Aaron Johnson

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Aaron Johnson is a Chicago-based cinematographer. Aaron spent his childhood in the city of Jakarta, Indonesia where he became fascinated with Indonesian culture and history. In 2016 Aaron graduated from DePaul Universities School of Cinematic Arts with a concentration in documentary production. Aaron is now dedicated to using film to document aspects of Indonesian culture and traditions he believes are being ignored and fading away. Aaron has been a camera operator for many documentaries and short films and is currently working on several documentary projects including - Forging A Heritage, Donor 108 and Plastic Neverland.

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Alexander Bambach

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Born near Stuttgart, Germany in 1991. After an one-year internship at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg he trained as an audio-visual media designer with focus on film and television at Bavaria Film GmbH in Munich from 2012 till 2015. Beside the commitment in professional film productions, Bambach shot his own short films „Apart“ and „MonoPoly“ developed in the course of his training. Currently he is independently working as director and cameraman. He is also participate on stage in theatre in Munich. In February 2016 Bambach has started the shooting for his documentary „Stopover“ which celebrated its premiere at DOK.fest Munich in May 2017. His first long feature film so far has participated at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival and Biberacher Filmfestival.

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Brian Malone

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Brian Malone is a seven-time Heartland Emmy®-Award winning producer/director, editor and composer. Malone is also the 2016 winner of the True Grit – Colorado Filmmaker Award presented by the Denver Film Society Malone has been making documentary films for over 20 years. His programs have aired nationally on PBS stations and cable networks, covering political issues, public education, Grammy-Award-Winning recording artists, environmental issues, and Native American culture.

In 2016, Malone won the Heartland Emmy for Best Documentary (Topical) for his film, “Education, Inc.” which uncovers the national move by hedge fund managers to privatize America’s public education system. Malone’s documentary film “Patriocracy” looks at the political divisions in American politics and features Alan Simpson, Bob Schieffer and more than 40 members of Congress. Malone’s film “Forgiveness: The Steven McDonald Story,” won two Emmy Awards in 2013 for its broadcast on Rocky Mountain PBS. This film chronicles NYPD detective Steven McDonald, who was paralyzed after being shot in Central Park and has gone on to rebuild his life as an inspirational peace advocate all over the world.

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Yoon Young Lee

Award-Winning Filmmaker


I am trying to lead my career as a videographer as well as being a competent freelancer. I still find it hard to have a balance between works and working out. I believe feminism can be a jackpot in industry. It's what is needed in this world. I’m planning to challenge other various visual art forms such as visual effects, animation, or web cartoon to match what I do for a living and what makes me happy. I want to be a digital nomad too.

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YAVUZ ÜÇER

Award-Winning Filmmaker


I was born in Ankara in 1991. I'm studying Radio, Televisioin, Cinema at Akdeniz University. Before that I studied Business Administration at Mehmet Akif Ersoy University. I received diction and oratory education approved by Ministry of Education. I got 6 months training in acting and creative drama in the private Antalya Modern Art Course.
He logged in to cinema with his fiction film which name is ‘White Skin’. Secondly he directed a short-documentary which name is ‘Hekim’. He had so many awards and so many projections at so many festivals. In December 2017 he completed his last film which is an experimental film, ‘Black’. He directed his all films in 2017.

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Joe Gist

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Joe Gist was born on 28th April 1994 in his home city of Leicester where he completed his earlier education before moving to South Yorkshire to follow his passion for directing by studying Film & Media Production at Sheffield Hallam University. With an interest in all elements of filmmaking Joe continues to engage with filmmaking throughout his professional and personal life.

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Matus Racek

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Matus Racek is a filmmaker, photographer and videographer born in Slovakia and living in Montreal. His primary body of work is an ongoing analogue video project of shorts, comedic advertisements and music videos that he has filmed and released, through his own 5443 Productions, on a nearly weekly basis for many years. These videos, posted solely through his own personal Facebook and Vimeo account, garnered so much attention online that a selection were exhibited at the notable Parisian Laundry gallery, as well as being featured in numerous festivals including the Druid Underground Film Festival (NY, 2016), the D E E P public screenings at Videology (Brooklyn, NY, 2016), and the M60 festival in Montreal (2012, 2013). In 2012, Matus co-created the critically acclaimed local web-series, Parc Avenue Tonight, a neighbourhood, DIY take on a late-night talk show. He served as the D.O.P, editor and graphic designer for the 16-episode series, which culminated in a live televised one-hour special of the show for CBC’s Absolutely Quebec (2013). In 2015, he co-created Article, a 30-episode web-series featuring interviews with contemporary artists, produced by the contemporary art centre, Arsenal Montreal. Matus was the videographer and editor of the vlog, as well as creating the graphic design and music. In 2016, he travelled across Asia and central America gathering footage for upcoming projects slated for television, as well as beginning work on his seminal project, an augmented reality anthology of his 5443 series of videos, photos and writings.

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Chris Churchill

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Chris Churchill holds a Master’s Degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. He is also a veteran of Chicago’s famous sketch and improv comedy scene. His band, “Los Shut Up” has had some recent college radio success with their album “Friend Club”. Two people bought his book, “Ballad Of the Small Talker”.  More people have listened to the audiobook. He also wrote a critically acclaimed absurd play called, “Chair”. 

He keeps busy. 

Chris began his first venture into no-budget filmmaking in 2012 with “Thirsty Blackwater’s Karaoke Showdown”. Then Chris decided to learn how to make movies. 

“Tell Me About My Mother” was produced as the thesis project for his master’s degree but he soon realized that there was a broader audience for this story than academia. The film is the extraordinary story of Chris’ mother, her extreme bouts with mental illness and how it affected his parent’s marriage, his siblings and his own mental health. It’s been called “intimate”, “honest”, “brave” and “beautiful”. Chris hopes you agree. He also hopes you like the music which is his as well. 

