Ai Weiwei (born in 1957, in Beijing, China) is an internationally renowned artist and political activist. He is appraised for making strong aesthetic statements that resonate with timely phenomena across today’s geopolitical world. From architecture to installations, social media to documentaries, Ai uses a wide range of mediums as expressions of new ways for his audiences to examine society and its values. Ai is the recipient of the 2015 Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International and the 2012 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation. Ai has made numerous documentaries about social and political issues that have won major film festival awards, including Disturbing the Peace (2009), One Recluse (2010), So Sorry (2012), Ordos 100 (2012) and Ai Weiwei’s Appeal ¥15,220.910.50 (2014). In the mid-2010s, Ai turned his attention to the global refugee crisis with several projects, including the 2017 documentary film Human Flow, his first feature-length documentary, which premiered at the 74th Venice Film Festival in competition. He is currently based in Berlin.

Maria Arlamovsky works and lives with her family in Vienna. She studied metal sculpture in France, and film and intercultural competence in Austria.

Ekain Irigoien (born in 1981, in San Sebastian, Spain) works as a television producer and script writer for Spanish television channels. He currently produces a program starring the popular Spanish chef, Karlos Arguiñano, with whom he has been working for more than a decade.

Fredrik Gertten is an award-winning Swedish director and journalist. In 1994, Gertten founded the production company, WG Film. He had previously worked as a foreign correspondent and columnist for radio, TV and press in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe. Today he combines filmmaking with a role as creative producer at WG Film. In October 2017, Gertten was named Honorary Doctor at Malmö University’s Faculty of Culture and Society for his work as a documentary filmmaker.