Zoltán Nagy is a Hungarian film director born in 1988. He first studied directing at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Romania, before getting accepted for his MA studies to the University of Theatre and Film Arts of Budapest (SZFE). His short film The Switch (2015) got accepted to several international film festivals, and Mildly Salty (2016) was his graduation film. On the Quiet is his first feature film.

Zhang Chong graduated from Beijing Film Academy. He has produced Chinese TV shows, and he got his start in cinema as a scriptwriter. His script works include Full Circle (by Zhang Yang, 2012). Zhang also produced Tiny Times 3.0 (2014) and Tiny Times 4.0 (2015). The Fourth Wall is Zhang’s second film as a director after Super Me (2019).

Zhang Bo graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. The Fourth Wall is his debut film as both director and scriptwriter.

Svetla Tsotsorkova was born in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 1977. In 2004 she graduated from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia. Her short film Life with Sophia (2004) was screened at various international film festivals (Critics’ Week at Cannes, Karlovy Vary, and Telluride, among others) and won various awards. Her first feature, Thirst, had its world premiere in the San Sebastián International Film Festival’s ‘New Directors’ competition in 2015. The film participated in more than 60 festivals around the world, received various awards, and was distributed in 15 countries. In 2016 it was a European Discovery nominee at the European Film Awards. Sister is her second feature film.

Rodd Rathjen is an Australian writer/director born in 1981 and raised in Colbinabbin, a small country town in central Victoria. Rodd completed a Bachelor of Film and Television from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2010. Since graduating Rodd completed a mentorship with Hopscotch Features working with the Creative Development team. In India, he made the short Tau Seru (2013), which had its World Premiere at Cannes as part of the International Critics’ Week. The film also won Best Australian Short at the Melbourne IFF in 2013 and has since screened at over 50 International festivals, receiving a number of awards in the process. Buoyancy is his debut feature film.

Born in Tehran in 1967, Reza Mirkarimi graduated in Graphic Arts from the University of Fine Arts in Tehran. He began his career in cinema as director, writer, and producer in 1987 with a short film and two TV series. His directorial debut, The Child and the Soldier (1999), won national and international awards in Isfahan, Nantes, and Zlin. His second feature, Under the Moonlight (2000) won the 40th International Critics Week Best Feature Award at the 2001 Cannes International Film Festival. It went on to win the Best Director Award and the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2001. Mirkarimi has so far won seven Golden Simorgh awards at the Fajr Film Festival. Three of his films were selected as Iran’s submission to the Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film category: So Close, So Far (2005), A Cube of Sugar (2011), and Today (2014). His fourth and fifth feature films, As Simple as That (2007) and Daughter (2016), won the Golden George Award for Best Picture at the 30th and the 38th Moscow International Film Festival respectively. Castle of Dreams won big at Shanghai, receiving awards for best picture, best director, and best actor.

Born in Mollet del Vallès (Barcelona) in 1980, Neus Ballús studied filmmaking and Creative Documentary at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona). Her first feature-length film, La plaga (2013), premiered at the 63rd Berlinale Forum, was nominated for the European Film Awards (“European Discovery”), the LUX Prize Awards, the Goya Prizes, and has received more than 20 international prizes, including 4 Premis Gaudí and the prestigious and historical 57th Premi Sant Jordi to the Best Spanish First Film. Strongly interested in the boundaries between documentary and fiction filmmaking, she has specialised in scriptwriting, editing, and working with nonprofessional actors. Staff Only is her first fiction feature.

An award-winning Russian screenwriter, director, and author of numerous TV series and successful feature films, Natalya Nazarova made her feature directorial debut in 2012 with The Daughter. It went on to win the FIPRESCI (International Critics) awards at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and the Warsaw International Film Festival, and the best debut award at the Kinotavr festival. It was also selected for the Honfleur, Cottbus, Gothenburg, Palm Springs, San Francisco, and Brussels festivals, as well as many others. She contributed a section to the omnibus film Petersburg: A Selfie (2016), directed the short film Firefly (2016) and co-directed the feature Love Triangle (2019).

Maya Da-Rin is a filmmaker and visual artist. She received her bachelor’s degree from Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains in France, holds a master’s degree in Cinema and Art History from Sorbonne Nouvelle, and has participated in film workshops at the Cuban School of Cinema. Her work has been shown in film festivals and art institutions throughout the world, including Toronto, DokLeipzig, MoMA and the Vilnius Contemporary Art Centre. Her 2010 documentary Terras (Lands) was shown at more than 40 film festivals, and her first fiction feature project, A Febre (The Fever) premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2019, where it received the Best Actor Pardo, the FIPRESCI Prize for best film, and the ‘Environment Is Quality of Life’ prize.

The Slovak director Ivan Ostrochovský, born in 1972 in Zilina, directed his first feature documentary Velvet Terrorists in 2013. It premiered at the Berlinale in 2014, where it won the Tagesspiegel Readers’ Award. Ivan’s feature debut Koza celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2015. It was shortlisted for the 2015 European Film Awards and was the Slovak Oscar Entry for 2016. Servants was presented in a World Premiere at the new Berlinale competition section ‘Encounters’ in February 2020. He is also a co-owner and producer at sentimentalfilm and Punkchart Films.

Born in 1980 in Southern Jutland, Denmark, Frelle Petersen is a filmmaker who explores human behaviour and family relations. Ever since he was a teenager, Frelle knew he wanted to be a director, and he experimented from an early age with his father’s small camcorder. In his award-winning shorts Going Nowhere (2010), As You Were (2011), and Mommy (2012) his interest in family and human interaction became apparent. Uncle (2019)—where Frelle serves as writer, director, cinematographer, and editor—is his second feature film, after the critically acclaimed Where Have all the Good Men Gone? (2016).