When not making movies, Chris teaches Communication at his Alma Mater and writes humor and opinion pieces for the digital magazines, “Literate Ape” and “No View News” 

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Ashwini Kumar Bhat

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Ashwini Kumar Bhat has his roots in the central Western Ghats of India but currently based in Bangalore. He has been expressing and exploring himself through photography since more than ten years. For him, personally, Photography is the highest form of expression with which his emotions resonate.He predominantly makes images of Nature and Natural elements but his expressions are not limited by them. His images are being used by National and International publications for books and magazines. 
He has won many awards in Photography including the Photographer of the Year by Nature In Focus in 2015. Many of his images have been in the final rounds of BBC Wildlife Photographer of The Year competitions many times. He is also a founding member of two photography groups - Creative Nature Photography and Landscape Wizards. Ashwini Kumar is also involved in Nature Filmmaking via the initiative of Landscape Wizards called Unseen Landscapes. With four short films already in their name, "Aghanashini" is their first feature length film directed entirely by Ashwini Kumar Bhat. 
Ashwini Kumar strongly believes in spreading the message of conservation through visual medium of photography and films that are made with creative sense. Because, he believes, people conserve only those things which they love. Unless we make people fall in love with Nature and its wonders, it would be very hard to convince them to conserve nature for the future generations. He believes that his photographs and films will go a long way in that direction to bring in more awareness of the Nature and its intricate web of life that are all around us.  


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Robert Phillips & Jason Korreck 

Award-Winning Filmmakers


Robert Phillips and Jason Korreck are educators in Raleigh, NC. Rob teaches English and Cultural Media Literacy at Leesville Road High School, and he's been teaching for eighteen years in Wake County. He holds a Master's in English with a focus in film studies. Jay is an instructional leader and the co-founder of Constructive Learning Design, and a former digital media teacher at LRHS. Jay holds an MFA in Digital Cinema, and his professional experience includes producing and directing oral history projects. This is Rob and Jay's first film together.

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Yurranydjil Dhurrkay

Award-Winning Filmmaker


In 1993 I joined in the team as a Bible Translator. We all worked to finish/complete the Djambarrpuyŋu New Testament in 2008.

Afterwards, I have worked as an advisor, helping other translators with their translation work in their own languages. Including my father's language Wangurri.

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Oliver Langewitz

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Oliver Langewitz was born at november 15th, 1976 in Germany. He studied Master of Arts at the University of Karlsruhe in literature, philosophy and sociology. In 2007 he finished his studies with the PhD in sociology with his thesis "The Filmsociety".

In 2003 he founded the film company "Bohemia Filmkunst" and in 2007 he established the filmmaker-network Filmboard Karlsruhe.

Oliver Langewitz works as executive producer, director and writer for documentaries, short films, music clips and feature films.

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Mariam El Marakeshy

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Mariam El Marakeshy is a Film Director/ Writer and Producer, who focuses mainly on Creative Documentaries, that have various Genres like DocuDrama, Travel, Humanitarian or Cultural, and reflect the cinematic POV of the Director. 

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Yoshie Lewis

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Yoshie has been working professionally in various arenas of the entertainment business since 1983. She holds a BA in Art History from the University of California, Riverside, and a MA in Producing Film and Video at the American University in Washington, DC., where her studies were heavily weighted towards documentary production and feature film development. She has worked as a camera operator, coordinator, and production manager on various indie films, as well as on TV shows for FUSE, CMT, and ESPN2; and, she has over thirty years of experience in the costuming field. In 2008, Yoshie became established as a network producer. She is well versed in research and writing, as well as budgets and logistics. Amongst her other credits are three history books for Arcadia Publishing. She is a founder and past president of the Nashville Japanese Film Festival and a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

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Tracy Bishop

Award-Winning Filmmaker


A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Tracy Bishop is an award-winning promotion producer with decades of network television experience. He earned a bachelors degree in Media Production at Florida State University, and parlayed an internship at CNN into a twelve-plus year career in network news promotion. Some of his accomplishments include campaigns to launch and promote websites, international newscasts and the CNNj network in Tokyo, Japan. (Note: I never produced a documentary before, but I promoted quite a few on TV, and it looked simple enough...)

With the advent of Fox News and MSNBC, the nature of TV journalism began to change. Context was out, conflict was king and Tracy found himself at a crossroads. One day, he set out on the disastrous road less travelled some would call their search for a new career path. In many ways, it was an incredibly stupid decision. In one, it was brilliant, and the result is Mercy's Kennel: The Documentary.

About that new career path? Tracy is finally doing what he loves best...again, producing promos for movies and TV shows at a growing national television network. The irony is strong with this one.

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David W. PLATH

Award-Winning Filmmaker


David W. Plath is an Emeritus Professor, Anthropology and Asian Studies University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Producer/Director, The Media Production Group,an affiliate of the Asian Educational Media Service, UIUC. Various roles in the production of 30+ documentaries including: 1999 Makiko’s New World; received the Silver Award from the 43rd Competition for Films and Videos on Japan.

Nicky Milne

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Nicky Milne is a passionate film maker, photographer and executive producer, overseeing multi-media output for Thomson Reuters Foundation. With a vital background in documentary film making, she directs/produces key human rights documentaries, shot globally.

Nicky spent many years in factual television, presenting, directing/producing and executive producing a range of high -end programming. She left a position as an Executive in Factual Commissioning at the BBC to undertake a Masters in Photojournalism, passing with distinction. She joined a global NGO and became Head of Film and Photography, overseeing multimedia for advocacy, fundraising and education, before joining Thomson Reuters Foundation. She is passionate about factual story telling and ensuring outstanding visuals as well as journalistic rigour.

Abai Dunbar

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Abai Dunbar was born in Miami, Florida. on Dec.11.1985. From a little boy he always had the desire to entertain, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to be behind or in front of the camera until his first production class in his freshmen year of high school. There is where he fell in love with behind the scenes production. While perfecting his craft, Abai became a skilled vet and now has been in the above the line crew on numerous of productions. Abai believes that if he keeps working hard he will be one of the best in his art.

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Tom Dierolf

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Tom Dierolf, PhD, is currently a trainer/researcher at a World Heritage Site. He has over 30 years of international/US experience in rural community development, including 12 years in Appalachia. Tom has published photos from several NCAA Division I sports and a professional NFL game. A first-time filmmaker, he combined his passions for social justice, visual arts, sports, history, and Appalachia to make Almost Cured. Tom received a Certificate in Documentary Studies at Duke University in 2016. Although just beginning the film festival circuit, his first film has already been accepted to screen at the Chandler, IFF, the Beaufort IFF, and the Flagstaff Mountain FF. 

