German

Petr Horký studied journalism in Prague. He graduated in photojournalism in London, later moved to Berlin and then Prague where he worked for economic periodicals. His job exposed him to a wide range of issues, one of them was a Russian story which inspired him to make the documentary The Russian Job.

Marc Eberhardt holds a BA in German Philology and Philosophy from the University of Potsdam. He studied at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, and is currently studying documentary filmmaking at Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Stephan Komandarev studied directing at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia. His films, The Balloon (1997), Dog’s Home (2000), Bread over the Fence (2002), Alphabet of Hope (2003), The Judgement (2014), and Directions (2017) were awarded by numerous prestigious festivals.

Linda Dombrovszky graduated as a film and television director in 2013. She has directed a music documentary, image films, non-commercial films, and a reality series. Her documentaries and short films attended and received awards at several festivals.

Evdokia Moskvina studied film production at the Sorbonne University in Paris. In 2011 she directed the film Our Dreams Come True, which was successfully presented at the Cannes festival. Currently, Evdokia is post-producing a documentary filmed in Syria in 2016, a story about civilians in the war.

Marcel Mettelsiefen is a director, cameraman, photographer and producer. His films on the civil war in Syria, such as Syria: Children on the Frontline (2014), Children on the Frontline: The Escape (2016) and Watani: My Homeland (2016), earned him critical praise and recognition. Mettelsiefen won two BAFTA and two Emmy awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Documentary Short Subject for Watani: My Homeland.

Adrian Oeser is a Frankfurt-based journalist and filmmaker. He has studied television journalism at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg since 2015. In the past few years he has made documentary movies including, With heads held high. Living and surviving in kibbutz Ma'abarot (www.docview.org), and the cross-media project, "An exception" (www.eine-ausnahme.de). Oeser recognizes the importance of bringing underrepresented perspectives to public discourse, and emphasizing both the political dimension and the ambivalence of human experience. He likes to listen to stories, and sees his films as an outlet for his interviewees’ perspectives.

Balázs Mészáros was born in 1991 in Dunaújváros, Hungary. He has worked as a video-journalist. He graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest in 2017 as a documentary film director.

Yossi Aviram, born in Jerusalem in 1971, is an Israeli writer and director. A graduate from the Sam Spiegel Film & Television School of Jerusalem, Yossi Aviram splits his career between his work as a director of photography and his own films. In 1998, the Year of Israel in France, he participated in a cultural exchange with the well-known French film school, La fémis. He directed his second short film, ANNA during the four weeks he spent in Paris. His first feature, The Dune, won Best First Feature Film Award at Haifa Film Festival, and has also been selected for San Sebastian, San Francisco and other film festivals.

Anne Scheschonk, born in 1977, studied Media Sciences and Cultural Anthropology with a focus on Visual Anthropology. She worked as an editorial assistant and set manager for television productions before finishing the Professional Media Master Class (PMMC) for documentary film in Halle, Germany, in 2011. Today, she works as a freelance author and filmmaker. Her documentary works portray those perceived as “other“, who are often socially stigmatized: the intellectually disabled mother, the transgender kid… Scheschonk believes that sensitive portraits of such individuals raise questions about identity and point to the relevant issues of our times: inclusion, equal rights, and transphobia. She lives with her son in Halle, Germany.

Gusztáv Hámos is an artist, curator, author and publisher. His artistic work includes film, video, photography and installations that have been exhibited at Documenta, Venice Biennale, and the Ludwig Múzeum Budapest. His films and videos have been shown, among others, at Tate Modern London, ZKM Karlsruhe, Triennale of Photography Hamburg, 63 Mostra Internazionale d’arte cinematografica di Venezia, and YBCA San Francisco. His work is included in the collections of the MOMA New York, Centre Pompidou Paris, NBK Berlin, ZKM Karlsruhe, Art Collection NRW, Ludwig Múzeum Budapest, C3 Budapest, and Saint Gervai SIV Genève.