Biography

Keti Machavariani was born in 1973. In 1995 he graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, and in the same year she was enrolled to the postgraduate program of Shota Rustaveli State University in Tbilisi, majoring in Film Studies. In 2002 he graduated from the Film Directing Faculty of the same university. Keti Machavariani was on internship program  at RAI TV in 2005-2006 with support  from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2010 she participated at the film training program MAIA WORKSHOPS (Italy).

After shooting several short films, the premiere of Keti  Machavariani's feature film "White as Salt" took place at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2011. The film has participated in many film festival programs and won several prizes. In 2016, Keti was commissioned by the Public Broadcaster to shoot a short film “Georgia 1992” - based on the story by Aka Morchiladze. In 2020, Keti completed the work on the documentary film "Mziuri" (author of the idea Tsisana Khundadze), which was premiered at Canadian doc film festival “HOT DOCS”, where it received Jury Special Mention.

Keti Machavariani is actively involved in pedagogical activity and has been working as a film and TV producer for many  years.

Synopsis

The title of the film “Sunny” is also the first name of the main character of the film and besides, it reminds us of the nickname given to Soviet Georgia – Sunny Georgia. Sunny used to work as a teacher, but now she makes a living from the salary she earns working as an interviewer for a sociological company. Her job also helps her escape her loneliness and interact with the outside world. The film takes us in the narrow yards and through the ugly concrete jungles of Tbilisi, as we follow Sunny; and so we get to know different houses, apartments and the peculiarities of local life in general.

Synopsis

Elene (13)and her brother Leo (8), grew up in a small village near the City of Gori (Georgia). Since the death of their parents due to the Russo-Georgian war in 2008, they live with their grand-father Davit (78).  After so many years still their life is negatively influenced by the war. The Russian military is in the process of establishing a barbed wire border close to their House. The so called „creeping border“ is a big threat to their existence.

Biography

Born and grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia. He completed his studies at the Schota Rustaweli State University for Theater and Film in Tbilisi and from 2015 to 2020 he studied film and sound at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences with a focus on directing.

Film Information:

The Gallery in The Stratosphere depicts the relationship between existence and nonexistence. It tries to to increase physical and conceptual accessibility to previously unattained and unexplored areas – Transcendental states of existence. Transcendentalism as a genre encompasses creation of non-representational objects, forms and shapes that were previously non-existent. The Gallery in The Stratosphere explores ideas of creation, process of becoming existent and infinite depths of non-existence.

Biography

Romanoz is a renowned Georgian painter that has been exploring the roots transcendental meditation and philosophy for the past 25 years. Transcendentalism as a genre in painting encompasses creation of non-representational paintings, forms and shapes that were previously non-existent. Romanoz creates artworks that carry paintings beyond the appearance of the physical world using non-traditional spaces, colors, lights and most importantly the methods of exhibitions, where artworks are presented to the public. The main objective of Romanoz is to widen the traditional horizon of art and the methods by which art is presented to the public.

Synopsis

The film depicts the period of 1990 and tells the story of the artist working at that time and his attitude towards his favorite work. The film also highlights the character and individualism of people, which creates the consequences of their future.

Biography:

Dianozi (Dino) Getiashvili. Date of birth October 18, 1984. He spent his childhood in the beautiful village of Kakheti (Jimiti) and, as a dreamy teenager, always was trying to search for himself. He has been actively involved in cinematography since 2000 and still tries to refine his vision, taste and creativity.

Biography

Keko Chelidze was born in1983. In 2003 she graduated from Tbilisi State University with a degree in Film and Television Directing.

Synopsis

Formerly a famous musician in Georgia, Levan (45) is now longforgotten by everyone. He lives with his mother (84) in the hardship and loneliness. Despite everything Levan is optimistic. He does not fall into despair, tries to overcome his routine problems, build a personal life and achieve success.

SYNOPSIS

David, who had to give up his profession of a director with the collapse of the Soviet Union, became a successful farmer; however, he still has a passion for art and is trying to return to the world of cinematography. Strange characters of David's strange theatrical play "MSHT-15" are not just figments of his imagination, they actually live around him. We will meet them in the film and find out their real problems and hopes... So, the film portrays one more issue: Where is the line between fantasy and reality? Between an author and his characters?

Biography

Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili, assoc. Prof. at the University of Georgia, founder of the Studio “Akrobat”.His diploma work “The morning romance” at the first time was presented for Student Oscar in Los Angeles. This film has 3 main prizes and 11 awards on international film festivals. He was study in Munich film high school (Prof. Wim Wenders). Vakhtang twice has DAAD scholarship.

Since 1997 he is a technical coordinator of the Film fest Munich. He is an author of 7 full length documentary’s. His Documentary film “Life is Be” in 2016 has won a main prize “Best Georgian Documentary” (“Tbilisi International Film Festival “Prometheus”). His last film “Transparent world” has won 6 Grand-Prix and it was the opening film of the 3 International Film festivals.

From 2003-2012 – he was a Teacher at five Georgian University’s, specialization “cinema sound and music”. Since 2012 – PhD, Doctor of Arts.

Biography

Salomé Jashi is a filmmaker and a video artist from Georgia. She has been attracted in filming micro environments from the very beginning of her career. Her visual approach is minimalist, poetical, sensitive and rough.

Salome after completing her studies of journalism,  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 Doc films (Bakhmaro, Dazzling Lights of Sunset, Taming the Garden) participated at many international film festivals and were awarded with various prizes. 

Synopsis

The richest man in Georgia and the one with a great political influence in the past has a weird hobby: he collects beautiful centuries-old trees from different regions of the country and moves them to a specially built Dendrological park. Against the background of the thrilling scenes of tree migration, the theme of human "taming" nature and a number of other universal problems emerge.

