Guests 2023

Mark Ulano & Patrushkha Mierzwa” The sound pros behind some of Hollywood’s biggest films”

Mark is a Production Sound Mixer, and Patrushkha is a Boom Operator and Utility Sound Technician. Both of them have more than 40 years of experience. Mark Ulano´s work on Titanic won him an Academy Award for Sound Mixing. In addition he has three other Oscar nominations for films Ad Astra, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Inglorious Basterds. His work also includes films such as Django Unchained, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Iron Man etc. Most people in the industry know Patrushkha Mierzwa as one of the first women Boom Operators in Hollywood. She shared Oscar nominations for work on Ad Astra and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Guests 2023

Paweł Edelman, PSC Working with the Images which Have to Serve the Film

A Polish cinematographer mostly known for his collaborations with acclaimed directors Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda. He was nominated for Academy Award, an American Society of Cinematographers Award (ASC) and BAFTA Award. Apart from The Pianist, his credits include also films like Katyń, Oliver Twist or All the King’s Men.

Guests 2023

Jim Stark “The Role of the Producer in Independent Filmmaking”

Producer and scriptwriter Jim Stark has helped many of the cult indie US and European films to get made and seen, including collaboration with Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth, Coffee and Cigarettes), Szabolcs Hajdu (Mirage) or Corneliu Porumboiu (La Gomera). Recently he worked as an executive producer of Triangle of Sadness, that won four prizes at European Film Awards.

Guests 2023

Vitaly Mansky “Reality Cinema”

Vitaly Mansky is one of the most acclaimed contemporary European documentary filmmakers and producers. His works were presented at more than 500 international film festivals, where he won more than 100 prizes including “Silver Globe” of Karlovy Vary IFF, “Silver dove” of Leipzig festival. He is a president of documentary film festival “Artdocfest”.

Guests 2023

Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk Highlighting the peculiarities of the film characters

The Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, winner of the European Film Academy’s 2022 European Discovery of the Year Award, is the author of several short films. His most recent short documentary, Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles (2022), was screened at prestigious festivals such as IDFA, Toronto, and Sundance. His feature-length debut, Pamfir (2022), premiered last year at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Guests 2023

Sepideh Farsi “THE SIREN – Using new possibilities in animation to tell a compelling anti-war story”

The Iranian director Sepideh Farsi has also worked on fiction titles as well as documentaries. Her first two fiction feature-lenght films Dreams Of Dust (2003) and The Gaze (2006) premiered at the prestigious festival in Rotterdam and her latest animated feature Siren (2023) will premiere at this year’s Berlinale in the Panorama section. The film tells the story of fourteen-year-old Omid’s search for his missing brother – and an escape route from the besieged city of Abadan.

Guests 2022

Eddy Joseph “Creating the Atmosphere of Film”

Eddy Joseph is the Bafta-winning sound editor from Northern Ireland, who has worked on more than 70 titles. He is best known for his work on Casino Royale (2006), United 93 (2006), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Batman (1989) or iconic musical film directed by Alan Parker Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982) and many more.

Guests 2022

Jan P. Matuszyński “The essence of cinema: to show something that loses its magic when being put into words”

Jan P. Matuszyński graduated from the Radio and Television Faculty Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School at the University of Silesia and completed the Documentary Programme at Wajda School. His feature-length film debut, The Last Family premiered in the official competition of the 69th Locarno International Film Festival. His next film – Leave No Traces competed for the Golden Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.

Guests 2022

Debra McGuire “How To Create Iconic Character-Driven Costumes”

American costume designer with 3 nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards has been best known for her 10 year run on the hit show Friends. Debra designed costumes also for the TV shows as Heroes or New Girl and films as The 40 Year Old Virgin or Ted.

Guests 2019

Monika Willi “Developing the Narrative Structure out of the Material”

Monika Willi is an Austrian film editor known for her many years of collaboration with Michael Glawogger (Workingman’s Death, Whores’ Glory) and Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher, The White Ribbon, Amour, Happy End).

