Biography

Ehsan Abdipour graduated of the Department of Cinema and Theater of the Art University of Tehran, majored in Script-writing.  Director of Short Films: Fable 98, Bunker-Mate, The Tourist. He directed also Feature Films - Alone, Alone, Alone (2014), winner of eleven National Spirit and Will Section awards; nominated for Simorgh at 31th Fajr Film Festival; participated also over ten international film festivals; Honorable Mention for Directing at the Resistance Festival. 

Synopsis

Old friends reunite and play truth-and-dare. What begins as letting off steam and reaching out for freedom, ends up with dramatic outcome. 

Biography

Alexander Hant (b. 1985, Khanty-Mansiysk, USSR), born Alexander Yevseyev, studied film direction under Karen Shakhnazarov and recently graduated from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK); his choice of professional name was inspired by his hometown. His uncommon talent began to emerge during his coursework, and his etudes from that time, At the Opera (V opere, 2011) and Dinner (Uzhin, 2012), won awards at a student film festival. He was subsequently entrusted with the task of turning the award-winning screenplay by fellow student Alexey Borodachev into a feature film. The recognition Hant has earned for his work is reflected in his ability to secure the outstanding Russian actor Alexey Serebryakov for one of the main roles; resident in Canada, the actor even relinquished his fee in view of the debut feature’s budget restrictions.

Synopsis

Viktor spends his free time trawling bars with ladies of questionable repute, from where he is picked up by a wife he doesn’t love, the mother of a child they never planned. Viktor himself was abandoned by his own father, his mother then committed suicide, and he was left to grow up in an orphanage. Years later, his errant dad returns, now a disabled felon, and Viktor discovers a timely legacy is in the offing – his father’s apartment. The documentation for securing dad’s move into an old people’s home is signed in a flash. Nevertheless, the only one that can take him is miles away and, what’s more, the invalid starts to recuperate during the journey, which is when their real problems begin. This unconventional road movie with its stylish soundtrack is set in a profoundly realistic Russia, whose depiction betrays a great sense of sophistication and satire. The adventurous pilgrimage to the nursing home uncovers secrets from the father’s past and also similar patterns of behaviour in the two men. In addition to its witty plot line, the film boasts fine performances both from rising star Yevgeny Tkachuk and Zvyagintsev masters Alexey Serebryakov (Leviathan) and Andrey Smirnov (Elena).

Biography

After making several award-winning shorts in Turkey, Yesim Ustaoglu made her feature film debut in 1994 with THE TRACE. She received international recognition for her JOURNEY TO THE SUN (GÜNESE YOLCULUK). In competition at the Berlin Film Festival in 1999, it received the Blue Angel Award (Best European Film) and the Peace Prize. The moving story of a courageous friendship undaunted by political cruelty, JOURNEY TO THE SUN swept the Istanbul Film Festival by winning Best Film, Best Director, the FIPRESCI Prize and the Audience Award. Her third film, WAITING FOR THE CLOUDS, the story of a woman forced to live for 50 years with the haunting secrets of a hidden identity, was awarded NHK Sundance - International Film-maker's award and thus established a strong reputation for the director. With her fourth film, PANDORA'S BOX, the story of an old woman suffering from Alzheimer disease, Turkish filmmaker Yesim Ustaoglu won the Best Film and Best Actress award in San Sebastian in 2008, continued to travel many international festival and was also released theatrically in many countries. Ustaoglu's most recent film ARAF - SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN (2012) premiered in the Orizzonti section at the 2012 Venice International Film Festival, and won the Black Pearl Award for Best Narrative Film at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

Synopsis

CLAIR-OBSCUR is the psychological dance of two women who are deprived of and distanced from their natural right to mature and discover themselves, to love and be loved, and to sustain a real relationship of their choosing. The social cost of these psychological wounds reverberates from micro to macro levels throughout society, rotting it from within.

Biography 

Joanna Kos-Krauze (b. 1972, Olsztyn, Poland), director, screenwriter, and producer, president of the Directors’ Guild of Poland, member of the European Film Academy and the Polish Film Academy. Starting in the mid-1990s she gained professional filmmaking experience as a second unit director and head of casting. The turning point in her career came with projects she took on with her husband, respected director and screenwriter 

Krzysztof Krauze (1953, Warsaw – 2014, Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland). He celebrated international directing success (Crystal Globe, Best Director, Best Actress for Krystyna Feldman at KVIFF 2005 and a Golden Hugo at the Chicago IFF) with My Nikifor (2004), co-written by Joanna. The pair then co-wrote and co-directed the no less successful movies Savior Square (Plac Zbawiciela, 2005 – Golden Lion at the Polish Film Awards in Gdynia, competed at KVIFF 2007) and Papusza (2013 – Special Mention at KVIFF 2013).

Synopsis

We catch up with Polish ornithologist Anna in Africa in 1994 just as Rwanda’s Hutu majority has unleashed genocide against the smaller population of Tutsis. Anna manages to save the daughter of a local colleague whose entire family has been murdered, and she takes her back to Poland. Trauma from the experience, as well as quick tempers on the part of both women, prevent them from finding peace; on top of that, Claudine refuses to play the victim. Later, when the position of the Rwandan tribes is reversed, the young woman returns home. Unwilling to take the steps necessary to advance her scientific career Anna follows Claudine back to Africa, and there she observes the Tutsi woman’s search for traces of her former life and the graves of her loved ones. Everywhere she goes, Claudine comes up against the survivors’ attempts to come to terms with what they have lost. Although in 1996 power is in the hands of the Tutsis, the peace is fragile, and the near universal poverty aids the forces of evil. The movie, begun in cooperation with Krzysztof Krauze (My Nikifor – Crystal Globe at KVIFF 2005), was completed after his death by his wife and longtime cooperator Joanna Kos-Krauze.

Biography

Writer-director Mariam Khatchvani was born in Ushguli, Svaneti, and studied film directing at the Shota Rustaveli State Film University. She has directed several documentaries, including VERDZOBA (2006), BEYOND THE WINDOW (2007) and LICHANISHI AND KVIRIKOBA (2009). In 2013, she made the short film DINOLA, which won 18 awards at European film festivals and was selected for La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde at the Festival de Cannes. Funded by the Georgian National Film Centre, it was hugely successful and screened at more than 30 film festivals and was one of five nominees for Best Short Film at the European Film Awards in 2014. After seeing DINOLA, the Sundance Institute invited Khatchvani and writer-producer Vladimer Katcharava to attend the 2015 Screenwriters’ Lab. With lots of help and inspiration from renowned filmmakers including Tobias Lindholm and Catherine Hardwicke, they expanded DINOLA into the full-length screenplay for DEDE, which premiered at Karlovy Vary IFF.

Synopsis

It’s 1992. Young Dina lives in a remote mountain village where life is strictly governed by centuries of tradition. Dina’s grandfather has promised her to David, who is returning from the war. But with him comes a comrade-in-arms, the handsome Gegi, and Dina falls in love. Is it possible to defy the firmly established order? And, if it is, what price must a person pay for doing so?

Biography

Onur Saylak (b. 1977, Ankara) is a Turkish actor and director. After studying physics and public administration, he graduated in acting from the theater department of Bilkent University in Ankara. He made his debut as an actor in Autumn(Sonbahar, 2008, dir. Özcan Alper), which premiered at the Locarno IFF and celebrated international success. He directed the short film The Jungle (Orman, 2015), first shown at Anthology Film Archives in New York. His debut in features is More.

Synopsis

Fourteen-year-old Gaza lives with his father Ahad in a small town on the coast of the Aegean Sea. The intelligent youngster has a talent for learning and he’d like to continue his studies at a prestigious school in Istanbul. But Ahad, known in the area as a fruit and vegetable carrier, sees his son’s future differently. He gets Gaza to help with his side business – smuggling refugees from the Mideast. Despotic and unscrupulous, Ahad keeps groups of refugees in demeaning conditions until it’s time to send them on their way. And he is slowly passing on his experience in dealing with refugees to Gaza. Is it possible to maintain innocence in such an environment? A directing tour de force, More is the debut effort from Turkish actor Onur Saylak, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Hakan Günday. Complexly conceived, this disturbing psychological study of an adolescent boy’s transformation under the influence of those around him bears dark tidings about the contemporary world.

Biography

Sergei Loznitsa (born in 1964, Baranovichi, Byelorussia) studied mathematics and then moved on to film school in the 1990s. Even his very first artistically stylized documentaries placed him right up there among Europe’s elite directors. His contemplative films, screened regularly at KVIFF, subtly and precisely conjure up the tangible essence of the Russian landscape (Landscape, 2003), of stagnation (The Train Stop, 2000) and, elsewhere, of archetypal industrial operations (Factory, 2004). Loznitsa’s documentaries reflect both current events (Maidan, 2014) and key moments in Russian history (Blockade, 2006; The Event, 2015). The director made his first foray into feature film direction in 2010. His latest offering A Gentle Creature(2017), like his two previous titles My Joy (2010) and In the Fog (2012), was screened in the main competition at Cannes.

