Poland

Michał Stankiewicz is a conceptual artist and an experimental theatre director. He likes to compare his own work to preparing a supper for friends or taking a bath together in an ice-cold river. Inspired by performance, postdramatic theatre, traditional rituals and magic as well as studies in phenomenology, cognitivism and neuroaesthetics. The idea underpinning his approach is to treat the bodies of the audience members as a medium for sensing reality. His aim is to minimise the means of expression so that art becomes almost transparent, unnoticeable, invisible. He has participated in Polish and foreign residencies and festivals, including the Theatre Olympics in India, AltoFest in Naples or Biennale College Cinema VR in Venice.

Interdisciplinary artist, researcher, designer, director, creative producer, cognitive scientist and lecturer. She is currently the head of the VR/AR Lab at the vnLab Visual Narration Laboratory at the Film School in Łódź, which she runs together with Jacek Nagłowski. As a creative producer she was involved in several VR/XR works realized in the VR/AR Lab, selected in the competition for vnLab artistic and research projects.She is working on the development of the author’s VR Assemblage series, which consists of experiences: I_CITY/HABITAT, II_MIRRORWORLD, III_METAVERSE. She leads the research work of the VR/AR Studio in the areas of codification of new narrative language, ethnography of the production process, and perception of creators and audiences. Borkiewicz is also the head of research on the perception of VR experience audiences in the New Forms and Technologies of Narration project within the Regional Excellence Initiative program (2019-2022) carried out in agreement vnLab PWSFTviT, VRLAB IPPAN, OPI-PIB, PJATK and WF UŁ. The aim of the project is to develop recommendations for the creation and evaluation of immersive environments, cinematic and interactive virtual reality experiences.

Monika Masłoń graduated from Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź where she studied at the Faculty of Graphics and Painting, in the Multimedia Graphics Department. IIn 2011-2016 she was PhD student at Polish National Film School in Łódź at Direction of Photography and TV Production department. She participated in numerous exhibitions and shows. Her works were displayed during festivals such as: danubeVIDEOARTfestival 2013 (Austria), Łódź of Four Cultures 2012-GENERATIONS, Warsaw Festival of Art Photography (2011, 2009, 2015), Focus Łódź Biennale 2010, Photofestival (Łódź - 2009, 2014). In 2011 she undertook work at the Institute of Art Education APS in Warsaw where she conducts classes with the students of the department of Arts education in fine arts in Modern art activity, Intermedia projects, Video and activity in space. She participated in numerous educational and arts projects such as: International Summer Academy in Scheersberg, Germany (photography workshops for European students), Between the West and the East - Crimea (coordination of art workshops and photography workshops), Belarus. Manual (photography workshops).

Dr. Joanne Popinska is a Polish-Canadian award-winning XR filmmaker, documentarian, and sociologist, with a Ph.D. in Film Directing (specialization: VR) from the Polish National Film School. She dedicates her creative vision to developing important conversations around complex topics such as human rights, animal rights, and the environment. By using the latest technology and various narrative techniques, she is continually exploring how to get the attention of audiences and how to evoke empathy and interest from different perspectives.

Auteur-director Hanna Polak (1967, Katowice, Poland) has Oscar and Emmy nominations under her belt for Children of Leningradsky, and a Producer Guild of America nomination for Something Better To Come, amongst many other awards and accolades. Her emotional bond with her protagonists allows her to deliver visceral, poetic films that celebrate the power of the human spirit, and portray the beauty of humanity in the most adverse circumstances.

Born in 1966, Marek Gajczak is a cinematographer and film director. He is a graduate of the Cinematography Department at the Film School in Łódź. He also completed a Masterclass for DOP, a cinematographic workshop in Budapest. In 2006 he debuted as a director and screenwriter with the feature film Under the Surface. He has since collaborated with TVN and the Polish Television. Having completed several dozen documentaries, he currently works as a photographer and a documentary film director.

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.