currently she is pursuing her PhD degree in Literature and Film. So far she has written and directed several short films, most notably Chill (Zimica, 2011), Terrarium (Terarij, 2012) and No Wolf Has a House (Da je kuća dobra i vuk bi je imao, 2015). She has written the script for a children smash–hit film, The Mysterious Boy (Zagonetni dječak, 2013), directed by Dražen Žarković.

Anna Zamecka lives and works in Warsaw, Poland. She studied journalism, anthropology and photography in Warsaw and Copenhagen. She also completed the Dok Pro Documentary Programme at Wajda School. Communion (Komunia) is her feature–length debut.

André Gil Mata (1978, São João da Madeira, Portugal) originally studied mathematics but then gravitated toward cinema, obtaining his master’s degree in film directing at Lisbon Theatre and Film School and completing his PhD at Béla Tarr’s Film Factory in Sarajevo. He is one of the founders of Átomo 47, a photography and cinema laboratory based in Porto. His first feature–length documentary, Captivity (Cativeiro, 2012) won DocAlliance Award in 2013 and was screened at several international film festivals including the Bratislava IFF.

In 2008, Renārs Vimba enrolled in the Latvian Academy of Culture to study cinematography but graduated from it in 2011 with an MA in film directing; meanwhile, he went to study under Boris Frumin at the Baltic Film and Media School in Tallinn, Estonia. So far, he has directed primarily short films such as Alle! (2006), I Like What’s Gonna Be Tomorrow (Man patik kas rita bus, 2008), Father Puppet (Lelle tetis, 2008) and The Breakwater (Mols, 2009).

Szabolcs Hajdu (1972, Debrecen, Hungary) graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest in 2000, majoring in film directing. His filmography includes internationally acclaimed titles such as White Palms (Fehér tenyér, 2006) or Bibliothèque Pascal (2010). His previous film, Mirage (Délibáb), that premiered in 2014 at Toronto International Film Festival was a Hungarian– Slovak co–production.

Miloš Radović (1955, Belgrade, Yugoslavia) is a Serbian scriptwriter and director. He started with a bang, winning a Jury Prize at the Cannes IFF for his short The Sudden and Premature Death of Colonel KK (Iznenadna i prerana smrt pukovnika K.K.) in 1987. Since then, his short films have harvested over 60 international awards. Radović has also written and directed three feature films: Small World (Mali Svet), Falling into Paradise (Pad u raj) and Train Driver’s Diary (Dnevnik mašinovodje), four TV series and five theatre plays (one of them was staged OFF Broadway).

Upon completing her studies of journalism, Salomé Jashi (1981, Tbilisi, Georgia) worked as reporter for several years. In 2005 she was awarded a British Council scholarship to study documentary filmmaking at Royal Holloway, University of London. Upon her return to Georgia, Salomé founded production company Sakdoc Film. Her previous film, Bakhmaro (2011), received an Honorary Mention for a Young Documentary Talent at DOK Leipzig and was awarded as Best Central and Eastern European Documentary at the Jihlava IDFF.

Bogdan Mirică (1978) graduated from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication at the University of Bucharest. In 2008, he completed his studies in screenwriting and producing at the University of Westminster, London. While in London, he attended workshops held by such film luminaries as Martin Scorsese, Paul Verhoeven and Ken Loach. In 2010, he wrote and directed the short film, Bora Bora, which won Grand Jury Prize at the Angers European First Film Festival. This is his first fiction feature film that premiered as part of Un Certain Regard programme at this year’s Cannes IFF.

Bülent Öztürk (1975, Bağlarbaşı, Turkey) is a Belgian–Kurdish filmmaker based in Antwerp. His short film, Houses with Small Windows (2013), was nominated for best short film at European Film Awards and was also part of the BIFF short film competition. He is currently working on his first feature–length film entitled Blue Silence.

Mohamed Kamel is an award–winning Egyptian filmmaker who graduated in 2006 from the Academy of Arts – Higher Institute of Cinema in Cairo (department of directing). He has written and directed two narrative short films that took part in numerous festivals around the world, winning several national and international awards.