Synopsis

One day, a woman receives the parcel she sent to her incarcerated husband some time earlier. Confused and deeply concerned, she decides to go to the prison in a remote area of Russia, to seek information. So begins the story of a journey rife with humiliations and violence, the story of an absurd battle against an impenetrable fortress.

Biography

SALLY POTTER Sally Potter is known for innovative form and risk-taking subject matter and has worked with many of the most notable cinema actors of our time. Her films have won over forty international awards and received both Academy Award and BAFTA nominations. She has had full career retrospectives of her film and video work at the BFI Southbank, London, MoMA, New York, and the Cinematheque, Madrid. She was awarded an OBE in 2012. Her book Naked Cinema - Working with Actors was published in 2014.

Synopsis

Janet has just been appointed minister in the shadow cabinet – the crowning achievement of her political career. She and her husband Bill plan to celebrate this with a few close friends. The guests arrive at their home in London but the party takes an unexpected turn for the worse when Bill suddenly makes two explosive revelations that shock Janet and everyone present to the core. Love, friendships, political convictions and a whole way of life are now called into question. Underneath their cultivated liberal left-wing surface people are seething. Their dispute leads to the big guns being brought out – even in a literal sense.

Biography

Mohammad Rasolouf is a multi-award-winning independant filmmaker, born in 1972 in Shiraz, Iran. He has a degree in Sociology from Shiraz University and film editing at Sooreh Higher Education Institute in Tehran. His most critically acclaimed film is Goodbye (2011) which won the Un Certain Regard - Directing Prize from the Cannes Film Festival. Mohammad Rasoulof is also known for The Twilight (Gagooman) (2002) winning a Crystal Simorgh & the documentary Head Wind (Baad-e-daboor) (2008). Mohammad Rasoulof was arrested for filming without a permit in 2010 and was released on bail. None of his films has been released in Iran.

SYNOPSIS

Reza (35), having distanced himself from the ur- ban quagmire, leads a simple life along with his wife and sole son, somewhere in a remote village in Northern Iran. He spends his days working in his gold fish farm. Nearby, a private company with close links to the government and local authori- ties, has taken control of nearly every aspect of the regional life. Its shareholders, accumulating wealth, power and economic rents, have been pushing local farmers and small owners to dilap- idate their belongings, farms and estates, to the benefit of the Company’s influential net- work and its monopoly. It is under their pressure that many villagers have them- selves become local rings of the larger network of corruption..

Biography

Kornél Mundruczó (b. 1975, Gödöllő, Hungary) studied acting and directing at the University of Theater and Film Arts in Budapest. He garnered international attention with his short movies AFTA: Day After Day (2001), Little Apocrypha No. 1 (2002), A Bus Came… (segment “Joan of Arc on the Night Bus,” 2003), Little Apocrypha No. 2 (2004), and Lost and Found – Short Lasting Silence (2005). His feature debut Pleasant Days (2002) won the Golden Leopard at Locarno for Best First or Second Feature. Mundruczó’s second picture, screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, was an adaptation of the story of Joan of Arc, entitled Johanna(2005). His third outing, Delta (2008), was named best film at Hungarian Film Week. His subsequent movies have made him a regular at Cannes: Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project (2010), White God (2014), and Jupiter’s Moon (2017). Audiences in Karlovy Vary, where Mundruczó sat on the main jury in 2005, have seen Pleasant Days and Delta.

Synopsis

Syrian refugee Aryan’s attempt to cross the Hungarian border becomes an ill-fated journey. He is shot several times by the police during the incident, but no one could foresee the consequences: The young man gains the ability to levitate. His new powers set in motion a series of misfortunes in the world around him. Personal and systemic corruption, a loss of faith, and the insecurity of a constant lack of money lead a burnt-out police officer named László and corrupt Dr. Stern into ever more extreme situations as they drag the naïve Aryan down with them. “I wanted to adopt a cinematic language that reflected the chaos, the tension, and the pressure that I feel every day in Budapest... I didn’t want it to let up even for a second,” says director Kornél Mundruczó about his visually breathtaking work, which presents the harsh situation in contemporary Europe, not just through its storyline but also through a stylistic mixture of genres.

Biograpy

UģisOlte

Director, Producer/ Klipu Filmu Darbnïca. Born on March 4, 1981 in Ergli, Latvia. While studying journalistics and PR in University of Latvia, Ugis started to work on weekly environmental TV programme “Vides Fakti”, which lead to an award of Latvian National TV and radio council as the best Tv journalist in 2003. Currently Ugis still works for environmental TV programme in addition to directing TV ads, color grading films of other directors and editing every piece of footage that needs to be cut. Liberation Day is his last film shot in 2016. 

Morten Traavik

Morten Traavik is a Norwegian director and artist working across a wide spectrum of artistic genres and international borders. His beauty pageants for landmine survivors, Miss Landmine Angola (2008) and Miss Landmine Cambodia (2009) made headlines and fueled discussions across the world.

He is also renowned for a series of controversial collaborations with North Korean artists and cultural authorities, as well as being an authorized cultural affairs liaison for that country. In August 2015 he again made world headlines by bringing alternative rock’n’roll to North Korea in the form of ex-Yugoslavian industrial band Laibach.

Synopsis

One day a rock band visited North Korea for the first time, and perhaps the world was not the same any more... In August 2015, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Liberation Day which marks the end of Japanese colonial rule in Korea, Slovenian cult band Laibach performed in Pyongyang. The set list included doom covers of songs from The Beatles and The Sound of Music. Liberation Day follows this controversial band and the process of setting up the historic concert, labeled by SlavojZizek as "the most fascinating cultural, ideological, political event of the 21st century so far." As George Orwell said, all art is propaganda, and as Laibach reasserts, all propaganda is art.

Biography

Roman is a multi-award-winning documentary film director. He is a member of the Ukrainian National Film Union and is the art director of Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. He published his first book at the age of 13 and has since devoted his life to art. He has written numerous short stories and created a number of short fiction films, documentaries and music videos. Roman has participated in photography and contemporary art exhibitions. He is now working on his first fiction film Volcano.

Synopsis

Waves of the Black Sea are crashing against the pier, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. Children's orchestra Dixieland is playing a march. The teacher is listening. It seems that the happiness will last forever, but growing up is inevitable. Suddenly, it turns out that the teacher is mortal, and your friends have their own plans for future. Medals and orchestral instruments are glittering in the sun, but every child has their personal destiny – with or without music.

Bıography

Yunus Ozan Korkut (1988, Turkey) was born in Adana and currently lives in İstanbul, working as a director. He has six short films including MUALLA (2015) which was awarded in Italy. His first feature length Mocumentary MY SUBURBAN STORIES. He is recently working on his new feature length fiction film project.

Synopsis

A suburban neighbourhood in Adana, Ceyhan… The simplest and the most real state of grim tales, curse, poverty and inability…The city’s famed for its heat, fertile lands, tough guys, kebab, rage and masculinity. Everyone has a thing to say about Adana. Now it’s the suburban’s turn to speak; with all sincerity, all the extraordinary stories and ragged walls. The whole filming location is set in Ceyhan where the director was born and raised. It’s a testimonial for the local characters. The film is shifting to a wider perspective for local people who are perceived as popular culture figures. They’ve been given a bad name with news of forensic cases and their violent dark humour. This picture aims to address the sociocultural texture of a suburban city through the eyes of twenty-one characters.

Synopsis

The documentary features real people from Houellebecq’s life; the text is based on their life stories. Iggy Pop is confronted with himself in the process of reading Houellebecq’s manifesto "To Stay Alive - a method". The book reflects his own laborious start as a person and as an artist. How can it be that this ‘advice to a young poet’ applies so strongly to him too? His personal recitation of the text is a journey of discovery to answer that question. In the end, Iggy meets Michel Houellebecq as one of the characters in the book. The two celebrities meet at the house of Houellebecq’s late grandparents, talk about each other’s work and drive, and express their mutual admiration.

Biography

RatiOneli was born in 1977 in Tbilisi, Georgia. From 1994 to 2000, he earned a Master’s degree in Middle East Studies at the Free University Tbilisi. From 1999 until 2014, he lived in New York, where he studied International Relations (M.A. 2005) and International Media (M.A. 2011) at Columbia University. He made his first short film, Theo, in 2011. Since 2013, RatiOneli has been pursuing a PhD at the European Graduate School in Saas Fee, Switzerland. He has been a lecturer at the University of Georgia since 2014. He also works as a producer and editor. CITY OF THE SUN, Oneli’s first feature-length film premiered at Berlinale Forum.

