Asghar FARHADI

Asghar Farhadi, director and screenwriter, made his screen debut with Raghs dar Ghobar (2003). Asghar Farhadi won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival and Best Picture at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival for his film About Elly (2009) which brought him global fame. He won various awards with Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (2011) at the Berlin International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Sydney Film Festival, receiving great reviews from critics. He won the 2012 Academy Award in the 'Best Foreign Language Film of the Year'. He was name done of the ‘100Most Influential People in the World’ by Timemagazinein2012.His2013filmThePastwasintroduced at A Window on Asian Cinema at the 18thBusanInternationalFilmFestival.Thedomestic release of the film in Korea was a success with great reviews by Korean audience.

BONG Joon Ho

Bong Joon Ho made his first feature film debut with Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) and received great global reviews for Memories of Murder (2003). The Host (2006) was a huge box officesuccesswhichdrewmorethan10million members of the audience and received critical acclaim. This allowed him to become one of the leading directors of Korea. The Host was invited to the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, and Mother (2009) was invited to Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Bong Joon Ho was appointed as one of the jury for Golden Camera at the Cannes Film Festival. His first English film Snowpiecer (2013) was invited to the Berlin International Film Festival, and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Snowpiecer was presented at the Gala Presentation in the18th Busan International Film Festival and was selected as the Opening Film for the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2014. The film was released domestically and internationally, including in the USA, and France, receiving great reviews from audiences and critics. He was an executive producer of Haemoo (2014), and is working on the sixth production feature.

Dina IORDANOVA

Dina Iordanova is a professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and has written extensively on film festival. She is a renowned expert on the cinema of Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula. She has lived and worked actively in Canada, the USA, and the UK. She is the writer of numerous books related to film festivals including the subjects of film festival in the Middle East and Asia. In recent years she has developed significant interest in film festivals in Asia such as Korea, Hong Kong, and China, and their culture. She presented at the BIFF Conference & Forum in 2013, and this year she has been appointed as one of the jury members for the New Currents section.

Suhasini MANIRATNAM

Suhasini Maniratnam, actress, director, screen writer is a multifaceted talent who has the distinction of being the first woman to complete the cinematography course in South India. She has directed several TV series, short films, public service films, and a film. She has acted in 225 films in all 4 south Indian languages. Her brilliant creation has won her an award for Best Director in Russia. She has also received Indian National Award for Best Actress from the Indian President.

Jacques RANCIÈRE

Jacques Rancière is a French philosopher, professor of Philosophy at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee and professor emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII. His works cross over the fields of social history, politics of aesthetics, film studies, and literature. His thoughts have been notably expressed in The Politics of Aesthetics (2004), The Future of the Image (2007), The Emancipated Spectator (2009), and Aisthesis: Fourteen Sciences from the Aesthetic Regime of Art (2013),which are well-known to the domestic readers. He has written articles extensively on film which hasbeengatheredinto3booksincludingFilm Fables (2006). He also devoted the book Béla Tarr, the Time After (2013) to the Hungarian film-maker Béla Tarr, who is serving as the Dean of Asian Film Academy this year.

Maria BONSANTI

Since 2000, Maria Bonsanti has collaborated with several international film festivals. Among them was the Locarno Film Festival, for whichin2006and2007shehasbeenincharge of the coordination of Play Forward, the section devoted to experimental films and video art. She has long collaborated with the International Documentary Film Festival of Florence where she was appointed as co-director in2011.Since2004shehasbeenpartoftheselection committee as well as in charge of the conservation and restoration of film archives. In 2012, she was nominated Artistic Director of Cinéma du Réel in Paris. She has acted as a member of the jury and panel in several festivals such as DocsDF, IndieLisboa, Karlovy Vary, Doc Aviv, and the Montreal International Documentary Festival.

TAN Pin Pin

Tan Pin Pin is a Singaporean director who earned a Master of Arts degree at Northwestern University. Her award-winning film Moving House (2001) was screened on Discovery Channel Asia as the first film directed by a Singaporean director. Singapore GaGa (2005) was the first documentary to be released in Singaporean theaters. Her other works Invisible City (2007), which was supported by The Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Network of Documentary, and To Singapore, with Love (2013) earned acclaim when introduced at the Busan International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival. She is currently in production slated to be completed in 2015.