Matheus Farias (1990, Olinda, Brazil) is young director with background in radio and TV, respectively, but also with a long history of relationship with cinema. Farias also directed a documentary My Body, My Rules (2013).

Enock Carvalho (1982, Recife, Brazil) is young director with background in journalism, but also with a long history of relationship with cinema.

Yoichi Tanaka (1984, Chiba, Japan) graduated from Musashino Art University. His thesis short, Sokkenai CJ (2007), won Grand Prix at the 11th Mito Short Film Festival.

Russian filmmaker Cyril Zima has written, directed, edited and produced three short films so far: Suka (2014), Ocean (2015) and Hot Set (2016). His debut film, Suka, had a relatively large success at film festivals in the United States as well as in Asia. He works together a lot with his wife and co–producer/co–writer Maria Rogotskaya.

Wilhelm Sasnal (1972, Tarnów, Poland) is a painter and filmmaker. He studied architecture at Tadeusz Kościuszko University of Technology in Kraków and painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in the same town. He lives and works in Kraków, Poland

Anka Sasnal (1973, Busko–Zdrój, Poland) is a director, editor and scriptwriter. She studied Polish literature at Pedagogical University of Kraków and gender studies at Jagiellonian University in the same town. She lives and works in Kraków, Poland.

Upon his graduation from New York University, Tom Ford (1961, Austin, TX, USA) began to study history of art and architecture at Parsons School of Design. He rose to world fame as a fashion designer. His collections and provocative advertising campaigns helped reinvent Yves Saint Laurent and make Gucci one of the largest and most profitable fashion houses in the world. In 2004, Ford parted ways with Gucci to found his own film production company, Fade to Black, and introduce his namesake fashion brand one year later. Rendering the main character in his debut, A Single Man (2009), brought Colin Firth the Best Actor award at the Venice IFF, the BAFTA award and an Academy Award nomination.

Alma Har’el (1976, Tel Aviv, Israel) is a music video and film director, best known for her documentary, Bombay Beach, which took the top prize at Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 and has been taught as a genre–defining work in several universities including Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab and Film Center. Har’el is famous for her ability to blur artistically the lines between documentary and fiction, use choreographed dance sequences effectively and choose music in an inspired way to achieve a surreal, dream–like poetic meditation on life.

Werner Herzog (1942, Munich, Germany) has written, produced and directed some 70 films, acted in a number of them, published books of prose, staged about a dozen operas and founded his own educational program, the Rogue Film School. From the extensive list of his legend–woven films, let us name but a few: Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) or Grizzly Man (2005).

Having studied political science in Paris, Charles Redon (1984) enrolled into La Fémis, the French national film school. Although he studied film producing, he also wrote and directed a short film that was broadcasted and selected for various festivals; it was this success that convinced him to continue along the path of a film director. He started out by making two short films, Au banquet des loups (2006) and Jours de colère (2010). In California is his first feature–length film.

Kirsten Johnson (1965, Seattle, Washington, USA) studied fine arts and literature at Brown University and cinematography at La Fémis in Paris. Since her graduation from La Fémis, Johnson has been the cameraperson behind a number of highly acclaimed and award–winning documentaries, including Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), The Oath (2010), The Invisible War (2012) and Academy Award–winning Citizenfour (2014).

Vatche Boulghourjian  (1975, Kuwait) is a Lebanese filmmaker. He holds an MFA from New York University’s (NYU) Graduate Film Program. Before attending NYU, Boulghourjian worked around the Middle East on documentaries for television networks while also making independent shorts, experimental films, and documentaries. Fifth Column, his thesis film at NYU, won Third Prize in the Cinéfondation programme at the Cannes IFF in 2010. This year his first feature fiction film, Tramontane, premiered during the Critics’ Week at Cannes.