Synopsis

The film takes place in Chiatura, Georgia once a thriving mining town that supplied the world’s 50% of finest manganese during the Soviet Union.CITY OF THE SUN is a surreal vision of a post-apocalyptic ghost town and its several inhabitants. The lives, dreams and destinies of the characters unfold amidst the grand ruins of once “glorious” Soviet architectural and technological achievements in a semi-abandoned mining town of Chiatura.

Music teacher keeps demolishing the city to build a new life for himself and his family; miner-turned-actor lives in a limbo unable to make decision between his passion (theater) and money (working at the mines); and two malnourished champion athletes have to keep running just to survive.

Biography

Petr Lom

Petr Lom was born in Prague in 1968, grew up in Canada, and is now based in The Netherlands with his Dutch wife Corinne van Egeraat. He received his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard and was Associate Professor at George Soros’ Central European University in human rights and philosophy. In 2003, he became an independent documentary director and producer specializing in human rights film. His award-winning films have been broadcast in over thirty countries and screened at more than two hundred and fifty film festivals around the world including Sundance and the Berlinale. His filmography: Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan (2004); On a Tightrope (2007), Letters to the President (2009); Back to the Square (2012), ANA ANA (“I am me” in Arabic - 2013), and Burma Storybook (2017), for which he is also writing the accompanying book. 

Corinne van Egeraat

Corinne van Egeraat (1966), Netherlands. An independent filmmaker and creative producer with a background in theatre, she specializes in projects on creative freedom of expression. In 2011-12 she produced the Self-Portrait Video Project, a year-long workshop on autobiographical storytelling with young Egyptian artists, which culminated with the collaborative feature documentary ANA ANA (“I am me” in Arabic) that was nominated for best film at IDFA 2014 and released in the cinemas in the Netherlands. 

Synopsis

Burma Storybook is a creative documentary about a country emerging from years of dictatorship, told through Burmese poetry. The film circles around the story of the country’s most famous dissident poet alive today, as he waits for his long-lost son to return home, having inspired fellow prisoners and younger generations to take up the pen. A poetic, loving documentary about a country reinventing itself.

Biography

Matthew Heineman is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in New York. He previously directed Escape Fire, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Heineman’s previous film, Cartel Land, was nominated for an Academy Award and won three Emmy Awards after premiering at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it won Jury Awards for directing and cinematography. For his work on the film, Heineman also received the DGA Award and the International Documentary Association's Courage Under Fire Award.  

Synopsis

A real-life international thriller, City of Ghosts exposes a new type of warfare: a battle over ideas, a fight for hearts and minds, a conflict over clicks and views. Captivating in its immediacy, it follows the journey of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently”—a handful of anonymous activists who banded together after their homeland was taken over by ISIS in 2014. With astonishing, deeply personal access, this is the story of a brave group of citizen journalists as they face the realities of life undercover, on the run, and in exile, risking their lives to stand up against one of the greatest evils in the world today. 

Biography

Ziad Kalthoum is a Syrian filmmaker who started filming his first medium length movie (OH, MY HEART) in 2009, about a story of a group of Kurdish women who lived in a village without men for political and social reasons. The film was banned from the screening in Syria because it is not allowed to talk about Kurdish society. It was considered as the first film to speak about the Kurds of Syria. In 2012 he began filming his feature film THE IMMORTAL SERGEANT when he was a soldier in compulsory military service at the same time of the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. The film premiered at Locarno Film Festival, and he won the Best Film Award at the BBC Arabic Film Festival. In 2013, after defecting from the Syrian army and refusing to fight against his own people, he fled to Beirut and began filming TASTE OF CEMENT that won the Best Film Award at the Visions du réel 2017 and has been nominated for the Best European Film Award at DOC ALLIANCE AWARD 2017.

Synopsis

TASTE OF CEMENT a portrait of workers in exile. An empathetic encounter with people who have lost their past and their future, locked in the recurring present.

ZIAD KALTHOUM creates an essay documentary of Syrian construction workers building new skyscrapers in Beirut on the ruins caused by the Lebanese civil war. At the same time their own houses are being bombed in Syria. A Curfew prohibits them from leaving the construction site after work. Every night in their pit below the skyscraper the news from their homeland and the memories of the war chase them. Mute and imprisoned in the cement underground, they must endure until the new day arrives where the hammering and welding drowns out their nightmares.

Biography

Sergei Loznitsa (b. 1964, Baranovichi, Byelorussian SSR) studied mathematics and then moved on to film school in the 1990s. Even his very first artistically stylised documentaries placed him right up there among Europe’s elite directors. His contemplative films, screened regularly at KVIFF, subtly and precisely conjure up the tangible essence of the Russian landscape (Landscape, 2003), of stagnation (The Train Stop, 2000) and, elsewhere, of archetypal industrial operations (Factory, 2004). Loznitsa’s documentaries reflect both current events (Maidan, 2014) and key moments in Russian history (Blockade, 2006; The Event, 2015). The director made his first foray into feature film direction in 2010. His latest offering A Gentle Creature(2017), like his two previous titles My Joy (2010) and In the Fog (2012), was screened in the main competition at Cannes.

Synopsis

Nazi concentration camps are still a reminder of our recent history. What lures people today to places that are so grievously etched in our cultural memory? Are visits to sacred memorial sites any different from routine tours of secular monuments, or have they simply become destinations that tourists tick off their list after they’ve taken a series of smiling selfies? The title of Sergei Loznitsa’s film refers to the eponymous novel by W. G. Sebald. Like the book’s main character Austerlitz, the director also sets out on a journey to the scenes of mass killings to reflect upon human nature and historical upheaval. In static black-and-white images he records people visiting the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The director allows the visitors to speak for themselves, leaving the camera rolling without commentary as he captures their reactions, enhanced only by a sophisticated soundtrack. After his previous titles focusing on revolutionary turmoil Maidan (2014) and The Event (2015), Loznitsa now delves deeper into the past in order to uncover the essence of the present.

Synopsis

On her way back from work a woman witnesses something happening in the bus and she has to decide if she reveals it or not. Film was premiered at  Locarno Festival 2017.

Biography

Qiu Yang (1989) was born and raised in Changzhou, China. In 2013, he was selected for the prestigious directing course at the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2015, his short Under the Sun was selected for Cinéfondation – La Sélection and was the only Asian short film in official selection. It was then selected for the prestigious AFI Fest and nominated as Best Short Film at the Taipei Golden Horse Awards.His short film A GENTLE NIGHT (2017) was selected in the official competition at the 70th Cannes Film Festival, where he was the first Chinese director to win the Palme d'Or for Short Film.

Synopsis

In a nameless Chinese city, a mother with her daughter missing, refuses to go gentle into this good night.

Synopsis

Mariam is a 22 years old actress, she works in a cafe, where customers can order any companion they wish. Any can have a dinner with a best friend, a cup of tea with a grandfather, or coffee with a lover. One day she meets Levan in the cafe, a nature defender, who tries to change her point of view about the cafe she's working in.

Biography 

Anna Sarukhanova  

Anna was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University and continued her education at the Directors’ Faculty of the Postgraduate School of Screenwriters and Film Directors (V. Khotinenko, V. Fenchenko and P. Finn workshop). In 2016 her short film «Till the end of the day» - was in official selection of Locarno Film Festival, (Pardi di Domani section). 

Katalina Bakradze 

Katalina is a Georgian artist and a filmmaker. After taking the certificated courses of photojournalism and documentary in Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. she worked as an assistant with a polish documentary film director  - Kacper Lisowski, on his documentary film about Georgian refugees in 2008.  Later and until now she has produced and directed several official music videos for musicians from Chile, Norway, England, USA and Russia. She also produced fashion films for Georgian fashion designers, filmed art video “Point And The Absolute”. She participated in several exhibitions and festivals (in Georgia, France, Switzerland, Denmark).  Among them are project “GESAMT”  and the Annual Photo Festival “Kolga” 2010, Katalina won the “Grand Prix”.

Synopsis

What happens when the imagination puts the mind into the unreal borders of false fear, the world around transforms into prison, and the only way out seems to be an escape to the new imagination, to the visual creation of the mind.

Biography:

Nini Sardlishvili born in 1987 in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 2004, she entered Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, the Faculty of Law, specialized in International Law. She has been working with such film directors as Otar Iosseliani, Michel Hazanavicius, Julie Bertuccelli, Ineke Smits and others. She writes scenarios for fiction and documentary films, some of them already were used for films, music videos and commercials.