Biography  

Alex Christophe Dupont (born 22 November 1960), best known as Leos Carax (French::), is a French film director, critic, and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love.  He began his film career with a series of short films, and as a film critic, before he released Boy Meets Girl (1984). The piece established Carax's reputation for a mature visual style. One of his famous film “Lovers on a Bridge” (1991)  was released to critical acclaim and opened the door for Carax to enter more experimental waters with his fourth feature, Pola X. That film, released in 1999, was an adaptation of Herman Melville's tale of incest, Pierre: or, The Ambiguities.

Carax's 2012 film Holy Motors stars his regular collaborator, Denis Lavant. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. In 2021, Carax directed Annette, a music-filled drama feature film written by Sparks starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. In 2017 Carax performed vocals on the Sparks track When You're a French Director from their album Hippopotamus.

Synopsis 

Los Angeles, nowadays. Henry is a stand-up comedian with a fierce humor. Ann, an internationally renowned opera singer. Together, under the spotlight, they form a happy and glamorous couple. The birth of their first child, Annette, a mysterious girl with an exceptional destiny, will turn their lives upside down.

Biography  

Asghar Farhadi born 7 May 1972 is an Iranian film director and screenwriter. Farhadi has won critical praise for his international films which focus on the human condition as well as portray intimate and challenging stories of internal family conflicts. His films include About Elly (2009), A Separation (2011), The Past (2013), The Salesman (2016), and Everybody Knows (2018), and A Hero (2021).

Farhadi has received two Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film for his films A Separation (2011) and The Salesman (2016), making him one of the few directors worldwide who have won the category twice. He also received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay for his film The Salesman. In 2021, he received the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prix for his film A Hero.

In 2012, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. That same year he also received the Legion of Honour from France.

Synopsis 

Rahim is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don't go as planned…

Biography 

Apichatpong Weerasethakul was born in Bangkok (1970) and grew up in Khon Kaen, north-eastern Thailand. He graduated from Khon Kaen University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, then a Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking from The Art Institute of Chicago. He started making films and video shorts in 1994 and completed his first feature in 2000. Often non-linear, his works link with memory, invoked in subtle ways personal politics and social issues. Working independently of the Thai commercial film industry, he devotes himself to promoting experimental and independent filmmaking through his company Kick the Machine Films, founded in 1999.  In 2008, he embarked on the Primitive Project, a multi-platform work of which Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives is part.

His art projects and feature films have won him widespread recognition and numerous festival prizes, including two prizes from the Cannes Film Festival. Blissfully Yours won the A Certain Regard Prize in 2002 and Tropical Malady won the Official Competition Jury Prize in 2004. His acclaimed 2006 feature, Syndromes and a Century, was the first Thai film to be selected for competition at the Venice Film Festival and was acclaimed in a number of international polls as one of the best films of the last decade.

SYNOPSIS 

Ever since being startled by a loud ‘bang’ at daybreak, Jessica is unable to sleep. In Bogotá to visit her sister, she befriends Agnès, an archaeologist studying human remains discovered within a tunnel under construction.

Jessica travels to see Agnès at the excavation site. In a small town nearby, she encounters a fish scaler, Hernán. They share memories by the river. As the day comes to a close, Jessica is awakened to a sense of clarity.

Biography  

Roman Balayan was born on April 15, 1941 in Nerkin Horatagh, Nagorno-Karabakh AO.

From 1961 to 1964, Roman Balayan studied directing at the Yerevan Theater Institute, and in 1969 graduated from the Kiev State Institute for Theater Arts. His directorial debut was in 1973 with "The Romashkin Effect". "Lone Wolf" (1978) was presented with success at Berlinale. His next film "Flights in Dreams and in Reality" (1982), became an absolute hit and was seen by 6 million viewers. Having captured the spirit of a whole generation with its flaws and weaknesses, the film was recognized as a program manifesto of the 1980s. In "Flights in Dreams and in Reality", a whole constellation of legendary actors strokes the audience with their acting - Oleg Yankovski, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Oleg Tabakov, the very young and yet unknown Oleg Menshikov... Balayan realizes his film projects using different genres and stories, the themes of human moral responsibility and the power of love stand out as most important - "Potseluy", "Khrani menya, moy talisman", "Pervaya lyubov", "Dve luny", "Tri Solntsa", "The Night Is Bright and Birds of Paradise". The characters in "Birds of Paradise" face up against the cruel state machine in the early 1980s, risk their lives to prove that nothing could deter a person from pursuing freedom, the dream of flying. He was nominated and won several international prizes at venice, Berlin, Istanbul, Moscow etc.

Synopsis 

Alex, an experienced surgeon, makes a mistake in the diagnosis of his seven-year-old godson. The boy dies on the operating table. Stunned, the man tenders his resignation. One autumn morning he is sitting on the riverbank in a favourite place where he used to fish with his godson. Suddenly he notices the figure of a shapely semi-naked girl emerging from the fog. She is shivering with cold. Alex spontaneously offers his help, and thus becomes part of an incredible adventure story.

Biography 

Sergeï Loznitsa was born on September, 5th 1964 in Baranovichi (Belarus, former USSR). He grew up in Kiev, and in 1987 graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic with a degree in Applied Mathematics. In 1987-1991 he was employed at the Kiev Institute of Cybernetics, working on Artificial Intelligence research. In 1997 Sergei Loznitsa graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow with a degree in feature film making. Sergeï Loznitsa has been making documentary films since 1996, and he has directed 11 documentaries. He has received numerous international and national awards, including festival prizes in Karlovy Vary, Leipzig, Oberhausen, Paris, Madrid, Toronto, Jerusalem, St-Petersburg, as well as the Russian National Film awards “Nika” and “Laurel”. Sergeï Loznitsa’s montage oeuvre “Blockade” (2005) is based on the archive footage of besieged Leningrad. In may 2010 Loznitsa’s feature debut “MY JOY” premiered in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival and  has been awarded the Best Director’s prize. Sergeï Loznitsa’s second feature film “IN THE FOG” was selected in the main competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, with "MAÏDAN", he reconnects with the documentary films and shows us his country and the people fighting for its freedom.

