Director captivated by the different facets of the human nature. For most of the times, he is the screenwriter of his productions by adapting literary classics. His third feature film November based on the Estonian author Andrus Kivirähk’s novel Rehepapp received the RIGA IFF Award 2017, various prizes at other international film festivals, and was selected as the Estonian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 19th Academy Awards.

After the graduation of Brno’s Masaryk University in 2015, joined the team of Czech Film Center that promotes Czech cinema and the local film industry abroad. Directly in charge of the promotion of Czech feature films at international festivals and presentation of Czech cinema at various film markets. The Czech Film Center operates as a part of the Czech Film Fund, the main film funding body in the Czech Republic.

Dorota Lech was born in Poland. She works for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) where she scouts films from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, screens international documentary submissions, and programs the TIFF Documentary Conference. She also works at Hot Docs International Documentary Festival and was previously at the National Film Board of Canada.

Executive director of the Helsinki International Film Festival Love & Anarchy – Finland’s major film festival that also runs the springtime Season Film Festival and the industry event Finnish Film Affair. Previously – programmer at Finland’s National Audiovisual Institute (2013 – 2017), producer at Lasipalatsi Media Centre (2010 – 2013), a film critic for Finland’s biggest newspaper – Helsingin Sanomat, and founder of the Fashion Film Festival (2012).

Involved in filmmaking since the age of 16. Studied philosophy at the University of Latvia. In 1995, founded company Locomotive Productions. Latvia and Lithuania have submitted films co-produced by his company for the Academy Award. He has accomplished more than 20 works of various genres – documentaries, feature and animation films. Interested in cinema as a form of art, even though he also highly values masterfully crafted films for entertainment. Member of European Film Academy.