Spotlights of 2023

Frank Reyes was born in Santiago de Chile and work with independent theater until his exile in Sweden in 1982. 2016 he moved to Spain where he and other artists founded the audiovisual company OjitodeGato Producciones. Since 2020 he has produced and directed several documentaries and short films. This is his first medium-length movie.

Yannis Aivazis is a leading Greek working established actor and director. He studied acting at Diomidis Fotiadis Drama School, and he is a professional actor over 22 years.
He has been working steadily in theater, movies and television series starring or directing acclaimed productions for stage and screen. He is also a director and a screen and play writer.

Debra Knox is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, actress, director, and musician. Her film Hearing Voices has won eleven International awards including Critics Choice, The New York Women’s Festival, 8 & Halfilm Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival and Fierce Women Festival of Paris, and has been a semi-finalist for 13 International Festivals.
Her script Orson Welles Ashes has been awarded 15 major awards including The Golden Palm Award, New York’s Empire Award and The California Award and The Beverly Hills Film Festival.
She is a guitarist, pianist and vocalist teaching and performing in The San Francisco Bay Area where she directs, films and writes.

Russian-Ukrainian born director Anna Aleksandrova has discovered her passion for film very early on by watching masterpieces of various legendary directors such as Mihalkov, Zaharov, Tarkovsky, and later on Coppola, Scorsese, Fellini, and Antonioni. Trained as a classical musician since the age of six in a school for gifted children, which was focused on securing an international level career for young artists, Anna has always dreamed of being a theater and film director.

“The Conversation They Never Had” is Anna’s professional debut in filmmaking.

He is a visionary director who explores the complexities of politicians and their sacrifices in his latest project. Growing up in communist Hungary, movies became his window to the world, sparking his passion for filmmaking. Inspired by directors like Peter Greenway and Stanley Kubrick, Imre’s favorite films include “The Cook, the thief, his wife and her lover” and “Cafe de flore.” In 1995, he made a life-changing decision to pursue filmmaking in the US. Imre’s upcoming film has already won the Best Shorts Competition, showcasing its potential. He believes in the importance of originality while recognizing the value of classic cinema styles. He appreciates the role of film festivals in fostering connections and driving industry growth. Imre looks forward to bringing his unique ideas to the screen and securing investors for future projects.

Jonathan and Tania explore the West Coast on their Honeymoon in 2022 at the end of the Covid pandemic. This is a “feel free and feel good” short and Tania’s first attempt at serious filmmaking after completing her studies outside of Paris, France. Both Tania and Jonathan, a well-known musician and song writer were born and raised in France.

Tania grew up in Auvergne, France and studied teaching and filmmaking at Lycee Madame De Stael before transferring to Universite Blaise Pascal Clermont Auvergne. She met her husband Jonathan, a song writer and musician in Santeny and pooling her filmmaking talents with her husband’s musical abilities has seemed to produce a feel-good, beautiful honeymoon tour of California and Las Vegas.

Creator, writer, producer and star of the award-winning sitcom web series, The Quirk Chronicles, has garnered recognition with an award of merit during the summer of 2016 from WRPN’s Global Webisode Competition, and has received a Philadelphia Independent Film Awards nomination in 2017 for Best Web Series. Spring of 2019, Simmons garnered a silver award of merit for lead actress in the So You Think You Can Act Competition. In 2020, Simmons debuts her memoir, I Quirky Girl, which chronicles details of her early life, and how her award-winning sitcom web series came to fruition.

“My main objective as a producer is to simply share unique stories about the human experience through unorthodox expression.”

A Chinese young female awards winning filmmaker, is known for Chubby Café (2019), Dao Meng Mei Ying (2018) and Astrall Story (International Cooperation). Became the cover person of magazine Filmmaker Life (August,2022). This is her first time to be a director.

The director Yiwen Cao is a young female filmmaker, who wants to give people mental power from her films. She is good at using suspense plots and real scenes to let audience feel what the main role suffers in films. And this is her first time to be a director. Besides, she is very warm hearted and amiable. Though some people may not recognize her gender by judging her appearance at first glance, she is willing to use this feature in movies to show people gender is not a big deal. The essence of human being is the same.

Özlem Özel is a well-known Turkish director, known for her creative work in the film industry. She is the director of Poppy Red.

Born in Afyon in 1988. She studied in the Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Law. She met cinema while her sitting on sofa. And every time write.

