Poland

Andrei Kutsila was born in 1983, in Baranovichi, Belarus. He earned a degree in journalism from the Belarusian State University in 2007, and graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts in 2009. He works as a freelancer for studios and television.

Weronika Jurkiewicz is a writer, director and producer whose work focuses on intimate, local stories as a way to comment on larger social issues, usually touching on subjects related to trauma, gender and politics. She is an alumna of DocNomads European Joint Master's Program in Documentary Filmmaking, as well as the Dual BA Program between Sciences Po Paris and Columbia University in New York. The Vibrant Village is her first film.

Paweł Chorzępa is a Polish director and cinematographer who has worked as a director of cinematography for documentary and feature films. Sonny is his directorial debut.

Jacek Nagłowski is a film producer, director, and member of the Polish Film Academy. His documentary film, Gugara (2008), was selected by the Cannes Film Festival and was purchased for the Centre Pompidou collection in Paris. In 2012, he co-founded Circus Digitalis, a company focused on VFX, 3D imaging solutions and virtual reality.

Malgorzata Imielska graduated with a degree in Film and TV Directing from the Department of Radio and TV at the University of Silesia, Poland. Imielska works as a director and screenwriter of documentary films, feature films, and theater and radio plays. Her documentary films have been shown at numerous film festivals in Poland and abroad.

Alisa Kovalenko graduated from the Karpenko-Kary Theatre & Cinema University of Kyiv, and the Andrzej Wajda School in Warsaw. Her first full-length documentary, Sister Zo (2013), featured at DocuDays UA, Molodist IFF (Kiev) and ArtDocFest (Moscow). Her film, Alisa in Warland (2015,) appeared in competition at IDFA, and won awards at the Fidadoc festival of Agadir (Morocco), DocsMX (Mexico), and the Paris Festival of Cinema & Human Rights. She is the director of a documentary series on women's football in Ukraine for Current Time TV.

Eri Mizutani was born in Kyoto and graduated from TAMA Art University in 2009. During her studies she made Ki-ka (2006), which was awarded the Special Jury Prize during the 29th Pia Film Festival, and It’s Kind of Ill (2008), screened in UPLINK, in Tokyo. She has been studying at the Leon Schiller National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Lodz since 2010.

Born in 1981, Paweł Ziemilski graduated from the the Łódź National Film School and the Wajda School in Warsaw. His short documentary and fiction films have received widespread publicity at numerous film festivals around the globe and have earned many prestigious awards. His documentary, Rogalik received an IDFA nomination in 2012. It has also been shown and awarded at festivals such as Zagreb Dox, Alcine Festival (First Prize), festivals in Oberhausen, Beijing, Bucharest, Cracow and others. Apart from directing, Paweł Ziemilski is involved in social animation and organizing workshops for those deemed “troubled youth”.

Filip Antoni Malinowski was born in 1982, in Poznan, Poland. He studied film- and media science as well as fine arts in Vienna. Resettlement is his first feature-length documentary. Malinowski lives and works in Vienna, Austria.

Born in Uzbekistan, Askold Kurov has lived in Russia since 1991. He earned a degree in documentary filmmaking at Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov’s School of Documentary Film and Theater in Moscow. His films Winter, Go Away!, Leninland and Children 404 won critical acclaim and were screened at numerous festivals. His work focuses on human rights and social conflict in contemporary Russia.