SYNOPSIS 

On September 29-30,1941, Sonderkommando 4a of the Einsatzgruppe C, assisted by two battalions of the Police Regiment South and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and without any resistance from the local population, shot dead in the Babi Yar ravine in the north-west of Kiev 33 771 Jews. The film reconstructs and visualises the historical context of this tragedy through archive footage documenting the German occupation of Ukraine and the subsequent decade. When memory turns into oblivion, when the past overshadows the future, it is the voice of cinema that articulates the truth.

Biography

Tod Lending is an American producer, director, writer and cinematographer. His work has aired on ABC, PBS, HBO, Al Jazeera English,CNN, A&E; has been screened theatrically and awarded at national and international festivals; and has been televised internationally in Europe and Asia. He is the president and founder of Nomadic Pictures a documentary film production company based in Chicago, and the Executive Director of Ethno Pictures, a nonprofit film company that produces and distributes educational films.

Synopsis

SAUL & RUBY’S HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR BAND, is a feature documentary (80 min.) directed and produced by Tod Lending, an Oscar nominated and national Emmy winning documentary filmmaker. It is a story full of comedy and tragedy as it follows the inspiring story of these two unique and unusual men. Their musical journey begins in total obscurity, playing in residential homes for the elderly and small Jewish community organizations, to then being invited to perform at venues across the country, including a coveted performance at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.

Synopsis

Daniele is a young man who lives on the edges of the Venice Lagoon, he dreams a record breaking “barchino” (motorboat). A vestigial tale of male initiation, violent and destined to fail, it explodes dragging the ghost city along on a psychedelic shipwreck.

Biography

Yuri Ancarani (Ravenna 1972), is an Italian video artist. His works, which combine elements of documentary cinema and contemporary art, aim to explore aspects that go unnoticed in everyday life. His way of focusing and using the camera with meticulous precision creates his distinct aesthetics, marked by the sculptural depth of the shots and of video works that investigate the hidden elements of daily life and of social codes. His works have been presented in numerous exhibitions and museums in Italy and abroad, including the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin), MAXXI (Rome), the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), and the Guggenheim Museum (New York). In 2016 his feature film The Challenge won the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Festival.

Biography

Born in Moscow, USSR in 1982. In his earlier career as a professional figure skater, he competed in the European and World Championships and, from 2000 to 2006, worked as a dancer at an international ice show. His work as a documentary filmmaker has won over 20 awards at international festivals. Zavtra, about the Russian artists’ group Voina, screened in the 2012 Berlinale Forum and was nominated for the Sutherland Award for best directorial debut at the BFI London Film Festival in the same year.

Synopsis

A found footage film compiled from countless YouTube videos in which the people of Russia make a direct appeal to president Putin. A kaleidoscope of the mood in the country – from submissive pleas to pure rage about injustice and rampant corruption.

Biography

Valentin Sidorenko was born in 1995 in the small town Gornyak, which is situated in Altai Krai on the border of Russia and Kazakhstan, where the scenery is full of the endless expanse. He graduated from VGIK — Russian State University of Cinematography with a major in Animation and Multimedia (Moscow, Russia), also he graduated from Fotografika — the Academy of Documentary and Art Photography (St. Petersburg, Russia).

He works with documentary films, photography, and animation. All these practices come down to one thing for him — shamanism. ‘ The story wants to be told. But its main thing is the air.’

Synopsis

The fire took away not only the property of Alexander, but also his freedom. He moves to live with his mother, where he begins a new life following the established rules. The main rule: no alcohol in the house. Otherwise there will be a scandal. Alexander begins to look for a suitable group of companions who would have a drink, but everyone he meets has his own problems, and to solve them, Alexander is forced to reveal his talent – the ability to predict the future.

Biography

Chris Wright was born in 1972 in Radcliffe, UK. He studied film editing and works as an editor and documentary filmmaker, usually in collaboration with Stefan Kolbe.

Stefan Kolbe was born in 1972 in Halle an der Saale, East Germany. He has a degree in cinematography and has made numerous documentaries since 1997, most of them in collaboration with Chris Wright.

Synopsis

The filmmakers first meet Stefan in 2015, in the therapy ward of Brandenburg Prison. Together, they are part of the therapy group „Masculinity and Identity.“ Their first impression of a polite, shy man is quickly called into question by one of the warders – he tells them Stefan is an ice-cold woman-killer.

The filmmakers follow him through the last four years of his prison term. Stefan completes the modules of the therapy programme, one of the most progressive in Europe for the treatment of violent criminals and sex offenders. His release approaches. Increasingly, Wright and Kolbe ask themselves some uncomfortable questions: Can anyone really know what is going on inside this man? How effective can any treatment for toxic masculinity be, in this world behind bars?

Stefan S. does not want to be recognizable in the film. The filmmakers move scenes they have shot into a theatre space. The part of the protagonist is taken by a puppet. The film moves between forms, at the limits of representation.

Synopsis

Can anyone be a movie hero? Can the world be locked in one film frame? Director Paweł Łoziński is watching people from his balcony as they are passing by: sad, thoughtful, glued to their phones, young and old. Neighbours, random visitors or simply passers-by. The filmmaker accosts them, asks questions, talks about how they deal with life. Standing there with his camera for over 2 years he has created a space for dialogue, a lay confessional of sorts, where everyone can stop by and tell their story. The protagonists carry secrets and mysteries, and are not easy to label. Every story is unique, and life always surpasses imagination. “The Balcony Movie” is a radical comeback to the beginnings of cinema, when man approached the camera. Maybe it’s enough to stop for a moment to get a deeper insight?