Biography

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, 1986. Graduated Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Institute of Applied Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Majorig in Informatics. In 2012 , graduated Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University, Faculty of Film and TV, Major in Directing. His short films  "The Most Precious", "Entr'acte" , "Little Film About the Main Thing", “Obsession”  participated in various film festivals. Currently working on several film projects. 

Synopsis

Thirteen-year-old Mariam lives with her father, Rezo, in the poor slums of Tbilisi. They share a one room shack. Mariam and Rezo are barely making a living, being forced to steal at times. Along with the struggle against poverty, Mariam also has to deal with the facts of becoming a woman and the fear that her father would betray her in order to make money.

Synopsis

After apocalyptic information leaks about the sun going out, meaning the earth will get dark in eight minutes, forever, chaos covers the whole world except for Gia - a single man under sixty with a boring, poor life. In this crazy moment he calls his son to ask how he is handling this situation, despite having a rare and cold relationship with him for a long while. But during the phone call Gia finds his son is in north pole for an expedition with his fiancée, and not aware of the coming total black out. Father hesitates to tell his son how the world is about to end and hangs up the phone. But he can’t just sit and do nothing about it. After a moment he gets hit by an idea. Obsessed with clearly something more than just a call to his son again to inform him about the real apocalypse.

Biography

Giorgi Gogichaishvili

Born in Tbilisi, March 13, 1984. During 2000-2007 studied at Shota Rustaveli University of Film and theatre, Faculty of Film Directing.  During 2008-2011 worked as Filmmaker at Tbilisi City Hall, during 2012-2014  Graphic Designer, Montage Specialist at TV Artarea.  Since 2017, Filmmaker at SiblerFilms. Currently working on a full length movie “Inga”, for which Georgian National Center of Cinematography has awarded funding

Davit Abramishvili

Born in Tbilisi,   1985. During 2002-2006 studied at Grigol Robakidze University. Since 2007, Director at TV Rustavi 2. During  2011-2015  Director at Artarea TV. Since 2015  Multimedia project director at “UN Women”. Currently working on a full length movie “Inga”, for which Georgian National Center of Cinematography has awarded funding

Biography

Film and stage director, dubbing director, screenwriter, producer. The graduate of St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television with a degree in Film Direction (Iskander Hamrayev's studio). 

The participant of a long-list of The Academy Awards ("Oscar") in the nomination of "The Best Short Film" as the screenwriter of the movie "Bravoman". One of the founders of the film company "Imago".

Synopsis

David, aged 60, calls the apartment where he grew up as a child. Ali answers the phone: the home that they both call their own now belongs to him. The hospitable Ali invites David for a friendly feast. But David cannot visit the home of his childhood. He is an Armenian who had to flee Baku many years ago. On learning that Ali is about to hang up, but David pleads to listen: without Ali’s help he cannot keep a promise once given to his brother.

Synopsis

Two boys and a girl prepare for nightclubbing in the heart of Athens. Arriving, they face a deserted club, where music plays blaring but there is no one listening. There, one by one, they fall asleep as if surrounding themselves to a collective dream.

Biography

Born with dual Greek/German nationality, Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis studied Informatics Engineering, and then Contemporary Arts at Le Fresnoy - Studio National in France. His films have won acclaim at festivals around the world.  Since 2016, he has been directing commercials for leading brands. His work has been showcased in platforms such as Shots and Yatzer. ‘Astrometal' (2017, 15’) premiered in the Orizzonti section of La Biennale di Venezia.

Biography

Born in Greece, 1986, Christos is a graduate from the London Film School. His short films have received prizes and have been screened at many international film festivals, including Locarno, Tampere, BFI, São Paulo, Thessaloniki, Silhouette, Riga… He is based in Athens, where he is developing his debut feature. His film COPA-LOCA (2017) was selected for the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Cannes Film Festival.

Synopsis

This is the story of Copa-Loca, an abandoned Greek summer resort. Paulina is the girl at the heart of Copa-Loca. Everyone cares for her and she cares about everyone – in every possible way.

Synopsis

A young guy, in the background of his relationship with his mother, leaves home, at his father's home, to understand the reason for his departure, which he did not see since his birth.

Biography

Azer Guliev was born in Baku in 1997. Nowadays he's student of Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts. He studies cinematology. He studies cinema under the guidance of teacher, director, film critic and screenwriter Ayaz Salayev. Azer just fall in love with cinema and he author of two short films. Pa-Pa (2017) his second work.

Biography

Born in 1989 in Jerusalem, Israel. a student of film and television at steve tisch school of film and television in Telaviv university. A director, producer and art director.

Synopsis

The story of renen. a taxi driver who decides to turn his cab into a karaoke cab to save his broken marriage. When things don’t work out as he expected renen goes on a night journey with his shiny cab in Telaviv streets

Biography

Vahagn Khachatryan is an editor and director. He got Bachelor degree of Chinese film and TV production at Beijing Film Academy (2014) and Masters of documentary filmmaking (2017).  Films - Phone Booth (2015), this is not a Pipe (2016).

Synopsis

A small town on the border between Portugal and Spain. A place beyond space and time. Not much happens during the day. But at night old ghosts roam once again the ancient streets of the village. A completely different facet of the village rises from the shrouds of the past. Mystery once again takes its place in the life of the villagers allowing them to cast a glance to the other side.

Biography 

Stefan Marin is the writer/director of several short films which were well received at international film festivals. He worked at Fantascope Films (Florin Serban’s production company), Manekino (Adina Pintilie’s production company), Artviva (Romanian Association for film promotion, film production and training providers). Currently, promoting his latest short, “Timeless Love”, and developing a feature length script. 

Synopsis

Bucharest, 1942. War seems far away from the capital, but the stillness of the city is just apparent. When there are no gunshots, people get themselves troubled by their own emotions. Lidia, a charming young lady, is about to make a difficult choice in her life: love or safety?

Synopsis

An old woman, who was starving for sleep because of her husband`s constant snoring, tries to take measures. However, unintentionally she makes the situation even worse. 

Biography

Darioush Najafi Gol (Arturan) was  born in  1980 in Iran.  During 2011-2016 year – studied at "Azerbaijan State University of Art and Culture" , faculty of  film director.  2001– 2002 "Iranian Youth Cinema Society" of Cinematography named faculty of film director. He worked  as an actor at many plays, 3 short film and 1 fiction film. During 2005-2016 year work as an art & theatre photographer.

Synopsis

A former Iraqi sniper, took refuge in Iran and began to tattoo the names of all the soldiers he had killed in the conflicts and wars in Iraq. The last name is tattooed by a young Iranian, who is asked for an strange favor too...

Synopsis

Maryam's husband has an accident at home and, rather than saving him, she stops helping and watches him die. 

Biography

Iranian filmmaker Kaveh Mazaheri has made four independent short films and more than twenty documentaries for varying broadcast networks. His most notable films include A Report About Mina and Retouch.

Biography

Carlo Sironi (born in Rome in 1983) began working as an assistant cameraman and director in both cinema and television. His first short film, SOFIA (2008), is in competition at the 28th Torino Film Festival and the 39th Giffoni Film Festival. CARGO (2012), his lhort was in competition at the 69th Venice Film Festival and was nominated for a David di Donatello.

Synopsis

After getting pregnant, Rocio is released from the identification and expulsion center in Rome, what she will decide to do on the fourth month of her pregnancy?

Synopsis

The past has to remain in the past and the page has to be turned. The old man Yerbolat couldn’t do this. His past follows him as a shadow and becomes a life sourceIn his old age, he comes back to the remote village of his childhood to experience again the best moments of his life. But time is flying, so what is remained from his childhood? Is somebody waiting for him? Will he get rid of his past, or completely stay with it?

Biography

Aizhan Kassymbek was born in 1990 in Kazakhstan. Graduated from the University of international relations and world languages. The daughter of the famous Kazakh film director started her career as manager of the international cooperation at the national film production studio "Kazakhfilm" in 2012.In 2013, began to shoot her first works, to write scripts for various festivals. 

Biography

Born in 1986 in Ankara.  Holds a B.A in Archaeology and Art History and an MA in Film and TV. Worked in various film and documentary projects in Turkey, Italy and the US. Her first short film Time of the Plums (2012) was screened in over seventy national and international film festivals including Tribeca, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Montreal World, Sofia International FF.

Synopsis

16-year-old Elene is a Georgian illegal immigrant who works at a tea plantation in Turkey. Feeling threatened by various encounters, she tries to be invisible in this foreign land. But it is not as easy as she thinks.

