Adrian Martin is an arts critic and audiovisual essayist based in Malgrat de Mar (Spain), born in Australia. He is the author of ten books, including The Mad Max Movies (Currency 2003, update forthcoming from Phantasm), Mise en scène and Film Style (Palgrave 2014), Mysteries of Cinema (Amsterdam University Press 2018, revised edition University of Western Australia Publishing 2020), Filmmakers Thinking (EQZE 2022, revised edition Sticking Place 2024) and, with Cristina Álvarez López, the forthcoming Brian De Palma Pure and Impure (Sticking Place 2025). He regularly contributes essays and reviews to De Filmkrant (Netherlands), Caimán (Spain), FILO (Korea), Cineaste (USA) and Sight and Sound (UK), and is frequently translated into other languages. He is Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University (Australia), and a regular teacher at EQZE (a Spanish film school). His ongoing website covers 45 years of critical and creative writing: www.adrianmartinfilmcritic.com
Jurek Sehrt. Curator and Head of Education at the German Cinematheque – Museum of Film and Television (Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen), based in Berlin/Germany. Since 2007 he is responsible for the educational programing of the Kinemathek, which focuses on film, museum as well as archive education, within the frame of German and international film heritage. Besides classical educational contexts and formats, aesthetical, inclusive and experimental approaches have become increasingly important for him. One main goal is to make cultural and film heritage accessible for everyone, while highlighting the variety and beauty of film as a free and artistic expression. Jurek – and his amazing team – put this into praxis with projects like inclusive screenings for blind and visually impaired film enthusiasts (“Ohren auf” - Open your ears!”), the participation in film education networks like “Le cinéma, cent ans de jeunesse” (CCAJ) and by exploring the educational potentials of the digital space, e.g. with the platform for young children filmspielplatz.de (“filmplayground”). Additionally, Jurek works as a consultant in the cultural sector, teaches as a university lecturer and loves spending time with his son.
Noé Mendelle is a professor emeritus in Film Documentary at University of Edinburgh. In 2003, she set up and ran the Scottish Documentary Institute based in Edinburgh and created several schemes to develop creative documentaries in Scotland such as Bridging the Gap, This is Scotland, Right Here and Edinburgh Pitch to connect Scotland with the International Documentary Network. In collaboration with the British Council she runs a series of international workshops in Asia, Africa and the MENA region called Stories, producing short documentaries. She is an experienced international documentary director/producer having worked on numerous award-winning films for festivals (IDFA/Cannes/Berlin...) and broadcasts (Ch4, BBC, Arte, RTP, POV, RTBF...). Her latest film being Fanado (2024) shot in the Bijagos. She acts as executive producer on SDI award-winning features: “A cat called DOM” (EIFF 2022) “Freedom Fields” (2018 TIFF/IDFA), “Becoming Animal” (2018 CPH Dox/IDFA) “Time Trial” (2017 IDFA) “Donkeyote” ARTE/ZDF (2017 Rotterdam) and many more. In 2019, she was made a member of the Academy for the Documentary section.
Renata Ferraz has a master's degree in Multimedia Art and a PhD in Performing Arts and Moving Image from the University of Lisbon. Considering theory and practice as equivalent in the processes of creation and research in cinema, he explores territories where his films and texts take shape. Produces films, multimedia works and shared creation projects. Her work involves making films featuring cis women, trans women, non-binary people and other living beings other than humans. Rua dos Anjos, his first feature film, won awards at the Ann Arbor Film Festival (2022) and Queer Porto (2023), in addition to having participated in numerous international festivals and having its commercial premiere in 2023. He currently coordinates AFECTA (Shared Creation Laboratory) at FAL (UBI), in partnership with FBAUL (ULisboa) while developing his next feature film.
Filmmaker, producer, and cinema programmer, Sandra has been dedicated to documentary cinema for over 20 years. She studied political science in Toulouse and journalism in Madrid, and graduated in cinema. In 2004, she co-directed and co-produced the feature documentary 200 KM, which premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival. Since then, she has worked as a producer in cinema and audiovisual projects. She has directed short films such as Haciendo Memoria, A través de sus ojos, and La iniciación, among others. At the end of 2022, she premiered her two latest works: the feature documentary Archipiélago, which she co-directed and co-produced, and the short film Lo que no fue, which participated in numerous national and international festivals and won the Audience Award at the Alcances Festival. She is the president of the DOCMA Association.
