2022

Born in 1964 in Geneva, Switzerland, Nicolas Wadimoff presented his first film, Le Bol, in 1991 at Locarno, as well as his first feature, The Golden Gloves of Akka, in 1992. He also directed the feature film, Clandestins, in 1997, which won numerous awards worldwide. Since then, he has been working both as a director and producer with his company - Akka Films. Since then, Akka Films has been part of various Palestinian films (among them 5 Minutes from Home by Nahed Awwad, Fix Me and Ghost Hunting by Raed Andoni, and A Thousand Fires by Saeed Taji Farouky).

Khaled Elayyan is the executive director of First Ramallah Group (Serryet Ramallah), director of Ramallah Contemporary Dance Festival, and the artistic director of First Ramallah Dance Troupe.

Between 1994 and 2000, Elayyan worked as thedirector of the Popular Art Center, the executive director of Al Kasaba Theatre and Cinematheque between 2000 and 2010 and the coordinator of the Palestinian Audiovisual Project in A.M Qattan Foundation  (2004-2005).

Since 2005, Milja Mikkola has been part of Midnight Sun Film Festival, the renowned annual film celebration in the Arctic Circle, where she currently is its Programme Manager. She is a member of the recently formed Europa Film Festivals network, which aims to formalise a system for sharing information, strategies, and culture amongst festivals to build a strong voice for film in Europe. Milja is also part of the programming collective that guides the arthouuse Orion Cinema in Helsinki.

Emrah Kılıç is the Artistic Director of the Istanbul-based Bosphorus Film Festival and Bosphorus Film Lab. He was the founder and administrative coordinator of the monthly review Rabarba Cinema, which published 20 issues. Since 2017, he has been in charge of the promotion of Turkish cinema. To this end, he organises Turkish cinema programmes and film weeks abroad and heads Turkish Cinema booths in Berlin and Cannes film festivals.

Stuart Sloan is a filmmaker and film programmer. He has worked as an editor on films that have shown at over 40 festivals across the world, including IDFA and SXSW, and on PBS in the United States. Stuart is also the lead programmer for Docs Ireland, the country’s biggest documentary festival

Zeynep Güzel is a filmmaker and consultant based in Berlin. Zeynep was the head of the Yeni Film Fund founded by Anadolu Kültür and !f Istanbul Independent Films Festival between 2015 and 2019 in Turkey. Zeynep produced three documentaries: Beginnings (2013), Come Rain or Shine (2019, also written and directed by her) and Impressions of a Summer (2020). She works as a workshop expert on storytelling, international grant writing and funding strategies on a regular basis.