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Malena Cunningham Anderson

Award-Winning Filmmaker
Little Music Manchild: The Malik Kofi Story is the first documentary project for writer, director and producer Malena Cunningham Anderson. She spent 23-years in the television news business as an Emmy-award winning Anchor and Reporter.

In July, 2017, Malena won an ImpactDocs Award of Merit for Little Music Manchild: The Malik Kofi Story. The film also won Best Documentary at the Bronze Lens Film Festival (August, 2017). Little Music Manchild has been selected for submission and screening at the International Black Film Festival (October, 2017). As a result of the success of this documentary, Malena formed Newslady Productions as a vehicle to produce more documentary projects. Her second documentary is currently in development.

A native of South Carolina and a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in Public Relations, Malena is a lifetime member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and The Links, Inc.. She is currently beginning work on her second documentary.

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Patrick Alcedo

Award-Winning Filmmaker


An associate professor in the Department of Dance at York University, Patrick Alcedo holds the Government of Ontario’s “Early Researcher Award.” He is the director, writer, and producer of 5 documentary films that have appeared in the New York Times, have received support from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and are distributed by Alexander Street Press. 
His documentary film, ATI-ATIHAN LIVES, was nominated for “Best Documentary” in the 2014 Gawad Urian Award. In recognition of his achievements in dance anthropology, he won that same year the “Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund for International Scholarship on Dance” from the Fulbright Association of America. This year, after a nationwide search in Canada, the Golden Balangay Awards named him their first "Pinoy of the Year" in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a Filipino immigrant in Canada. 
Currently he is editing, DANCING MANILENYOS, a short documentary film about lives of underprivileged ballet dancers living in urban poor districts of Manila. 

Jeff Zorrilla

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Jeff Zorrilla is an independent filmmaker born in 1984 in the United States. He received his BA in Film and Digital Media at the University of Santa Cruz, California. Then he studied film at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark for a year studying the Dogma 95 movement. Upon completion he moved to New York where he worked in all the different aspects of the film industry. He worked as assistant director for the film New York, I Love You, in distribution at ThinkFilms, and finally worked in the exhibition department at Filmforum as a programming assistant. He soon became disillusioned with the commercial American film industry, so he decided to study psychology at the University of New York while still making independent Super 8 films. 
In 2010, Jeff moved to Buenos Aires to pursue his passion for film. Here he met independent filmmakers like Ernesto Baca, Paulo Pecora, and Fernando Dominguez who taught him the particular aspects of filmmaking in Argentina. He continues to live and work in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 
He directed many narrative, documentary and experimental short films, all on Super 8. 
“Monger” is his first feature-length documentary. 

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Shira Meishar

Award-Winning Filmmaker


After completing National Service doing volunteer work in a neighborhood of South Tel Aviv, Shira Meishar completed four years' full time study at the Ma'aleh Film School of Jerusalem in 2016. Her 12 minute drama "Inside Outside," completed in 2014 in the second year of her studies, won first prize for excellence at the film school awards, and has since been screened at the Manhattan Film Festival, the California Shorts International Film Festival and the Atlanta Shortsfest. Shira's graduate documentary, "Hanna is Beautiful" was released in March 2015 and has been shown at film festivals worldwide. Shira also edited two graduate films, winning the "best editor" prize of her year in Ma'aleh. Her graduate project, the fictional film "Home Made," (13 minutes), has won both the "judge's favorite" award and the "Israeli movie" award at the Ma'aleh graduate film screening. It has been accepted to the Tel Aviv Student Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival.

Orlando H. Brenes

Award-Winning Filmmaker


With an undergraduate degree in Media Studies with a concentration in the Visual Arts from Skidmore College, Orlando H. Brenes went on to complete a Graduate degree in film from New School University. Previously employed at Video Monitoring Services and interning at H.B.O, Showtime Networks, and Island Insider TV, Mr. Brenes has worked in film as a writer, director, editor, and producer. His short film “The Cross” won an award at the International Puerto Rican Film Festival, and he followed that effort with two spec commercials for Adidas. Mr. Brenes is currently employed at an all-boys high school where he teaches graphic design and film. He continues, however, to pursue his desire to one day be among the many voices that will influence his generation and generations to come. 

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Jay Root

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Jay Root is an award-winning journalist and author of “Oops! A Diary from the 2012 Campaign Trail,” an insider’s account of Rick Perry’s gaffe-filled run for president. Root has been hooked on the news business ever since he stumbled into a newsroom full of fellow misfits at his college paper, The Daily Texan. In 1996 Root became Austin bureau chief of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he worked alongside columnist Molly Ivins and covered the rise of then-Gov. George W. Bush. During a three-year stint at the Associated Press, Root was twice named AP Staff Reporter of the Year and was on the team that won a national First Place Scripps Howard Foundation award for AP’s coverage of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. Since 2011, Root has been a senior political and investigative reporter at the Texas Tribune. In 2014, Root broke the story that put the Texas attorney general on the path toward criminal indictment, and his 2015 series exposing questionable financial ties between state prosecutors and a private insurance company sparked major reforms and landed him a 2016 state journalism award. Most recently Root conceived and oversaw the Tribune’s Bordering on Insecurity project, a yearlong series of stories and multimedia focused on the hot-button issues of border security and immigration. During the course of the project a team of reporters traveled to some of the most violent neighborhoods in El Salvador, rode with the U.S. Border Patrol in the most heavily-crossed patch of the U.S. Mexico border, visited drug treatment facilities in Texas, and interviewed dozens of immigrants in the United States and Latin America. The experience inspired Root to direct and co-produce, along with Tribune multimedia producer Todd Wiseman, a half-hour documentary. Beyond The Wall is Root’s first foray into documentary filmmaking.

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John Mollison

Award-Winning Filmmaker


With artwork on display in galleries, museums and private collections in over 14 countries and all 50 of the United States, John Mollison is a working artist. However, when John shares the stories behind the creation of his pieces, over 3,500 people, around the world, per month, he’s truly living out his slogan, “History is Nutritious!”

