Iglika Trifonova is a screenwriter and director of documentary and fiction films whose works have been widely acclaimed and awarded at national and international film festivals. Born in Sofia, she graduated in Film and Television Directing from NATFA in 1982. She began her career in documentary filmmaking with films such as Leto Gospodne 1990, Possible Distances and Stories of Murders, which were awarded at international film festivals. She worked as an assistant director to two of Bulgaria’s most renowned filmmakers Georgi Djulgerov and Rangel Valchanov. In 2001, she made her fiction feature debut with Letter to America, Bulgaria’s official submission for the Oscar Academy Awards. Her other films include Investigation, The Prosecutor, the Defender, the Father and His Son and Lift for Patients.
Daniel Kötter is a theatre and documentary film director whose interdisciplinary and collaborative practice spans more than two decades. His work explores social, urban and environmental transformations through documentary, performative and research-based formats. Kötter has developed projects across Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, often in collaboration with local artists and communities. Between 2018 and 2021 he created the series landscapes and bodies, examining the impact of mining on people and territories through performances and VR films. His documentary works include Yu Gong, awarded Best Documentary at Achtung Berlin 2020, and the trilogy Hashti Tehran, Desert View and Rift Finfinnee. His feature documentary Landshaft received the German Film Critics’ Association Award for Best Documentary Film in 2023.
Elene is a filmmaker and screenwriter born in Georgia in 1988. She spent most of her life in Brussels, Belgium, where she studied Political Science and earned an MA in Eastern Europe and Caucasus Studies. After completing film criticism courses and working in various fields of cinematography, she returned to Georgia in 2016 to focus on directing her own films. Naveriani has worked as a programmer for the Tbilisi International Film Festival and is an alumna of prestigious international training programs including IDFA Academy, EAVE, EurasiaDOC and goEast. Her projects have received support from major international funds such as CNC, the Belgium Film Fund, the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund. Her debut feature documentary Blueberry Dreams premiered in the Next competition at CPH in 2024.
Kerem Soyyilmaz is a filmmaker born and raised in Beşiktaş, Istanbul. After building a career in commercial filmmaking, he directed his first feature documentary, Searching for Rodakis, a project supported by the Danish Film Institute. The film received 14 awards and distinctions at festivals in Turkey, Greece, Germany and Bulgaria, including Best Documentary Film at the 30th Adana Golden Boll International Film Festival and Best Mid-Length Film at RIFE. His work focuses on themes of migration, belonging and identity, often exploring connections between cultures and communities. Living and working between Copenhagen and Istanbul, Soyyilmaz develops international projects that bridge Denmark and Turkey while continuing work on his upcoming film productions.
Liza Boeva is a screenwriter, director, art historian and university professor with a PhD in Art History. Her practice is interdisciplinary, spanning cinema, literature and the visual arts, and she has developed her own authorial lecture-film format. She and actor Itzhak Finzi co-founded “Filizi 33”, an educational platform dedicated to author-driven films and online courses in art and cultural history. She is the author of numerous documentary and educational projects aimed at promoting cultural heritage and visual culture. Boeva is a member of the European Film Academy and actively participates in international cultural and educational initiatives.
Vitezslav Chovanec is a film professional specializing in documentary cinema, festival strategy and international promotion. He works at the Czech Film Center, a division of the Czech Film Fund, where he is responsible for the international promotion of Czech documentary and short films. He also runs Mad Reels, an initiative dedicated to festival distribution for feature documentaries. In addition, Chovanec serves as an advisor to the programming team of the One World Human Rights Film Festival in Prague, one of Europe’s leading documentary film events. Alongside his industry work, he regularly writes about cinema for the Czech film magazine Cinepur, contributing critical analysis and insight into contemporary documentary and arthouse filmmaking.