Asaph Polonsky  (1983, Washington, D.C., USA) was raised in Israel where he directed, wrote and independently produced two shorts films, Zipper (2008) and In Bed at 10 p.m. (2010). In 2010 he attended the American Film Institute Conservatory’s Directing Program where he directed the 2013 Student Academy Award Nominee thesis film, Samn Ang, which premiered at the New York Film Festival and won awards at several film festivals around the world. One Week and a Day is his first feature–length film.

David Raboy is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker hailing from northern Virginia. His previous
film, The Giant (2012), was selected at Locarno, Clermont-Ferrand and Jeonju film
festivals, among many others.

Thomas McCarthy (1966, New Jersey, USA) studied acting at the Yale School of
Drama and has amassed an extensive list of credits, both on stage and on screen.
The Station Agent (2003) marked McCarthy’s directorial debut and brought him
the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and a BAFTA Film Award for
Best Original Screenplay. In 2009 he won Best Director at the Independent Spirit
Awards for his second film, The Visitor (2007). His third film, Win Win (2011), won
the Humanitas Prize at Sundance. The Cobbler (2014) premiered at the Toronto
IFF. Finally, Spotlight took home Brian Award and Silver Mouse award from this
year’s Venice IFF.

Pengfei (1982, Beijing, China) was born into a family of Peking Opera performers.
Under his family’s influence, he developed a strong passion for the arts. He went
to Paris to study film. He returned to China after seven years of being exposed
to European culture, which affected his personality and altered his views on life.
Prior to his feature film debut, Underground Fragrance, he directed three short
films and worked as Tsai Ming Liang’s assistant.

Peter Bebjak (1970, Partizánske, Czechoslovakia) graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, majoring in acting (1994) and in film and television direction (1999). As an actor he works mostly in theatre and television but he has also appeared in features such as Hannah and Her Brothers, Quartétto or Faithless Games. He directed a successful TV documentary series, Slovakia’s Greatest Crime Cases, but also many popular fiction series such as City of Shadows, Anděl C.I.D., How I Survived, The Convicted, Dr. Ludsky or Gendarmes from Luhačovice. Shortly after his feature debut, Apricot Island (2011), he shot the first-ever Slovak horror film, Evil (2012).

Akram Zaatari (1966, Saida, Lebanon) has produced over forty videos, a dozen books,
and countless installations of photographic material depicting a range of interconnected
themes related to excavation, political resistance, the lives of former militants,
intimacies among men, and the circulation of images in times of war.

David Pantaleón (1978, Valleseco, Gran Canaria) studied acting at Escuela de Actores
de Canarias. In 2006 he began his career as a director and has already garnered over
thirty awards at national and international festivals.

Freelance director and visual artist Andrej Kolenčík (1984, Bratislava, Slovakia) graduated
from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Currently he produces fiction
and animation films, music videos and commercials. His debut documentary short,
Star, was screened at more than 40 international festivals and won six prizes.

Having studied art history, Max Philipp Schmid (1972, Basel, Switzerland) became
a visual arts teacher at Basel’s Arts and Design University. In 1990 he switched to filmmaking,
focusing on experimental, short, music and animation films and videos. His
works and installations have been featured all around the world.

Ruchika Oberoi majored in English literature at the Delhi University and graduated
from the Film and TV Institute of India in Pune. Island City is her feature
debut. Her script for the film was part of the NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab that was
held during the 2012 Venice IFF and also participated in Film Bazaar at Goa. At
this year’s edition of the Venice festival, the film won the FEDEORA award.

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.

Dalibor Matanić (1975, Zagreb, Croatia) earned a degree in film and television
directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He made his award-winning
feature debut, Cashier Wants to go to the Seaside (Blagajnica hoće ići na more), in
2000. His second film, Fine Dead Girls (Fine mrtve djevojke), won Grand Prix along
with the Audience Award and the Critics’ Award at Pula National Film Festival
in 2002. His biggest success was Party (Tulum, 2009), a short film that premiered
during the Critics’ Week at Cannes IFF and later won 18 film awards at various
festivals.