Biogrpahy

Polish director, cameraman and producer of documentaries born in 1965 in Warsaw.  Author of more than 20 award-winning documentaries. Graduate of the Directing Department at the Film School in Łódź. He worked as an assistant to Krzysztof Kieślowski on "Three Colors: White". He makes distinct and emotionally charged films about people of whom he draws intimate portraits. His films such as debut "Birthplace", "Sisters", "Chemo", "Father and Son" , "You Have No Idea How Much I Love You" and the latest "The Balcony Movie" are considered innovative as they venture into new thematic areas and explore uncharted spaces within the documentary film genre.

Biography

Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor He was born in 1977. He is a graduate of Journalism at the Jagiellonian University and of a documentary course from the Wajda School. He has taken part in the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Berlin Today Award. He was a fellow of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2011 and 2019 and the Young Poland programme of the National Centre for Culture. He has made several documentaries, which include The Clinic (2006), "The Lucky Ones" (2009), "Doctors" (2011), "The Palace" (2012), "Not for Everyone" (2012), "Festival" (2017) and "An Ordinary Country" (2020). He is a laureate of last year’s Golden Hobby Horse at the 60. Krakow Film Festival for his film "An Ordinary Country".

Synopsis

1970. Striking workers in communist Poland demonstrate against price increases. In the dignitaries’ offices, tension and violent repression grow as the revolt intensifies. Using stop motion animation to bring the telephone recordings to life, Tomasz Wolski composes a highly precise and prodigious film.

Synopsis

An ordinary phone call of two small-town girls , during which they reveal their daydreams and plans for the future, turns into a painful lesson for them : they can dream of  anything big and important but become an ignored small thing for the rest of the world.

Biography

George Gogichaishvili was born in Tbilisi in 1984. He graduated  „Shota Rustaveli University of Film and Theatre“, Faculty of Film Directing. During 2008-2011 he was working Filmmaker at Tbilisi City Hall. In 2017 he shoot the short film “8 minutes” which was screened at many film festivals. Currently working on a full length movies “Inga” and “Anatori” for which Georgian National Center of Cinematography has awarded funding.

Biography 

Nino Benashvili is a Georgian filmmaker and photographer, currently based in New York City. She received her BA from St. John's College Annapolis, MD, where she studied philosophy, history of mathematics and science, and music. And recently she has been accepted at N.Y.U. Tisch Graduate Film program

Her debut award winning medium-length documentary Children of Nikozi is a story of a war-torn village in the ongoing conflict zone of Nikozi, Georgia, where the villagers turned to art for healing.

Synopsis 

Nikozi is a small village in central Georgia about one kilometer away from Russian-occupied Georgian territory. During the Russian-Georgian War of August 2008, Nikozi was almost completely destroyed.

In 2009, the Archbishop of Nikozi and Tskhinvali Region tried to maintain the village population and create opportunities for the children there. A former animator himself, he opened up a free art school and welcomed everyone, regardless of religion or race, to take part in rebuilding the community. He started also an International Animation Film Festival- a festival without competition, a festival full of different nationalities singing together around the shared table.

Synopsis

A social worker in a charity is in love with his coworker; however he cannot be with her, because

he can’t leave his wife who is battling cancer.

Biography

Georgian filmmaker Zviad Tsikolia (05/13/1993) is refugee from Abkhazia (occupied by Russia). Studied film directing (Bachelor and Master Degrees) in Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University. Well known for making short and middle-short fictions. Winner and nominee of several

international film festivals. He is working on his first full length feature film project.

Synopsis:

Ski school instructor Nika tries to hide a fatal accident that happened on the slopes. But when night comes, it turns out that girl number 26 is missing. Nika will confess the accident to his girlfriend Nata, together they will share the responsibility of this dreadful secret.

Biography

Gvantsa Meparishvili graduated cinema criticism and film directing faculties at Theatre and Film University. In 2010 she started working as a TV journalist, producer, and host.  Gvantsa directed all genres of concerts and music videos. For more than 10 years she has been working at Georgian Public Broadcasting directing social and medical programs. In 2017 Gvantsa took an enthusiastic interest in Films d’auteur. After attending Dmitry Mamulia’s film laboratory sessions of cinema drama, she started her career as an independent scriptwriter and film director. The short film “Number 26” is Gvantsa’s debut.

Biography
Ilia Asitashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. He was interested in films since childhood and that was the reason he enrolled in Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University, as a film director. While studying for his bachelor’s degree, he made several short films. “Preparation” is short film for his master’s degree, which won and got funded by competition of Georgian First Channel, called “Debut”. For now, he is studying PHD and is working for his next short film…

Synopsis
On Luka’s fifteenth birthday, while taking a traditional family photo, father realizes that he became estranged from his son. He decides to gain Luka’s respect by any means necessary, but the more he demands, the more he pushes his son away.

Synopsis 

An ambulance arrives late at an apartment where they find an old lady who had already passed. Angered by their tardiness and shocked by the death, the son and the relatives of the deceased attack the ambulance doctors. While the male doctor drops unconscious, the female doctor is left alone with the attacker who assaults her. The female doctor is held at the crime scene the whole night waiting for the investigators who also arrive late.

Biography

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Luka Beradze graduated in film directing from the Tbilisi Mass Media and Public Communications International Institute in 2011. In addition to directing several of his own shorts as well as music videos and commercials, Luka has worked on various local film projects as an assistant director. In 2016 he directed a documentary short I Went, I Saw, I Fixed It for the Georgian National Broadcaster. He is currently working on a documentary Smiling Georgia for which he was awarded a production grant by the Georgian National Film Center.

