Jacqueline Lentzou is an artist whose cinematic language involves discovering poetry in seemingly mundane premises. A London Film School graduate (2013), she has written and directed five short films—Thirteen Blue (2013), Fox (2016), Hiwa (2017), Hector Malot: The Last Day of the Year (2018), and The End of Suffering (2020)—and all of them had successful festival careers, having premiered at Locarno, Toronto, Berlin, and Cannes. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Cine Leica Discovery Award by the Semaine de la Critique jury at Cannes for Hector Malot. Having developed the script at the Sundance Film Festival’s Screenwriting Workshop, Moon, 66 Questions is her debut feature.

Madiano Marcheti was born and raised in the state of Mato Grosso, in Brazil’s Amazon region. He directed the short film The Coldest Place in Rio, which was selected by the Cinélatino Festival 27èmes Rencontres de Toulouse and several other festivals, and was awarded at the VII Festival Janela Internacional de Cinema de Recife. He also directed the short films The Weight of Loving You, In Transit, and Void, all of which screened in several Brazilian festivals. He is currently working on his new feature film Mother of Gold while he develops the scripts for the projects Images of the Dungeon (for director Carolina Aleixo) and Muff on Muff (for director Lia Kulakauskas). Madalena is his first feature film.

Born in Muş, Turkey, Ferit Karahan lives in Istanbul. He started in the film business working as an assistant director on feature films. His short films Before the Flood (2010) and Yusiv’s Dream (2011) have been screened at numerous festivals and have won many awards. His feature debut, The Fall From Heaven (2013), premiered at the Antalya Film Festival and won Best Film. It also won the Best First Film Prize at the Ankara Film Festival and was later screened at more than 15 festivals, where it won more than 10 awards. He made a TV film for Fox, Eski Köye Yeni Adet, that was subsequently released in 340 cinemas in Turkey. His Brother’s Keeper had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale earlier this year.

Born in 1988 in Rome, the D’Innocenzo brothers are self-taught filmmakers. Their debut film, Boys Cry, was presented at the 2018 Berlinale in the Panorama section and received several awards, including, the Nastri D’Argento for Best New Director, Best First Film, and Best Screenplay, and four nominations for the David di Donatello Awards, including Best New Director and Best Original Screenplay. The success of Boys Cry gave the brothers the opportunity to participate in the prestigious workshop at the Sundance Film Festival, under the guidance of the multiple Oscar-nominee Paul Thomas Anderson. In 2019, they published their first poetry collection, Mia Madre È un’ Arma (My Mother Is a Weapon). In 2020, they published their first book of photography, Night Pharmacy. Bad Tales is their second feature film.

Born in 1981 in Tehran, Reza Dormishian studied English and became involved in film journalism. He was an assistant to prestigious Iranian filmmakers Dariush Mehrjui and Alireza Davoudnejad, and he’s also been credited as a scriptwriter for some films and TV productions. He started making short films in 2002, and Hatred (2012) was his first feature film, produced independently in Istanbul and screened at many international festivals, including Montreal and Warsaw. His second feature, I’m Not Angry! (2014), was very controversial in Iran and had its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Panorama section. It was one of most successful Iranian films in 2014 and 2015, screening at more than 50 festivals and collecting 10 awards. Mr. Dormishian’s third movie Lantouri (2016) also premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama section and screened at more than 50 festivals, collecting six international awards. White Chairs (2017) was his fourth feature film, made in Christchurch, New Zealand. No Choice is his fifth feature.

After studying microeconomy and film production in Tbilisi (known in some languages as Tiflis), Alexandre Koberidze moved to Berlin and studied directing at the German Film- and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). During his studies, he directed several successful short films, starting with his short Colophon (2015) that gained critical plaudits at the Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen. His first feature, Let the Summer Never Come Again (2017), won multiple awards at many festivals worldwide, including the Grand Prix at FID Marseille. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? is his second feature.

Bettina Oberli grew up in Samoa and Meiringen, Switzerland, and lives in Zurich. She graduated from the Zurich University of the Arts and followed that with various assistantships in New York and Berlin. Her shorts and feature films have been shown at festivals around the world. Her well-regarded debut film, Im Nordwind, premiered in 2004 at the San Sebastian IFF and was awarded several prizes. Her most successful film to date was Late Bloomers (2006), which still remains among the top three Swiss feature films of all time. In addition to The Murder Farm (2009) and Lovely Louise (2013), she directed the TV mini-series Private Banking in 2017. In 2018, she premiered her first French-language film, With the Wind, at the Locarno Film Festival. She also makes music videos and short films, and, in 2013, she directed Anna Karenina, her first stage production. She is also an opera director. My Wonderful Wanda is her sixth feature film.

A graduate of the National Film University in Bucharest in 1994, Andrei Gruzsniczki became assistant director to Romania’s most acclaimed filmmaker, Lucian Pintilie, for his Next Stop, Paradise and Niki and Flo. Andrei also wrote and directed short films and TV productions. His debut, The Other Irene, won the FIPRESCI Award at CinePecs Moveast IFF 2008 and was the Best Romanian Feature at Transylvania IFF in 2009. His second feature film, Quod Erat Demonstrandum, won the Special Jury Award at the Rome IFF in 2013. Andrei’s third feature, Zavera, was in competition at the Cairo IFF in 2019. No Rest for the Old Lady had its world premiere at the Moscow IFF earlier this year and was slated for the Tiantan Award Competition at the now-postponed Beijing IFF.

Born in Argentina, Paula Hernández graduated from the Instituto Vocacional de Arte in 1988 and from the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires in 1996. Hernández has been working in the film industry since 1989 and has made several short films, documentaries, and feature films. Her first feature, Inheritance (2001), won numerous awards, including Best First Feature, Best Actress, and the Audience Award at the Amiens festival in France. Since then, she has made Rain (2008; Best Film at the Mannheim festival), Un Amor (2011), and The Sleepwalkers (2019; selected by numerous festivals including Toronto, Busan, and Gothenburg). The Siamese Bond had its world premiere at the Mar del Plata festival in Argentina.

Born in São Paulo in 1974, Marcela Lordy graduated from the film department at the prestigious FAAP (Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado) and then specialised in directing actors at EICTV, the International School of Film and TV in Cuba, working both as a teacher and an assistant director. She directed the short films Sonhos de Lulu (2009), Aluga-se (2012) and Ser O Que Se É (2018), the telefilm A Musa Impassíve(2010) and the documentary Ouvir o Rio: uma escultura sonora de Cildo Meireles (2012), before making her first feature, The Book of Delights.