Souleymane CISSÉ

The most influential living African director, Souleymane Cissé is a monumental figure in his home country of Mali, as well as the Black African film world. He was the first Malian to study at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) and returned to direct his first short, Les Cinq Jours D’une Vie (1972). He continued directing beginning with Den Muso (The Girl), and continued making films criticizing corruption in Mali, dealing with labor issues and student movements such as Baara (The Porter) (1978) and Finye (The Wind) (1982). His fourth feature, Yeelen (The Brightness) (1987) was the first Black African film to be entered into competition at the Cannes Film Festival and received the Jury Prize. All his films thereafter, from Waati (1995) to O Ka (2015) have been introduced at the Cannes Film Festival. He was appointed as a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983, 2006, and at Venice Film Festival in 1996. Currently, he is the founder of the Union of Creators and Entrepreneurs of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts of Western Africa (UCECAO), playing a central role in the African and global film scene. He is also the first Black African jury member to be appointed to the Busan International Film Festival.

Guneet MONGA

Guneet Monga is one of the 12 successful women in the global entertainment industry, and an Indian film producer who has worked with producers such as The Match Factory, Elle Driver, and Fortissimo Films. Many of her films were invited to various film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. She has worked for many years with Anurag Kashyap to produce 23 films that include Gangs of Wasseypur (2012). Other films include The Lunchbox (2013) which was nominated for the Film Not in the English Language category of the British Academy Film Awards in 2013, Masaan (2015) which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and Zubaan (2015) which was selected as the opening film for the 20th Busan International Film Festival.

Bero BEYER

Bero Beyer is known for producing Paradise Now (2005), which won the AGICOA Blue Angel Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 2005, and Salt of this Sea (2008), which was nominated for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival 2008. From 2010 to 2012, he served in the film section committee at the Raad voor Cultuur (Council for Culture), and beginning in 2013, he has consulted for the Netherlands Film Fund. In 2014 he produced Atlantic (2014), which was selected for the official Toronto International Film Festival 2014’s offical World Premier. Presently, he is the festival director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

ZHANG Lu

Zhang Lu became a director beginning with Eleven (2000) which was invited to the Venice International Film Festival. Director Zhang Lu debuted with his first feature Tang Poetry (2003). His Grain in Ear (2005) won the New Currents Awards at the Busan International Film Festival 2005, the Prix ACID du meilleur in the International Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival 2005, and the Concorso PNC at the Pesaro Film Festival 2005. Other films of his have also been invited to major international film festivals, including Desert Dream (2007) which was entered into the competition section at the Berlin International Film Festival 2007, and Chongqing (2008) and Iri (2008) with China and Korea as the backdrop. He has recently directed Scenery (2013), Gyeongju (2014), Love and… (2015), and A Quiet Dream (2016). Presently, he teaches film at the School of Communication at Yonsei University.

Mahmoud KALARI

Born in Tehran 1951, Mahmoud Kalari began to work as a photographer for Iranian newspaper after graduating from high school. He studied photography and worked as a photojournalist for the Sygma international photo news agency from 1978 to 1983. He had his first experience as a director of Photography with The Frosty Roads (1985). His long career includes collaboration with the major Iranian filmmakers like Kiarostami, Makhmalbaf, Mehrjuie, Panahi, Farhadi and many others. Kalari also enjoys international recognition and has received many awards like the Festival of Art of Cinematography, Camerimage in 2013 for A Separation. He directed his first movie Cloud and the rising Sun (1997) and it won the best.

WU Yii Feng

Born in Taiwan in 1960, Wu is a documentary filmmaker, and leading figure of Taiwan’s communal media movement. Wu founded the Full Shot Documentary Workshop in 1988, leading a team of documentary filmmakers to recruit and train people from all backgrounds to make documentaries. In 1999, after the 9.21 earthquake, the Full Shot team moved into the disaster area to document people’s lives. After 4 years, the team made 5 documentaries, including Gift of Life. It won the Excellence Award at Yamagata International Documentary Festival, Audience Choice Award at Festival des 3 Continents. It also was one of the earliest Taiwanese documentaries released at theaters and has one of the highest Taiwanese box office records. His other filmography includes Moon Children, Neighbors of Chen Tsai-gen and more. Wu is now in charge of the Taoyuan Arts Cinema and continues hosting documentary workshops for people from different communities.