Biography  

Rufat Alizade was born in 1993 Baku,Azerbaijan. In 2011 he graduated High School of Technical Humanitarian Sciences in Baku. In 2012 he started his education in Akdeniz University, Communication Fakulty Radio, Television and Cinema . In 2015 he joined Antalya Cinema Team (Antalya Film Ekibi''AFE''). During his education he worked in many short film and documentary film teams as a co-director and director of photography. He has one short documentary film as a director.

Synopsis 

The little girl, who is chasing her balloon, tries to hide with her mother before the enemy soldiers arrive in Khojaly.

BIography 

Maria Khalpakhchi grew up at the Molodist International Film Festival and had a chance to watch different films every day for many years. That’s how one day she decided to be behind the screen and later successfully graduated from a film school as a director. For almost 20 years, Maria has worked as a 1st Assistant Director n many international productions, including films and commercials. KIMNATA BATIKA is her debut short film.

Synopsis 

The film tells a story of three teenagers living in grey zone of Donbas, on the border with temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, surrounded by war and death. Fedir is a 17 year old boy. His mother left his father and moved to Kyiv with her new lover. Kira and Dina are his friends. This night they visit Fedir. After a while kids find out that Fedir’s father disappeared and was recently found dead... 
This one night reveals their characters and shows how the surrounding is influencing the formation of young personalities.

Synopsis

An immersive insight into the last hours of 13-year-old Sasha’s life in a boarding school for children deprived of parental care. He is one of the luckiest – an American family finally adopted him. Today he will move to another country forever but there’s something that doesn’t let him go.

Biography

Olha Zhurba graduated from Kyiv National Karpenko-Kary University of Theatre, Cinema and Television as documentary filmmaker. In 2013 she moved into the field of commercial production and shot a number of creative commercials, one of them won awards at the international marketing festivals. In 2014 Olha started her first film, a long term documentary project “Roma” (working title) that was supported by Ukrainian, Dutch, and Danish film funds and now is in the post production. She also works as an editor and editing consultant.

Biography 

Azer Guliev was born in 1997 in Azerbaijan, Baku. He directed his first short film PA-PA in 2017. His latest work is the film HEARTBREATH (2021) which was premiered at Sarajevo film festival.

 

Synopsis 

An ordinary new year, ordinary days, and an ordinary friendly request. Against the backdrop of a crisis in human nature, the heroine's mix of feelings and pain as she comes face-to-face with a commitment takes her into a new circle of existence in her environment.

 

Biography 

Nikon Romanchenko - born in 1991 in Kiev, Ukraine. In 2014 he completed his directing studies at the Kiev National Theatre, Cinema and Television University. Since then he has produced several documentary fiction and experimental films. He is a member and co-founder of the NGO "CUC – Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema".  Leopolis Night is his last short film which got Best film directing prize at Odessa Film Festival 2021.

Synopsis

Polia, Solomiіa, Mariіa play in the local theater. After the spectacle, they meet a guy and walk through the night city together. Polia seems to fall in love with him. In the morning he will leave the city and they will not see each other again.

Synopsis 

A story about the separation of a mother and her 3-year-old daughter who now live in different countries and cannot reunite due to visa problems. Every day they communicate via video chat and dream about meeting soon.

Biography 

Artemyeva Anna was born in Moscow. She graduated as a cinematographer and as director of the animation at VGIK (Russia). Anna starts doing her masters at DocNomads documentary directing program 2019. Her diploma film Once upon a time there lived a mother was selected at more than 50 festivals around the world and was awarded more than 25 times. In collaboration with the famous Russian director Elena Laskaki as a cinematographer and an animator Anna made 15 documentary films

Biography

Marie Larrivé is a painter and an animation film director. After a 2-year preparatory course in classical literature, arts and humanities, she studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and developed a practice of both still and moving images. Trained in the techniques of scale modelling, traditional animation and painting, she explores various forms of narratives.

Synopsis

After an earthquake in Naples bay, the body of a man is found. The Italian police believe the man killed himself 40 years ago. They contact Dino and his daughter Victoria for a DNA test.
During this unexpected journey together, the young woman digs into her father's mysterious past while Dino immerses himself unwillingly in the scenery of his childhood.

Biography 

Casper Rudolf Kjeldsen is a Danish director born in 1994. ​His cinematic obsession is the grotesque and his films deal with the metaphysical and bizarre. As a director he has taken part of several international film festivals (Cannes Film Festival, RIFF, Odense Film Festival, Morbido Fest, Nightmares Film Festival and many others) with his short films: Red Lipstick, Blue Lips (2015), The Mare (2018), In the Soil (2021).

Synopsis

Karoline’s life is turned upside down when her father, Kjeld, manically starts digging a pit in their backyard. The following days turn into a living nightmare as the pit becomes a grave and the land, which has been in the family for generations, pulls Kjeld further and further down into the deep.

Biography 

Alessandro Porzio is a director and screenwriter. Since 2008 he has directed numerous successful music videos, commercials (such as Loacker, Thun) and short films.  In 2014 he directed “ Niente ”, with Filippo Gili and Vanessa Scalera, and in 2015 he directed the international project “ Mido ”: a four-dimensional video installation commissioned by Expo 2015. “Come a Mycono ( Like in Mykono )” (2020), his latest short film, had a world premiere at Alice nella Città within the Mostra del Cinema di Roma.

Synopsis

In a small town in southern Italy, now inhabited only by senior citizens, a visionary mayor has an idea to defeat depopulation: a video to promote his city as a tourist destination, following the Greek example.

SYNOPSIS 

Every prisoner is able to do anything for a woman, if he gets any, let alone if the prisoner is sentenced to 25 years in a high security prison. Paweł is 38 years old and a dozen or so years ago he was unjustly condemned to murder. He is in love with his attorney, with whom they plan to marry. He is able to sacrifice everything for the meaning of his life, that is love.

