Robert Tomić Zuber is a sociologist, journalist, editor, and award-winning documentary filmmaker with over 20 years of experience in Croatian and international media, including the BBC. He has directed four feature documentaries, including Mila Seeking Senida, winner of the Human Rights Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Formerly Head of Documentary Production at Croatian National Television, he now runs his own production house, TOROlab, lectures at Vern’ University, and directs the Rab Film Festival (RAFF) in Croatia.

Anna has worked with documentaries since 2013, following a career in banking as a project leader. In 2018, she founded Lightdox, a Swiss-based sales and distribution agency supporting impactful documentaries. Previously, she was a Sales and Acquisition Executive specializing in film marketing, branding, and impact distribution. Lightdox’s portfolio includes Paris Calligrammes (Berlinale Camera Award 2020), The Witches of the Orient (IFFR 2021), Intercepted (Berlinale 2024), and Bye, Bye Tiberius (Venice 2023).

Anna is an independent documentary consultant with nearly a decade of experience. She recently managed CPH:FORUM at CPH:DOX, a top co-financing event for documentaries. Previously, she was a programmer and project manager at CPH:DOX, and has worked with Nordisk Panorama Forum and the European Documentary Network. She holds a Master’s in Creative Business Management from Copenhagen Business School.

Apolena Rychlíková is a Czech filmmaker who focuses on social issues, poverty, and inequality. She has directed several documentaries and frequently collaborates with Czech Television and Radio. Her debut feature documentary, Limits of Work (2017), received widespread acclaim, winning the Czech Joy Award at IDFF Jihlava and the Audience Award. In 2017, she also received the Journalist Award for Best Documentary, recognizing her socially engaged work and significant contribution to public discourse in the Czech Republic.

Dietmar Schwärzler is the Managing Director for Festivals and Programs at sixpackfilm, a non-profit organization founded in 1990. sixpackfilm is dedicated to the distribution and promotion of film and media art, with a strong focus on experimental and independent work. The organization actively engages in cultural politics and collaborates within social networks to explore new trends in film circulation and presentation, solidarity within the international film and art community.

Jane Mote is a Consultant Editor for The Whickers, supporting emerging documentary filmmakers with a global perspective. She has collaborated with Docs by the Sea (Bali), MyDocs (Malaysia), and the Asian Network of Documentary (Busan), and led training in Uganda and at the BFI in London. Formerly UK Managing Director of Al Gore’s Current TV and Executive Editor at BBC London, she has also held roles at Discovery, Turner, BBC Worldwide, UKTV.  She is the Director of beechtobeach ltd.

Inka Achté is a documentary filmmaker and former sales agent with over 15 years of experience in the film and TV industries. She brings a broad perspective to her work, having served as a director, festival programmer, consultant, and tutor in creative documentary. Inka holds an MA in Documentary Directing from the UK’s National Film and Television School.

She is currently directing two feature documentaries while serving as Head of Programming at DocPoint Helsinki and Head of Acquisitions at Raina Film Festival Distribution.

Marcella Jelic founded Split Screen in 2022 for festival distribution and film sales. She also collaborates with Restart, a theatrical distributor in Croatia. Previously, she worked at Taskovski Films as a sales and acquisitions executive. Marcella was the festivals and promotion coordinator at the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. She also served as programming director for Klasik TV and DOX TV. With a background in journalism and film criticism, she focuses on documentaries—both shorts and features—with strong storytelling, unique characters, and thought-provoking themes.

Margje de Koning has been directing documentaries for 12 years and taught documentary filmmaking at the University of Amsterdam. In 2004, she became Commissioning Editor for 52-minute documentaries, focusing on social and moral issues with a human interest angle. The subjects were mainly Dutch but included global topics.She later led IKON’s Television Department and became Head of TV, Radio, and New Media in 2012. After IKON merged with EO in 2016, she became Head of Documentaries at EOdocs. Since June 2019, Margje has been artistic director of Movies that Matter.

Nanna Frank Møller is a director, cinematographer, and film editor. A graduate of The National Danish Film School in 1999, she debuted as a director in 2007 with Someone Like You, which won awards at DOK Leipzig and Odense International Film Festival. Her 2010 film Shanghai Space won first prize at Guangzhou International Film Festival. In 2024, she co-directed The Sky Above Zenica, which received the Special Environmental Awareness Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Nanna has been nominated by the Danish Academy and received The Danish Art Foundation grant.