Upon his graduation from FAMU in Prague, Petr Zelenka (1967, Prague, Czechoslovakia)
worked as script editor at Barrandov Film Studio. In 1998 his fiction
debut, Buttoners, won the Tiger Award at Rotterdam IFF and four Czech Lion
awards. In 2000 he wrote a screenplay to Loners, which became the blockbuster
of the year. His next picture, Year of the Devil, won the Crystal Globe at the 2002
Karlovy Vary IFF and six Czech Lions. After directing Wrong Side Up (2005) and
The Karamazov Brothers (2008) for which he took home Czech Lions for Best Film
and Best Direction, Zelenka shifted his focus to theatre and television.

Jean-Gabriel Périot (1974, Bellac, France) has directed almost two dozens of
short films, both on video and film. He has developed his own editing style of
archive footage. Ranging from documentary to animation and experimental, most
of his films deal with violence and history. His latest works, including Our Days,
Absolutely, Have to Be Enlightened, The Devil, The Day Has Conquered the Night and
Optimism, have been shown worldwide at numerous festivals and honoured by
many prizes. A German Youth is his first feature-length film.

Darijan Pejovski (1983, Skopje, Macedonia) graduated from the Department
of Film and TV Directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje. Before he
co-wrote the screenplay for a feature fiction film directed by Vladimir Blazevski,
Punk’s Not Dead (Pankot ne e mrtov, 2011), he had directed several short and
documentary films. Three Days in September (2015) is his first feature fiction film.

Rúnar Rúnarsson (1977, Reykjavík, Iceland) made his feature film debut during
Directors’ Fortnight at the 2012 Cannes IFF with Volcano (Eldfjall, 2011). The film
was nominated for the “Camera d’Or” and instantly became a festival darling, collecting
17 awards. Rúnarsson is one of the most-awarded short film directors who
harvested some 100 international awards for his Crossroads Trilogy. In 2006 he
was nominated for the Academy Award for The Last Farm (Sidste gård, 2004); two
years later, he was nominated for “Palme d’Or” at Cannes and for the European
Film Award for 2 Birds (Småfugle, 2008).

Vladimir Tomić (1980, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) graduated from the
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2009. He lives and works in Copenhagen.
His art films strive to walk the fine line between contemporary art and experimental
documentary. The universal and human tension caused by the ever-changing
fabric of society is often at the centre of his work. Flotel Europa is his first featurelength
film.

Radu Muntean (1971, Bucharest, Romania) graduated from the Theatre and Film
Academy in Bucharest in 1994. Since 1996, he has directed over 400 commercials
and won over 40 national and international awards at various advertising
festivals. His feature debut, The Rage (Furia, 2003), won the Best Debut Film award
at the 2003 Transylvania Film Festival. His second feature, The Paper will be Blue
(Hîrtia va fi albastrã, 2006), as well as Boogie (Boogie, 2008) are representatives of
the Romanian New Wave. One Floor Below (2015) was screened in the “Un Certain
Regard” section at the 2015 Cannes IFF.

Oliver Hirschbiegel (1957, Hamburg, Germany) studied painting and graphic
design at Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg where he attended Rüdiger
Neumann’s experimental film class. Having spent over a decade directing for
television, he made his big screen directorial debut with The Experiment (Das
Experiment, 2001), which won four German Film Awards. His Downfall (Der Untergang,
2004) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language
Film. After a number of U.S. productions, 13 Minutes (Elser, 2015) marks his first
German-language feature film in nine years.

Having earned an MA degree in history in Johannesburg, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
(1978, Ankara, Turkey) went to study filmmaking at La Fémis. Her graduation film,
A Drop of Water (Bir damla su, 2006), was selected for many festivals (Cinéfondation,
awarded at Locarno). Deniz co-wrote her first feature film, Mustang (2015),
with Alice Winocour. It was screened as part of the Directors’ Fortnight section at
the 2015 Cannes IFF, winning the Europa Cinemas Label Award.