John has interviewed well over 100 highly decorated airman since 1999 including: Medal of Honor recipients Joe Foss and Leo Thorsness, Presidential candidate and Senator George McGovern, bestselling author Robert Mason and Morris Jeppson, Bomb-Electronics Officer aboard the Enola Gay. His research and filmmaking work have taken him on numerous trips into Europe and Southeast Asia.

In his words, John “Interviews old guys and draws their airplanes.” But his work goes much deeper. John uses the process of capturing an exact, historically accurate rendering of a particular combat aircraft to learn more about the human side of history. John interviews the pilots and aircrew of particular aircraft to discover more about the human experience: What makes people go to war? What makes people cope with stress? How do people define success? And most importantly, what can generations pass onto future generations so they can avoid the past’s mistakes?

As a native of North Dakota and resident of South Dakota, John is proud of his agricultural “upper midwest roots.” To him, his Dakota heritage instilled the values of hard-work, independence and trust. Though he discovered professional success as a consultant to some of America’s highest performing restaurants, he is most proud of the success that has come from sharing the stories and drawing the aircraft of his boyhood heroes - combat aviators from WW2, Korea and the Viet Nam war.

John has been awarded dozens awards for excellence in writing and the production of communication materials. He is married, with 3 children and lives in Sioux Falls, SD. His artwork and historical contributions, including his “Old Guys and Their Airplanes” documentaries can be viewed at oldguysandtheirairplanes.com and johnmollison.com


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KIRANRAJ K

Award-Winning Filmmaker
Kiranraj K (born 25 August 1989) is an Indian short film, documentary film maker and film Actor who works in Kannada cinema. He is one of the writer of The Seven Odds, a team of writers for the film Kirik Party.
Kiranraj K was born in a small village called Kumbadaje, in the Kasaragod district, Kerala. He was the first child of Achutha K., a farmer and Godavariamma. He did his schooling from ALPS Marikkana Pavoor, J.A.S.B.S. School Manya, Sri Annapoorneshwari High School Agalpady and higher secondary from Matha Education Mangalore. He did his specialization in Film Direction from Star Creators Film Institute, Bangalore. His career in films began in Bangalore in 2011.
Through his career, Kiranraj has directed short films, documentaries, music albums. In 2011, he made a tele-film, Kaavala[1] (Kannada: ಕಾವಳ, translation:The Darkness), based on the theme of upholding the morality and justice in our society, and received rave reviews. His next work was Kanasu (English: Dream), a music video which articulates the values of human relationship. He later made a short film, Kabbina Haalu (English: Sugarcane Juice), based on a real-life incident, which depicts the conflict of difference between the privileged and the underprivileged through the characters of two innocent kids. Kabbina Haalu won the Best Film Award at the Vibha South Indian Short Film Festival in the year 2013. His next Documentary film, The Yakshagana Puppets, was a film on puppets that has costumes from the traditional theatre form, Yakshagana, and was produced by well known Indian puppeteer K. V. Ramesh.
Kiranraj has also worked as an associate director for the Kannada feature films Endendigu, Ricky and Kirik Party and has directed one of the films in the anthology film Kathasangama.

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Allan Moyé 

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Allan Moyé, filmmaker and award-winning screenwriter, teaches film studies and production at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Va. His documentary, THREADS OF HISTORY: Conversations with a Community, focuses on intersections and relationships of an African American high school as a prevailing thread linking all aspects of black life during segregation.


He has also visually documented the oral testimonies of families of victims and the communities affected by the infamous civil war-era El Mozote massacre in El Salvador, subsequently used as evidence by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to award them official recognition and restitution from the Salvadoran government. 

Samuel Sprynczynatyk

Award-Winning Filmmaker


I am an Independent Documentary Filmmaker from North Dakota. My passion is telling stories and capturing moments with a visual and emotional beauty. I have been working in film for over 10 years and have had experience in most every style of filmmaking, but telling real stories is my favorite thing. I have been self taught my whole life and do every job in the film process from pre production all the way to the final color grade. I strive to tell stories that make a difference in this world. In 2015, I created a short documentary called "A Letter For Steve". It focused on a man and the impact he had on the youth of his community. At the time he was facing 25 years in prison. The film helped raise awareness to his character and was a critical step in his release from any prison time. I then realized how important documentary filmmaking can be and decided to dedicate my life to it.

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Yusuf Kapadia

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Yusuf Kapadia will be graduating from the undergraduate film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in May of 2018. He is a skilled editor and production sound mixer, hoping to forge a career in documentary filmmaking. Yusuf is also a member of the NYU cycling team, and enjoys riding and racing his bike whenever he can.

As a third year undergraduate student, Yusuf directed, shot, and edited his first documentary short, “Mamadou Warma: Deliveryman”. A yearlong learning experience, the project strengthened Yusuf’s desire to tell stories about people. He is currently in pre-production on his next film, a portrait of a family supporting their child on the autism spectrum.

Lan Yunjian

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Lan Yunjian, male, documentary director, Deputy director of the documentary department of Guangxi TV,has 17 years of  experience in documentary-producing field, and has won prizes such as China Radio Film and Television Award, Starlight Award of China TV Art ,Golden Panda Award, China Rainbow Award and Horse Award of National Minority Television Theme. In recent years, Documentaries he mainly engaged in include "Xijiang River", "Mysterious in Guangxi" and "the Ark——A Cultural City's Journal in Guilin during the Anti-Japanese War " were broadcast on the documentary channel of CCTV.

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Roberto Flores

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Roberto Flores began his career as an editor of advertising videos. However, before he turned twenty five years old, he received to edit two feature films. Although he enjoyed editing those films, his work on them encouraged him to branch out further and direct his own independent film. Soon after he finished editing the two feature films, Flores directed his own production, a dramatic short film titled "Nocturno".

"The Last Show" is the second short film that Flores has directed. It made its initial debut in 2015 and won the Peruvian Short Film Contest of that year. In order to win the top prize, "The Last Show" competed against more than ninety other qualified participants.

"La Hoyada" is the first documentary of Flores.