Guests 2019

Eugenio Caballero “Shaping the Scene”

Since the success of Pan´s Labyrinth he has designed several films such as the 3rd sequel of the Resident Saga, Resident Evil: Extinction (2006), The Limits of Control (2008) by Jim Jarmusch, The Runaways (2009), The Impossible (2011), Club Sandwich (2012) – winner of Torino Film festival, Aloft (2013) – Golden Bear nominee from Berlinale or Monster Calls (2016) – winner of 9 Goya Awards including Best Production Design.

Guests 2019

Sergei Loznitsa “A Study of the People Around Us”

Ukrainian filmmaker, who is world-known thanks to his short and feature-length documentaries as well as fiction films. His latest feature film Donbass (2018) received the prize for Best Directing of the Un Certain Regard section of Festival de Cannes. His two latest documentary films also have gained critical acclaim — Victory Day (2018) was premiered during Berlinale IFF and The Trial (2018) was premiered during Venice Film Festival.

Guests 2019

Hakim Belabbes is an award winning Moroccan American independent filmmaker. His film Sweat Rain was premiered at IFFR. Hakim created The Sahara Lab Initiative which he currently runs with partners Don Smith and Hammadi Gueroum.

Guests 2019

Kirsten Johnson “The Power of Camera”

A New-York based documentary director, producer and principal cinematographer on over 40 feature-length documentaries. Her Academy short-listed film Cameraperson (2016) was premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2016. Kirsten Johnson was a principal cinematographer on Academy Award-winning Citizenfour (2014) and Academy Award nominated, The Invisible War (2012).

Guests 2018

Joan Chemla New Voice in European Cinema”

French director and scriptwriter who worked as a journalist before turning to filmmaking with the shorts Mauvaise route (2008), Dr Nazi (2011), and The Man with the Golden Brain (2012). Her debut feature If You Saw His Heart (2017) was premiered in Platform Section at Toronto International Film Festival. Joan Chemla won the Best Director Award at  the Warsaw Film Festival for her debut feature.

Guests 2018

Steve Matthews The Future of European TV Production

London-based Steve Matthews has become world-known because of his function of Consulting Producer on The Borgias (2011-2013). In 2014 he was hired as HBO Europe’s executive producer for drama development. During 2016 Matthews became a guest tutor in MIDPOINT TV Launch.

Guests 2017

Tomáš Hrubý, co-founder of nutprodukce, one of the leading Czech production companies. In 2013, produced by nutprodukce and scripted by writer Štěpán Hulík, the three-part HBO miniseries Burning Bush received critical acclaim (11 Czech lions, Czech Oscar candidate). Three years later, HBO Europe has reteamed with nutprodukce and scriptwriter Hulík for Pustina (Wasteland).

Guests 2017

Ludovica Ferrario Film Architecture”

Italian production designer and art director, has worked with directors as Wim Wenders and Abbas Kiarostami and in the last years with Paolo Sorrentino – first as an assistant production designer in Oscar winning drama The Great Beauty (2013), then as production designer in Youth (2015) and lately for The Young Pope (2016), HBO´s religious drama which was premiered at the 73rd Venice Film Festival, where the first two episodes were screened out of competition. It was the first time in the history of the festival that a TV series was a part of the program.

Guests 2016

Martin Žiaran “ASK master class – Visuality and functionality of pictures”

Martin Žiaran is one of the most successful Slovak cinematographers of today. In 2015, he won ASK Kamera Prize, awarded biannually, in the Live-action Film category for his work on The Cleaner, a film directed by Peter Bebjak. A Czech film Hany earned him a prize at Goldeneye, an international festival of movie and TV cinematographers, in Tbilisi, as well as the Czech Film critics’ Award for Best Cinematography. Hany was filmed using three 25-minute shots, which looks like one single shot.

Guests 2016

One of the most famous European film and television director and screenwriter. Three of her films got an Oscar nomination – Europa Europa, Angry Harvest and In Darkness. Holland spoke about her work as a director in different political regimes. A part of her master class was also her diploma film from FAMU Hrích boha (The Sin of God).

Guests 2016

Bartosz Konopka “Reality vs. fiction – the boundaries of documentary filmmaking”

One of the most awarded young Polish filmmakers. He has made the following documentaries as Niebo nad Europą, Goat Walker and a fiction film entitled Three for the Taking. For his films he has received many prizes and nominations, including the nomination for the Oscar for the Best Short Documentary for the film Rabbit à la Berlin.