She was juries member International Antakya Film Festival. And crime lawyer.

Özlem Özel is a talented and accomplished director who has made a significant contribution to the Turkish film industry through her creative vision and commitment to producing quality content.

Briefly, the film tells about human beings under God’s allegiance. How important His presence is in our hearts. The film is directed in Miami, with the help of Miami Community Church.

Danil Panov grew up in Kazakhstan, where he started his director and actor career in a small basement at the age of 19. After of crucial and hard work time, he got honer to work with serious Masters from Moscow Art Theatre. Now, Danil is heading closer to his Dream, by the way, staying in The USA.

Award Winning Egyptian American Filmmaker who is driven by his passion to filmmaking and enjoys making movies, had my education from New York Film academy then wrote, Produced and directed my first featured film in 2019 and released on Big Cinema screens in 2021 as well as short films and many music videos.

I immigrated to Brooklyn, NY when I was a teenager from the former soviet union what is now Odessa, Ukraine, after working in various professions throughout my life, I became a professional stand up comedian in New York City which led me to acting training, writing and filmmaking eventually, it’s been a wonderful journey and I am grateful for the opportunity and the ability to make perform and make films. I always loved telling stories about my past in Ukraine and growing up in NYC, so during the pandemic when everything shut down including acting work I picked up a camera and started learning.

Is a screenwriter of features The Lamplighter and No Spring Till Now. She has written and produced short films Off The Lead, My Field and La Vie En Doses. Other writings to her credit include many publications of The Anthology of Christian Poetry, and poetry in feature film Innerscape.
As a Nashville trained actress, she has worked in front of the camera in film and television for 30 years. Titles include The People v. Larry Flint, Adam Joan, Toy Box Killers, Black Heart and River City. Born in Washington D.C., Pamela has lived in Monaco, France and Beijing, China. She moved to Edinburgh in 1997, and lives between London, Edinburgh and the South of France. She is a lover yoga, the beach and her many animals.

A.k.a “Krassimir Nikov” is an American film maker of Bulgarian and Macedonian origin. He was fascinated with the entire process of movie making, writing the script, making the screen play, casting actors, filming, editing and distributing it on VHS at early age. When he was a teenager this was only way to escape from reality and used his imagination to develop stories and characters that would have a big impact on everyone lives!
He was growing up in a small town called Petrich in small country named Bulgaria. The town is border between Greece and Macedonia former SFR Yugoslavia, located in Eastern Europe. The town was place of the famous oracle ‘Vanga’ the famous ‘Spartacus’ was fighting for freedom in early days.

He is fascinating with film creation starting from the story/plot, casting, filming, editing and distributing the final cut. He just loves making film and he hopes to release the next film on big screen.

Garance started her journey in screenwriting at the age of 17 while studying performing arts in college. Her passion for cinema started at a young age and was further fueled by a visit to Cinecittà in Rome. Her creative process involves taking inspiration from the smallest details and building a structure around it. Garance believes that the most important element of a screenplay is creativity, and it should be present in every aspect, from structure to dialogue and characters. Despite the challenges that come with writing, she believes that staying true to oneself is the key to overcoming them. Garance hopes to write and direct short films in the future to gain more experience. She also emphasizes the importance of research and feedback to improve one’s craft.

The director is a Bulgarian amateur photographer.
He has been developing an information project on the Donbass war since 2016.
The Donbass children is his first film.

“Darkness gives power to evil. Keep yourself informed.
It is up to you much more than you think.”

Born 1960 in Stockholm. 12 years Walldorf School / Kristofferskolan. Film Institute / Film Science, Picturecurse / Birkagården, Filmacademy/ Gothenburg Universety / Academy Valand.
Since 1990 a director and scriptwriter in Studio Jox www.studiojox.se Over 25 films in 25 years…
Drama/Guest teacher at the University of Halmstad, Skövde, JMG, Artistic Director at Gothenburg Filmshool, Filmcurator for museums etc Chairman of the FilmEpidemic cluster at Gothenburg Studios www.filmepidemin.se
His recent project called GBG Crane Memory is a 8 min VR-film about the Gothenburg Shipyard history dramatized in 3D.
The crane operator Kerstin take us down memory lane at Lindholmen’s shipyard shadows, when we slip and her whole life passes before our eyes.
Based on a true story, from Gothenburg’s shipyard era, when everything fell into place…

“I’m a project man… There will be silence in the world if only the best birds sing…”