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Jessica Klein

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Jessica developed her passion for film/photography through her studies in architecture. But also as a child, she was always seen with a camera, trying to capture and record even the most simple moments in life.

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Hjalmar Ilmer

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Hjalmar Ilmer graduated as film director at the Amsterdam film academy with the film Rollercoaster. A story about a sick boy who, because of his weak immune system, has two more days to live as he wanders out into the wide world. 
After the academy Hjalmar produced the full-length movie Bluf! and worked in various functions within the film industry. Currently, he is in the final phase of a documentary about a transgender truck driver who becomes a woman. This documentary has its premiere at the IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) 2018. 

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Babu J. Aryankalayil

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Babu is a graduate of the Film and TV Institute of India (FTII) Pune, where he studied cinematography, television production and technical operations. Over the next two decades, Babu served as the director of photography for several feature length films, and produced and directed documentaries and short films. In 1998, he transitioned to U.S. national and international news coverage, and over the next two decades built an illustrious career as a photojournalist that took him around the globe with Feature Story News, Al Jazeera Television, Associated Press (AP) and the U.S. International Broadcasting Corporation.

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Jeremy S. Levine & 
Landon Van Soest

Award-Winning Filmmakers


Jeremy S. Levine and Landon Van Soest are an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaking team. Their latest feature documentary, Good Fortune, about two Kenyans battling major foreign aid efforts that bring them more harm than benefit, was broadcast to millions of viewers in prime time on the PBS series POV. Good Fortune received a National Emmy Award in addition to awards for international reporting and promoting social justice from the Overseas Press Club, Fledgling Fund, and Witness. Their previous documentary Walking the Line, about vigilantes on the U.S.-Mexico border, was broadcast nationally in five countries and recognized with awards for production, reporting, and preserving human rights.

In 2014, Levine directed/co-produced “Am I Next,” a short film about a teenager navigating the protests on the streets of Ferguson for Time. The short was also featured on Upworthy and Dazed Magazine and selected as a Vimeo Staff pick, with over 500K combined views. Van Soest is also currently directing Light Darkness Light, a feature documentary that tracks the life-altering experience of a man who receives a bionic eye and learns to see again after thirty years of blindness. Landon and Jeremy co-founded Transient Pictures, a full service production company that produces original content for organizations like Facebook, Unicef, Ben & Jerry’s, Toyota, and Lincoln Center. The team also co-founded the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, a not-for-profit group of professional filmmakers who come together weekly for feedback and support.

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Andreas Koeng

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Andreas Koeng is an ambitious timelapse photographer and filmmaker from Switzerland. He taught himself photography and filming seven years ago. Since then, he has realized several projects. Music videos, documentaries, commercials, concert films and much more...

His award-winning documentary, Scotland 4K - A Timelapse Journey captures beautiful landscapes of Scotland in a stunning Timelapse, combined with beautiful Aerial Shoots. I stayed 10 days in Scotland in early June. I could fulfill a dream! I took more than 10000 photos in 10 days. Now I finally have a time-lapse film of Scotland. I am very happy with the Film.

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Leslie Ann Coles

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Leslie - Ann Coles transitioned from dance and interactive performance art to film and television in 1999. Her debut film, "In The Refrigerator" which she wrote, directed and starred in screened in over thirty-five film festival and garnered 13 international awards for Best Debut Filmmaker, Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Short Film, Best Avant Garde, Best Debut Filmmaker, and the Barebones Grande Jury Award for Filmmaker in an Acting Role.

Coles has won three CTV Banff Fellowships and is a Women In The Director’s Chair alumni (2006). As Founder and Artistic Director of the Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF), an independent women director’s festival established in 2001, she selects ninety independent films for the annual Female Eye Film Festival from over five hundred international entries every year. Under the auspices of The Female Eye Young Filmmaker Workshop she has mentor directed and produced 46 short films to date involving female youth at risk.

Leslie - Ann is evolving in convergent media platforms using interactive digital media and is very hands-on in the creation of her original productions including "Melody Makers", her debut feature.

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Joseph Daniel

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Joseph Daniel is the principal storyteller at Story Arts Media. He has been involved in the media arts for over 40 years as a photographer, filmmaker, television producer, writer and editor. His documentary filmmaking projects have taken him in search of wild fish in wild waters, threatened historic structures in remote places on public lands, civil disobedience actions against nuclear weapons facilities.

Roger Vaughan worked in mass print media as editor and writer in Philadelphia and New York for ten years, at Saturday Evening Post, and LIFE magazines. Writing about accomplished people has always been Vaughan's major interest. Among the many he has written about are: Roy Disney, Olin Stephens, Malcolm Forbes, Irving Johnson, Mstislav Rostropovich, Ann Sophie Mutter, Seiji Ozawa, Andy Warhol, Lee Marvin, and HRH Princess Margaret.

Erica Ashley

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Erica Ashley is a native of Miami, Florida. She is one of six children. Growing up in a city filled with drugs, violence, and daily temptations, Ms. Ashley used her imagination to escape life's downside and dreadful circumstances. Watching her all-time favorite movie 'Love & Basketball.' 

Ms. Ashley knew right then that film and writing is what she wanted to pursue. As she began to use real life experiences
and her inimitable imagination, she developed creative and superior vision that became narratives on a piece of paper. Whether it was poetry, raps, or a film that she wrote, Ms. Ashley turned her world into storytelling.

Ms. Ashley's goal is to always capitalize on the four E's when making a film: to evangelize, empower, educate, and entertain society.

She holds an undergraduate degree in Film, Television, and Digital Production and a graduate degree in Communication, with a concentration in New Media Marketing. Ms. Ashley has produced and directed films, music videos, documentaries, and TV series. She is currently pursuing her gifts in writing and producing other films through her independent company Erica Ashley Entertainment, LLC.

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Ya’nan Hu

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Ya’nan Hu is a current graduate student at School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego majoring in international politics. Since 2013, he has been devoted to the rescue, excavation, and protection of languages and cultures of ethnic minorities in the northeastern China, especially focusing on the Manchu.

