Mari Käki, M.A., is a creative coach and professional supervisor working in the field of media and education. Since 2020 she has been teaching leadership and group dynamics for upcoming filmmakers as a visiting lecturer at the Aalto University film school, Finland. Giant’s Kettle is also her first feature.
Markku Hakala, M.Sc, b.1975, is a Finnish artist/filmmaker exploring cinema as a medium of intuition. For six years he worked duo with his parner Mari Käki on his first feature Giant’s Kettle, which was introduced at Tallinn Black Nights, was awarded as The Best Debut Film at Festival de Cinema de Girona 2024, and has brought him multiple awards for direction, cinematography and sound design. Prior to films he has also worked as a computer science researcher and entrepreneur.
Born in Austria in 1975, Natalie Halla studied law and translation (Russian and Spanish) at the University of Graz. She interned at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Peru, an experience that inspired her first documentary, Drugmothers (2021). Since 2010, she has been producing, writing, and directing documentaries focused on humanitarian issues.
A writer, producer, and director from Dublin, Eamonn Murphy first gained recognition with his short films A Better You and Lost Memories, both currently streaming on Disney+. Solitary marks his transition to feature filmmaking: produced with a crew of nine and a modest budget of €70,000, this debut has achieved resounding international recognition. Awarded Best Irish Independent Feature at the Galway Film Fleadh, it also won the Atlas d’Or (Grand Prix) at the 26th Arras Film Festival, before joining the prestigious "Director’s Debut" selection at the 2026 Camerimage Festival.
Mihály Schwechtje is a Hungarian director and playwright. He directed his first feature film in 2018, Hope You'll Die Next Time. It won the Best Youth Film award in Tallinn. A Hunt For Hedgehogs is his second feature film. Alongside his career as a director, Schwechtje teaches at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest and, since 2023, has held the position of Director of Studies at the Metropolitan Film University in Budapest. He holds a PhD in Arts, is a lecturer in the Film Department at ELTE University, and is a member of the Freeszfe Society. In 2025, he presented his latest play, Pier, at the Jurányi House.
Dominika Montean-Pańków is a Polish director and screenwriter. A graduate of English Philology from Jagiellonian University and Film Directing from the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School, she is currently pursuing a PhD at the prestigious Łódź Film School. Her career, which began in the early 2000s, notably with the documentary Kazimierz otwarty in 2007, is characterized by a constant exploration of formats. She alternates between documentaries, such as Głos (The Voice) in 2022, and television fiction with O doglądaniu dracaena (Caring for a Dracaena). In 2025, her feature film, The Crossroads, began its international festival run with selections at the Polish Film Festival in Prague and the Camerimage Festival in Toruń.
Andrei Epure is a Romanian director who graduated in 2025 in Screenwriting and Film Studies from the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest. Since then he has collaborated with various directors in writing their features. In 2019, he has considered directing his own projects, starting with Maybe darkness will cover me. His second short film Intercom 15 premiered at Semaine de la Critique - Cannes in 2021. In 2025, Andrei completed with his first feature Don’t let me die, which was developed at La Résidence du Festival de Cannes and Next Step - Semaine de la Critique.
Jón Einarsson Gústafsson is an Icelandic director, screenwriter, and photographer. Born in Akranes, Iceland, in 1963, he went on to study film at Manchester Polytechnic and then at the California Institute of the Arts. In the late 1990s, he moved to Canada. There, in 1998, he directed the music video Brighter Hell for The Watchmen and made his first documentary, The Importance of Being Icelandic, about three Canadians of Icelandic descent. Following his first feature film Kanadiana (2002), he directed the 2007 documentary Wrath of God, which chronicles the making of Beowulf and Grendel (2005), directed by Sturla Gunnarsson. The film won Best Documentary Feature at the Oxford International Film Festival and the Red Rock Film Festival, as well as Bronze Remi at WorldFest Houston. In 2010, through his production company ArtioFilms, he produced the multi-award-winning short film In a Heartbeat, directed by Karolina Lewicka. He later co-directed the thriller Shadowtown (2020) with her. Anorgasmia earned Mathilde Warnier and Edward Hayter the Best Actress and Best Actor awards respectively at the 2025 Bollywood International Film Festival. The film also won Best Feature Film at the Capri Contest Awards.
Tim Ellrich studied philosophy, theatre, film and media in Vienna before pursuing filmmaking studies at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. His short films have earned him international recognition and numerous awards, including the Jury Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. His first feature-length documentary, My Vietnam, won the First Steps Award in 2021. In My Parents' House is Tim Ellrich's graduation film and celebrated its world premiere in the prestigious Tiger competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2023, he received the Wim Wenders Grant for his new feature film project, Uncanny Valley.
Martynas Kundrotas (1985) is a screenwriter, and cinematographer based in Lithuania. After studying audiovisual arts, he forged his artistic vision through photography and cinema. His work is characterized by an experimental and documentary approach, with shorts such as Evening Flowers (2019) and Awake at Night (2023). In his films, he prioritizes atmosphere and the sensory experience of the characters, and avoid traditional narrative structures. In 2025, he completed Drifting Apart. He is currently writing his next project while continuing his work as a freelance cinematographer and director.
