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DIRECTORS
QAFF 2023 GUESTS
 Obeida Benavides NievesDirector Colombia Lawyer. Playwright, director and actress, teacher and researcher of performing arts. Audiovisual producer. Enters the audiovisual world from her work as an actress in theater, film and television and as a playwright, which leads her to build audiovisual stories that speak of what it is to be a woman in the Colombian Caribbean. Her works have been awarded and recognized both in the theatrical and audiovisual fields. |  Marton Olympio, Anderson JesusDirector Brazil Marton Olympio directed the series A Dona da Banca and wrote screenplays for the series Santo Forte, Natália and the successful City of Men, and for the feature films Sequestro Relâmpago and Alemão 2. Marton is currently the head writer of Paramount’s series “Anderson Spider Silva”. |  Sandulela AsandaDirector South Africa Sandulela Asanda is a dynamic young filmmaker with a background in Law and Economics. She holds an Honours degree in film from AFDA Film School in Cape Town. Her student film, Nongqawuse, received critical review and was selected as the South African entry for the Escolas section of the BRICS film festival 2019. Sandulela is the winner of the second edition of The Pitch South Africa Short Film competition. Her first professionally produced short, Mirror Mirror... |
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 Vincent FontanoDirector France As a student of the Réunion conservatory in 2009 he holds an atypical course through the literary creation scene on the island. An avid reader of James Baldwin, Dany Laferrière and Tony Morrison, and writer and stage director for the Ker Béton company, he invites the audience to reflect on Reunion island society and the world in general. |  Wanjiru NjenduDirector United States Wanjiru Njendu is an award-winning filmmaker whose creative imagination earned her the nickname 'Magic' at a young age. Her award-winning short film Boxed has played almost 200 film festival selections, with numerous wins and nominations. Boxed was selected for the 2021-2022 Nuits en Or - Académie des César. Her films have played in almost 100 Festivals. |  Rosa Patricia PereaDirector Colombia Rosa Patricia Perea Pino. She was born in Quibdó, capital of the department of Chocó, in the Colombian Pacific, where she currently lives and works. She is an Audiovisual producer graduated as a Tele informatics Engineer and technologist in animation. She served as representative of the Film Council for Chocó, on behalf of the producers between 2013 and 2016. Producers between 2013 and 2016. As a representative of the distributors in 2016 and 2019. |
 Moussa SENE ABSADirector Burkina Faso Moussa Sène Absa began cinema as a screewriter for the film Les enfants de Dieu. His first short, Le prix du mensonge, received the Silver Tanit at Carthage 1988. In 1991, he directed the feature film Ken Bugul followed, in 1992, by the feature film Ça twiste à Popenguine, which won international recognition. In 1996, he directed Tableau Ferraille (Best Image at Fespaco 1997). |  Sara De Sousa CorreiaDirector Portugal Independent film director and artist whose work emerges from temporal paradoxes of the rural landscape, present in documentary and video art ("Bruxia" 2011; "Dela reverdecerá" 2018). Her first feature documentary film, "Hortas Di Pobreza" (68') Guinea-Bissau, 2010, about the dependence of tribal farmers on the export market received a prize for best Lusophone film (Festin, 2011). It currently produces and directs SEED ACT, and in 2015 premiered the first episode of five "... |  Nosa IgbinedionDirector Nigeria I am a filmmaker who’s deeply into African-futurism, spirituality and politics. In 2015 I created the Rise of the Orisa universe. A superhero universe based on the ancient Nigerian deities known as the Orisa. The proof of concept went viral and gained millions of views. Since then I have directed films such as 'Binge Watching' a BBC/ BFI commissioned short that was screened on BBC Iplayer and picked up by Dust, the worlds largest online sci-fi platform. |
 Medhin Tewolde SerranoDirector Mexico Medhin Tewolde Serrano is Eritrean-Mexican woman originally from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, who has lived in Chiapas for over 10 years. After her training in documentary film making, she became concerned with telling the stories of Others. She has dedicated herself to accompanying participatory video processes and community communication in Spain, Tunisia, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. |  Trabelsi MarwenDirector Tunisia Marwen trabelsi is a Tunisian photographer and director. After studying audiovisual, he made several experimental films, two fiction films and three documentaries. His films have won him numerous national and international prizes such as the 1st prize at Douz Doc Days, the 1st prize for documentary films at the Cam Film festival in Egypt in 2015 and four prizes for his last feature film "the man who became museum "realized in 2019. |  Monica ManganelliDirector United States Monica Manganelli, born in Parma (1977) is a film&creative director, scenographer-visual artist. She spent her early career to work as Set/Stage Designer and Concept/Visual Artist for many productions since 2001 to 2011 in the Opera House in Italy and Europe. Then she moved to work into film production and begin to collaborate on different projects (commercial spot, movies, animated short) for creating virtual set design and look. |