In addition, he has been working on the promotion of intangible cultural heritage worldwide. In 2016, he founded H.Tang Culture and Arts in China and Boya Culture and Arts Media in California, aiming to promote and inherit the endangered languages and cultures by commercial transformation. Now, he is the editor-in- chief of H.Tang book series and the producer and director of The Birthplace series documentary films.

The Birthplace -- Seeking Ancestors in Sanjiazi Manchu Village is the first film produced by Ya’nan Hu. So far, it has been the winners of the Best Documentary Film in 2017 California International Film Festival/Davis Chinese Film Festival, the Foreign Feature in 2017 October Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards, and the Documentary Feature in 2017 November Accolade Global Film Competition.

serge hlayel 

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Born in Beirut, Lebanon on 1992. Lived all my life in a small village called wadi chahrour . I graduated from Antonine University.

I filmed a short experimental  movie called " Control "(in 2012) Then filmed" Victoria" (in 2013) . Victoria was screened in many film festivals.

Now I work as an editor of short movies, documentaries and I'm a freelance photographer.

Fjolnir Baldursson & 
Baldur Smari Olafsson

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Fjolnir Baldursson is a filmmaker from Iceland.

He made the film One SceneHe has made many short things for TV sport and documentary.

His friend Baldur Smari Olafsson is a Camera man and a photografer and Oli Petur With Spirit In His Hand is a film they made together.

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Aron Anselmi

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Aron Anselmi has shot his first short films in 2003 with the tiKinò association and in 2008 he made his first portrait focused on his grandfather, completed in 2012.

In 2013, Iceberg film has produced his documentary “L'ultimo contadino” (“The last peasant”), which was broadcasted on Agust the 17th 2014 on the Italian Swiss television (RSI).
In 2013 begins also the collaboration with PicFilm Production, where he works as cameraman.
In 2016/17 has been a rich period with the production of the documentaries "Techa”, followed by “La malga di Alexander”, the “The Silk Runner” and “La via del Vento”, now in post-production.

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Mel Powsner

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Mel Powsner received her BFA in Photography & Video from Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA, in 2017. Some of her coursework included Documentary I & II, Audio Video Media I & II, and Digital Photography I and II. Her photos have been in the Montserrat gallery shows “Artrageous30,” "Portfolio Narratives,” “Juried Open House,” as well as “Journeys” and “Benjamin Loves Santa” at the Visionspace Gallery in Lynn, MA. Her documentaries, "Dignity & Connection," "Deja Vu- The History of Montserrat College of Art," and “What Gets us Through,” have been shown at the Cabot Cinema and the Larcom Theatre in Beverly, MA.

Mel completed her photography internship in the College Relations department at Montserrat under the supervision of Jo Broderick, Dean of College Relations. She was the co-founder of MASh (Media Animation Showcase), a time-based media showcase featuring the works of students and alumni from North Shore colleges, for which she received the Studio XL Merit Award in 2016. For her senior thesis, she documented stories of the homeless in audio and video in her documentary "Dignity & Connection." Mel’s interests lie in documenting people’s stories through photography and video media.

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2017 AWARD-WINNING documentary 

FILMMAKERS in the spotlight

Zachary Mann

Award-Winning Filmmaker


I have written and directed several short films of all genres from suspense thrillers to comedies most available on our youtube page. The Promise Land: The Story of Pocahontas Island is my first feature length project. It was a true learning experience in every aspect from editing, to organizing interviews, to helping compose an entire original soundtrack, and more. We are all proud to have worked on this project and hope we can spread the word of local history and community as best as we possibly can.

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Fred Jean Baptiste

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Fred Jean Baptiste, was born and raised in Miami FL. He graduated from Miami Jackson SR. High. He has always had a passion for movies even as a child.

Fred joined the military in July of 1988 and got out in Feb of 1999. Throughout his travels he always carried a camera everywhere he went. Upon exiting the military, he decided to further his education, therefore he enrolled in college as a film production student.

Fred has worked on films such as “Any Given Sunday”, Directed by Oliver Stone. He has also worked on a Feature film named “Tracks” which was directed by Deana Williams. In January he completed another film titled “What Lies Beyond the Beginning”, which is also an Independent feature film. Miami Hard Lessons is a short film that he wrote and directed.

Fred has worked in several areas to include but not limited to; Director, script supervisor, editor, director of photography, screen writer, gaffer, grip and music supervisor. In 2012, Fred started a film productions company called Production Hounds Films.


He is now a graduate of Miami Dade College with a BAS in Film and Television Production. He looks forward to networking in the film industry and making movies that everyone will love.

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Tom Nazario

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Tom Nazario is the founder and president of The Forgotten International, a nonprofit organization that does poverty alleviation work in several parts of the world, as well as an attorney, child advocate, and law professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law. His expertise in children's rights has led him all over the world documenting human rights violations involving women and children, as well as working with inner-city kids in the San Francisco Bay area for over thirty-five years. Mr. Nazario’s expertise lies in the area of Children’s Rights as well as issues related to global poverty.

After the publication of his book entitled In Defense of Children, he has testified before Congress and appeared on many national television and radio shows, including CNN, Oprah Winfrey and the Larry King Show. His work has also led him all over the world documenting human rights violations involving women and children for the United Nations, the U.S. State Department and many nongovernmental agencies.

Through his travels he discovered many grassroots organizations that seek to help the poorest of the poor, and he works tirelessly to provide ongoing support to these groups, as well as new organizations his foundation continues to find around the world. In addition to his teaching, Tom often makes presentations to community groups, colleges, foundations, and corporations that wish to get involved in his work. Most recently, he co-authored the Doing Good curriculum to teach youth about compassion and giving back to help solve the world's greatest needs.

Tom also often serves as a host to the Dalai Lama when His Holiness visits California. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

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Mi KL & Thomas Cauvin

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Born and raised in Paris, France, Mi KL studied Art in Middlesex university in London and quickly started a carreer as an educator in the suburbs of Paris and other parts of the world.

He started filming the people around him as another one would have started making wood furniture; one emotion, one story at a time. 
"A passion for film making that was gradually opening my world as I started dealing with education, identity and human spirit"

The realities he has captured have made him a better storyteller, whether it is writing, editing, framing a shot and music video making. He is constantly learning about his craft, and more importantly, about life, through the eye of his lens.

