Guests
2019
Laurence Coriat
Laurence Coriat wrote Michael Winterbottom’s “Wonderland” which was selected in competition at Cannes in 1999 and won the best British Independent Film award that year. She co-wrote Sandra Goldbacher’s “Me Without You”, starring Michelle Williams and Anna Friel, which was unveiled at the Venice Film Festival in 2001. She went on to collaborate with Michael Winterbottom in 2006 on “A Mighty Heart”, an adaptation of Marianne Pearl’s account of her husband’s kidnapping and murder, starring Angelina Jolie. In 2016, she took part in a writers’ room with showrunner Hossein Amini and is writing for “McMafia”, Amini’s BBC series currently in production, directed by James Watkins.
Soudade Kaadan
Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian director born in France. She studied theater criticism in the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Syria and filmmaking in Saint Joseph University (IESAV) Lebanon. Her films have screened at several venues nationally and internationally and have received international awards. Her first feature fiction film “The Day I Lost My Shadow” was awarded The Lion of the Future Award for best debut film in Venice Film Festival 2018 and has been screened in several festivals: TIFF, BFI, Busan and IFFR. Her recent short fiction film “Aziza” won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2019.
Marie Dubas
Marie Dubas started producing short films in 2008 in several production companies before founding Deuxième Ligne Films in 2014 in Normandy. She is an EAVE 2013 graduate and has taken part in the TorinoFilmLab script & pitch program in 2009 as a script-editor trainee. Her production company, Deuxième Ligne, aims at focusing on French and international emerging talents. It has co-produced John Trengove’s first feature film “The Wound” (South Africa) (Sundance 2016, Berlinale Panorama 2017) and recently finished Teona Mitevska’s fifth feature “God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija” (Macedonia), winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Berlinale 2019.
Bianca Oana
Bianca Oana is a writer and producer dedicated to discovering filmmakers with a particular artistic view, regardless of the medium they choose to explore. She co-wrote Catalin Mitulescu's “Loverboy”, which premiered in 2012 at Cannes Film Festival in the section Un Certain Regard. She has produced Ivana Mladenovic’s documentary debut “Turn Off the Lights”, “Toto and His Sisters” by Alexander Nanau, the short film “A Country of Two” by Neritan Zinxhiria, and the feature film “Touch Me Not” by Adina Pintilie, awarded in 2018 with the GWIFF Best First Feature Award and the Golden Bear at Berlin International Film Festival. Bianca has most recently produced Alexander Nanau's latest documentary, “Colectiv”.
Gabriela Suciu
Gabriela Suciu graduated UNATC with a BA in Directing, an MA in Production and is now working on her PhD thesis on Co-production. Since 2008, she has consistently produced 6 to 8 titles a year, all lengths, genres and formats. In 2012, she founded Atelier de Film, a production and distribution company to support debut films, under the umbrella of the University. In 2017, she took over the company to continue the work started in an independent, professional system. She is also a guest lecturer at UNATC at the Film Production Masters program and a programmer forArkadia Shortfest.
Oana Giurgiu
Journalism and Law graduate, Oana Giurgiu directed TV documentaries before moving to film, as part of the production team of “The death of Mr. Lăzărescu” directed by Cristi Puiu (Un certain regard - Cannes 2005), production manager of “Delta” by Kornél Mundruczó (FIPRESCI award - Cannes 2008) and produced Tudor Giurgiu’s “Love sick” (Berlinale 2006 - Panorama), “Of snails and men” (Romanian boxoffice hit in 2012) and “Why me?” (Berlinale 2015 - Panorama); Peter Strickland’s “Katalin Varga” (Silver Bear, Berlinale 2009, Best European Discovery – EFA Awards 2009), “Somewhere in Palilula” debut film of Romanian acclaimed theatre director Silviu Purcărete (Karlovy Vary IFF 2012), “Sieranevada” (Cannes Competion 2016). Oana is also executive director of Transilvania International Film Festival and documentary filmmaker. Her debut feature documentary, Aliyah DaDa was released at Astra FF in Romania and at Jerusalem JFF, received GOPO Award for best Romanian documentary in 2015.
residents
2019
Ori Aharon
Ori Aharon is a scriptwriter and film director who was born and raised in Haifa and lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. He’s a graduate of The Steve Tisch School of Film and TV at the Tel Aviv University. His thesis film “Dolfin Megumi” [Rubber Dolphin] premiered at the 71st Cannes Film Festival as an Official Selection of the Cinéfondation 2018. “Osher” is his first feature film.
