STANIMIR TRIFONOV was born in 1958 in the former capital of Bulgaria Veliko Tarnovo. He studied in the school of foreign languages and later on graduated in Bulgarian language and literature at the University of Veliko Tarnovo. During his years at the University he participated in a film club with director Vladimir Iliev. This fact plays a very important role in his life and his future career as a filmmaker. A few years later he was already a student at the National Academy of Theatre and Cinema in Sofia. Mr. TRIFONOV studied under the direction of Professor Dimitar Pounev and made his first documentary at a professional level. The public, the critics and other filmmakers were impressed by his first works. His series “The hunting of wolves” released in 2000, made a boom in the country. He is director of the series “At the border,” finished in 2014/16 episodes / dedicated to the 100 the anniversary of the start of the First World War. The latest series of Trifonov received the Award of the Academy of the Bulgarian cinema for Best Series of 2014, and the Best Screenplay and costumes. He was director of the agency “VREME” for more than ten years and currently he is the head of his own film agency “Tristan movie” Ltd., with headquarters in Sofia. As director and producer he has directed more than 60 documentaries and feature films. Along with his career as a film director, as visiting professor TRIFONOV transmits his experience to students. Since 2004 he is a senior professor of cinema and television direction in the Southwest University in Blagoevgrad and New Bulgarian University in Sofia.
NEDŽAD BEGOVIĆ was born in 1958. Film director and screenplay writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Author of more than 50 animated films, documentaries and short films and 30 sequels of TV series for children. He cooperated with various TV stations such as ARTE, Swiss TV, ZDF, Point du jour. He also worked as art director, consultant and casting manager of numerous international productions. His films have been screened in more than 300 cities worldwide. He finished his first feature film „Totally personal“ in 2005 winning audience award at Zagreb Dox next year. In 2011 made „A Cell Phone Movie“ winning the Heart of Sarajevo. He also published a comic book, has had 15 exhibitions and won 9 medals for his inventions.
IVAN SALAJ was born in Zagreb in 1969, graduated film direction at ADU in 1995. He has received several international awards, Rector’s Award, Octavian, Breza and Zlatna Arena for student films – the TV drama “Vidimo se”, as well as for two documentary films “Second Floor, Basement” and “Hotel Sunja”. He worked as a screenwriter and director on about forty documentary short and feature films 1995-2008. as a script reviewer in the drama programme of HTV, 1999-2002, as an assistant director on a dozen feature films 1992-2002., on five feature films as a co-writer, creative director on two animated films, and as a director of about seventy commercials for various production companies. He directed the short feature film “Story of Neanderthals”, 2009 for permanent exhibition of the museum in Krapina. As a screenwriter and director, he shot two short feature films in, as part of the all-night omnibus, “Zagrebačke piče vol.3” i “Transmania”, 2015. He was creative producer, screenwriter and director of the feature film “8th Commissioner” in 2018, which has been awarded multiple times.
BOŠKO PICULA is a political scientist and film critic, born in Šibenik. He studied political sciences and journalism at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb, after which he obtained a master’s degree in international relations and a PhD in comparative politics. He works as a professor at the Dag Hammarskjöld College of International Relations and Diplomacy in Zagreb. He is an associate of the Faculty of Political Sciences and the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. He is the author of several scientific and professional papers and presentations at international scientific conferences, and he has published film reviews in a number of media. He is the co-author of the show about the film Café cinéma and the show about the film for children and young people Kokice on Croatian Television. As a film critic, he cooperates with Croatian Radio and Television (shows Animatik, Special Extras and Face to Face) and the Croatian Film Association.
ZVONIMIR KARAKATIĆ, a computer programmer born in Požega in 1976. His first encounter with non-professional filmmaking was when he acted in a film produced by Film Club „Gimnazija“, Požega at the age of five. He began taking photos as an elementary schoolboy and showed interest in filmmaking when he was in secondary school. He’s been the member of the Film Club (nowadays known as GFR FILM-VIDEO and is its vice-president ) for over 20 years and is himself the author of several non-professional films of which „Saturday Night Fever“ was awarded the gold medal at the 31st Croatian Film Festival. He was a co-producer, co-director and a co-editor of the film „May I Help You?“ which was selected in the official programme of „Dani hrvatskog filma“ in 2004. He finished his documentary „Kino moje malo“ in 2008. He has actively participated in organizing almost all the one-minute film festivals in Požega.