Abderrahmane Sissako is a Mauritian-born Malian film director and producer known for films which explore globalization and displacement. He studied cinema at the Federal State Film Institute in Moscow and in the 1990s settled in France. His first feature-length film, Waiting for Happiness, won a FIPRESCI Prize at the 2002 Cannes FF. His features Bamako (2006) and Timbuktu (2014) were widely acclaimed, with the latter selected to compete for the Palme d’Or and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Athina Rachel Tsangari is an award-winning filmmaker widely considered as a principal instigator of the Greek New Wave. Her work straddles genre-bending narrative fiction, exploring performative power in gender, class and alterity. Her films have been hailed as “screwball tragedies”. She served as the projection’s designer and video director–producer for the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics opening ceremony, which won an Emmy for Best Live Broadcast. In 2009, she created the 3D large scale animation work Reflections (in-situ mapping projections) for the inauguration of the Acropolis Museum in Athens.  She is the founder of Haos Film, a production and postproduction hub in Athens. Among Haos’ producing/co-producing credits are Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinetta, Dogtooth, and Alps, Georgis Grigorakis’ Digger, and Richard Linklater's Before Midnight. Tsangari was filmmaker-in-residence at the Film Society of Lincoln Center; a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard, DAAD artist-in-residence in Berlin while working on her stage directorial debut, Wedekind's Lulu, commissioned by the Salzburg Summer Festival; and recipient of the 2017 Berliner Kunstpreis in Cinema, awarded by the Academie der Künste.Her sophomore feature film Attenberg (2010), premiered in competition at the Venice FF, where it won the Best Actress ‘Coppa Volpi’ Award for Ariane Labed,  the Lina Mangiacapre Directing Award for best female director across all Venice sections, and further garnered Best Film awards worldwide. Chevalier (2015) won Best Film at the BFI London FF and was nominated for Best International Film at the Independent Spirit Awards. Both Attenberg and Chevalier were nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. Her new film Harvest, a revisionist western shot in the Scottish Highlands, premiered at Venice competition and was awarded the Arte Europe Grand Accord.. Tsangari was director and executive producer on the BBC2/HBO Max mini-series Trigonometry which premiered at the 2020 Berlinale Series competition to critical acclaim. She guest-directed for Greg Daniels’ sci-fi comedy series Upload on Amazon Prime and for the lavish historical drama series Borgia. She has guest lectured on cinema at Harvard’s AFVS, RTF at UT Austin, Béla Tarr’s Sarajevo Film Academy, Le Fresnoy Studio des Arts Contemporains in Lille, The New School, Univ. of Oregon, DFFB in Berlin, amongst others. She is currently a visiting professor at the Film Directing program, California Institute of the Arts. Tsangari is a DGA, AMPAS and Hellenic Film Academy member. She has served as a jury member at Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, Sundance, Toronto, Ficunam, Cinéma du Reel (Paris) and Visions du Réel (Nyon) FFs. As jury president, she served at Venice (Orizzonti), Götteborg, and BFI London.

Adilkhan Yerzhanov, a film director and scriptwriter, was born in Djezkazgan city, Kazakhstan, in 1982. In 2009, he graduated from the Kazakh National Academy of Arts, as a film director.Adilkhan Yerzhanov is a two-time participant of the Cannes FF's Official Program (The Owners, 2014, and The Gentle Indifference of the World, 2018, Un Certain Regard Section) and a two-time participant of Venice IFF (“Orizzonti” / Yellow Cat, 2020, & “Orizzonti Extra”/Goliath, 2022/Premio “Bisato d’oro” to Berik Aitzhanov & Daniyar Alshinov/Best actors). A member of the APSA Academy Winner of Asia Pacific Screen Awards-2019 for Achievement in Directing for the film A Dark, Dark Man.  APSA nominations for the films The Owners and The Gentle Indifference of the World (Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, Achievement in Cinematography). A member of the EFA (European Film Academy). All Adilkhan’s films have been screened and awarded at many international film festivals. The Owners  was included in the 100 Best Asian Films catalogue, published in 2015 by Busan IFF. An Atelier Cinefondation participant, Cannes FF-2014. A Berlinale Talents participant, Berlin IFF-2014. An Open Doors participant, Locarno FF-2010.

