Guests

Apolena Rychlíková (1989) is a Czech documentary film director and journalist. She graduated from the Documentary Film Department at FAMU, Prague. She takes interest in public space, and is dedicated to socially engaged documentary filmmaking.

Bohdan Blahovec was born in 1984 in Pilsen, Czech Republic. He received his MA at FAMU, from the department of documentary film. His feature debut, Show!, won the Czech Critic's Award for the best documentary in 2013, and the Audience Award at Jihlava IDFF in 2013. He currently works with KineDok as head coordinator, concentrating on alternative distribution of documentaries in Eastern and Central Europe.

Cédric Blanc is an expert in physical education for mentally disabled children and adolescents from Switzerland. Since 2011 he has served as the main director of Verdeil Foundation, schools for children with special needs in the French part of Switzerland. He has been a lecturer at the Sports and Physical Education Sciences Institute at the University of Lausanne and the University of Geneva, and a lecturer at the School of Social and Educational Sciences in Lausanne. Since 2007, he has been responsible for the Sport-Handicap’s French-speaking Swiss Unit, and leads trainings. He offered his expertise for the film, At the Philosopher’s School.

Diana Groó is a film director, producer, and head of the Film and Media Specialist Program at METU Budapest. She is the co-founder of Katapultfilm studio (2002), Malcah Productions (2011), and DunaDock- docu- Masterclasses and workshops (2013). Following her prize winning shorts and documentaries (aired by HBO, Arte, YLE), she debuted her feature film, A Miracle in Cracow, a Polish-Hungarian co-production with Krzisztof Zanussi. Her second feature film, Vespa (2010), was awarded by UNICEF, won the Dialog Prize for Intercultural Communication in Cottbus, and the Best Director’s Award in Geneva and Los Angeles. Her documentary, Regina (2013), based on a single photograph, won the Lia Award at the 30th Jerusalem Film Festival and was screened widely, including at the International Holocaust Remembrance Day at UNESCO (2014), the Library of Congress (2014), and was deposited in the Visual Center Collection at Yad Vashem.  Diana’s documentary, entitled What Lies Ahead, won the Audience Award at the 4th Verzió International Human Rights Film Festival in Budapest.

Estelle Robin-You is managing director and producer at Les Films du Balibari, a French company focusing on documentary films with a unique voice and viewpoint. Estelle and her partner, Clara Vuillermoz, have co-produced more than 20 films internationally. They ventured into feature-length fiction co-production with Hungarian Gabor Reisz’s Bad Poems, produced by Julia Berkes (Proton). Les Films du Balibari productions have travelled to festivals such as IDFA, Hot Docs, Visions du Réel and Cinema du Réel, and been broadcast on ARTE, ZDF, NHK, France Télévisions, RTBF, and TSR amongst others. Estelle was nominated three times for the French Procirep TV producer award. She is an EAVE and Ex Oriente graduate.

François-Xavier Drouet gratuated in political sciences and anthropology, and worked as a reporter before pursuing a degree in creative documentary filmmaking at Lussas. He travelled the world with his first film, The Initiation and co-wrote Gangster Project.

Ivo Saliger (alias, Ivan Novak) is a member of Laibach, and co-creator of the band’s strategy and theory since 1980. He was a member and co-creator of Neue Slowenische Kunst between 1984 and 1992. The group and multimedia collective, Laibach, was founded in 1980 in the industrial mining town of Trbovlje. “Laibach” is the historical German name for the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. The name, as well as the group’s militaristic self-stylization, propagandist manifestos and totalitarian statements has caused some debate on the group’s artistic and political positioning. Laibach are highly influential within the general cultural-political scene in Slovenia and abroad, and are one of Slovenian best-known bands. In the summer of 2015, they became the first rock group to perform in the fortress state of North Korea.

John Webster is a writer and director born in 1967, in Helsinki, to English teachers who later moved to Finland. John graduated from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki in 1996 with an MA in documentary filmmaking. Since 1990 he has directed independent documentaries that have won numerous awards nationally and internationally. He has run his own production company, JW Documentaries, since 1993.

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.

Melanie Liebheit received her MA in Social Anthropology in Munich and Manchester, and documentary filmmaking at the University of Television and Film Munich. In 2001–2011 she worked for Documentary Campus. In 2007 she co-founded the documentary film festival, Nonfiktionale, in Bad Aibling (Germany), which she has led, together with Tamara Danicic, since 2016.

Nebojsa Slijepcevic has directed numerous creative documentaries that were awarded at international festivals including the Prix Europa Award. His first documentary feature, Gangster of Love, premiered at Hot Docs (Canada) and IFF Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic). It was one of the biggest box office successes in Croatia. Nebojsa also lectures at the School of Documentary Film in Zagreb.

Peter Kerekes is film director, producer and teacher. He studied film directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where he currently teaches filmmaking. Together with director Dušan Hanák, he participated in founding the atelier of fiction and documentary film, and engaged in filmmaking that explores the complex relationship between history and memory. His film 66 Seasons (2003), an award-winning documentary about a swimming pool in Kosice, shows 66 years in the history of swimming, and the history of Central and Eastern Europe. Cooking History (2009), is a documentary about cooking in the army and how it affects the wins and defeats of the soldiers. The film was in production for five years and was filmed in 11 different European countries. It won multiple festival awards, including the Jury Prize at Hot Docs International Documentary Festival, the Best Documentary Award at Viennale, and was nominated for best documentary at the European Film Awards. Velvet terrorists (2013), the story of three protagonists who opposed the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, was screened at multiple festivals, including the Berlin International Film Festival in 2014, and it received the FEDEORA award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2013.

International successful producer for fiction and documentary that take a stand for cultural diversity. Meuthen’s Party (dir. Marc Eberhardt) premiered at Hot Docs Festival and was screened worldwide. Her fiction short Elja – 376 AD (dir. Willi Kubica) won the European Young CIVIS Media Prize.