In 2015, he released his first short documentary film entitled "L'héritage à Nous Autres" ("Our Heritage"). A film on the exchange between Middle schoolers and the resident of a nursing home in the heart of French Louisiana.

In 2016, he directed several Music videos of local artists and I started writing a new feature documentary on the preservation of French in Louisiana : "Theo's Choice". A film written and produced with Thomas Cauvin, Public History teacher at the University of Colorado and author. 

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Deeana Johnson

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Deeana has been an editor for over 10 years and has edited Television (News), Trailers and Short Films. Currently, she works as a Media Specialist at the City of Miami Beach where she creates News-Style packages and informational PSA’s to showcase Miami Beach Leaders, Events and Departments.

“I was honored to be a part of “No Heroes Welcome.” The opportunity to edit and help bring Production’s Hounds’ vision to life was gratifying and enjoyable.”

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Robert de Young

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Lowlands Media, principal Robert de Young worked extensively for ABC TV in a variety of genres as a director (including live-to-air), producer, Series Producer, Executive Producer and Commissioning Editor. Since leaving the ABC Robert has worked independently as a radio and television producer and teaches media production and popular culture at a university in Melbourne. Robert researched and co-produced Tasmanian Devil: the fast and furious life of Errol Flynn for ABC TV (Australia), BBC, ZDF Arte, AVRO, DR TV YLE and TV Ontario. In 2010 Robert produced Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxon for SBS TV and YLE. Mother of Rock was an official selection for the Sydney and Melbourne International Film Festivals, the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC, the Rome International Film Festival and in 2011 at the Raindance Film Festival in London. Mother of Rock won Best Documentary - Biography at the 2011 ATOM Awards. In 2011 Robert produced and directed Mad as Hell: Peter Finch which was an official selection for the World Cinema section of the 16th Busan International Film Festival. In 2015/16, Robert directed and co-produced Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches, co-produced with Inkwell Films, and Jerry Lewis: the man behind the clown also co-produced with Inkwell Films and French Connection Films. Robert directed and produced Tarzan Revisited :100 Years of Tarzan which premiered on FOXTEL (Australia) in April and ARTE (France) in May 2017.

Tanzeal Rahim

Award-Winning Filmmaker


With a degree in Professional Writing, majoring in Screenwriting, Tanzeal Rahim has spent the last 10 years directing some of the most successful TV commercials in Australia. Brands such as LJ Hooker, Foxtel , TAB, Carlton United Breweries and Elgas to name a few. 

Muirhouse (2012) was his first feature. Muirhouse won BEST FOREIGN FEATURE at Frightnight Film Fest (US) and was nominated for BEST HORROR at Shriekfest (US) – The film is currently distributed in the USA UK CANADA GERMANY KOREA and AUSTRALIA. He is currently in pre- production on his next film to be shot in Fiji The Devil Wants Sugar. 

In 2013 he directed the music video ‘Freakshow’ By The Lockhearts – which charted to number 2 on the MTV hits – and was featured as MUSIC MAG UK clip of the week. 
In 2015 he directed the second Music Video for The Lockhearts - Low - which won 2 World Music Awards and a Remi Award at Worldfest.


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Nina Vallado

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Nina Vallado was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was raised in southern California. She attended Andrews University and earned her BFA in Documentary Film. Nina's passion for film started at a young age and has never ceased since. She seeks out stories that bring empathy to her audiences of those who are misunderstood or underrepresented. Sisterly is her first film, and has received the attention of festivals all over the world, including becoming a finalist for the Student Academy Awards. Nina continues to believe that change for the world comes from stories. 

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Aliki Saragas

Award-Winning Filmmaker
Aliki is a South African documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Johannesburg. After completing her MA in Documentary Arts at the University of Cape Town cum laude, in 2015 she started her own documentary production company, Elafos Productions, to champion women’s stories, recognising the need to emphasise complex and strong roles for women both in front of and behind the lens.
Her photojournalism has been featured in Al Jazeera Online, she has lectured at post-graduate symposiums and her work has been referenced by Pulitzer Prize winner Greg Marinovich in his book Murder on Small Koppie. Aliki is currently one of the drivers of the Johannesburg Impact and Advocacy team in the newly formed Sisters Working In Film and Television Organisation (SWIFT) , having released research on Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Film and Television Industry and a campaign called #ThatsNotOkay. She has recently been voted to sit on the board for SWIFT. Aliki’s first documentary feature film, Strike A Rock, was one of six projects chosen to pitch at Good Pitch Kenya in 2016 and the European Documentary Network. Strike A Rock opened the Encounters Documentary Festival 2017 and won the Audience Award for Best South African Documentary. The film also won the Best South African Documentary and the Amnesty International Durban Award for Human Rights at the Durban International Film Festival 2017. Strike A Rock together with Sikhala Sonke Women's organisation in Marikana has launched a large impact campaign to demand justice and accountability for the community of Marikana. Strike a Rock has been officially selected for IDFA 2017 and Aliki was selected to IDFAcademy 2017.


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SPOTLIGHT

DOCUMENTARY

FILM AWARDS

Gao Kexin & Zhang Mengyang

Award-Winning Filmmakers


Gao Kexin, Zhang Mengyang, two students of Film Academy of Chongqing University, have participated in the filming of “A Lonely Duck” and “God Told Me To”. We not only focus on social topics, but also pay attention to the wildlife and rural scenery. Via pursuing the simple and natural style, we think the most interesting thing about shooting documentary films is to capture the genuine and inartificial moment of nature through the camera. 

Ivo Marloh

Award-Winning Filmmaker


After an MA in Screenwriting from Royal Holloway University, Ivo Marloh wrote a number of cinema films, including 'Magic Boys' (2012, starring Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Tamer Hassan), Cycle (2013, feature animation, winner of Arizona Film Festival) as well as a US TV-show that is currently in pre-production. In 2014 Ivo turned to producing his first feature documentary when he began production on All The Wild Horses. The film premiered at Galway Film Fleadh in July 2017 and took Best International Feature Documentary, beating off a very strong crop of award-winners like Whitney: Can I Be Me? and City of Ghosts.