Synopsis

Anna is a 45 years old woman, living alone with her mother in the center of Tbilisi.  One night, Anna's life takes a different turn, when at the concert she sees the face of a woman in the crowd.

How can one word change someone's life? How other's life influences our own? How can a person lose her face and identity?

Biography

Margo Zubashvili graduated from The Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgian state University in 2014. She has made two successful short films Olympia (2011) and Dinosaur (2014) during her school period. Margo worked on successful Georgian film projects such as “IN BLOOM” by Nana Ekvtimishvili and LINE OF CREDIT by Salome Alexi. In 2016 Margo started to work at main TV broadcaster in Georgia, Rustavi2, as one of the directors of Georgian Drama Mini-Series Artificial Breathing.

Biography

Dane Komljen is a Bosnian artist and filmmaker based in Berlin. He studied at Le Fresnoy, and his films have screened at a number of festivals around the world. His credits include the shorts Tiny Bird (13), Our Body (15), and All Still Orbit (16), as well as the feature All The Cities of the North (16). Fantasy Sentences (17) is his latest film.

Synopsis

Many years ago, the cities by the river were gripped by a contagion. Things started to change and it was not clear if the transformation was a symptom of the disease or a way to escape it. The contagion touched everything: animals, plants, stones, soil, men, women and children, their thoughts, dreams, memories. An old woman once told me how all memories turn into trees; She said she could hear the trees singing: to be a body, to be any body. After the contagion ended, the cities appeared untouched. One had to look hard to see the traces of the previous time. If one could listen to the trees, what would they say? A way out, a way out?

Synopsis

Composer is in search for a musical theme and is «haunted» by a fugue.

Biography

Salomeya Bauer was born on 15.09.1989. In 2008 she finished Graphic design college "KBSU", progression "graphic designer". In 2014 she finished "VGIK", profession "Director".

Synopsis

Future. The world after the disaster, the people who survived, are predominantly those that dig the remains of the former civilization, and their findings sell or change at roadside markets. The unusual finding family that travels in search of drinking water, transports them to another life ...

Biography

Alina Khoroshylova  graduated from the Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine in 2004. Institute of Screen Arts Kiev National University of Theater, Film and Television  in 2009. Since 2004, she works in film and television sector. She participated in festivals of short film "Desire", "Open Night" (Kyiv, 2006) - Audience Award (red book of Ukrainian cinema); "Kinoshock" (Anapa 2006) etc.

Biograhy

MARTA PAJEK was born in 1982 in Kielce/Poland. She graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, where she specialized in animated film in the class of Jerzy Kucia. As part of an exchange programme she studied in Turku Arts Academy in the class of Priit Pärn. Author of the animated shorts – After Apples, Nextdoor and Sleepincord. She lives and works in Krakow.

Synopsis

The protagonist of the film is a woman who trips and falls, while rushing around the house. She gets up, only to discover, that her home has unusual features – it is built from paradoxes, filled with illusions and covered with patterns.

Biography 

Born in Moscow in the then Soviet Union in 1988, she studied at the city’s Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). She has made several short films which have screened at Russian and international festivals, with Freemasons receiving a Special Jury Mention at the Kinotavr National Film Festival in Sochi. Whilst developing and producing Milk, she participated in the 2016 Interforum Berlin and the 2017 European Short Pitch.

Synopsis

High up on the 14th floor of a tower block, a seemingly perfect family live in their spotless, shiny apartment. One fine morning, they find themselves faced with a bizarre dilemma: What should one do with a cow in the kitchen? It doesn't take long for the house-trained colossus to win the hearts of everyone in the family. Only Grandpa still has some serious misgivings. Before long, the family has to deal with another, decidedly macabre matter.

Biography

Ali Alibrahim is a Syrian journalist. He holds a degree in Media and Communication from Damascus University. He worked as a correspondent for several Syrian newspapers, and as a reporter for pan Arab newspapers, including, Al-Mouden, Aaraby Aljadeed and Elaph. He worked with ARIJ to produce televised investigative reports which were broadcasted on Al-Araby TV and ARIJ Network. He also produced several investigative reports for Al-Araby TV Network. Ali also worked as a Journalist for Sky News Arabia inside Syria and reported on the conflict and war there.

Synopsis

After five months of the suffocating siege and daily bombings of the city of Aleppo, a group of children take it upon themselves to start painting colors in their city as a game in order to forget their daily struggles.

Synopsis

A young woman decides to find her house that she has been deprived of at the age of 4 due to the war. The only chance to get to the occupied area is to cross the border secretly. The border barrier, the natural dividing line, the river Enguri, all add up to the artificially-created wire line by Russian Soldiers. In search of her house, the protagonist explores lives of internally displaced persons for 24 years after the war and sinks into the art of existence that seems to be war, rather than peace. In the process, she meets with so-called ‘connectors', who help her get to the occupied territory. The story portrays everlasting estranging damage occupation can bring: how it can eradicate the concept of ' home' and the comforting feeling of safety.

Biography

She was born in Sokhumi, Abkhazia, in 1988. After the war Anuna's familly moved to Zugdidi and laterto Tbilisi. She graduated from the Institute of Media andCommunication of Georgia - BA Social Sciences. Later she continued studies in Russia, atPeople's Friendship State University - MA – International communication, journalism.Since then Anuna actively works in Journalism both for local and international platforms. Aftervarious jobs in Television,Radio, print and online (multimedia) platforms,she shoots her first documentary “What's happening now”. Now she works for the GEMINI Company as a director/producer.

Synopsis

Marlen, talented young professor receives the letter from his university friend from the Far North. He invites him to work in wonderful city-polis, North Athens, as he calls it, which is the place only for distinguished people. It is difficult for Marlen to leave the country. In this case he has to leave his ill mother, because this possibility is not envisaged by the terms given in the letter.

Biography

Was born on February 18, 1935 in village Shemokmedi, Georgia. Graduated from Iv. Javakhishvili University of c. Tbilisi, faculty of physics and mathematics. In 1958 he entered All-USSR Institute of Cinematography, faculty of film director (master - Michael Rome). Since 1975 he is a film director at film studio "Georgian film" where he filmed 4 full length feature film. He established a creative union of the youth "Debut" on the base of film studio "Georgian Film". He played 10 leading roles and many episodic roles as an actor in the films of different authors. Between them: "9 days of one year" by M. Rome, "Monanieba" by T. Abuladze, "Some grief is successful" by P. Charkviani, "Chronicle of holidaymakers" by N. Gubenko, "Wolfhound" by N. Lebedev, "City Anara" by I. Kvirikadze and etc. He is a Shota Rustaveli State Prize Laureate and a State Prize winner for Feature Film "Nylon Christmas tree".

Synopsis

After the defeat in elections, Refugees Eviction Minister, Giorgi Mchedlishvili, loses everything that is dear to him: the office, the car, the source of income and most importantly - power. Giorgi’s chair, which is a live being, motivates former Minister to take actions, but these efforts do not bring the desired result. In these difficult times Giorgi meets Donara, refugee women, which he marries later. 

New government, orders eviction of Giorgi and his Family from his house. Former Minister puts himself in confrontation first with media, and then with Magda, Giorgi’s sister in law, and because of Magda the house is surrounded by journalists and police. After unsuccessful negotiations with the SWAT team the assault begins. With the help of chair, George, manages to escape grounds unseen towards his village.

Ultimately, the former minister overcomes the thirst of power takes chair at the end of the village, and throws it in deep ravine.

Biography

Eldar Shengelaya  was born in 1933, Tbilisi, Georgia. A Georgian film director and scriptwriter, People’s Artist of Georgia (1979) and of the Soviet Union (1988). He graduated from the Directing Department of the All-Union State Cinematography Institute in Moscow (VGIK, master class of S. Yutkevitch, S. Skvortsova), in 1958. Worked at Mosfilm Studio, starting from 1960 was a director at Georgia Film Studio. Ran a Directing Master Class at the Tbilisi Theatre Institute after Rustaveli (1975-1980). He was the First Secretary of Filmmakers’ Union of Georgia (1979 - 1990), since 1990 - the Chairman of the same Union. In 1992, he was elected a member of the Parliament of Georgia. A member of the Jury at Venice IFF in 1986 and at Berlin IFF in 1992.

Biography

George Varsimashvili is a Georgian writer and director born in Tbilisi in 1986. After graduating university in Georgia, he went to study film making in Paris 8 university (bachelor’s and master’s degree) and ESRA Paris film school. During his studies he made a dozen of short films, which traveled on different film festivals. He shot his debut feature film “Particulier a Particulier” (2012) in France. Although film didn’t have any producer or distributor behind and had a minor budget equal of a student short film, it was still released in film theatres in France, Russia and Georgia. 

