Ruth Beckermann is a filmmaker and writer was born in Vienna, Austria. Her film Those Who Go Those Who Stay won Best Documentary at the 2014 Diagonale in Graz. Two years later, The Dreamed Ones won Best Feature Film at the same festival. The Waldheim Waltz received several prizes including the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award at the 2018 Berlinale and was also nominated as Austria’s entry for the Oscars. In 2022, Mutzenbacher screened in the Encounters section of the Berlinale where it won the award for Best Film.

Danijar Bíró earned his BA in Social Sciences from UCL in London, and then began his career as a video journalist at Partizán in Budapest. His portrait series, Faces of War which covers the Russian-Ukrainian war through personal stories, received the Hégető Honorka Award. In 2024, he completed his graduation film, Songs from People’s Island as part of the MA Documentary Film program at Goldsmiths, London.

Adelina Borets is a screenwriter and director born in Mariupol, Ukraine. She is a graduate of directing at the Warsaw Film School and the Script course at the Wajda School, and is currently defending her master's degree thesis in directing at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School in Katowice. Her debut documentary film The Wormwood Star (2018) won the Grand Prix and the audience award at the 15th International Ecological Festival EKOFILM, and the Grand Prix at the Golden Frames festival - International Festival of Short Fiction Films. The medium-length feature film Eden House (2021) was recognised as the best feature film at the Coal Film Festival in Katowice and was awarded the special critics‘ prize at the Critics’ Festival in Kiev.

Dan Radu Curean is a photography and documentary director, producer and script-writer. His work has won numerous awards, and he is currently working as a photography director for the Romanian National Television. He is also a lecturer, teaching Media and Television at Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca.

Sára Czira has been working as a 1st AD in feature films for about two decades. She got involved in several outstanding films such as Dealer (2004, Berlinale), Taxidermia (2006, Cannes), Womb (2010, Locarno), Just the Wind (2012, Berlinale Silver Bear). In recent years, she has been participating in performances and fine art projects dealing with human rights and tolerance and also started working on her first direction, the HBO co-produced documentary Cabin Pressure.

Sissel Morell Dargis, born in Copenhagen to Lithuanian and Spanish parents, studied Film and Media in Denmark and Cuba. She has led community-based social programmes like Rocinha by Rocinha, empowering local youth in Brazilian favelas through cultural exchange. She has made documentaries in Argentina and Cuba, and has a background in graffiti and photography focused on urban art. Her first feature documentary Balomania (2024) premiered at CPH:DOX.

Max Duncan is a British filmmaker, journalist and cinematographer. His work has shown on platforms including BBC, Al Jazeera, PBS and the New York Times and been exhibited at galleries including Tate Modern. Now based in Madrid, he previously lived for a decade in China and speaks fluent Mandarin and Spanish. He is an alumnus of Logan and Yaddo fellowships and has received funding from organizations including Pulitzer and Ford Foundation. His half-hour film Down from the Mountains (2018) won a World Press Photo award. Other work has received recognition including Webby and One World Media Awards.

Ida Marie Gedbjerg, born in 1990, is film director and anthropologist. She graduated from the international film school Doc Nomads in 2017. Along with her own projects, she teaches filmmaking at the youth film school Station Next. Her first documentary Qamar (2015) about a transgender refugee’s struggle won the first prize at Slemani International Festival 2017. Her graduation film In the Clouds (2018) was screened at DocLisboa-festival 2018.

Sareen Hairabedian is an Armenian-Jordanian documentary filmmaker based in the U.S. Through her intimate observational filming style, she captures the untold stories of the underrepresented. Sareen Hairabedian founded her production company HAI Creative in 2016, through which she engages in international co-productions, and works with organizations and broadcasters such as Sesame Workshop, HBO, Wounded Warrior Project, and others. My Sweet Land (2024) is her debut feature-length documentary and has been supported by ITVS, ARTE, International Documentary Association, Arab Fund for Arts & Culture , Jordan Film Fund and CNC.

Director and writer of documentaries and feature films, Małgorzata Imielska has garnered significant acclaim for her work. Her feature film All for My Mother won Best Director and Best Feature Film awards at the IFF Dhaka 2020. Her documentary Love and Empty Words (2018) has also received numerous accolades, including the Grand Prix at the Hong Kong IFF, Best Documentary Award at the IFF in New Delhi, Best Women’s Film at the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Ekran Toronto Polish Film Festival.