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Andrea Luka Zimmerman

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Andrea’s films have been nominated and shortlisted for the Grierson Award, the Aesthetica Art Prize, the Golden Orange and the Jarman Award, among other prizes. She received the Artangel Open Award for her collaborative feature drama Cycle (2014) with Adrian Jackson (Cardboard Citizens). Her work explores the impact of globalisation, power structures, militarism and denied histories, with works such as Estate, a Reverie (2015), tracking the passing of the Haggerston Estate in East London and the utopian promise of social housing it once offered; and Taskafa, Stories of the Street (2013) on resistance and co-existence told through the lives of the street dogs of Istanbul and voiced by John Berger. Her forthcoming film Erase and Forget (2017) is an inquiry into the nature of human conscience and the limits of deniability. It premiered at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Glashutte original documentary award.

Zimmerman is co-founder of the artists’ collective Fugitive Images, and a founding member of Vision Machine (collaborators on Academy Award® nominated feature documentary The Look of Silence). She co-curated Real Estates at PEER, London (2015) with David Roberts (in association with LUX) as a social, discursive and imaginative space around issues of housing and social injustice; her first UK solo exhibition Common Ground was at Spike Island, Bristol (2017).

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Sergio García Locatelli

Award-Winning Filmmaker

Born in Lima, Perú in 1978. Sergio García Locatelli graduated from the School of Communications at the University of Lima. He received a diploma in Screenplay and Direction of Documentary Film by the Madrid Film Institute (NIC). Screenplay studies at the School of Writers. Director of the documentary Internal Outskirts (2009), It's in your Eyes (2011), 9546 km. (2013), Our Own Sri Lanka (2015), Solari (2016) and Bread of Life (2016). All his films have received awards at international festivals and have been broadcast on TV in Spain, Italy and Brazil.

Currently he is carrying out the documentary project "Take a Walk" in advanced development. This film has participated in Meeting Doc Buenos Aires, Bolivia Lab, Talents Buenos Aires, Santiago Alvarez in Memoriam and in the Laboratory of FICBAQ Festival of Barranquilla.


Miku Otagiri

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Miku Otagiri is a Japanese documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, and editor. She has B.A in cinematography, worked at a local TV station in Fukushima, Japan for four years as a news camera operator and editor. This is the first short documentary Miku has directed while she was in New York Film Academy.

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Chen Qianzhang

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Chen Qianzhang, as the director of the multi documentary film works, the executive director, the division director, the writing, the camera and so on. His documentary works have won more than 20 international and domestic documentary awards. The content is full of humanistic care, and has a unique perspective on natural geography and is full of the love of the country, the nation and the life. His documentary shows, watching in the network for online video China Tencent, has hits over 200 million people.


The honors include:
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM HONORABLE MENTION - California International Film Festival and Davis Chinese Film Festival - 2017
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY - Gold Panda International Documentary Festival - 2016
Excellent Short Documentary - San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival - 2017
Finalist - AgriCulture Film Festival - 2017
FINALIST - Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival - 2016
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Cardiff International Film Festival - 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Golden Knight Malta International Short Film Festival - 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Life Sciences Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - ZERO PLUS International Film Festival - 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Zlatna International Ethnographic Film Festival ZIEFF - 2017
Roma-cinemadoc-official-selection-september-2017

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Vincent Mann

Award-Winning Filmmaker


My interest in filmmaking was inspired by a full year of helping my father edit a collection of his old family movie reels, videos, and audio tapes. His father was an Air Force Colonel and the footage was of the entire family (9 kids) traveling in Japan, Okinawa, Germany, and Hawaii. We inserted sound effects and the voices of family members who had passed away. From this project, I realized that filmmaking was something that could help me to learn more about the world and humanity. Up to this point, I had spent the first 5 years of my twenties working in call centers and realized I had to dedicate my time to filmmaking. I quit my job and enrolled at the Colorado Film School before transferring to the Santa Fe University of Art & Design where I obtained a BFA in film production. I then interned with Davis Guggenheim which renewed my focus on documentary filmmaking. I'm currently in the writing phase of a feature length film and fund my own projects by creating promotional videos for businesses.

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Aniruddha (Oni) Sen

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Aniruddha Sen, Oni, is a graduate of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and has directed over 500 television commercials.

Oni's approach to filmmaking is an extension of his background in visual arts. He is not just a storyteller, but also a photographer, designer and illustrator. The visual refinement in Oni's films are a result of his sensitivity to aesthetics and meticulous detailing. 

The distinct quality in his films comes from his handling and understanding of human emotions, as well as his skill in finely unfolding narratives. 

Apart from working as a filmmaker, he also spends time as a visiting faculty at NID, Ahmedabad & ISDI Parsons, Mumbai. 

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Tay Who

Award-Winning Filmmaker


I was in England until I wasn't, and now I live between two mountain ranges and two countries, trying to make it work when everyone else keeps telling me to come back home. I make films and I write songs and I pay my bills by looking after kids.

Wønderland is Katia's award-winning documentary about the life of Au Pairs living on the border between France and Switzerland. A look at the daily ordinary and extraordinary events that au pairs go through over the course of the year abroad.
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Mazal Ben YIshai

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Mazal Ben YIshai was born in 1990 and raised in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. After completing her National Service she completed 4 years of full time study at the Maaleh Film School. "Mazal Means Luck" is her student graduating film.

Ky Dickens

Award-Winning Filmmaker


Ky’s first film, FISH OUT OF WATER, was a success on the festival circuit, winning four juror prizes and securing international distribution by First Run Features and Netflix. The film has been hailed as a "tool for reconciliation between the church and LGBTQ community." It was translated into Spanish, Russian, Italian and French Creole and has screened at over 500 churches and universities. Her second film, SOLE SURVIVOR, was acquired by CNN Films for broadcast and theatrical release, and was named the "Best Feature Film" at the 2013 BMA Awards. In addition to ZERO WEEKS, she is also in post-production on THE CITY THAT SOLD AMERICA about Chicago’s crucial place in American consumer culture. Ky received a Focus Award for “Achievement in Directing” from Women in Film and is a member of Film Fatales and the Gene Siskel Film Center Community Council. She lives in Chicago with her wife, daughter, dog and three chickens.

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