Phyllis Grae Grande
Phyllis Grae Grande is a producer and director from the Philippines. She has produced and line produced films by Mikhail Red, John Torres, Jet Leyco, among others. Her most recent productions, “Billie” and “Emma” (dir. Samantha Lee) won the Audience Choice Award at the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, while “Dog Days” (dir. Timmy Harn), won the Netpac Jury prize in QCinema IFF and had its international premiere at Rotterdam IFF. In 2017, Phyllis started directing her own projects. Her short film as a director, “Kun' Di Man” (“If Not”), won the QCinema IFF 2017 Audience Choice Award. Her first documentary feature, “Haunted: A Last Visit to the Red House”, was selected in the the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival in China (2018). Phyllis is now developing her first narrative feature, “Everybody Leaves”, to be shot in Japan.
Tess Martin
Tess Martin is a filmmaker who works with hand-made animation techniques. Her work often blurs the boundaries between experimental/narrative and film/art. “Tracing Rita” is her first feature-length project after many short films and installations. She is based in Rotterdam where she also teaches and runs a regular animation event.
Alexandru Mavrodineanu
Alexandru Mavrodineanu is a director and producer currently based in Bucharest. After graduating high school in southern Italy, he moved to Berlin where he completed his studies in 1999. He enrolled as camera operator and worked for Arte, Rai1, BBC, RTL, CNN etc. After returning to Romania, he shifted to directing. His first two short films “The Boxing Lesson” and “Music in the Blood” propelled him on the list of the up-and-coming talents in Romanian cinema. His feature-length directorial debut came in 2014 with “The Birdman”, a documentary produced in association with HBO Romania. His latest production “Caisă”, a feature-length documentary, is currently in the international festival circuit.
Kerstin Neuwirth
Kerstin Neuwirth is born in Wolfsberg, Austria. She first studied art history and Romance studies at the University of Vienna. She then studied film at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Her short films, including “Anfang Juni” and “Die Bergfrau” were screened at international festivals. For “Anfang Juni” she received the NRW Competition Award at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. She was awarded the North Rhine-Westphalian Film Prize in the Film category. Her latest short “Die Bergfrau” received the prize for the Best Film at the Kyiv International Short Film Festival. She is currently developing her debut feature film. Kerstin Neuwirth lives in Cologne, Germany.
Jayisha Patel
Jayisha Patel is an award winning British filmmaker, who works at the intersection of cinematic film and VR. Her films have screened at Toronto International Film Festival, Berlinale, Sundance, BFI London Film Festival and Locarno amongst others. Her works embody an intersectional female gaze and seek to give a platform to women of color fighting stereotypes, in bold and unconventional ways. Her short film “A Paradise” premiered at the Berlinale in 2014. Her short film, “Circle” screened at the Berlinale and Toronto International Film Festival amongst others. It was nominated for a One World Media Award, two Grierson Awards and won the David L. Wolper Award at the IDA’S. It also won the top short film prize at Academy Qualifying Chicago International Film Festival.
Diana Voinea
Diana Voinea was born and grew up in Constanta, a city by the Black Sea. She spent her summers reading more than going to the beach. At 16 she watched Andrei Rublev and this experience shaped her interest in arthouse cinema. Diana then studied screenwriting in UNATC and, until now, she wrote two short scripts that were turned into films, another one that is in production right now and a feature film that was on the brink of entering the national film funding contest.
Jack Wake-Walker
Jack Wake-Walker is a British film and theatre director, writer and video artist based in Copenhagen. Since 2007, Jack has made over 20 films and plays of various shapes and sizes. In 2014, his poetry film “Photon” was nominated for Best Poetry Film at Zebra Poetry Film Festival, Berlin, before being showcased at Berlinale. In June 2018, his Medellín-based narrative short “No Mileage” premiered at Oscar-qualifying Huesca Film Festival in Spain. In April 2019, Jack directed JB Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls” in Copenhagen’s Krudttønden Theatre. He is currently in production with another short, “Cuatros Cuartos”.