Feature films:
Cristian Pascariu
Born in Botoșani, 1987, Pascariu graduated from Cluj-Napoca’s Theater and Television faculty, specialising in Cinematography, Photography and Media in 2010. With the short “Rock N’Roll Sticks“, he received the “Black Pearl Award” for Best Student Short 3rd from the Abu Dhabi film festival 2010 and Best Student Film from Open Society Shorts 2011. He is passionate about bringing new approaches to well established genres, allowing himself to freely experiment in any domain related to the visual.
Manuel Mercier
Manuel M. Mercier is a young French director who lives between Paris and New York. He has devoted a documentary trilogy to individuals who seek their way: despite the limitations of a disabled body “Philippe Croizon – Fallen from sky”, the dangers of getting lost in one’s media reflection “Gio Black Peter – New Fuck New York “, or the loss of status by becoming a woman when born a man “Olivia Chaumont – Olivia”. His film ”In The Mirror”, which is the shorts competition of the festival, is a work of directorial maturity, and has already been selected by festivals in Texas, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Other works include a series of vintage science fiction films that was part of an HF Prevention project which received the 2015 Gold Winner International Innovation Award of the UNESCO Chaire Health & Human Rights.
Shorts:
Ruth Borgfjord
www.ruthborgfjord.com
The queer artist from Cluj uses various media to convey her message: photography, short film, installations, performance. She creates her work based on her personal reality and playful imagination, merging art with human rights activism. She is the founder of the “LES Sisterhood Cluj” informal group, dedicated to those who identify as queer/LGBT+ women.
Filmography: Letter to god – short film (Special Jury Award, Tres Court Film Festival 2016, Special OIF Award – International Francophone Organization, 2016); You – short film (Great Yukon Queer Film Festival Award, Canada, 2014).
Cristina Groşan
Romanian/Hungarian film director, with background in photography, visual
arts and media design. Cristina studied film directing at UBB in Cluj-Napoca, graduating with
“Sputnik”, a playful, unconventional study of the contemporary urban generation. In 2011, Cristina graduated from media design at MOME in Budapest and her incest-romance film “Carry Me Away” traveled multiple festivals. Cristina was selected for Sarajevo’s City of Film Fund, where she directed “Holiday at the Seaside”, a story of a 13-year old girl’s first encounter with menstruation.“Holiday at the Seaside” won the Atlantic group Grand Prize at 2013’s Sarajevo IFF, was picked byNew Europe Film Sales and traveled dozens of festivals around the world and garnered further awards. Cristina’s authorial interest in the bases of femininity, relation to our bodies and girlhood is reflected also in her further films “Night Painting”, “Work in Progress” and “A Coat of Gold”, a feature comedy/drama about breast cancer, which is currently in development. Alongside her fiction films, Cristina co-directed a omnibus documentary “Happy New Year!” shot a docu series for UNHCR in East Africa and is passionate about photography, visual communication and visiting deserts.
Antonio Palumbo
Antonio Palumbo was born in 1973. He studied acting at the Kismet Opera in Bari and he moved to Rome where he continued to study as an actor . He debuted as a director with the piece “Bossolo”, written by him, winning the Italian Festival of short plays in 2004 and receiving a special mention at the Prix Fondi La Pastora. In 2010 Palumbo debuted in filming, in 2011 he won the Special Award of Journalists at Nastri d’Argento, as a screenplayer with the short film “Domani”. He writes as a ghost writer for the Italian TV. In 2011 he won the Rome Video Clip Festival with New Dawn, the title track of the movie Henry. Since 2012 he filmed several TV commercials. In 2015 he directed “Varichina”, a docudrama produced by the Apulia Film Commission. He is Professor and Educational Coordinator at the National Film Center in Rome.
Documentaries:
Marek Novák
He studied law and later film production at Prague’s FAMU. At FAMU, he produced several films which celebrated success at various festivals – Jan Březina’s lyrical autumn-mystery “Maria Stock” (2013) was awarded at Cottbus IFF or more recent Martin Kuba’s “Celebration” premiered at Montreal IFF. Marek co-founded Xova Film production company in 2014, which focuses on fiction, documentary and experimental projects of upcoming talents, with strong cinematic voices and international appeal. Currently in production is “Circus Rwanda”, a documentary on collaboration between Czech and Rwandan contemporary circuses. “Death Over Gold”, a story of an eccentric graverobber, who stole the teeth of Strauss and Brahms, has wrapped production last summer. Marek is also a co-writer on the postapocalypse miniseries “The Camp” from a summer scout camp. Xova Film has been also active in producing TV documentaries, starting with “Far From Maidan”, exploring the perspectives of Ukraine’s tensions in 2014. Marek is present at markets and forums with his projects, eager for new forms of storytelling and audience engagement.
Matthew F. Smith
Matthew F. Smith is an award-winning filmmaker working internationally and based out of Los Angeles, California. For more than two decades he has created original and inspiring content. His films have received theatrical runs and have screened at festivals throughout the world.”
Filmography: “The Light of Love”, “Looking for the Perfect Beat”, “Shower of Love” and ”Handsome Girl”.