- JANEZ LEPAJNE
- LESZEK DAWID 
- BÁLINT KENYERES
- ANITA PIOTROWSKA
- Ondřej Vavrečka


 

     Janez Lapajne was born in 1967 in Celje, Slovenia. He is a son of a renowned geophysicist and seismologist Janez K. Lapajne. He graduated from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT) in Ljubljana with a diploma film Breakages/Črepinjice (1997), for which he was awarded the Grand Prix – Golden Dinosaur at the 5th edition of Festival Etiuda a year later. During studies he dealt both with documentary and feature films. The following short films were made then: Blackred/Črnordeče (1992), An Electric Chair Over Ljubljana or What a Painter Can Do With Two Suitcases/Električni stol nad Ljubljano ali Kaj počne slikar z dvema kovčkoma (1995), Smile/Smehljaj(1996) and The Kanižarica Lignite Mine Closure/Rudnik rjavega premoga Kanižarica v zapiranju(1997). He is the leading Slovenian independent film director. His made his feature film debut with Rustling Landscapes/Šelestenje (2002). His two other films Short Circuits/Kratki stiki (2006) and Personal baggage/Osebna prtljaga (2009) are considered to be the most valuable pictures of Slovenian cinematography. In 2004 Lapajne established PoEtiko, an academy for researching the art of film directing. He is a lecturer at the Multimedia Academy Ljubljana and was also the first chairperson of the Slovenian Directors’ Association. From time to time he directs for theatres, radio and television. His work with actors consists in many intensive rehearsals before actual shooting begins. He does not use the screenplay focusing mainly on human emotions as well as film’s rhythm and harmony. While making all of his films, he not only directed them but also wrote scripts and took care of editing. Sometimes he designs costumes, too. Currently, he is working on his fourth feature film. In 2000 he was a member of jury at Etiuda competition for the first time. This year again, as one of the laureates of 18 years history of the event, he will assess his younger peers’ films.
 

BÁLINT KENYERES was born in 1976 in Budapest. Following his studies in philosophy, history, and aesthetics, he graduated from Film and Theatre Academy with major in Film Directing in 2006. His 8 minute wartime story Colony/Kólonia(1999) as well as a 15 minute Teleplay/Tévéjáték(2001) were made there. Since 2006 he has been a member of the European Film Society. His short film about the tragedy of refugees Before Dawn (2005) was presented at the  Film Festival in Cannes and has received many awards at the largest international festivals including EFA 2006: Best European Short Film Award or Sundance 2006: Honorable Mention. His short feature films (including Closing time/Zárás, 1999;  The History of Aviation/A repülés története, 2009) were screened at about 30 film festivals around the globe, having been awarded nominations, prizes, and mentions (e.g. IFF Melodist, Ukraine,1999; Mediawave, Hungary, 2000). |His latest feature film Hier starring a f amous Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård (Breaking the Waves, Good Will Hunting,, Amistad) is to have its premiere soon. Bálint Kenyeres stars in his own films as well as in other directors’ productions (Forest/Rengeteg, 2003; My one and onlies/Egyetleneim, 2006).
 

Anita Piotrowska is a film critic who has been associated with „Tygodnik Powszechny” weekly for years. She also works for other media e.g. “Charaktery” psychological monthly, “Kino” and “Film” magazines, and TV channels such as Ale kino!, Canal + and TVP Kultura.  She is a co-author of many film publications including Panorama kina najnowszego (The panorama of contemporary cinema), Światowa encyklopedia filmu religijnego (The world encyclopedia of religious films), Encyklopedia kina (Encyclopedia of cinema), Szukając von Triera (Looking for von Trier). She has been selecting documentaries for the Krakow Film Festival for years. She is an active member of the International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI. She has been a member of jury at many film festivals including Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Istanbul, Krakow, Oberhausen, Ankara, as well at Era New Horizons in Wroclaw and “Sputnik over Poland” Russian Film Festival.

Ondřej Vavrečka was born in Prague in 1980. He graduated from the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University in Prague and from FAMU Film School. He also studied at Moscow VGIK. He is a globetrotter; he spent half a year in Lourdes as a volunteer in Cité St. Pierre Centre, he helped building ships in Egypt, he took care of gardens which were used in Roman Polanński’s Oliver Twist. He works with words, sound, and pictures. He likes experimenting and working with 16 mm tape best. His documentaries resemble collages in which he allows his audience to interpret them freely. He has co-created many film and sound performances (Š282, P-P pleonasmus a Dateispeicher – with M. Blažíčk), Coffin of exhaustion/Rakev přepětí, Slapdash Platform/Perón halabala, Don’t tell/Nemluvit (Brykule), Lucid Dream of Mr. William Heerlein Lindley/Lucidní sny pana Williama Heerleina Lindleyho (M. Vojtěchovský, P. Cusack). He made film works with a conceptual artist J. Mančušk (The I inside/Ztráta paměti, Invisible, Backwards game/Hra pozpátku). He was in a folk group Magison, is a member of punk and poetry theatre Theatre de la Liberté and junkrock’n’roll group Paumanok. His films have been screened at many festivals in the Czech Republic and abroad, including Jihlava, Olomouc, Banská Bystrica, Prague, London, Brussels, Jaipur. Apart from etudes (Já + 5 * 30 m * 16 mm + BOLEX H16, Good Morning/Dobrý den, Mrs. L. /Paní L.,Bachelor’s cycle COAGULA/Bakalářský cyklus COAGULA, Seven ears of Zodiac/Sedm uší zvířetní ku (together with a documentary maker V. Ježkovou), Linden of the third millennium/Lípa třetího tisíciletí, Novosti dnja (mid length film selected for Cinepur Choice) he made full length documentaries: The Origin and the Lion/Počátek a lev (2009, nominated to a prestigious Czech A.N. Stankovič’s award) and  Ultimatum Refugium (2011, selected to the “Czech Joy” section at the International Documentary Film  Festival in Jihlava.)