(1984, New York City, New York, USA) spent his childhood shuttling between
Rome and New York. He began making films at Wesleyan University
and in 2012 he completed the Sundance Screenwriters & Directors Lab.
His short film, a Chjàna (2011), was awarded at the Venice IFF and his next short
film, Ciambra (2014), won the Discovery Award during the Critics’ Week at the
Cannes IFF. After his feature-length debut, Mediterranea (2015), that was part of
the Critics’ Week in Cannes and also screened at the Bratislava IFF, he elaborated
on the story of boy Pio from Ciambra; the feature-length version premiered at
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes.

Kristina Grozeva (1976, Sofia, Bulgaria) and Petar Valchanov (1980, Plovdiv,
Bulgaria) both graduated from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Art in
Sofia. After each of them had several shorts selected at Clermont-Ferrand, Busan
or Brussels film festivals, they became a well-coordinated filmmaking tandem,
although Petar is busy on the side, directing also for television. Together they
directed Jump (Skok, 2012), which was in 2013 nominated for best short film at
European Film Awards. The Lesson (2015) is their first feature film.

A director and screenwriter César Augusto Acevedo (1987, Colombia) graduated
from the Universidad del Valle’s School of Social Communications in Cali,
Colombia. The screenplay for Land and Shade was his graduate thesis and went
on to become his first feature film. On the back of funding from the Carolina
Foundation, Ibermedia’s Ibero-American Film Projects grant and various other
film funds, it premiered during the Critics’ Week at the 2015 Cannes IFF and took
home the “Camera D’Or” award for the best debut film.

Karl Markovics (1963, Vienna, Austria) became known to the broader audience
as Detective Stockinger from the television police series, Kommissar Rex.
Numerous TV and film roles soon followed, along with contracts in theatre, opera
and musicals. Markovics rendered the main character in The Counterfeiters (Die
Fälscher, 2007), which surprisingly snatched Oscar for Best Foreign Language
Film, and recently appeared in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). In 2011 he wrote
and directed his feature film debut, Breathing (Atmen), which was also screened at
Bratislava IFF. Superworld (2015) is his second feature film.

Radu Muntean (1971, Bucharest, Romania) graduated from the Theatre and Film
Academy in Bucharest in 1994. Since 1996, he has directed over 400 commercials
and won over 40 national and international awards at various advertising
festivals. His feature debut, The Rage (Furia, 2003), won the Best Debut Film award
at the 2003 Transylvania Film Festival. His second feature, The Paper will be Blue
(Hîrtia va fi albastrã, 2006), as well as Boogie (Boogie, 2008) are representatives of
the Romanian New Wave. One Floor Below (2015) was screened in the “Un Certain
Regard” section at the 2015 Cannes IFF.

Einar Baldvin (1985, Reykjavík, Iceland) began to pursue his BFA degree in the
Program of Experimental Animation at CalArts where he created two animated films,
Moon into Blood and Catatonic. Einar graduated in 2009 and moved back to Iceland
where he has worked as an independent freelancer.

Matthew Rankin (Winnipeg, Canada) studied history of Québec at McGill and Université
Laval. An alumnus of the Sundance Film Festival, Matthew was a 2013 artist-inresidence
at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and in 2014 his
body of short films was awarded the National Media Arts Prize.

Helena Grama Ungaretti got her bachelor’s degree in audio-visual arts from the
University of São Paulo.

Miguel Antunes Ramos (São Paulo) graduated from ECA-USP, majoring in audio-visual
arts. His graduation work was a short movie One, two, three, volcano.

(Buenos Aires, Argentina) earned a BA in audio-visual design at the
University of Buenos Aires. She is currently developing two feature films.

Examining the impact of civil unrest on urban development, the films by Ygor Gama
(1988, Recife, Brazil) have been screened at international festivals.

Having graduated from the CUEC Film School in the Mexico City, Betzabé García
(Mexico, 1990) directed several award-winning shorts such as Venecia, Sinaloa
(2011 – Official Selection FICG, FICM) and Porcelana (2013 – Best Short Film
at Guanajuato IFF). She was also nominated for the Rolex Mentor & Scholarship
Protégés Arts Initiative 2014. Kings of Nowhere is her first feature-length project.