Hanna Sára Kádár finished her degree in 2022 at VSMU in Bratislava as a documentary film director after she left her studies in Budapest due to the government’s attacks on the University of Theatre and Film Arts. ‘Visiting Mamajé’ is her graduation film where she explores her favourite topic, intergenerational relationships. Coming from a big family she is prone to observe family dynamics, functional and dysfunctional connections in families, her approach gives an intimate look at difficult relations without judgment. Her student film ‘Separated’ was screened at Verzió in 2021 as part of the freeSZFE section. In 2023, she was a jury member for the Young European Stories Section at FIPADOC. She is currently looking for topics to start to work on her first documentary out of university.

Anja Koprivšek graduated from the Department of Documentary Directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. Her first film I Love (2021) had its world premiere at Doclisboa and it was also screened at ZagrebDox, Pula Film Festival, STIFF and others. She won the Jelena Rajković Award for best director younger than 30 at the Croatian Film Days (2022), as well as Best Director Award at the Bistre Reke Festival (2022). Between 2022 and 2024, she worked as assistant coordinator for the international training initiative for directors and producers: CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator.

Born in Uzbekistan in 1974. In 2010, he graduated in documentary filmmaking at the Marina Razbezhkina Film School in Moscow. In 2012 he was one of the directors of the award-winning documentary Winter, Go Away!. His next films Leninland (2013), Children 404 (2014) and The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov (2017) won critical acclaim and screened at numerous festivals. His work focuses on human rights issues and social conflicts in contemporary Russia.

Svitlana Lishchynska, born in Mariupol in 1970, worked for over 25 years for the leading television channels in Ukraine. In 2014, she opened a new chapter in her life by leaving television and immersing herself in screenwriting and filmmaking. Her first documentary works were short pieces for the Invisible Battalion (2017) anthology film in collaboration with the directors Alina Gorlova and Iryna Tsilyk. A Bit of a Stranger (2024) is her debut feature-length documentary and is based on her personal story.

Ádám Miklós is the co-founder of Arrabona Studio in Hungary. His first film, Dolma's Daughters, gives an insight into the lives of nuns in Nepal. His documentary The Legacy of Menla explores the daily lives of Tibetan doctors in India, while Tcha follows the journey of a blind Belgian gypsy musician as he becomes a master of the nation’s traditional music style. In his films, Miklós contributes not only as a director but also as a cinematographer and editor. His most recent documentary, Beyond Rock Bottom, was made with the support of the National Film Institute's Incubator Programme and premiered at the 2024 Warsaw Film Festival.

Dávid Mikulán is an Intermedia artist and filmmaker who graduated from the Fine Art University, Budapest. Making films since age 12, his artistic practice is influenced by skateboarding, punk music, Fluxus, video art and experimental music. His work's main focus is how public spaces have an effect on social structures. As a volunteer and filmmaker, he has worked together with NGOs and human rights organizations.

Anna Mkrtumyan is a documentary filmmaker from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). She has participated in various international peacebuilding programs and was part of an independent documentary film studio in Armenia. Currently, she is pursuing her Master’s degree in documentary filmmaking through the 'DocNomads' Joint Master's program. Anna's work focuses on shedding light on the situation in her homeland, raising awareness about the injustices and struggles faced by the people of Artsakh.

Eszter Nagy has been working as a colorist for many years in several internationally acclaimed productions from Hungary. After collecting professional experience in Los Angeles and New-Zealand, in 2014 she opened Karmazin Film, her own post-production studio. She’s graded films such as the Oscar-winner short ’Sing’ (2017), Karlovy Vary feature titles such as Kills on Wheels (2016) or The Wednesday Child (2015), the critically acclaimed HBO TV series Golden Life (2015-2018) or the multi-award winning documentary Drifter (2014, IDFA, Jihlava, goEast). Cabin Pressure is her directorial debut.

Maja Novaković is a Ph.D. candidate studying Sergei Parajanov’s poetics of heritage. Her debut, Then Comes the Evening, premiered at Visions du Reel (2019) and secured an OSCAR® qualification by winning at the Full Frame Documentary Festival. It received over 50 awards, was screened at 130+ festivals- such as Hot Docs, Sarajevo FF, SFFILM, Camerimage, Jihlava- and made the Cinema Eye Honors nomination and Doc NYC Short List. She is a Sarajevo Talents and IDFAcademy alumna.

