Pavla Banjac is a film critic, translator, and journalist based between Belgrade and Budapest. She writes for Eye For Film and Filmoskopija. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Belgrade Auteur Film Festival journal and catalogue, and regularly moderates Q&As and hosts podcasts with filmmakers across the region. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature and is currently pursuing a double MA—one in Film Theory at ELTE University in Budapest, and another in Translation and Literature at the University of Novi Sad. Her research and writing focus on documentary and short film, Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav cinema, and the politics of memory and archiving in non-fiction film.

Luca Deutinger (1998, AT/NL) studies fine art at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. With a background in film studies, she now deals with films in different ways; as a writer, as a maker or simply as an observer. Her interest lay in films of any size and kind, from short and experimental to the occasional romantic comedy.

Janka lives in Budapest and completed her Bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts, where she pursued a specialization in Aesthetics as well as Film Theory and History. Her primary field of research has been the Czechoslovak New Wave, with particular focus on the Slovak director, Juraj Jakubisko. She was moved by the social sensitivity of his works and the subtle nature of his artistic vision. It was also Jakubisko whose movies made her reflect on the role that archival footage can play within feature films. For her analysing films is all about seeking a deeper understanding of their subjects, because to understand a film we must also try to understand the world that it reflects.

"A room plunged into darkness. The beam of a projector cutting through the dust in the air. The silence just before the first image appears. For me, cinema always begins there: in anticipation, in that suspended moment when anything can happen. This is what I have been pursuing since my early discoveries, whether writing about films, taking possession of the camera, or shooting student short films. Cinema is less a profession than a way of looking at the world, of reinventing it with every shot. As a Master's student in Fiction and Documentary working in an independent cinema, I enjoy participating in festivals, which each time introduce me to works, each more overwhelming than the last. For me, the power of stories is the most magical and powerful thing there is"

Virginia is a film programmer with a background in cultural management. She holds a Master’s degree in Innovation and Organisation of Culture and the Arts (GIOCA) from the University of Bologna. She works in festival programming for Concorto Film Festival (IT) and has collaborated with Indy Shorts Film Festival and Heartland Film Festival (Indianapolis, USA). She writes reviews for independent online film magazines.

Anna Szász is currently studying in the Master’s program in Communication and Media Studies at ELTE. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in the same field, majoring in journalism with a minor in film theory and history. Recently she completed a journalism internship at a Hungarian publishing company, where she wrote reviews for its online magazine. As a member of the Student Government at ELTE Faculty of Humanities, she has organized a number of academic events aimed at strengthening student engagement with research and higher scholarship, including conferences, roundtable discussions, and career orientation days. She is a member of the festival volunteers.