(1980, Beirut, Lebanon) grew up in Cairo and later moved to
Paris. She studied philosophy, linguistics, languages, literature, Arab civilization
and documentary filmmaking in Lussas, France. Having majored in Arabic studies,
she currently teaches in Lyon, translates literary texts and participates in radio
programs while working on various film projects related to Egypt. I Am the People
is her first feature-length documentary.

(1976, Tehran, Iran) graduated from the Tehran University,
majoring in theatre directing. He started his career as a thespian, making his stage
debut at the age of 15. In 1996 he began to work with Iranian state-run television
as editor and later as director. Since then, he has directed two home video show
series and more than 30 documentaries. He has directed and acted in a number of
television series and plays. His feature debut as a director, Wednesday, May 9, won
several awards at international film festivals.

Oliver Hermanus (1983, Cape Town, South Africa) is an award-winning director, writer and photographer. He completed his MA degree at the London Film School. He has written and directed three feature films. His debut, Shirley Adams (2009), premiered in competition at the 62nd Locarno IFF; his second film, Beauty (Skoonheid, 2011) in the Un Certain Regard competition at the 64th Cannes IFF; and his latest film, The Endless River (2015), in competition at the 72nd Venice IFF, becoming the first-ever South African film to be selected for the festival’s
competition.

Charlie Kaufman (1958, New York City, USA) received Academy Award nominations for Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and queened the latter one to the coveted statuette. He also wrote scripts for Human Nature (2001) and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002). He has directed Synecdoche, New York (2008) and co-directed Anomalisa (2015).

Before his feature debut, Anomalisa (2015), Duke Johnson (1979, St. Louis, Missouri, USA) dedicated his time primarily to TV series, directing episodes of Moral Orel (2008), Community (2010) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole (2010-2012).

Dušan Trančík (1946, Bratislava) made his early, rather unconventional short films by the end of the 1960s. He ranks among the most prominent figures of Slovakia’s feature film in the 1970s and 1980s; he was particularly interested in exploring the moral issues of the modern man or seeking the meaning of existence.

Even before Dušan Hanák (1938, Bratislava) created some fiction (322, Rosy Dreams, I Love You Love) as well as documentary features (Pictures of the Old World, Paper Heads) motion pictures, he shot more than a dozen short films; many of them are close to experimenting.

Milan Černák (1932, Bratislava) worked as director and dramaturge in Spravodajský film, a state-run company that produced news reels, and played a major role in its transformation in the 1960s. When shooting films, he focused on sports. In 1990 he was appointed director of the Slovenská filmová tvorba, a state-run film production company.

Karol Skřipský (1908, Brno, Austria-Hungary, today Czech Republic – 1993, Urdforf, Switzerland), who lived and worked in Slovakia since the 1930s, specialised in ethnographic and nature documentaries. His most important films include The Song of Colours and Shapes (Pieseň farieb a tvarov), Just Wood (Obyčajné drevo), The Žiar Requiem (Žiarske rekviem) or Four Days of Ľudovít Čonka (Štyri dni Ľudovíta Čonku).

Vlado Kubenko (1924, Veľká – 1993, Bratislava) ranks among the most prominent figures of Slovak documentary, but he also worked as assistant director on feature films such as Wolves‘ Lairs (Vlčie diery, 1948) or Katka (1949). He shot more than a hundred documentary films and news reels covering a broad spectrum of topics; he also took part in shooting The Time We are Living (Čas, ktorý žijeme, 1968) and Tryzna (1969).

Pedro Costa (1959, Lisbon, Portugal) is a solitaire who dwells outside the system. Having studied history and film editing, his feature debut was Blood (O Sangue, 1989). He soon became disillusioned with the world of cinema and did everything to break the conventions in his next picture, House of Lava (Casa de lava), shooting “at random”, without a script or even actors. He kept the same approach in the trilogy inspired by the Lisbon slum of Fontainhas and comprising Bones (Ossos), In Vanda’s Room (No Quarto da Vanda) and Colossal Youth (Juventude Em Marcha). Horse Money is a loose follow-up of the latter film.