Biography

Born on 26^th March 1992 in Warsaw. A graduate of Aviation and Cosmonautics at the Polytechnic. He studies Film Directing at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School in Katowice. Just like Howard Hughes he’s got two professions: aviation and film direction. He has directed short fiction films "Auntie Leonie’s" (participated in 58^th Krakow Film Festiva) and "Love" and also the documentary "The Short Story”.

Synopsis

Misty field, crowded locker room. Margo belongs to neither. Maybe if she loses her virginity, she will finally find her place.

Biography 

Marija Apcevska holds BA in Directing from FDA, Skopje and MA in Film and Media Production, NYFA, Los Angeles.  Her shorts have travelled to festivals worldwide and won several awards, with Bardo premiering at Berlinale Generation. In addition, she is the creator of the children’s TV series Zoki Poki. Her latest film North Pole, premiered at Festival de Cannes Official Short Film Selection. She is currently working on her first feature film selected for development at LIM 2021 and presented at Cannes

Focus CoPro’ 2021.

Synopsis 

The story centres around a neglected teenage boy named Toko – abandoned by his family, he is forced to grow up and mature all by himself. This, however, is set to change. One day, the story does a 180 as his father comes back home.The film is set during the first couple of days of their shared new life when the two worlds – the adult and the adolescent one – collide.

Biography 

Maria Cherniy was born in Ukraine. In 2017, she enrolled at the Moscow School of New Cinema. She would actively combine studies with work in advertising and film production. Having won the student pitching, she started working on her graduate film “ORMO”, which in 2021 became her directing debut.

Biography 

Hasan Najmabadi was born 1993 in Sabzevar is an Iranian director, writer and photographer.He started making films at the age of 18 by making short films. He has made 14 short films and documentaries so far, the most important of which are the short films "Peace", "Ant", "Copper Wire", "77 Years Of Solitude", "Red Season", "Into The Rainbow" and "White Season". Her films have participated in many international festivals and won numerous awards. He also works in the field of poetry and international film distribution.

Synopsis  

Six teenage boys in a remote village decide to work in the village cages to rent an 8 mm PROJECTOR from a tour guide in order to raise the money they need to rent a PROJECTOR.

Synopsis

Arezoo is a little girl who is searching her mom's grave, Her father who is a terrorist of Taliban avoids her, till...

 Biography

Sarajudin Bayat was born in 1993 in Ghazni province (Afghanistan) and got his bachelor's degree from the cinema department of fine art faculty, Kabul university. He  has the experience of behind the scene photography, sound recording, and production of experimental films.

Biography

Ákos K. Kovács was born in 1991 in Senta, Yugoslavia. 
He studied Cinematography in the Metropolitan University.
​His BA diploma work, Away (directed by Roland Ferge) debuted at the Berlinale Generation in 2014 where it won Special Mention of the Generation Kplus International Jury.  His other collaborations as DOP include Szabolcs Hajdu’s It’s Not the Time of My Life.Since then Ákos started to work in films also as writer and

director. Branka is his first short film.

Synopsis 

Yugoslavia, 1991. Far away from the war zones Branka gets a job at a state hospital. The young woman is all alone, but it turns out loneliness is not the hardest burden Branka has to carry. Newborns are disappearing from the hospital.

Biography 

Born in 1990, in Jerusalem. Graduated with honors from the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem. Hertz is currently working on his first feature film, "The Rabbi", which participated in the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab (2019) and was awarded a development grant by the Israel Film Fund. His previous short films won prizes and participated in many film festivals worldwide.

Synopsis 

Eliya takes his sick mother Naomi to visit a psychic medium who lives near the Dead Sea, doing everything in his power to strengthen her. But the visit does not go as planned, causing the son and his mother to confront their future.

Biogrpahy

RAFFI MOVSISYAN (b.1988) is a film critic and director from Armenia. He holds MA in film studies of the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography (YSITC). From 2012 to 2018 he was a programmer of Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival. Currently works at TUMO Center for Creative Technologies as Film programs curator. As a film critic he has been largely published at international and local medias. He’s the author and host of the TV show on Armenia’s Public TV dedicated to Armenian contemporary cinema.

Synopsis

Hayk returns to Armenia from his latest stint as a migrant worker, coming home to celebrate the New Year with his family. His wife, three children and mother wait for him in a distant village. He soon realizes that he has lost his position as the head of the home, and the distance separating him from his family is not just a measure of physical space.

Biography 

Hao Zhao is a writer/director graduated from NYU. His feature film 15 Seconds of Spotlight, about the long journey of a teenaged goalkeeper to professional soccer as his window of opportunity closes, is in preproduction. Hao is also working on a documentary feature in which he looks into the youth soccer development system in China.

Yeung Tung was born in Zengcheng, Guangdong. He is currently pursuing a MFA degree in Film Production in NYU.

Synopsis  

In the Summer of 2008, an 8-year-old boy pays a short visit to his father in Hong Kong, applying for permanent identity card. As the visit comes to an end, they find it increasingly difficult to ask what they want from each other.

Biography  

Zou Jing, born in 1984, is a Chinese director and writer based out of Shanghai and Los Angeles. Jing comes from a literature background, but she found her calling when she began working at Shanghai International TV station on documentaries as a director and editor. As a fanatic lover of literature and philosophy, Jing has always loved writing. Lili Alone (Duo Li) is her first short film.   

Synopsis  

Lili, a young mother, lives with her gambler husband in a remote part of Sichuan. Lonely and poor, she heads for the city in a bid to earn enough money to save her dying father.

Synopsis

Starting out as a petty thief, a young man nicknamed “Rhino” quickly works his way up the criminal hierarchy in 1990s Ukraine. Rhino has only known power and cruelty, but with nothing left to lose, could he finally find a chance at redemption?

Biography

Oleg Sentsov was born in 1976. His first two short movies were A Perfect Day for Bananafish (2008) and The Horn of a Bull (2009). Gamer, his first feature, debuted at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2012. 

