Born in 1967 in Nagoya, Japan, Nadeshiko Koba graduated from Kinjo Gakuin University and entered the Furano Natural Studio to study screenwriting. In 1998, she started writing scenarios for TV dramas and documentaries, as well as song lyrics, in Tokyo. In 2007, she wrote the screenplay for The Dark Corners of the Shelves, which was selected by the Festival des Films du Monde in Montreal. In 2020, she moved to Yamaga, where Boneless Lantern, her first feature as a director, was shot.

Anna Kazejak is an internationally awarded director and screenwriter. Prior to attending at the National Film School in Lodz in 2001, she spent many years studying film theory. In 2005, Kazejak and two of her friends from school decided to produce a three-part film dealing with the economic migrations of young Poles. This film was the much-celebrated Ode to Joy. The three directors not only won the hearts of critics but many major prizes, as well (Special Jury Prize – Gdynia Film Festival, 2005; Platinum Award for Best Low Budget Production – WorldFest Independent Film Festival, Houston, 2007). The first fiction feature helmed by Kazejak was Flying Pigs, which was seen by a huge number of movie-goers. Her third film—The Word—had its World Premiere at the Berlinale and was shown at more than 40 internationals film festivals. Kazejak’s stand out directing work in television was for numerous episodes of HBO Poland’s version of In Treatment. She is a member of the European Film Academy and a board member of Polish Directors Guild.

Iris Kaltenbäck grew up in France, surrounded by a French mother, an Austrian father, and an American half-brother. After her studies in law and philosophy, she joined the Fémis film school in the script department. In 2013, she assisted Declan Donnellan at the Théâtre des Gémeaux in Paris. In 2015 she directed her first short film, Le vol des cigognes, which won an award at the Brussels International Film Festival. She won the Sopadin Junior prize for her screenplay titled Still Shot. Le Ravissement is her first feature film.

Zhang Lu was born in Yanbian, China in 1962. In 2004 he directed his first feature, Tang Poetry, which was selected for Locarno. He then began his career as a film director in both Chinese and Korean, making more than ten feature films. His next film, Grain in Ear (2005) won the Prix ACIDCCAS at Cannes Critics’ Week. His feature films Dooman River, Desert Dream and Fukuoka premiered at the Berlinale.

Selected Filmography: Tang Poetry (04); Grain in Ear (05); Iri (08), Dooman River (10); Love and… (15); Fukuoka (19); Yanagawa (21); The Shadowless Tower (23)

Steffi Niederzoll was born in Nuremberg in 1981. She studied audiovisual media arts at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) and the Escuela de Cine y Television in Cuba (EICTV) from 2001-2007. Her short films have successfully screened at numerous renowned national and international film festivals such as the Berlinale.

In addition to her film work, she is also involved in interdisciplinary artistic works. She was a member of the core group of the collective ‘1000 Gestalten’, which caused a worldwide sensation with its performance during the G20 summit in Hamburg. Her collective works have been presented at the Brecht Festival, the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde and Vejle, Denmark, among others. Seven Winters in Tehran is her first feature-length documentary.

Born in 1980, Houman Seyedi is a prolific director, scriptwriter, editor, and actor in Iranian cinema and theatre. He’s a well-known movie actor in the Iranian film and TV industries and has acted in 44 feature and TV films and series, including Asghar Farhadi’s Fireworks Wednesday. He runs one of the most prestigious film schools in Iran and teaches film acting; he has introduced many young actors to Iranian cinema. He made his feature directing debut with Africa, in 2011, and has received numerous national and international awards for his films.

Selected Filmography: All My Personal Belongings, Moved (short, 09), Asghar Peykan, His Wife and A Little More Unconventional Life (short, 10), Africa (11), 13 (13), Confessions of My Dangerous Mind (15), The Sound and the Fury (16), Sheeple (18), The Frog (15-episode series, 20-21), World War III (22)

Costa Rican and Panamanian, Kattia G. Zúñiga holds a degree in physical therapy and graduated as a dancer from the Danza Abierta program at the University of Costa Rica. She has collaborated as a producer and starred in various audiovisual projects, including the feature films Viaje by Paz Fábrega and Nina y Laura by Alejo Crisóstomo. She directed, wrote, and produced the short films Es Cecilia (2012) and Cosas que no se rompen (2017). Sister & Sister is her feature debut.

Milena Aboyan was born a Yazidi Kurd in Armenia in 1992. In 2010, she began a four-year acting training program in Germany. During the program, she played parts in several theatrical productions. After receiving her acting degree, she changed disciplines and began to focus on writing. She started working as an assistant dramatic advisor for an ARD TV series. In 2015, she began studying screenwriting at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. In 2019 she won the Emden Screenplay Award. Elaha is her final film at the Filmakademie. It was awarded the ‘Kaiju Cinema Diffusion Prize’ at the Locarno Film Festival.

Maha Haj was born in Nazareth in 1970. She graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in English and Arabic literature. Her cinematic experience was derived from her work as an artistic designer on the production of The Time That Remains by Elia Suleiman, The Attack by Ziad Douairi, as well as On the Hill by Rafael Natjari.

She wrote and directed the short film Oranges (2009) and the documentary Behind These Walls (2010). In 2015 she shot her first feature film Personal Affairs which was selected in 2016 Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection Un Certain Regard and critically acclaimed. The film also won the Haifa Film Festival’s Best Feature Award in 2016 and the Mediterranean Film Festival of Montpellier’s Critics’ Award, among others. Mediterranean Fever, her second feature, won the Best Screenplay award in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival last year.