William Wyler (1902, Mülhausen, Germany, now Mulhouse, France – 1981, Los Angeles, USA) is one of the most prominent directors of the classic Hollywood era. He has three Academy Awards to his name as a director, for Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben-Hur, second only to legendary John Ford’s four. But Wyler’s total 12 Oscar nominations for directing are still unbeaten today; he was nominated for Dodsworth, Wuthering Heights, The Letter, The Little Foxes, The Heiress, Detective Story, Roman Holiday, Friendly Persuasion and The Collector.

Konstantina Kotzamani (1983, Komotini, Greece) has studied pharmacy and then cinema at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. As a director, she took part in talent campuses at Berlin and Sarajevo IFF. Her short movies have been selected for several international festivals and have gained many awards.

Dimitris Nakos (1982, Athens, Greece) has a PhD in cinema and philosophy from the National University of Athens and the Panteion University of Athens. He lives and works in Athens as director and scriptwriter. He also teaches filmmaking at the Panteion University.

Jacqueline Lentzou (1989, Athens, Greece) earned her bachelor’s degree in film and television studies at the Royal Holloway College of London. She recently completed her master’s degree in filmmaking at the London Film School. After two shorts, And the Kid and Insights, she wrote and directed her graduation film, Thirteen Blue.

Upon completing his architecture studies at the National Technical University of Athens, Aristotelis Maragkos (1985, Athens, Greece) went to study filmmaking at the London Film School. He has written and directed several short films. He took part in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2013. Aristotelis works as a director and production designer.

Harry Lagoussis (1977) is a filmmaker and cartoonist based in Athens, Greece. He studied filmmaking at the London Film School. His film and video work has been shown all around the world and his comics and artworks have been presented at exhibitions in Greece and abroad. He is also a co-writer of Stratos (2014) directed by Yannis Economides that competed at 64th Berlinale.

Nassos Vakalis (1966, Athens, Greece) graduated from the California Institute of the Arts, USA, majoring in animation. He has worked as an animator, animation supervisor and storyboard artist for many animation studios including DreamWorks. He has been the chief pre-production and storyboard artist for the popular ESPN channel series, “Off Mikes”, for which he received an Emmy Award.

Georgis Grigorakis (1983, Athens, Greece) earned a master’s degree in fiction directing at the National Film and Television School in 2012. His second short, And Me for Myself, won the Greek Film Academy Award for Best Short in 2009. His latest feature short, 45 Degrees, was screened at the Clermont-Ferrand ISFF 2013.

Besides numerous dance videos in collaboration with leading Greek choreographers, Yorgos Lanthimos (1973, Athens, Greece) has directed TV commercials, music videos, short films and theatre plays. His first feature film as a solo director, Kinetta, appeared at Toronto and Berlin film festivals to solid critical acclaim. His second feature, Dogtooth, won the “Un Certain Regard” award at the 2009 Cannes IFF. Alps won the “Osella” award for best screenplay at the 2011 Venice IFF and the Best Film award at the 2012 Sydney IFF. The Lobster is his first English-language film.

Alexis Alexiou (1976, Athens, Greece) earned a degree in physics from the University of Athens but later became interested in cinema studies. In 1998 he founded Tugo Tugo Productions, an independent production company. He wrote and directed four short films prior to his debut feature, Tale 52 (Istoria 52, 2008), which was presented at over 30 international film festivals including the Tiger Awards Competition of Rotterdam IFF, the Toronto IFF and Sitges, where he won the Best Screenplay award. Wednesday 4:45 is his second feature film.

Athanasios Karanikolas (1967, Thessaloniki, Greece) originally chose photography studies at the New School for Social Research and at the Parsons School of Design, both in New York. Later he studied video and media art at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf and film direction at the Film University Babelsberg “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam. In 2007, he made his first feature-length film, Elli Makra, 42277 Wuppertal. Besides filmmaking, Karanikolas also teaches at several universities and works as a stage director.