After the November 2013 breakout of the Euromaidan protests Sentsov became an activist of "AutoMaidan" and during the 2014 Crimean crisis he helped deliver food and supplies to Ukrainian military servicemen trapped in their Crimean bases. Sentsov stated that he did not recognize the Russian annexation of Crimea.  Oleg was arrested in 2014 by Russia's Federal Security Service, with false charges – blaming him to carry out terrorist attacks on bridges, power lines, and public monuments in the Crimean cities. Regardless of support/appeal of numerous countries, organizations, film makers, Oleg was detained more than 5 years in prison in Russia and was released only in 2019.

Sentsov's film "Nomera" (The Numbers) was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in 2020. The film was produced while Sentsov was still in prison. During this time he corresponded with the director Akhtem Seitablayev.

Rhino is his latest film which was premiered at Venice film festival in 2021.

Biography

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, 1986. Graduating from high school, I studied at Tbilisi State University, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Institute of Applied Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Major in Informatics. 2008 - Prior to 2012 I studied at Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgian State University, Faculty of Film and TV, Major in Directing. After diploma work "The most precious" (2012) he made another short film "Three steps" (2017), premiere was in Rotterdam film festival and after that it was shown in 20 festivals and got 10 awards. "Otar's Death" was premiered at Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Synopsis

Two families, each facing its own existential difficulties, are brought together by an unfortunate event. For one family, the accident has a fatal impact; for the other, it becomes an opportunity for a better life. The film’s careful exploration of all the participants’ perspectives culminates in a meditation on human morals while not shying away from a tragicomic tone.

Biography

He was born in 1984 in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he studied micro economics and film production before relocating to Berlin to take a degree in directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). He has made several short films and the feature film “Let the Summer Never Come Again” which won international awards including the Grand Prix at the FIDMarseille. His last film “What do we see when we look at the sky ?” was premiered at Belinale film festival in 2021 and received FIPRESIC award.

Synopsis

It’s love at first sight when Lisa and Giorgi meet by chance on a street in the Georgian city of Kutaisi. Love strikes them so suddenly; they even forget to ask each other’s names. Before continuing on their way, they agree to meet the next day. Little do they know that an evil eye casts its spell on them. Will they manage to meet again? And if they do, will they know who they are? Life goes on as usual in their hometown, street dogs stray, the soccer world cup begins and a film crew on its quest to find true love might be what they need.

Biography

Kornél Mundruczó was born in Hungary in 1975. PLEASANT DAYS, his first feature film, was awarded the Silver Leopard in Locarno in 2002. His second feature film, JOHANNA- a filmic opera adaptation of the story of Joan of Arc- was presented in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2005. DELTA was In Competition at Cannes 2008 and was awarded the FIPRESCI prize. In 2010, Tender Son - The Frankenstein project was also presented in Cannes Competition.

Synopsis

In EVOLUTION, acclaimed filmmaking team Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Wéber (PIECES OF A WOMAN) return with a powerful drama tracing three generations of a family, from a surreal memory of World War II to modern day Berlin, unable to process their past in a society still coping with the wounds of its history.
Like the water that connects the episodes in this triptych, memory and identity are fluid, and how we relate to it can drown or buoy. The pain and stigma that trickles from Eva, to Lena and then Jonas is inexpressible, yet rendered with striking imagery by Mundruczó and a wrenchingly poignant yet acerbically ironic and personal script by Weber. While generational traumas find new expression in the present, the family in EVOLUTION looks towards a more hopeful future 

Biography

Born in 1962 in Arak, Iran, Manijeh Hekmat is a prolific figure in Iranian cinema. She was initially involved in the film industry as a script girl, and then as an assistant director for 11 feature films. In the last decade, she has produced five notable feature films including the award winning, The Girl in the Sneakers, and, Bunch of Grass, a German production in Iranian Kurdistan. Women’s Prison is Ms. Hekmat’s feature film directorial debut. It is based on her long studies and fieldwork with Iranian, female prisoners.

Synopsis

After a long time, some Iranian women singers are going to enter an unofficial competition in a coffee shop in Tehran. Pregnant Mahla along with the other members of Bandar Band, her husband and one of their closest friends, starts her journey to Tehran from a southern province just when they have lost all they had in the flood. They still keep their hopes alive, however every road they take leads to a dead-end in a flood-stricken land. They intend to go to Tehran, but they wonder if it is just another turn around a vicious circle

Biography

Pascal Rabaté is one of the most important authors of French contemporary graphic novels, both as an illustrator and writer. He is also an acclaimed film director. Having already directed a short, Cavaliers faciles, in 2006, his adaptation of Les Petits Ruisseaux (Wandering Streams) for the big screen became his first feature film in 2010. His second feature Holidays by the Sea(2011) won numerous awards including the Best Director Award at Karlovy Vary. Patchwork Family followed in 2014. The Voiceless is his fourth feature film.

Synopsis

A small clan lives in the underworld of a rubbish dump. This group of drop-outs has had enough of the throwaway mentality of capitalism and declares war on surfeit and waste. They have built up a new existence on the dirty outskirts of society and now live in catacombs under a rubbish tip. With such a ready supply on hand, everything is recycled in order to live autonomously underground. They recycle the waste they find or steal, in order to cobble their home together. Life there could be so sweet, were it not for a chief inspector hot on their heels.

Biography

Semih Kaplanoğlu was born in 1963 in Turkey. He is one of the most acclaimed writer-director-producers of contemporary cinema in Turkey. His first films Awas From Home (2001) and Angel's Fall (2004) were screened at international festivals worldwide, but with his third feature Egg (2007), Kaplanoğlu achieved international recognition as the film was premiered in Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. In 2008, Milk premiered at the Venice Film Festival, giving him international awards, such as FIPRESCI prize at the Istanbul Film Festival. Honey (2010), the third part of the Yusuf Trilogy, won the Golden Bear at Berlinale that year. As a producer, he recently contributed with his fellow director Aida Begic in Children of Sarajevo which earned a special mention in Cannes' Un Certain Regard (2012). Grain is his sixth feature film.