Amir Naderi’s career began in the 1970’s that marked a turning point in Iranian cinema. His raw, street level depiction of the ordinary man grappling with the realities of life in urban Iran, heralded a new cinematic approach that continues to reverberate to this day. He also made several documentaries that demonstrated the depth of his abilities as a filmmaker. By the early 1980’s Amir Naderi’s films such as The Runner and Wind, Water, Dust, strengthened Iran’s position in international cinematic circles. By the early 1990’s, Amir Naderi moved to the United States to continue his work as an independent filmmaker. His work has been the subject of retrospectives at museums and film festivals around the world, including the Film Society of Lincoln Center (New York), the Museum of Modern Arts, The George Pompidou Centre, Turin’s Museum of Cinema (Italy) and at the Busan IFF (Korea) among many international film festivals. Amir Naderi has been the recipient of many awards and accolades from major film festivals around the world.

Born in 1989 in the city of Nalchik of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. Education: Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh. M. Berbekov, Direction of Film and Television, Alexander Sokurov Studio (2015). After graduation, Kovalenko lived in Abkhazia, then in St Petersburg and Moscow. Her feature-length debut Sofichka was based on Fazil Iskander's novel of the same name and was released in 2016. The film was included in the competition program of the Tallinn “Black Nights” FF and was awarded at the XV International Debut FF “Fire Spirit” in Khanty-Mansiysk. Kovalenko's second film Unclenching the Fists was filmed in North Ossetia in only 25 days. The film took the Main Prize at the Cannes FF in Un Certain Regard in 2021 and received a distribution offer by Mubi streaming service.

Karagulian was born in Soviet Armenia. He left the Armenian SSR at 18 and served in the Soviet Army in Saint Petersburg. He later immigrated to New York City at 20, where he first met Sean Baker, who attended New York University at the time.In addition to starring in all of Baker's films, Karagulian is also credited as a producer on Tangerine, explaining "for Tangerine, I helped find Armenian actors, wrote Armenian dialogue, translated, or wrote subtitles for the film.His first film for Sean Baker was Four Letter Words in 2000, where he played the gas station clerk. In 2024, Karagulian starred in Baker's Anora. Regarding the history of the film, Karagulian explained "we started actually writing a story together in 2009– it was like a buddy-buddy kind of story happening in Brighton Beach. And we were trying to get it made, but we couldn't get it financed . . . a few years ago, he called me, and he said that he wrote this script that he wants me to read, and he sent me Anora. I was in awe at how well-written, how sharp a screenplay that was. I fell in love with it. And of course, we’ve been communicating always regarding names of characters, or some locations, or some Armenian dialog, or some Russian dialog."While Karagulian considered retirement from acting prior to Anora, the film's success resulted in increased attention and rejuvenated his career.

