Sergey LAVRENTIEV

Born in Russia in 1954, Sergey Lavrentiev began his career as a theatre actor in the 1970s. After graduating from the prestigious VGIK in 1982, he joined the Gosfilmofond, the Russian state film archive. He went on to become a leading film critic, known as one of the founders of the “new wave” in Soviet film criticism. He has written about Central and Eastern European cinema for numerous publications including Sovietsky Ecran , Iskusstvo Kino , and Kultura. In the 1990s, Lavrentiev returned to the front of the camera as an anchorman for a number of television programs named Kinomarafon devoted to the centenary of cinema. Since 1999, he has been the Program Director of two festivals – the International Film Festival Faces of Love, which takes place in March in Moscow, and the Sochi International Film Festival, which takes place in June in a Black Sea resort.

Dito TSINTSADZE

Born in Georgia in 1957, Dito Tsintsadze attended the Tbilisi Film and Theatre Institute. He began working as an assistant director, made his first short film in 1990 and moved to Berlin in 1996 after accepting a scholarship from the NIPCOW Program. His films have been screened at the Toronto, Cannes and San Sebastian film festivals, and include On the Verge (1993), Lost Killers (2000), short film An Erotic Tale (2002), and Gun-shy (2003). Gun-shy is a part of the German Panorama at the 9th PIFF.

Fruit CHAN

Fruit Chan, born in Guangzhou in 1959, moved to Hong Kong when he was seven. In 1979, he graduated from university and studied production and screenplays at the Hong Kong Cultural Center. In 1982, Chan entered the film industry as an assistant director by joining Century, an independent production company. In 1991, he earned critical acclaim with his debut film Finale in Blood and Made in Hong Kong branded him a representative director of Hong Kong. His works include The Longest Summer (1998), Little Cheung (1999), Durian Durian (2000), Hollywood Hong Kong (2001), and Public Toilet (2002).

Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL

Thai native Apichatpong Weerasethakul was born in 1970 and graduated from The Art institute of Chicago with a MFA in filmmaking He is well known for employing amateur actors to create experimental mockumentaries. His first feature film Mysteries Object at Noon was chosen as one of the best films of the year in 2000 by Village Voice and Film Comment. Blissfully Yours (2002) which was screened at the 7th PIFF was awarded “Un Certain Regard” at Cannes. His latest film Tropical Malady created much hype when it won the Jury Prize at Cannes this year, and it has also been invited for screening at the 9th PIFF (A Window on Asian Cinema).

KIM So-yong

Born In 1961. Kim-So-yong is a professor of the Dept. of Cinema Studies at the Korean National University of Arts, and is also a feminist film critic. Her selected publication include Hollywood/Frankfurt, Cinema : Blue Flower in the Land of Technology , and Specters of Modernity : Fantastic Korean Cinema. She is a chief editor of Trans : Journal of Visual Culture Studies , and editorial collective member for Inter-Asia Cultural Studies and Traces : A multilingual Journal of Cultural Theory and Translation . She directed Little Grass Has Its Own Name (1991) during her membership in Parituh, the woman’s visual collective in 1991. She also directed Koryu : Southern Women, South Korea (2001) and I’ll Be Seeing Her : Images of Women in Korean Cinema (2003).

HONG Ki-sean

Born in 1957, Hong Ki-Seon is a veteran fighter for the film movement in the 80s, active in organizations like Jangsangotmae, an independent film production group, and Seoul Visual Collective, where he produced Oh, My country of Dream . In 1992, he debuted as a commercial filmmaker with Sorrow, Like a Withdrawn Dagger, Left My Heart which dealt with contemporary slavery through a detained youth on a slave ship. Hong’s debut film won the Best Screenplay and New Director’s Award of the National Film Critics Association in 1993. His second feature film The Road Taken (2003) was invited to New Currents in the 8th PIFF as the only Korean film and won public favor with the PSB Audience Award.

JOO You-shin

Born in 1965, Joo You-shin graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in the study of aesthetics and attained a Ph.D. in film theory from Chung-Ang University. She is a co-author of several books on Korean films and concentrates on grafting feminist readings, sexual politics, film theory together. Presently, she teaches at Chung-Ang University and also works as a programmer for the Women's Film Festival in Seoul.

OH Cheong-ok

Oh Cheong-ok, born in 1964. graduated from the Seoul Institute of the Arts with a degree in film study. As one of the leaders of Jangsangotmae, a mecca of film movement in the 80s, he cinematographed Oh, My Country of Dream (1988) and The Night Before Strike (1989). He also produced 16 Days in Indonesia (1996), Across the Wall the Himalayan (1997). Turbulent Asia East Timor (1998) and participated in more than sixty documentaries. In 1995, he debuted with his feature film Corset and his subsequent feature film Christmas in August showed a different side of him. He worked as a director of photography for The Road Taken (2002).