Synopsis

Two brothers meet each other after 10 years. A family affair slowly becomes a detective story, where the real reasons of the encounter are revealed. 

Synopsis

Viola, Shota and Rima have to shelter a spare concert hall in the Tbilisi Boarding House of Elderly and live there together temporarily. Repair of the boarding house has commenced and has brought chaos, hassle and anger to the elderly, as they have to leave their rooms temporarily and share space with each other. Despite the big changes, four members of the boarding house find strength to continue following their life-time dreams. Shota, 90, builds a mini-church. Occasional meetings with her lover and a fear of losing memory keep 76-year-old Viola motivated every day. Former boxer Ushangi, 84, promises to continue exercising until "he is alive". 69-year-old Pavle stays mysterious, while feeding birds in the house and knitting winter outfits to make money for his sister who has a cancer. His privacy is invaded when a car hits him in the street and boarding house administration looks for some money for his treatment.

Biography

She was born in 1983, in Tbilisi. After completing her bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature, Tsira Gvasalia pursued her MA degree in journalism and media management at Georgian Institute of Public Affairs [GIPA]. Her short documentary I’ll Tell You After I Die was screened at Tbilisi International Film Festival in 2009. Her current feature-length documentary On the Move was part of CineDOC Tbilisi 2016 edition at the Focus Caucasus competition. 

Biography

Andrzej Wajda, born 1926, is one of the world's most renowned film directors. His critically acclaimed body of work encompasses almost 6 decades of moviemaking and has often been recognized as iconic and quintessential to Polish cinema. Screenwriter, painter, theater and television director, author, teacher, and Senator. He received many the highest European and Japanese orders of state and hundreds of festival awards; has been nominated four times for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film (Promised Land, Maids of Wilko, Man of Iron, and Katyń). Lifetime Achievement Awards he received: 1990 – Felix European Film Award, 1998 – Golden Lion, Venice IFF, 2000 - Honorary Oscar® American Film Academy, 2006 - Honorary Golden Bear, 56th Berlinale, 2008 – BIAFF festival, 2013 - Persol Award, Venice IFF. Doctor honoris causa of many European and American universities; 1994 - member of French Academie des Beaux-Arts.

Wajda has made over 50 films. He began his film career as an assistant to Aleksander Ford on Five from Barska Street / Piątka z ulicy Barskiej (1954). After making several documentaries, Wajda went on to establish his directing career with "wartime" trilogy, A Generation (1955), Kanał (1957), and Ashes and Diamonds (1958), which earned him international recognition as the founder of the Polish Film School. Wajda's visually mesmerizing adaptations of Polish nineteenth- and twentieth-century classics like Ashes (1965), The Wedding (1973), and most notably, The Promised Land (1975;) rendered them relevant for a new era. On the other hand, his Innocent Sorcerers (1960) or Everything for Sale (1968; the Polish 8 ½) represented yet another trait: a influence of European New Wave.

The 1970s were particularly fruitful for Wajda, who has made over ten films, including Rough Treatment (1978), and the "Solidarity trilogy," Man of Marble (1977), Man of Iron (1981, Golden Palm Cannes IFF 1981) and now Wałęsa. Man of Hope (2013) /Georgian première, BIAFF 2013; previously   premières in Batumi Katyń (2008) - about the 1940 Katyn massacre by Soviets authorities and Sweet Rush (2009) - incisive contemporary studies of moral ambiguity and poignant commentaries on the Communist regime. Afterimage is his last film. 

Synopsis

Afterimage, the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, portrays a period from the life of Wladyslaw Strzeminski–the "messiah of modern painting–whom the communist regime tried to erase from the collective memory. Following World War II, despite his students’ support, Strzeminski succumbs to poverty after refusing to yield to the oppression of the Communist Party. According to Andrzej Wajda, Afterimage is "a portrait of an unbroken man–a man confident of decisions he has taken; a man fully dedicated to art."

BIOGRAPHY

Aki Kaurismäki was born in 1957 in Orimattila, Finland. He started his career as a co-director on the films of his elder brother Mika Kaurismäki. His debut as an independent director was CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, an adaptation of Dostoyevsky's novel set in modern Helsinki. Through his collaboration with the rock band the Leningrad Cowboys in several of his films, his worldwide fame has increased. Kaurismäki's most acclaimed film is THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST, which won the Grand Prix and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003. His 2017 film THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. 

Synopsis

This film tells two stories that converge after forty minutes. The first of these features Khaled, a Syrian refugee. A stowaway on a coal freighter, he ends up in Helsinki where he applies for asylum without much hope of success. Wikström, the second main character, is a travelling salesman peddling ties and men’s shirts. Turning his back on his trade, he instead decides to put his poker face to good use at a gambling table and subsequently buys himself a restaurant in the remotest corner of Helsinki. When the authorities turn down Khaled’s application, he decides to remain in the country illegally, like so many other people who share his fate. Going underground in the Finnish capital, he lives on the streets and encounters all kinds of racism, but also some cool rock ’n’ rollers and genuine friendship. One day Wikström discovers Khaled sleeping in the dark backyard behind his restaurant. He provides him with a bed and a job. For a while, these two band together with the restaurant’s waitress, the chef and his dog to form a utopian union – one of Aki Kaurismäki’s typical communities bound together by fate which demonstrates that the world could and should be a better place.

Biography

After studying art in Paris, KIM KI-DUK (1960, Bonghwa, South Korea) returned to South Korea and began his career as a screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with a low-budget movie, Crocodile, in 1996. Since then, he has been hailed by both critics and audiences for his hard-to-express characters, shocking visuals, and unprecedented messages. He continued making internationally acclaimed films such as Samaritan Girl (Silver Bear award for Best Director at Berlin 2004), 3-Iron (Silver Lion Award for Best Director at Venice 2004), Arirang (Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes 2011). Most notably, Pieta won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. His Last films One on One (2014), which also was awarded at Venice Film Festival and STOP (2015) were presented at BIAFF festival.

Synopsis

A North Korean fisherman breaks his boat engine by accident and drifts down to South Korea. After enduring brutal investigations in the South, he eventually gets sent back to North Korea. Before leaving South Korea, he notices the dark side of its society contrasting with its “developed“ image. There, he realizes that economic development does not spell happiness for the people. Although he makes it back home, he receives the same investigations as he did in the south. Then a grave sorrow hits him, trapped in the ideology between the two divided countries against his will.

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Novosibirsk. In 1990, Zvyagintsev graduated from the acting program at the Russian University of Theater Arts (GITIS), under the tutelage of Evgeny Lazarev. He went on to take part in independent theater productions and had a few bit parts in TV shows and movies. In 2000, he made his debut as a director. In 2003, Zvyagintsev shot his first feature film, The Return, which became one of the the cinema sensations of the year. A debut not only for the director but for the majority of the crew as well, it was accepted for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival, and won the top prize, the Lion. It also garnered the award for Best Debut, with the commendation: “a sublime film about love, loss and coming of age.”

His second film, ,was presented at the 60^th Cannes Film Festival, where the lead, Konstantin Lavronenko, became the first Russian actor ever to receive the festival’s award for Best Actor. The international premiere of third film, place in 2011 at the 64th Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard competition program.

His most recent film, Leviathan, screened in Official Competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival and won the award for Best Screenplay. Leviathan also became the first Russian film since 1969 to win a Golden Globe award and was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award

SYNOPSIS 

Zhenya and Boris are going through a vicious divorce marked by resentment, frustration and recriminations. Already embarking on new lives, each with a new partner, they are impatient to start again, to turn the page – even if it means threatening to abandon their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until, after witnessing one of their fights, Alyosha disappears…

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1939, he moved to France in 1956 and studied in Paris. Having worked as assistant director to Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Resnais, his 1966 film Der junge Törless (Young Torless) marked the first international success for New German Cinema. Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) won the 1979 Palme d'Or at Cannes and an Oscar®. From 1992 to 1997 he was head of Studio Babelsberg. He made several films in France and the USA and ran the former UFA/DEFA Studios in Babelsberg from 1992-97. His history film LA MER A L'AUBE (CALM AT SEA) was screened at the 2012 Berlinale in the Panorama section. (Source : Berlin Film Festival). “Return To Montauk” is his last film which was premiered at BERLINALE 2017.