He studied painting, music, philosophy, religious science and drama studies and worked in various theatres as a director’s assistant before beginning his studies in directing and cinematography at the German Film & TV Academy Berlin (dffb) from 1989 to 1994. He graduated from the dffb with a diploma as a director and as a cinematographer.
For his diploma film “Fate” he received the German National Film Award in 1995.
Since then, he has made a number of films and videos as director and collaborated as cinematographer with several film directors like Joseph Pitchhadze (“Sweets”, Israel 2012/13), Béla Tarr (“Journey to the Plain”, Hungary 1995, “The Man from London”, Hungary/France/Germany 2005-07, “The Turin Horse”, Hungary/France/USA/Germany 2009-11, “Muhamed”, 2017, "Missing People", Austria 2019), Rudolf Thome (“The Visible and the Invisible”, Germany 2006), Gariné Torossian (“Stone, Time, Touch”, Canada/Armenia 2005) a.o.
In 2016/17 Fred Kelemen performed as an actor in the film "Suspiria" by Luca Guadagnino with Tilda Swinton, Ingrid Caven, Angela Winkler, Dakota Johnson, Mia Goth besides others.
Since 1995 he has worked as an associate professor and has given master classes and lectures at the following institutions: Centre of Cinematographical Studies of Catalania (C.E.C.C.) in Barcelona/Spain, College of Fine Arts (ESBAG) in Geneva/Switzerland, Harvard University / USA, Kidderminster College / England, Latvian Cultural Academy (LKA) in Riga, University of Santiago de Chile - Department of the Arts and Sciences of Visual Medias, Thammasat University Bangkok/Thailand, German Film and TV Academy Berlin (dffb)/Germany, Tel Aviv University – Department of Film and Television/Israel, National School of Fine Arts (ENBA) Lyon/France, Film Factory Sarajevo/Bosnia-Hercegovina and at the HBK Saar in Saarbrücken, Germany.
Since 2000 he has directed several plays at different theatres in Germany.
Retrospectives of his work have been presented at places like the Anthology Film Archives New York, the Tate Modern London, the Hungarian National Film Theatre Budapest and at cinematheques, film museums and film festivals worldwide.
With his film production company Kino Kombat Filmmanufactur he produced his film “Krisana”/”Fallen” (co-producer: Laima Freimane/Screen Vision, Latvia, 2005) and he produced or co-produced the films “Moskatchka” by Annett Schütze (co-producer: Laima Freimane/Screen Vision, Latvia, 2005) and “Fragment” by Gyula Maár (producer: Béla Tarr/TTFilmmühely, Hungary, 2007) and “Roku Roka” (“Hand in Hand”) by Jana Marsik (co-producer: Laima Freimane/Screen Visison, Latvia - Jana Marsik Gemany 2008).
Fred Kelemen is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) /USA, the European Film Academy (EFA), the German Film Academy and of the European Cultural Parliament (ECP).

Born in 1971 in Poznan (Poland). A journalist, film critic, writer, columnist, playwright. Author of the novels: Three Men in Bed, To Say Nothing of The Cat, Me or My 66 Loves, Absent, To Lolelaj, non-fiction books Cursed Festivals, People, Not Ideology, A Land of Moral Purity. The Beginnings of AIDS in Poland. He works in monthly magazine Kino and bi-monthly LGBTQ magazine Replika.

Shiva Fouladi worked as a journalist and translator for literary and cinema magazines and published two books as a translator before leaving Iran. She holds a master's degree in film Aesthetics from the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès (France) and, since 2019, has worked as a film critic and journalist for the online magazine Mag Cinéma, where she has published numerous interviews with filmmakers, reviews of international festivals, and critiques of recent films. Since 2022, she has been a member of the Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma et des Films de Télévision. In 2023, she served as a jury member for the SFCC's Best French-Language Singular Film Award, and as a FIPRESCI Jury member at the Brussels IFF in 2024. She contributed to a collective book about Xavier Dolan (publication forthcoming) and has organized and presented a ciné-club in Rennes.

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, David P. Vardazarian is a freelance translator, journalist, editor, filmmaker, lecturer. Graduated from Damascus Institute of Arabic for Non-Native Speakers (Syria, 2002-2003), Cairo University Professional Courses of Arabic (Egypt, 2004), Yerevan State University, Department of Arabic Studies, with Ph.D in Mediaeval Arabic literature (2010). Currently works as a lecturer in Arabic literature at the same university. Has been working as a journalist since 14, covering mainly cultural issues (at National Radio, various TV channels). Recently has been working mainly as a guest author for several magazines (now with Slide, Business Class, Luxury). As an editor worked for EL Style and Elite Life magazines (2004-2008). Was the deputy editor-in-chief in CinemArt magazine (2008 - 2009), editor-in-chief for Ararat magazine (2010-2011). As a filmmaker has been making shorts with the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art since 2007. His latest work, Lady with the Dog. Dog’s Version (2010) was awarded Jury Special mention (One Minute, One Shot IFF, Armenia, 2010), nominated for the President’s Award. Translated foreign cinema production for Public TV Company of Armenia (2006-2010), Golden Apricot, Sunchild IFFs. Pursued photography, scriptwriting for documentaries and TV projects for Paradoxima Company, Public TV Company of Armenia, Naregatsi Art Institute. Represented Golden Apricot Master School of Cinema at La Corrida Audiovisuelle 2011 (Toulose, France, 2011), worked on catalogues Armenian Cinema 1924-2008, for annual British Film Festival in Yerevan, Golden Apricot IFF. Member, Armenian Association of Film Critics and Cinema Journalists. Co-author and head of Armenian People of the Year Project.