Jan TROELL

Born in Malmo, Sweden in 1931, Jan Troell is one of Sweden’s major filmmakers. He worked as a teacher and directed several shorts before making his feature debut in 1966 with Here Is Your Life. He is best known for his two epics on Swedish migration to America, The Emigrants (1971) and The New Land (1972), both of which were nominated for Academy Awards along with Flight of the Eagle (1982). His selected filmography includes Eeny Meeny Miny Moe (1968), Zandy’s Bride (1974), Bang! (1977), Hurricane (1979), Il Capitano (1991), Dancing (1994), Hamsun (1996) and As White As in Snow (2001).

Miroljub VUKOVIC

Born in 1952, Serbia-Montenegro. Miroljub Vukovic is a film critic and a general manager of the Film Institute since 1995. From 1979, he engaged on various researches and projects of the Film Institute as retrospective of the Yugoslav films at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Cinematheque Royale in Brussels, Giornate del cinema muto in Pordenone. He published popular articles and professional film essays in Yogoslav and foreign dailies and periodicals. He is an advisor to different international film festivals and also the program director of the Belgrade International Film Festival Since 1997 and the chairman of the South East European Cinema Network (SEECN), recently established organization with the aim to encourage and support connections in the field of cinema in the region

Jafar PANAHI

Jafar Panahi was born in 1960 in Iran. After studying directing at the College of Cinema and TV in Tehran, he won the Camera d’Or at Cannes International Film Festival with his debut film The White Ballon (1995) and the Golden Leopard Prize at Locarno International Film Festival in 1997 with his second film, The Mirror, which was invited to the 3rd PIFF. As a front-runner of New Iranian Cinema, Jafar Panahi won Golden Lion for Best Film at Venice International Film Festival with The circle (2002), showing the reality of Iranian women’s life. His new film, Crimson Gold, was invited to the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.

CHEN Shiang-chyi

Chen Shing-chyi is the most popular actress in Taiwan nowadays. She started to learn ballet, Beijing opera, and acting from 1975 and appeared in several films before she moved to the United States to study acting. She appeared in director Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day (1990) and A Confucian Confusion (1994). From 1994, She began her study in Educational Theatre at New York University. After acquiring her Master’s Degree, she came back to Taiwan and started her career as a director of plays while continuing as an actress. In 1996, She came back to starring in feature films with Tsai Ming-liang’s The river (1996). She has been a prolific actress starring in both Taiwan films as well as films from overseas, such as Lin Cheng-sheng’s Sweet Degeneration (1997), Tsai Ming-ling’s What Time Is It There? (2001), Takamine Go’s Tsuru-Henry (1997, Japan), Jule Gilfillan’s Restless (1997, US) and Alain Mazars’ La Moipie du Ciel (1999, France), among others.

SHIM Jae-myung

Born in 1963, Shim Jae-myung started her film career as a manager at Seoul Cinema from 1988 to 1990. Followers that, she worked as a creative director at Gukdong Screen Inc. and later founded Myung Marketing & Planning Agency in 1992. In 1995, She established Myung Film Co., Ltd and on produced its debut film, Corset, the following year. With Happy End (1999), The Isle (2000) and Joint Security Area (2000), which were invited to numerous film festivals, she won the recognition as a noteworthy producer in the international film circle. In 2001, Shim Jae-myung was named as one of ’10 producers to Watch’ by Variety, a leading weekly journal of cinema in the world and was also recognized as a woman ‘making a difference’ by a Hong Kong-based economic weeklyFar Eastern Economic Review.

LEE Yeon-Ho

Born in 1961, Lee Yeon-ho graduated from Ewah Womans University with degree in Korean Language and Literature. She is a founding member and a two-time editor in chief of SCREEN, a Korean monthly film magazine that began in 1984. And from 1995 to 2003, she was the editor in chief of monthly film magazine, KINO. She was also a commissioner of the Korean Film Commission and served as a jury member in various film festivals from around the world.

LIM Chang-jae

Born in 1964, LIM Chang-jae was a member of the New Image Group from 1993 to 1994. Since 1995, he has been a researcher at the Korean Experimental Films Lab. He was invited to the 3rd and the 4th PIFF Wide Angle sections with his experimental films Lachrymal (1998) and Aqua Requiem (1999) respectively. His experimental Transfigured Night (2000) was screened at the 26th Korea Indie & Short Film Festival and he had his feature film directorial debut last year with Unborn But Forgotten.

CHO Young-Kag

Born in Seoul in 1969, CHO Young-Kag worked as a leading member of ‘Cinematheque Seoul’ from 1993 to 1998. He was also the programmer at ‘Indie Forum,’ a festival of Korean short films, from 1996 to 2001, and general manager of ‘The Association of Korean Independent Film & Video’ from 1998 to 2002. He is now the festival director of Seoul Independent Film Festival (SIFF) and also the editorial staff of Quarterly Korean Independent Cinema.