Synopsis

Max Zorn, a writer in his early sixties, travels to New York to launch his new book. His wife Clara is expecting him; she has been working on the book’s publication for the American publisher. Zorn’s very personal novel tells the story of a great but failed love affair. Max soon meets the woman who was the target of his affections at the time, German-born Rebecca, now a successful lawyer in New York. The pair return to Montauk for one winter weekend in this small coastal town at the end of Long Island where they were once so happy together. Rebecca is distant and hurt. Max tries to get close to her. They talk about their years apart, rekindling memories of their shared past. But is there a present or a future for the feelings they once had for each other? After his adaptation of ‘Homo Faber’, Volker Schlöndorff once again returns to the universe of his friend Max Frisch. Variations on the motifs of happiness and the pain that comes with remembering are transposed to the screen for this new, cinematic version.

Biography

Documentary filmmaker, publisher and photographer Seifollah Samadian was born in 1954. For his Bachelor’s he studied English Literature. In 1968 he started photography and then in 1978 started making documentary films. ‘The White Station’(1999) , ‘Tehran, The 25th Hour’ (1999) , ‘The Art of Killing’ (2003), ‘Bam, The 3rd day, The 10th day’ (2004) , “Once Upon a Time in Marrakech’ (2006). He was a director, a cameraman, and an editor for his own films. Seofolah worked  with Abbas Kiarostami on some films (ABC Africa, etc.)

He has been a member of the jury for international film festivals, like Milan Film Festival, Fajr Film Festival, European Short Film Biennial. Participated at various film festivals – Tribeca, San Francisco, Amsterdam etc. Seifollah Samadian is a director of TASSVIR Film Festival since 2004 and also publisher and editor in chief of TASSVIR magazine.

Synopsis

This film, which symbolizes the 76 years and 15 days that Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami lived in this realm, is unlike other documentaries. Instead of interviews and commentary, painter and photographer Seyfullah Samadian, a collaborator and friend, shares selected private moments he recorded over the course of 25 years: Kiarostami wipes the steam off a car window reciting "Doesn’t every path lead to death" or enthusiastically reading the lines "On a snowy morning I run out, hatless and coatless, happy as a child". Edited with austere lyricism, it would make the late maestro very happy.

Biography

Born on December the 3rd, 1988 in Tehran. At age 7, she acted in Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s, her father, film titled “A moment Of Innocence”.

She has been continuously working in Makhmalbaf Family films as Still Photographer, Script Supervisor and Assistant Director. She studied Cinema in Makhmalbaf Film School for 8 years before she graduated at the age 16.  

At age 8, she made her first short film with a handycam camera titled “The Day My Aunt Was ill”. The film received international attention at Locarno Film Festival in 1997 when she was only 9 years old. At age 14, Hana shot a documentary titled “Joy of Madness” in Afghanistan. This film premiered at Venice Film Festival 2003 and received 3 international awards.

At the age18, she made her first feature “Buddha Collapsed Out Of Shame” in Afghanistan. The film went to receive enormous reception around the world receiving many prestigious awards at film festivals in -  Berlin, San Sebastian, Rome, Montreal, Thessaloniki, Hong Kong.  

Hana’s most recent film "Green Days" looks at the incidents during the 2009 presidential election in Iran. The film was selected for the official section of Venice film festival and received "Bravery Award" of the festival. 

" Visa For A Moment " is the title of the book of poetry by Hana which was published in three different languages in 2003

Synopsis

Samira Makhmalbaf goes to Kabul for making her next film, 5 in the Afternoon. Like before she goes between ordinary people and try to cast for the shooting. But in Afghanistan no one accepts to act in film. Everyone is afraid of the others. Mullah of the city is afraid of people. People are scared if Taliban would come back. Hana Makhmalbaf , Samira's 14years old sister, Follows Samira all the time during her process of casting. This behind the scene documentary, is focused on four Main characters: A mad family, a Mullah and two women.

Biography

Mohsen Makhmalbaf (born in 1957 in Tehran, Iran) is a major figure in Iranian cinema. His films have explored the relationship between the individual and a larger social and political environment. Makhmalbaf directed 20 feature films, 4 documentaries and 5 short films in ten countries. Makhmalbaf's films have been widely presented in international film festivals. 

Mohsen Makhmalbaf is the recipient of many honorary awards – including honorary doctorates from various universities,  more than 50 international awards including Marshall of Art and Literature from France in 1998, Sergei Parajanov Awards (Armenia, 2006), Francois Truffaut prize (Italy, 2002), Federico Fillini Honour (UNESCO, 2001), Alhambra Award from Spain in 2007, Rome Courage & Bravery Award in 2006. Pusan Film Festival acclaimed him as the best Asian film director in 2003 and he was elected as the Dean of Asian Film Academy in 2007.

In 2005 when Ahmadinejad came into power, Mohsen Makhmalbaf left Iran as a protest against the Iranian dictatorship and at present lives in exile with his family.  

Synopsis

 
During Shah’s regime when Mohsen Makhmalbaf is a 17-year old guerrilla, along with a girl, who is a guerrilla as well they attack a policeman to disarm him. The police and Makhmalbaf wound each other and the girl disappears. 

20 years later, when Makhmalbaf is a 37 year old director and gives an advertisement in the newspaper for choosing the cast of “Salam Cinema”, the ex-policeman goes to Makhmalbaf’s house and sends a message to Makhmalbaf through his youngest daughter “Hana” and asks for a role in the cinema. Makhmalbaf decides to make a movie of the disarmament that happened 20 years ago from today’s view. He chooses a 17-year old young man to play his role when he was young. Then each of them follows their own youth with a separate camera to track the truth in the method that the incident had taken place 20 years ago.  

Biography

Born in 1940 in Tehran, Abbas Kiarostami was a graduate of “Painting” from Tehran University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. As a painter, designer, and illustrator, Kiarostami worked in advertising in the 1960s, designing posters and creating commercials. In 1969, when the Iranian New Wave began with Dariush Mehrjui’s “The Cow”, Kiarostami helped set up a filmmaking department at the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoon) in Tehran. The department became one of Iran's most noted film studios. He made “The Experience” in 1973 which brought him his first international award from Giffoni Film festival in 1974. He made his first feature films, “The Traveler” in 1974 and his second feature film “The Report” in 1977. In the early 1980s, Kiarostami directed several short films and he made his first post-revolutionary feature film,”Where Is the Friend’s Home?” in 1987 which brought him 5 awards at Locarno Film Festival in 1989 and paved the way for his international recognition. He has received 76 international awards through his film career. At 76, he passed away on 4th of July, 2016 in Paris.

Synopsis

A documentary film “Angels of Sorrow”, dedicated to the 80th Jubilee of a contemporary Georgian classic composer - Giya Kancheli is filmed during the concert tour in several cities of the world (Berlin, Brussels, Antwerp, Baku, Tbilisi). .

He is an artist, for whom the most important thing in all time was freedom. During Soviet period, he was accused of introducing morphine with his music and that he rejoiced enemies in capitalist countries with it. Giya Kancheli with his friends replied to all these from theater stage, where they reflected the whole absurdity of the Soviet Union.

The war is still going on - Art can't change anything.The film tells us the story of an artist's fate in the modern world. "Angels of Sorrow" can save us, but we should manage to hear the sound of their music...

Biography

Teona Jorbenadze was born in the family of Georgian composer Tamaz Jorbenadze. She became a screenwriter and producer. She also graduated from Master’s Degree of Audio-Visual artist Film and TV of Rustaveli state university film and theatre of Georgia.

In 2000- 2003 she was the author of the 40 TV films "Tell me about you" of Georgian Public Broadcasting and Studio Audience TV project. 

During years 1998-2010, she worked as a scriptwriter and a producer with the German organization “Melchiorsgrund”. In Georgia, Germany, Poland and Bosnia has been implemented important theatre projects.

Since 2004 till present she is art director of international charity foundation "Iavnana." More than 100 television marathons and gala concerts has been held by her in Georgia as well as in the world's first class theatres and concert halls: Gala-concerts in the Israeli Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu,  The Athens Concert Hall Megaron, Paris Salle Pleyel , Strasbourg concert hall and ect.

She has been a producer of the solo projects of world-renowned musicians: Monserrat Caballé, Evgeny Kissin, Paata Burchuladze, Katie Melua, Michele Legrand, Chris Botti, Anita Rachvelishvili, Nino Machaidze, Liza Batiashvili, Nikoloz Rachveli, Gia Kancheli and etc.

Since 2012 she is the member of the boarding at  Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2014 she founded the Artists Union "Concept Art".  Teona Jorbenadze is winner as the best classical music producer on June 20th 2017 organized by Media-Holding “Fortuna” -“Gold Wave”.

BIOGRAPHY

Detsky has worked as a director and editor for the BBC, Channel 4, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. His short films have won several awards and prizes. Detsky is currently developing his feature film debut. The short film MINISTRY OF GUILT is at present doing the festival circuit and has just won the Audience Award at the Isle of Man FF.