 Sebastián Pinzón Silva, Canela ReyesDirectors Colombia Sebastián Pinzón Silva is a Colombian documentary filmmaker. He studied film and television at the Savannah College of Art and Design and a master's degree in documentary media at Northwestern University in Chicago. With a background in anthropology and literature, Canela Reyes has worked as a director, screenwriter, and researcher on films and community development projects around Colombia. |  Irene TASSEMBEDODirector Burkina Faso During her long and rich international career as a choreographer, which has established her as one of the major figures of African Contemporary Dance, Irène Tassembédo has also pursued a parallel career as an actress in theater and film. This dual interest in live performance and cinema led her logically to directing theater through collaborations with Matthias Langhoff and to directing films. In 2007, Irene Tassembédo returned to her country of origin, Burkina Faso... |  Rufin Mbou MikimaDirector Congo Rufin Mbou Mikima graduated from Grenoble in 2007 with a Master's degree in Creative Documentary Filmmaking. He is a director, producer, trainer, festival programmer and initiator of the "To zali" collective of Congolese filmmakers. He defines himself as a maker of images and a storyteller of lives. |
 Saïd Abitar, Curt FortinDirectors Germany Curt Fortin was born on the 27th of September in 1978 on the sunny island of Aruba. He was 5 years old when he moved with his mother and sister to the Netherlands. At a very young age, Curt knew what he wanted to do with his life. Acting, directing and writing stories. Said Abitar is a scenographer and illustrator who studied and graduated at La Cambre Brussels. He also worked there as an intern atelier assistant and teacher aswel as at Saint Luc Brussels. |  Paula MayoDirector Colombia Paula Mayo is a film director with 5 years of experience in the audiovisual world, with empirical training in arts and cinematography, specializing in genre, animation and fantasy films. Her first audiovisual work was in the position of art director of the fiction feature film EL LABORATORIO. To be released in 2023. Work done as a director in short fiction films: UROBOROS short film winner of the call "great stories with small cameras 2020". |  Nganji MutiriDirector Belgium Nganji Mutiri (1980) is an award-winning artist, actor, photographer, writer and filmmaker. |
 Nancy Mac Granaky-QuayeDirector Germany Nancy Mac Granaky-Quaye studied film directing at international filmschool in Cologne, Germany. Since then she worked as director, writer, editor and image mixer. In these functions she has mixed music shows like MTV unplugged, directed reports, music videos, advertising, shortfilms and documentaries. Also she worked as programmer and curator for Afrika Film Festival Cologne, which was awarded as best cultural event in 2019. |  Andrés Felipe Villarreal ValenciaDirector Colombia Andrés Felipe Villarreal Valencia, born August 13, 1993 in Bogotá, finished high school at IES Laguna de Joatzel in Madrid, Spain in 2011. He studied professional technician in sound for audiovisual and shows at IES Puerta bonita in 2014. In Madrid, Spain. Technologist of sound and musicalization (2016 - 2021), in 2017 he began his double degree in Film and Television, both at the university corporation UNITEC, which he is currently studying. |  Kantarama GahigiriDirector Rwanda Kantarama Gahigiri is a Rwandan-Swiss writer/director. Born in Geneva, she’s holding a Master’s degree in International Relations. Today, Kantarama pursues her passion, immersed in an exploration of identity, migration, empowerment and on-screen representation, through her recent projects shot sometimes in Switzerland, and most times in East Africa. |
 Lodi Paul IngaDirector South Africa Born in the DRC, my passion for art and storytelling led me to Cape Town, where I completed a master’s degree in graphic design. I have worked on multidisciplinary projects integrating music, storytelling and animation- I currently lecture and do freelance work. I am also a storyteller and musician who performs my brand of acoustic music. |  Benita JacquesDirector Canada At a very young age, Benita Jacques realised that she and theatre were born for each other. When she decided to make the stage her natural habitat, she understood that this habitat was a place of pleasure, artistic expression and also a way to share her state of mind. The trained actress who holds a DEC in Arts and Literature from Marie Victorin College and a Bachelor in dramatic arts from the University of Quebec in Montréal (UQAM). |  YULIAN RENTERIADirector Colombia Yulian Steven Payan Rentería, known as RENTERIA DIRECTOR, native of the port of Buenaventura, audiovisual producer, photographer, director and rapper of the group AFRO LEGENDS. He began his first audiovisual works in the city of Cali, in talks where the topics were about hair, textures and human rights of black people. |