YI Seung Jun

His independent and TV documentaries Invisible War–India Bihar Report (2000), and Breathing (2002) tell stories of isolated people in society. Another work of his, Flowers, Two Women’s Story (2007), KBS (Korea Broadcasting System)’s special documentary, won the 20th Korea PD Award, and Children of God (2008) won the NETPAC Award at the Jeonju International Film Festival. His next work Planet of Snail (2011) earned the best picture award in feature section at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and Silverdocsalong with the Audience Award and UNICEF Special Award at the EBS International Documentary Festival. His most recent work Wind of the Moon (2014) will be released in 2015

ISHII Yuya

Ishii Yuya was born in Saitama Prefecture in 1983.In2007, Ishii Yuya’s first feature film Bareassed Japan (2005) brought him the Grand Prize and the Best Music Award at the Pia Film Festival in 2007,and the Dragon & Tiger Young Cinema Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival’s brought him to be a rising director His consecutive works Rebel, Jiro’s Love (2006), Girl Sparks (2007) and Of Monster Mode (2007) showed his unique style .His landmark work to date, Sawako Decides (2010) took part in the Berlin International Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and led to Ishii becoming the youngest Blue Ribbon Award recipient at the 53rd Japan Film Blue Ribbon Awards in 2011. His 2013 film, The Great Passage was selected as a Japanese submission for the Foreign Language Film of the Academy Awards.

Doug JONES

Doug Jones earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Studies from Metropolitan University. After graduation, he engaged in film production and nonprofit film organizations. He has curated films for Minneapolis’ Oak Street Cinema, San Francisco’s Red Vic Movie House, the Noise Pop Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival in Northern California, and the San Francisco International Film Festival and most recently, the Los Angeles Film Festival where he served as Associate Director of Programming. He also writes for cultural publications such as Indiewire and Film Comment. He is currently the Executive Director of Images Cinema, a nonprofitarts organization that screens a variety of independent, international and classic films.

PARK Jung bum

Park Jung bum’s first short film Templementary (2000) was introduced at the Wide Angle section of the Busan International Film Festival, and his second work 125 Jeon Seung-chul (2008) invited to many prestigious film festivals including Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival. In 2009, he completed his debut feature film The Journals of Musan which received both the New Currents Award and the FIPRESCI Award at 2010 Busan International Film Festival and received awards including at the Marrakech International Film Festival, the Locarno International Film Festival, and the Deauville Asian Film Festival. His second feature film Alive (2014) was selected for the Asian Cinema Fund, presented at Jeonju Digital Project 2014 and later invited to the competition section at the Locarno International Film Festival.

KIM Hee-ae

Debuted in 1984 with director Yu Jin-Seon’s My Love Jjang-gu (1984), Kim Hee-ae started her acting career with the MBCTV drama, Unknown (1985) then rose to fame through the MBC TV drama Sons and Daughter s (1992). She extended her career to radio, DJ, and emcee in addition to drama. She took her time off as she got married and started to appear more in TV dramas and movies recently. Her most significant TV dramas include, Perfect Love (2003), A Wife’s Credentials (2012), and Secret Love Affair (2014), and films include The 101st Proposition (1993), and Thread of Lies (2014)

YOO Ji-tae

Debuted in 1998 with Bye June, his talent was recognized through Attack the Gas Station (1999), Ditto (2000), One Fine Spring Da y (2001), and Oldboy (2003). Particularly his appearance in Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy was positively received by the critics. In 2003, Yoo Ji-tae debuted as a director with The Bike Boy (2003) and established his own production company Yoo Movie in 2005. He produced 4 short and medium-length films including How Does the Blind Dream (2005), Out of My Intention (2008), and Invitation (2009). His feature directorial debut Mai Ratima (2012) was invited to the 2012 Busan International Film Festival for the Korean Cinema Today–Vision.

KIM Dong-woo

CEO of UBU Film, Kim Dong-woo participated in production of major Korean films. He produced Eye for an Eye (2008), 71: Into the Fire (2010), Punch (2011), and Thread of Lies (2014). Currently, he is producing The Guest starring Ryoo Seung-yong and Lee Sung-min.

KIM Dong-hyun

Kim Dong-hyun started his career as an assistant director of The People in White (1995) produced by Bae Yong-gyoon. His short film A Starving Day (2004) won the first place at the Seoul Independent Film Festival and Seoul International Agape Film Festival, and his first feature film A Shark (2005) was selected as the opening film at the Seoul Independent Film Festival. Hello, Stranger (2007) received the NETPAC award at the Busan International Film Festival and was invited to a number of international film festivals including the International Film Festival Rotterdam. His recent work The Dinner (2013) was selected as the closing film for the 2013 Busan International Film Festival.

BANG Joon-seok

Bang Joon-seok majored in Business Administration at the State University of New York, Binghamton and graduated from the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies. Bang Joon-seok formed the band ‘U&Me Blue’ with Yi Sung Yol in 1994 and started his music career. He produced albums for major Korean singers such as Kim Yun-a, Kim Dae-soo, and Han Young-ae. In 1999, he composed music for Tell Me Something (1999) and started to gain in reputation as a music director. His most well-known soundtracks include Joint Security Area (2000), Who Are You (2002), You Are My Sunshine (2005), Radio Star (2006), and Go Go 70s (2008). Currently, he is working on director Ryoo Seung-wan’s Veteran and director Lee Joon-ik’s Sado .