Davis Guggenheim (1963, St. Louis, Missouri, USA) is a critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning director and producer of engaged documentaries whose work includes Waiting for ‘Superman’, It Might Get Loud, and most notably An Inconvenient Truth featuring former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, which in 2007 won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. In 2008, Guggenheim produced and directed President Barack Obama’s biographical film, A Mother’s Promise, and four years later another picture, The Road We’ve Travelled, for Obama’s re-election campaign. He is currently working on a documentary special for HBO featuring U2.

Lou McLoughlan brings the skills of painter, photographer and writer to her filmmaking. In 2011 she was selected by BAFTA as one of the “42 Brits to watch”, was awarded two BAFTAs, a Grierson, and an RTS Award. Prior to focusing solely on creative documentary, Lou had been directing, filming, vision-mixing and editing creative and commercial videos for over twelve years. She completed an MFA in film direction at the Edinburgh College of Art with world renowned tutor, Emma Davies. 16 Years till Summer is her first feature-length film.

Visar Morina (1979, Pristina, Kosovo) graduated from the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. His early shorts include A Safe Place for Everyone (Sicherheit für Alle, 2007), Sirens (Sirenen, 2008), Death by Suffocation (Der Schübling, 2010 – Grand Prix in the international competition of student films at Fresh Film Fest) or Of Dogs and Wallpaper (Von Hunden und Tapeten, 2013 – selected for the short film competition at Locarno IFF). Babai is his feature debut as a director and Kosovo’s official nominee for Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.

Ida Panahandeh (Tehran, Iran) has an MFA in film directing and a BFA in film photography. She began to make pictures while still studying at Tehran Art University and has made many short films. As a talented filmmaker, she was invited to make TV movies for Iranian State Television and has been awarded at various national TV festivals. She was chosen to participate in Talent Campus at the 2009 Berlinale. Nahid (2015) is her feature film debut.

Since 2002, Cyril Leuthy has worked primarily as editor on many documentaries, for example Becoming Traviata (Traviata et nous) and Noces (Stravinsky / Ramuz) by Philippe Béziat released in 2012 or Daft Punk Unchained by Hervé Martin Delpierre three years later. During his studies at La fémis in Paris, he authored two films, Le souffle court (2002) and La maison d‘Algérie (2002). The Night is Fading is his first feature film. It premiered at Visions du Réel in Nyon where it won the Special Prize Regard Neuf for the most innovative first film.

At the age of thirteen, Olmo Omerzu (1984, Ljubljana, Slovenia) directed his first short feature film, Almir (1998), which was produced by RTV Slovenia. In 2004 he enrolled at the FAMU film academy in Prague and graduated with his first feature-length film, A Night Too Young (Příliš mladá noc, 2012), which premiered as part of the Forum section at Berlinale. His second feature, Family Film (Rodinný film, 2015), had its premiere at San Sebastian Film Festival. Winter Flies got a Best Director Award at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

New York-based director Crystal Moselle made her name as producer for the critically acclaimed documentary film, Excavating Taylor Mead. In the past decade she focused on short-form storytelling in publications such as Vice and The New York Times for which she created a series called “Something Big, Something Small”, featuring talent such as Pharrell Williams and Shepard Fairey. Later collaborations with Pharrell included “Meet the Bae’s”, a series profiling the artist’s back-up dancers.

Patrick Vollrath (1985, Germany) started out as an editor. In 2008 he began to study directing at the University of Music and Performing Arts – Vienna Film Academy, in the class of Michael Haneke. He took part in the Young Lions Competition at Cannes (2011, 2013) and in Berlinale Talent Campus (2013).

Tim Ellrich currently studies fiction directing at the Filmovej akadémii Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg. Exploring the absurdities of everyday life, his films have been screened at over 50 film festivals around Europe. His influences include Roy Andersson, Luis Buñuel, Aki Kaurismäki and Terry Gilliam.