Guests
2021
Matthieu Taponier
Matthieu Taponier is a Franco-American screenwriter, script consultant and film editor. After studying Modern Literature in Paris, he completed an MFA in filmmaking at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. As a script consultant he has been tutoring in workshops such as the Critic’s Week “Next Step”, DFI’s “Hezayah Screenwriting Lab” and Le Groupe Ouest’s “LIM - Less is More”. He collaborated as a script and film editor on Son of Saul by László Nemes (Grand Prix Cannes 2015, Golden Globe, Oscar and BAFTA 2016); as a co-writer and film editor on Nemes’ Sunset (FIPRESCI Venice 2018); as a script and film editor on Beginning by Dea Kulumbegashvili (Cannes label 2020, FIPRESCI TIFF 2020, Golden Seashell San Sebastian 2020).
Claudia Bottino
After moving to France to study Modern Literature, Claudia Bottino was on the writing team for the award-winning TV series AINSI SOIENT-ILS (ARTE). After receiving training at the TorinoFilmLab’s Script&Pitch program, she has been working as an independent script consultant and as a tutor for La Scénaristerie, a development hub for screenwriters based in Paris. Currently, she is working as a screenwriter on various international art-house projects, including the upcoming features of directors Julien Gaspar-Oliveri, Hugo Vieira da Silva and Senad Šahmanović – whose first feature, Sirin, was granted the Eurimages fund in June 2021. Claudia is a MidPoint Feature Launch and Sarajevo CineLink alumna.
Julie Billy
Julie Billy produced around a dozen films at Haut et Court including Gagarine by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh (Official Selection Cannes 2020) or A Chiara by Jonas Carpignano (Director’s Fortnight Award 2021). She produced a wide range of films from the genre film The Night Eats the World by Dominique Rocher (Tribeca) to a social feature documentary Latifa by Olivier Peyon and Cyril Brody (Rotterdam). Her international co-production credits include Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, Nadav Lapid’s The Kindergarten Teacher and Jonas Carpignano’s A Ciambra. Julie is co-founder and co-chair of Collectif 5050, which promotes gender equality and diversity in the industry.
Bianca Oana
Bianca is a producer and writer based in Bucharest and Berlin. Since 2009, she has been working in developing, producing and promoting multi-awarded art-house films, including ‘Toto and His Sisters’ 2014 (San Sebastian IFF World Premiere, Angers Grand Prix, Zurich IFF Golden Eye), ‘Touch Me Not’ (Berlinale Golden Bear and Best Debut Feature 2018) and ‘Collective’ (Venice Official Selection, EFA Best Documentary, nominated for Best International Feature and Best Documentary at the 93rd Academy Awards). Currently producing Adina Pintilie's second feature 'Death and the Maiden' and co-producing Theo Montoya's 'Anhell69'.
residents
2021
Geo Doba
Geo is a writer-director who studied filmmaking in London and Bucharest, at The Screen Arts Institute, NFTS, and UNATC Bucharest. More recently, she graduated from the Serial Eyes 2021 writing program at Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin. To date, her portfolio includes web series, two short films, and an upcoming third one selected for the Co-production Forum at Brussels Film Festival 2021. She wrote for a late-night show at Comedy Central Romania and a Romanian animation series soon to be released. Geo also authored several short stories published in comic book anthologies and has a graphic novel in development.
Mikaël Gaudin
Mikael Gaudin has been studying in the Louis Lumière film school in France, and then has worked as assistant director for the past ten years with directors such as Jacques Audiard and Rebecca Zlotowski. He has directed four short films so far. LEVIRAT is his first project as a feature.
Adina Istrate
Adina Istrate is a writer/director based in London. Her fiction credits include ‘The Perfect One’ - segment of ‘RIGA 2041’ a 3D feature showcasing Riga as the European Capital of Culture, and ‘Terminally Happy’, a short developed through the Berlinale Short Film Station, Euro-Connections Clermont-Ferrand and Film London.
This year, Adina has co-produced and co-directed '512 Hours', a feature documentary about iconic performance artist Marina Abramovic’s eponymous show at the Serpentine Galleries in London. The film premiered at CPH:DOX 2021 and is broadcast in the UK by Sky Arts.
The fiction projects she is currently developing have received support from the Venice Biennale, IFP, the Wellcome Trust and Mother Tongues Awards.
Jack King
Jack is a self-taught film-maker from Bradford, Yorkshire, who started out making narrative music videos for indie and major record labels. His music videos have had racked up repeated Vimeo staff picks and millions of views online. Jack made a long string of low-budget shorts, and his last 'Prints' was shot in Northern Japan and selected for the 41st Clermont Ferrand Short film festival among others. Jack was recently selected to participate in the BFI development programme NETWORK@LFF, and was also a recipient of BFI Network early development funding for his first feature 'The Ceremony'.
Hilke Rönnfeldt
Hilke Rönnfeldt, born in Northern Germany with Danish-Icelandic roots, graduated as screenwriter in Sweden and is a part of independent film collective Super16 in Copenhagen as a director. Her films have successfully run the international film festival circuit, her latest film SILENCE OF THE FISH premiered at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019. She is a Berlinale Talents (2021), NISI MASA European Short PItch (2020), Screenwriting Lab Filmfund Hamburg (2019) alumna.
Apoorva Satish
Born and raised in Chennai, a colourful conglomerate of urban villages, Apoorva was fascinated by the power of Tamil filmdom in state politics, igniting a passion for creating films that are socially and politically aware. Apoorva received her MFA from the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing arts, Prague. Her graduation film Kanya premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2020 in the Wide Angle: Asian short film competition, followed by a successful festival run across the world. Apoorva is currently based in Prague, exploring short- and long-format film projects. Her passion lies in exploring personal stories around socially relevant contemporary ideas and themes.
Pedro Carneiro
From a very early age, Lisbon-born filmmaker Pedro Carneiro was mesmerized by his city’s inherent cinematic qualities: its complex structure of hills and viewpoints and narrow streets; the intensity of the warmth and melancholy of its people and, above all, Lisbon’s inimitable light. His immense devotion for art and proudly conquered cinephilia was also a distinctive aspect of his upbringing. His most important formative experience was studying Film Directing at FAMU in Prague where, more than learning his craft, he was able to forge a new family of friends and deepened his passion for Cinema. Pedro is currently based in Lisbon, working and developing simultaneous film projects.
Meedo Taha
Meedo Taha is a filmmaker whose work questions identity and memory. He’s interested in characters who challenge preconceptions of culture, history, and power systems.
He grew up during the Lebanese Civil War in a family of doctors and video bootleggers. He has lived in England, Japan, Dubai, and the United States. His work includes the short film The Incident (award from the Directors Guild of America) and the novel A Road to Damascus (published by Interlink). His films have screened at Busan and Clermont-Ferrand, and have received support from the Doha Film Institute and Sundance Institute.
He earned a PhD in Architecture from Tokyo University and an MFA in Directing from UCLA.
Joana Vogdt
Joana Vogdt is a writer/director based in Berlin. She studied at Filmakademie Baden-Württemburg, Germany and La Femis, France. After her studies, she worked for several production companies in New York and Berlin, then in a freelance capacity as producer, script consultant and AD i.a. for Wim Wenders, followed by directing documentaries. In 2018 she was s a scholar of renown script program DrehbuchWerkstatt at HFF Munic. With her first fictional short script FLUID BORDER, she got selected to European Script&Pitch. The short was shown at numerous festivals, received several awards and is the German nomination for ESFAA 2022. EASTSHORE WILDWEST is her debut feature and supported by the regional fund MV .