Olga Chernykh, born in Donetsk, Ukraine, holds an MA in Cinematography from Kyiv National I.K. Karpenko-Karyi University. She began her career as a cinematographer on documentaries, fiction, and commercial projects before transitioning to directing after completing a post-graduate diploma in documentary filmmaking. Olga has participated in programs like IDFA Academy, IDFA Project Space, Aristoteles Workshop, and Eurasiadoc. Her debut feature, A Picture to Remember, opened IDFA 2023 and won the Heart of Sarajevo and Best Documentary Film at the GoEast Film Festival in Germany.

Patrizia is the Head of Industry at Sheffield DocFest, overseeing strategy, the Marketplace, and the festival’s year-round industry programme. She holds a Master’s in History and Critic of Cinema from the University of Rome and has a background in theatre and dubbing. After moving to France in 2010 to work in short film distribution, she joined Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle (2017–2021). In 2022, she returned to distribution as a consultant with Deckert Distribution GmbH and now works as a freelance consultant and jury member for major documentary markets.

Sari Volanen is commissioning editor at Yle (Finnish Broadcasting Company). She works at Yle’s Film Team producing short films mainly with Finnish independent filmmakers and producers. Since 1999 she has been in charge of a strand called “New Cinema” on Yle Teema channel. The main focus of New Cinema is on cinematic, surprising, original and quirky films short films. The films in the strand are acquired through co-productions (main producer Finnish), some international pre-buys and acquisitions nationally and internationally. She has been jury member of many film festivals around the world.

Simone Baumann has worked in film production for over 25 years, producing numerous documentaries and feature films. From 1997 to 2010, she was the managing director of LE VISION. Until 2019, she headed the documentary department at Saxonia Entertainment. An expert on Russia and Eastern Europe’s audiovisual markets, she has also been the Eastern Europe representative for German Films since 2005. In April 2019, she became the Managing Director of German Films, overseeing the promotion of German cinema worldwide.

Snezhana Yoveva-Dimitrova has been the Director of the State Institute for Culture under the Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2019. With extensive experience in cultural management, she has led numerous national and international projects promoting contemporary Bulgarian art. The Institute plays a key role in promoting Bulgarian films globally, supporting their participation in European and international festivals through collaborations with Bulgarian embassies and partner organizations, helping showcase Bulgaria’s rich cultural heritage on the world stage.

Born in a small town in Western Germany near the Dutch border, Susanne developed an early passion for different cultures. She studied languages and literature in Cologne and Clermont-Ferrand while working for various news magazines. After internships at cultural institutions, she joined ZDF in Mainz in 1995. In 1997, Susanne became a commissioning editor and executive producer for ZDF/ARTE Aktuelles. She now oversees the daily reportage slot “Re:,” which explores Europe’s diverse viewpoints, and commissions investigative, geopolitical, and historical documentaries. Recent projects she’s commissioned include Praying for Armageddon, Total Trust, Theatre of Violence, and Politics for Sale?.

Tereza Bóna Keilová is a film professional born in Prague, Czech Republic (1982).
Her nearly 20-year long experience includes working on the sets of several independent feature films, feature documentaries, commercials, and TV series. She studied Film Production at the Private Film School Písek and has worked in the film industry since 2003. Her portfolio ranges from working with independent and award-winning producers to major studios like 20th Century Fox. Tereza currently works in the documentary section of HBO Max EMEA on the regional level. She is working on many high-end European documentaries in collaboration with Hanka Kastelicova and producers from Central and Eastern European countries.

Ugne Pilkionyte studied political science and international relations at Sciences Po. She gathered professional expertise in policy making and EU mechanisms in a research institute where she investigated socio economic and migration issues. In 2022 she joined Think-Film with a desire to use visual storytelling to lift policy off the page. Think-Film Impact Production is an award-winning film company using powerful and emotional storytelling as a driver of policy discussions and tangible political impact outcomes. As part of the team, she works on impact campaigns for multiple documentaries and fiction films. 

Zlatko Pranjić is a writer, producer, and director whose work spans literature, theatre, and film. His stories have been published in UK anthologies by Penguin and Dreamcatcher, and in 2007 he won the prestigious Penguin Decibel Prize for short story writing. He has produced and directed both theatre productions and films, including his latest feature Guidance Through the Black Hole. His 2024 project The Sky Above Zenica was selected for CPH:Forum and won the Special Environmental Awareness Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.