Bálint Révész is the founder behind a handful of film related organizations such as Gallivant Film, Roughhouse Project, Kontra and Kulturlink. Révész’ films focus on controversial subject matter and are meticulously produced; his first feature documentary Granny Project (2017) was 7 years in the making and has since received numerous awards. Révész is the director/producer behind KIX.

Anna Rubi, born in Hungary, studied media design at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest and in 2015 graduated from the Zürich University of the Arts at transdisciplinary studies (MA). Her collaborative web-documentary New Flower (2015) explores activism infused public space art in the ever urbanizing Addis Ababa. In the period of 2017-2022 she was the videographer of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, extensively working with disabled communities and activists on short documentaries and campaigns. Your Life Without Me (2024) is her debut feature length documentary that premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival and won the Human Rights award.

Alina Simone is a Ukrainian-born journalist and filmmaker whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian Long Read, among many others. Her articles have been featured on best-of lists in The Atlantic, NPR and Rolling Stone, and have been optioned for film by major studios. She is the author of an essay collection and a novel, and has taught writing at Yale University. Simone is the recipient of the Andrew Berends Film Fellowship, an NYSCA/NYFA Film Fellowship and the Mountainfilm Emerging Filmmaker Fellowship. Black Snow (2024) is her first documentary feature film.

Marta Smerechynska (1997) is a Ukrainian documentary filmmaker. She holds academic degrees from I.K. Karpenko-Kary University in Kyiv, La Fémis in Paris, and the DocNomads Erasmus Master's program in Portugal, Hungary, and Belgium. Her films have been screened at over 30 festivals, including Visions du Réel, Sarajevo Film Festival, DMZ Docs, PÖFF Shorts, and FipaDoc. Marta's feature-length debut documentary focuses on reconnecting with her sister, who has become a nun, by exploring life in her new home—a remote women's monastery in the West of Ukraine. Recently, Marta has been focusing on portraying various facets of the Ukrainian wartime experience in her films.

Marek Šulík studied documentary film direction at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. After finishing his studies, he established himself primarily as an editor of documentary films that received worldwide acclaim at important festivals. He collaborated on feature projects directed by Peter Kerekes (66 seasons, Cooking History, Velvet Terrorists), Martin Kollár (October 5), Viera Čákanyová (FREM, White on White), Filip Remunda (Czech Journal, Meet the Movie), and many more. In addition, he worked on his own directing projects. His work includes films with social themes, educational films, portrait work, ethnographic documentaries, and films that work with found footage.

Sarah Ticho is a multi-award-winning artist, strategist, entrepreneur, and change-maker operating at the intersection of health, well-being, and immersive storytelling. She directs and produces XR experiences, including SOUL PAINT. Narrated by actor and activist Rosario Dawson, the piece has garnered international accolades, including the SXSW Special Jury Prize in the competition and Best Health and Wellness at The Games for Change Awards in 2024.

Shoghakat Vardanyan was born in 1993 in Yerevan, Armenia. Vardanyan is a professional musician, graduating in 2014 from the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan with a Bachelor’s in Piano. Since 2017, she has been playing free improvisations and has become a part of the Contemporary Sound Orchestra of Yerevan. She participated in the EurasiaDoc Armenia workshop, as well as the DocTrain Armenia Workshop, where she was mentored by the Russian filmmaker and producer Marina Razbezhkina. 1489 (2023) is her first film.

Matthäus Wörle studied journalism at the University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt and received a video journalism scholarship from the Mediaschool Bayern. After that, he studied documentary film at the University of Television and Film Munich. He has worked for Süddeutsche Zeitung, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Nautilusfilm. Now he is a freelance director and video journalist. His films have been screened and awarded at numerous national and international film festivals.

Born and raised in Kabul, Ilyas Yourish began his career as a multimedia journalist and TV show producer in 2011, while studying at the Journalism Faculty of Kabul University. He founded Kamay Film in Afghanistan in 2018 with the goal of producing films centered on themes of identity, trauma, history, and memory, with a particular focus on his homeland and its people. In 2021, he was forced into exile to Belgium, where he has since lived and worked. His latest documentary Kamay (2024) premiered at Visions du Réel.

Agnieszka Zwiefka is an award-winning filmmaker. Her films The Queen of Silence (2014) and Scars (2020) were screened at festivals worldwide. Zwiefka creates films that border between documentary and fiction, balancing reality and fantasy. She is a member of European Film Academy and alumna of workshops Dok.Incubator, ScripTeast, Nipkow Programme and Berlinale Talents as well as Meryl Streep’s and Nicole Kidman’s The Writers Lab.