Synopsis

Making his living from gardening and farming in the land he inherited from his father, Hasan tries to get rid of the power pole that is going to be installed in the midst of his land. His impending voyage to Mecca for pilgrimage leads to soul searching into his past.

Biography

Abdolreza Kahani is an award-wining Iranian director. He has a Master of Art in theatre from the University of Tehran. Kahani's career began by making experimental short films and documentaries at the age of thirteen. His first feature film "Dance with the Moon" was debuted in 2004. Kahani created eight feature films in his home country Iran, however, Some of his last films were banned from screening due to censorship laws. This left him with no choice but to leave Iran and move to France in 2015. However, despite the Iranian regime's antagonism against Kahani's works, his films were very successful both domestically and internationally, wining many awards from international film festivals such as Karlovy Vary and Thessaloniki. Since he left Iran, Kahani has been actively making films in various countries such as Thailand, France, and Canada. Today, Kahani considers himself a nomad director with having no belonging to one place or country. He enjoys creating in different places around the world and would like to continue to explore the world through the lens of cinema.

Synopsis

The film is about two female lovers being secretly filmed in a car during their love-making. This sex tape quickly goes viral in The Islamic Republic of Iran, making a completely taboo circumstance result in destroying the lives of many innocent victims. The story heats up when the car is recognized to be owned by a religious and well-known political. One of the female lovers happens to be his sister in law, which is completely unacceptable for his public role in the community. The mental, emotional and social breakdown of this religious politician causes him to lash out uncontrollably

Biography

Adilkhan YERZHANOV (1982, Kazakhstan) was born in the Jezkazgan region of Kazakhstan. He was educated as a filmmaker at the Kazakhstan National Academy of Arts. After this, he continued studying in New York thanks to a scholarship. He has made several shorts and features, among which The Owners (2014), which premiered at Cannes and was subsequently screened and received awards at many film festivals all over the world. The Plague at the Karatas Village had its world premiere at IFFR 2016. Yerzhanov won the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Achievement in Directing for his A Dark, Dark Man (2019).

Synopsis

Strong-willed and determined Ulbolsyn lives in the city. Her younger sister Azhar is going to graduate from school in the village of Karatas. Ulbolsyn has big plans for the future of her beloved sister – she saved enough money so that Azhar could enter a prestigious foreign university, which would allow her to make a good career and become free and independent. However, when Ulbolsyn comes to Karatas for Azhar, she discovers that the girl was kidnapped by the local healer Urgen, a highly respected person in the village. He is going to make Azhar his ‘tokal’ – the younger wife. But Ulbolsyn does not intend to leave it this way, and she decisively enters the struggle with the patriarchal world of Karatas …

Synopsis 

A story about the separation of a mother and her 3-year-old daughter who now live in different countries and cannot reunite due to visa problems. Every day they communicate via video chat and dream about meeting soon.

Biography 

Artemyeva Anna was born in Moscow. She graduated as a cinematographer and as director of the animation at VGIK (Russia). Anna starts doing her masters at DocNomads documentary directing program 2019. Her diploma film Once upon a time there lived a mother was selected at more than 50 festivals around the world and was awarded more than 25 times. In collaboration with the famous Russian director Elena Laskaki as a cinematographer and an animator Anna made 15 documentary films

Biography

Born in Moscow, USSR in 1982. In his earlier career as a professional figure skater, he competed in the European and World Championships and, from 2000 to 2006, worked as a dancer at an international ice show. His work as a documentary filmmaker has won over 20 awards at international festivals. Zavtra, about the Russian artists’ group Voina, screened in the 2012 Berlinale Forum and was nominated for the Sutherland Award for best directorial debut at the BFI London Film Festival in the same year.

Synopsis

A found footage film compiled from countless YouTube videos in which the people of Russia make a direct appeal to president Putin. A kaleidoscope of the mood in the country – from submissive pleas to pure rage about injustice and rampant corruption.

Biography

Valentin Sidorenko was born in 1995 in the small town Gornyak, which is situated in Altai Krai on the border of Russia and Kazakhstan, where the scenery is full of the endless expanse. He graduated from VGIK — Russian State University of Cinematography with a major in Animation and Multimedia (Moscow, Russia), also he graduated from Fotografika — the Academy of Documentary and Art Photography (St. Petersburg, Russia).

He works with documentary films, photography, and animation. All these practices come down to one thing for him — shamanism. ‘ The story wants to be told. But its main thing is the air.’

Synopsis

The fire took away not only the property of Alexander, but also his freedom. He moves to live with his mother, where he begins a new life following the established rules. The main rule: no alcohol in the house. Otherwise there will be a scandal. Alexander begins to look for a suitable group of companions who would have a drink, but everyone he meets has his own problems, and to solve them, Alexander is forced to reveal his talent – the ability to predict the future.

Synopsis

On July 30, 2018, documentary filmmaker Alexander Rastorguev was killed in the Central African Republic. He left a unique mark on Russian cinema, but managed to do much less than he could. "Rastorguev" is a portrait of one of the brightest and most free filmmakers of our time; direct speech and fragments of films, forming a single statement about the meaning of art, homeland and pain.

Biography

Evgeniya Ostanina  Graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Cultural Studies of Rostov University. Participated in the projects "Term", Lenta.doc, "This is ME", Channel One, editor and director of the documentary web-project "Reality". “White Mama” is her full-length directorial debut. Her latest doc film is “Rastorhuev”, film about documentary filmmaker Alexander Rastorguev was killed in the Central African Republic in 20218.