SYNOPSIS

It’s a fact: good Germans wait at red traffic lights. But what do you do when the green man simply won't appear? Taking place almost entirely on the most pernicious traffic island imaginable, 90 DEGREES NORTH is a humorous, fantastical parable offering an extreme take on the notion of following the rules of a civil society.

BIOGRAPHY

GIEDRĖ ŽICKYTĖ - Born in 1980, Giedrė Žickytė is a Lithuanian film director and producer. She graduated with an MA in Visual Arts from the Vilnius Art Academy in 2007. Her films have been screened at many international film festivals including IDFA, DokLeipzig, Vision du Reel, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Rotterdam IFF, Goteborg IFF, Warsaw IFF, Krakow IFF, Hot Docs and others.

 

MAITE ALBERDI - Maite Alberdi is a Chilean director and producer. In 2011 she premiered at IDFA her first feature film THE LIFEGUARD. Her film TEA TIME also premiered at IDFA (2014), was broadcast during POV (point of view) season 2015 and received various awards, among them Best Female-Directed Documentary at IDFA and Best Documentary at the festivals in Miami, Barcelona, Cartagena, Guadalajara, and Santiago. 

SYNOPSIS

An 88-year-old Basque Country native, Josebe, lives in a nursing home in Chile. She’s obsessed with finding out where the rest of the elder people she lives with come from. Everyone tell her that they are Chilean, not Spanish as she is. Josebe insists on thinking about her youth in the Basque Country. After a full year living in that house, she struggles to remember that she is living in a nursing home. After 70 years in Chile, she still lively remembers her homeland.

Biography

FLORIAN GROLIG is an animation filmmaker and game designer. He graduated from the School of Arts & Design in Kassel and realized some award-winning short films and computer games as well as commissioned animation. His films include: the animation shorts 17 (2005), WEISS (2007), MS. FOUND IN A BOTTLE (2010), SISYPHOS (2014), and IN THE DISTANCE (2015).

SYNOPSIS

It’s calm and peaceful above the clouds. But chaos lurks in the distance and each night, it draws closer.

Biography

Born in Thonon-les-Bains, ManonCoubia graduates from the film directing course at the INSAS (Belgium) and is a member of the filmmakers’ collective Voa in Brussels. She makes a short film, Sonateblanche (2006), as well as a featurette, Bleu cerise (2012).

SYNOPSIS

Seated on the edge of the gaping rift, she waited so long, too long for the mountain to give back her lover, prisoner of the ice.

BIOGRAPHY

Clara Roquet is a writer and director from Spain, and a current student of the Film MFA at Columbia University in the USA. She is the co-writer of the feature film 10,000KM (2014), EFA-nominated and winner of various awards. THE GOODBYE is her directorial debut.
Clara is currently in post-production of her new short film THE GOOD GIRLS, shot in Spain during August 2016.

SYNOPSIS

Rosana, a Bolivian maid, has worked for Angela, the elder matriarch of the Vidal family for the last ten years. On the day of the funeral of her beloved Angela, Rosana is not allowed to grieve with the rest of the family. On the contrary: she is forced to work. THE GOODBYE is an intimate story about how emotional bonds supersede social conventions, racial labels or family regimes.

Biography

Born in Brussels in 1968, director Samuel Lampaert lives in Wallonia. He has made five short films that have traveled to numerous international festivals and were broadcast on television. His latest film, THE WALL, won Best Short at the FF Gent and the Audience Award at the Festival Leuven. His feature film scenarios were selected for the "Maison des Scenaristes" at Cannes, the eQuinoxe program in Paris and the Capalbio writing workshop in Italy.

SYNOPSIS

Hongkong.A multitude of concrete skyscrapers without personality. Inside, cramped studios where the anonymous live among themselves. Until Chung, single, decides to hang up a picture ...

Biography

Floor van der Meulen (1989, Netherlands) was educated at different art academies in Rotterdam and New York City. After graduation she made her first feature documentary film, Storming Paradise, which was broadcast by Al-Jazeera Arabic.

Thomas Vroege (Netherlands, 1988) was educated at the SintJoost Academy of Arts. His graduation film won a wildcard from The Netherlands Filmfund. He is based in Amsterdam.
IssaTouma is a director and writer, known for 9 days: From My Window in Aleppo (2016) and Tea on the Axis of Evil (2009).

SYNOPSIS

One morning in August 2012, renowned Syrian photographer IssaTouma saw young men lugging sandbags into his street. It turned out to be the start of the Syrian uprising in the city of Aleppo. Touma grabbed his camera and spent nine days holed up in his apartment, recording what was happening outside. The result?An unprecedented glimpse into a war that has been raging for three years now.

BIOGRAPHY

Mahdi Fleifel is a Danish/Palestinian filmmaker based in Amsterdam. He graduated from the UK National Film and Television School in 2009. His debut feature, A WORLD NOT OURS, was widely acclaimed, earning over thirty awards including prizes at the Berlinale, the Edinburgh IFF and DOC NYC.

SYNOPSIS

Reda is 26 years old. His dreams of escaping the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain El-Helweh ended in failure after three years of being trapped in Greece. He returned with a heroin addiction to life in a camp being torn apart by internal strife and the encroachment of war from Syria. Against all odds he decides to marry his childhood sweetheart. A love story, bittersweet as the camp itself.

Biography

Born in Argentina in 1978, Juan Pablo Libossart moved to Sweden in 2001. He completed the Media Business School's European Master of Audiovisual Management (MEGA) in 2010, and the European Producers Workshop (EAVE) in 2013. Along with other filmmakers, he has produced films for Erik Gandini, Marcus Lindeen and JesperGanslandt.

SYNOPSIS

Amalimbo is the story of Tipuana, a five year-old girl who experiences the limbo when she tries to pass to ”the other side” in her desperate urge to meet again with her recently deceased father. It is a short story that happens in an undefined place, and also in an undefined future.

Biography

Nina Gantz was born in Amsterdam and grew up in Rotterdam. Her graduation film from the St Joost in Breda Art School, ZALIGER, went on to be selected at 37 festivals including the Annecy Int'l Animated FF, Encounters FF and the Sichuan Festival in China where it was awarded the Golden Panda for Best Student Film.

SYNOPSIS

Edmond’s impulse to love and be close to others is strong … maybe too strong. As he stands alone by a lake contemplating his options, he goes on a journey backwards through his life, and revisits all his defining moments in search of the origin of his desires.

Biography 

Studied fine art in London andNew York, graduating in 2001.Mulloy's short films have won awards at Aspen, Kansas City, Newport, Brest, Sapporo and Melbourne International Film Festivals.His latest short is the HOME (2016), awarded at the BAFTA and Clermont-Ferrand ISFF among many others.

SYNOPSIS

Thousands of men, women and children struggle to get into Europe, as a comfortable English family leave on what appears to be a holiday. An exploration of how fear can bring out the best and worst in all of us.

Biography

LyuboYonchev was born in 1983 in Pleven, Bulgaria. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Acting and Directing from the New Bulgarian University, and a Master’s degree in Film and TV Art. He is a producer, writer and director of several short student films which have been selected and awarded at many international festivals. A member of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers (UBFM – Film Academy), LyuboYonchev has been festival manager and programmer of the International Student Film Festival “NEW WAVE” since 2014.

SYNOPSIS

Lilly is a divorced mother of two – Martin, who has recently come of age, and little Alexandra. One cold winter evening Martin picks Alexandra up from kindergarten. In the dark streets of the neighbourhood they become a part of a tragic accident that can hardly be forgotten or erased. Lilly and her kids have to make tough decisions, the consequences of which will change their life for good.

BIOGRAPHY

EVEN HAFNOR  - Born in 1985, Even Hafnor has worked with short films since 2011. 

LISA BROOKE HANSEN - Lisa Brooke Hansen lives in Oslo, Norway. She works as a scientist at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Oslo.

SYNOPSIS

Welcome to the Dvergsnes family! In this short film we follow the Dvergsnes family from Kristiansand, Norway, through three events that took place during the fall and winter of 2014.

Biography

KeinaEspiñeira was born in Spain in 1983. She holds a Master's degree in Direction and Production of Documentary Films from the Documentary Film Association in Madrid. Doctor in Political Science and Visual Studies, she has also worked as a researcher in California, Netherlands, Spain and Morocco. Border policy plays a pivotal role in her work. We All Love the Seashore is her first film.

SYNOPSIS

A group of men is waiting at the fringes of a coastal woodland for the journey to Europe. They get trapped in a temporal threshold. A film is shot there with the men playing themselves. The landscape changes and where they are is no longer their motherland. There are no beautiful beaches, the water is not transparent, not clear. Legends from the colonial past collide with the present time, memory survives.