Alberto LASTRUCCI

Born in Florence, Italy, he started working with the Festival dei Popoli - International Documentary Film Festival - being the editor of the catalogue and curator of some retrospectives. In the following years, he joined the Selection Committee and was festival coordinator from 2006 until 2010. In 2011, he was appointed co-director, along with Maria Bonsanti, and in 2012 he was appointed director of the Festival dei Popoli. Since then the festival has organized retrospectives and tributes to filmmakers of international fame such as: Raymond Depardon, Andres Di Tella, and Vincent Dieutre. He was a jury member at film festivals such as the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

CHO Young-Jung

Cho Young-jung earned her Ph.D. from Chung-Ang University in Korea After studying Film Studies at the University of Iowa. Since 1998, she has been involved in the Busan International Film Festival. In 2002, she worked for the Busan International Film Festival as a program coordinator in charge of the Korean Cinema Retrospective. She became involved in Asian cinema while programming the films of Chung Chang-Wha, and working on Co-Productions between Korea and Hong Kong for the Korean Cinema Retrospective. In 2007, she became the chief manager of the Asian Film Academy (AFA), an educational program for young Asian filmmakers and worked as a programmer for the Asian cinema section until 2013. Since 2007, she has been a member of the selection committee for the Asian Cinema Fund, supporting independent feature films and documentaries from Asia.

Mostofa Sarwar FAROOKI

Bangladeshi film director and screenwriter Mostofa Farooki is a pioneer of the avant-garde filmmakers’ movement called Chabial. He directed two features, Bachelor (2003) and Made in Bangladesh (2007). In 2009, he directed Third Person Singular Number, first screened at the 2009 Busan International Film Festival, then invited to the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Tiburon International Film Festival. It also won the Best Director award at the Dhaka International Film Festival. The closing film of the 17th Busan International Film Festival was his Television (2012) which won many awards in various film festivals, including the Dubai International Film Festival, Kolkata International Film Festival, and the Jury Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Award 2013. Presently he is considered one of the leading directors of the Asian new wave.

Bernhard KARL

After majoring in Art History and German Literature, Bernhard Karl began his career as a production assistant at the Munchner Kammerspiele theater. He worked on projects at various theaters including Berlin’s Maxim-Gorki, Oberhausen, and Tubingen. In 2001, he expanded his activities as a film-casting director. Presently, Bernard Karl works as the programmer of the Munich Film Festival, the artist director at the F.I.N.D.+Festival, and director and programmer at the Around the World in 14 Films Festival which he founded in 2006.

NAM Da Eun

Nam Da Eun won Film Critic Award from Cine21, a movie weekly in 2004. While writing movie reviews for various media, she published a review book titled Time of Feelings and Desires: Living a Film, 2015. She was a member of jury at the Jeonju International Film Festival in 2015 and 2016, at Green Film Festival in Seoul in 2016, and other film festivals. She is an Indie Forum programmer and also editor for the quarterly Moonhak Dongne.

KIM Uiseong

Kim Uiseong began acting on stage in 1987 as a member of the Drama troupe Cheonjiyeon. He entered the movie world with The Age of Success (1998) – He has acted in many movies and drama that Include The Day a Pig Fell into a Well (1996). After some years’ hiatus, he returned to screen with The Day He Arrives (2011), and has been actively played in Nobody’s daughter Haewon (2012), Hill of Freedom (2014), and The Face Reader (2013); however, he has enjoyed a true renaissance with the smash hit, and Train to Busan (2016).

CHO Min-su

Cho Min-su Debuted in broadcasting as advertisement model and found her way into acting with KBS’s short drama Fire. She won the Best Performance Award from KBS with the drama Mt. Jiri-san, in 1989. While acting for the major broadcasting companies, she starred in Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta (2012) and won a Best Actress award at the Grand Bell Award in 2012, and at Fantasporto Director’s Week in 2013. She was a jury member at the Jecheon International Music Film Festival in 2015, and Wildflower Film Awards in 2016.

JUNG Sung-il

Jung Sung-il is a film critic and director. He became an unequaled film critic while serving as senior editor at Road Show and chief editor at Kino, which are both film magazines. Marking his directorial debut with Café Noir (2009), Jung Sung-il was invited to the New Currents Section at the Busan International Film Festival 2015 with his second film Night and Fog in Zona (2015). He is the author of Someday the World Will Become a Movie and Desperate Reading.

HUH Moonyung

Huh Moonyung is well known for his critiques that maintain a deep contemplation and elegant style. Serving as the reporter for Monthly Joongang, the chief editor of CINE21, and Busan international Film Festival programmer, he has also been working as the Busan Cinema Center program director.

KIM Haery

KIM Haery has written many critiques that gain audience sympathy by working as an established journalist at the CINE21. She is now a part of the editing committee of the CINE21. She has also published numbers of film-related books as a writer.

Golam Rabany BIPLOB

Edvinas PUKSTA

KIM Hyeon su

Engin ERTAN

Manoj BARPUJARI

CHANG Seok Yong