Jana Matthes and Andrea Schramm work as directors and producers for arte, 3sat, ARD and ZDF. After having studied journalism in Leipzig and directing in Potsdam-Babelsberg they founded SCHRAMM MATTHES FILM. They portray complex political and social developments in radically personal stories. Many of their films have been screened on international festivals and won prizes, such as the ‘DEUTSCHER FERNSEHPREIS’ (‘German Television Award’) and the Discovery Channel Award.

NANFU WANG – DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, CO-EDITOR Nanfu Wang is an award-winning Chinese filmmaker based in the U.S. Her feature documentaries include Hooligan Sparrow (Sundance 2016), I Am Another You (SXSW 2017, Special Jury Prize winner), and One Child Nation (Sundance 2019, Grand Jury Prize Winner). Wang was awarded the 2020 MacArthur Genius Grant. She has received four Emmy nominations and was shortlisted for two Academy Awards for her films and is a recipient of the Independent Spirit Award, the Peabody Award, the George Polk Award, Cinema Eye Honor awards, and an IDA award. In her films, Wang creates intimate character studies that examine the impact of authoritarian governance, corruption, and lack of accountability on the lives of individuals and the well-being of communities. With the rigor of an investigative journalist and immersive, emotionally powerful storytelling, Wang interrogates notions of responsibility and freedom, particularly amid the repressive state mandates in her native China. Originally from a remote village in China, Wang overcame poverty and a lack of access to formal education and eventually earned three Master’s degrees from Shanghai University (M.A. in English Literature), Ohio University (M.A. in Media Studies), and New York University (M.A. in Documentary Filmmaking). She teaches cinematography and editing at New York University.

Award winning Director, Olivier Bernier is committed to tell stories that explore the human condition and put a hyper focus on topics that can change the way we look at the world. Part American, part Quebecois, Olivier is also the Co-Founder and Creative Director of the production company, Rota6 Films, specializing in documentary and commercial films. Olivier’s here to present his latest project, the feature documentary titled Forget Me Not.

This film is Brooke's first feature documentary. Most recently and notably she made the Blacklist's Inaugural Indigenous List with TINDER ON THE REZ along with her co-writer Angela Tucker. She also produced BELLA VISTA (Rotterdam), SIXTY FOUR FLOOD (PBS & PBS Digital) and the podcast ALL MY RELATIONS with Matika Wilbur and Dr. Adrienne Keene. In 2019, she was selected to participate as a NATIVe Fellow at the European Film Market/Berlinale. She holds an MFA in Film from NYU. Brooke is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation and a descendent of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Irene Vélez-Torres is currently attached to the University of Valle as Full Professor and specializes in socio-environmental conflicts and ethno-racial inequalities. While engaging in research she frequently applies audio-visual technology as a research methodology or as a means to present her findings and experiences to a broader audience rather than just an academic one. In 2015 she produced two mid- length documentaries as part of a broad and international research project about environmental conflicts in the Cauca province. Her latest production is called ‘Voces de Guerrilla’, which she produced together with Sjoerd van Grootheest.

Eric Daniel Metzgar is an Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker and two-time Sundance Documentary Lab Fellow. He directed, shot and edited REPORTER about New York Times journalist Nick Kristof, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, aired on HBO, and was nominated for an Emmy Award. He produced and edited CRIME + PUNISHMENT (Executive Produced by Laura Poitras), which won a Grand Jury Award for "Social Impact" at Sundance, won an Emmy Award, and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. He also directed, shot and edited LIFE.SUPPORT.MUSIC., which was broadcast on POV (PBS' prestigious documentary showcase), and THE CHANCES OF THE WORLD CHANGING, which was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and broadcast on POV. Metzgar also edited GIVE UP TOMORROW (Emmy nominated, POV), MAYOR (POV), and ALMOST SUNRISE (Emmy nominated, POV).

Ameen Nayfeh was born in Palestine in 1988. In 2012, he graduated with an MFA from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in Jordan with the goal of telling authentic stories from his region. He has written, produced and directed award-winning short films, and has been freelancing for film and TV production for the past six years.

Elena is a young German filmmaker who started her career as a media psychologist researching the framing effects in the news coverage of the Iraq War in the US, Britain and Sweden. Today she is working as a story producer for ARTE, WDR, RTL and SPIEGEL TV Wissen, New York Times. Elena’s films focus on questions around education, migration, working culture, love and ethnic conflict, employing visual inspirations from the world of music and dance. As a director, Elena is a fellow of the Logan Non-Fiction Program in New York. Her short documentary “Pizza, Democracy and the Little Prince’’, co-directed with Alessandro Leonardi, earned the ‘’Best Short Documentary Award 2019’’ at the Sedona Film Festival.

Jennifer Abbott is a multi-award-winning filmmaker and media activist who for the last 25 years has been making films about some of the most urgent social, political and environmental issues of the day. Born in Montreal, she pursued an education dedicated to radical political thought, women’s studies and deep ecology, which are at the centre of her beliefs today. She is best known as one of the Directors & the Editor of 2003’s breakthrough documentary, The Corporation. This year will also see the release of her feature documentary, The Magnitude of All Things, about ecological grief in the era of climate change. Jennifer is a mother of three and lives in Vancouver.