 Ernestina Miranda, Mar AjéDirectors Colombia Ernestina Miranda Community leader and cultural manager, born and resident of San Basilio de Palenque. Traditional cook, farmer and guardian of the biodiversity of her territory. Mar Ajé, born in Córdoba - Argentina, she has lived for eleven years in the Colombian Caribbean coast, the last two in San Basilio de Palenque. She has developed diverse artistic and pedagogical processes, related to themes such as oral memory, community weaving, poetry, feminisms, narratives... |  Mbabazi Philbert AiméDirector Rwanda Mbabazi Sharangabo Philbert Aimé is a Rwandese director and producer living between Rwanda and Switzerland. He graduated with honors from La Haute École d’Art et de Design in Geneva in the cinema department in 2017. His previous short film « I Got My Things And Left » won Grand Prize at Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in 2019 (Oscar qualifying), and screened in more than 25 internationals festivals. |  Claudine Shenge NdimbiraDirector South Africa Claudine (Shenge) Ndimbira is a Rwandan filmmaker who resides in Kigali, Rwanda. After her secondary studies, she took a three-month short course in digital filmmaking at the Kwetu Film Institute. Since then, she has been to several workshops in different filmmaking departments. Claudine directed her first short film in 2013 and since then she has worked as a scriptwriter, director and producer. |
 Laurent PantaléonDirector La Réunion After a National Diploma of the Arts and Technique to the School of Fine Arts of Reunion, Laurent Pantaleon settles down in independent and carries out photographic and video works around the identity and around the héritage from Réunion. |  Irene LemaDirectors Colombia Irene Lema, filmmaker and XR creator. Her work has been premiered in festivals like FICCI in Colombia and SXSW in the USA. She has been trained in spaces like the NewFrontier talent Forum in Sundance. Sergio Bromberg is a physicist, creative coder and VR technologist with an MSc in Music Technology (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona). Carolina del Mar Fernández is a documentary filmmaker and sound recordist. Her project ‘Las Gaitas en la Nevera’ shows musicians from... |  Welket BunguéDirector Guinea-Bissau Welket Bungué is originally from the Balanta tribe, was born in Xitole (Guinea-Bissau) on February 7th, 1988. He is a Portuguese-Guinean actor and film director based in Berlin, a co-founder of Kussa Productions. He holds a degree in Theater from the Actors branch (ESTC / Lisbon) and a postgraduate degree in Performance (UniRio / Brazil). He is a Permanent Member of the Portuguese Academy of Cinema, the Deutsche Filmakademie, and a member of the European Film Academy... |
 Maisha MaeneDirector RD Congo Maisha Maene is a Congolese screenwriter and director based in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo. As an Afrofuturist artist, he works on issues of human rights and the environment, and seeks to reconstruct the fragmented history of his country. As well as various collaborative projects, Maisha has written and directed three short films: ‘REGARD,’ ‘MOTHER NATURE,’ and ‘APA’. |  Aurélie FilainDirector France Born in 1983 in Saint-Denis (Reunion Island), Aurélie Filain joined the script writing residency « Talent La Kour » in 2017, which is a program managed by the association Cinékour. There, she started writing her first film « The Fall of Phaeton », a short fiction film. The film, which belongs to the social realism genre, tells the misadventure of a teenager living in a working-class neighborhood. |  Alvaro SerjeDirectors Colombia ALVARO SERJE: Filmmaker and audiovisual trainer from the Colombian Caribbean. Social communicator graduated from the Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla) and Master in Documentary Film from the Universidad del Cine (Buenos Aires). He has more than 15 years of experience as a director, scriptwriter and editor of non-fiction content for television and other audiovisual media. JM SUÁREZ: Audiovisual producer, musician and artist from the Colombian Caribbean. |
 Marc G PitreDirector United States Marc Pitre is an award-winning filmmaker, professor of screenwriting and production, and experienced producer with a passion for all aspects of motion picture production. Throughout his journey as a producer and development executive, Pitre has made significant contributions to major feature films in Australia, China, Thailand, Canada, England, and Croatia and has had the privilege of collaborating with renowned talents such as Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, Jamie Foxx. |  Julian Garcia CardenasDirector Colombia I have a Master's degree in research in education from the specialty of art, body and movement; specialist in social management; specialist in peace culture, bachelor in recreation and multidisciplinary artist. Dancer, choreographer, photographer and audiovisual producer with nearly 20 years of experience. |  Joan Gómez EndaraDirector Colombia Colombian director, screenwriter, and producer, founding partner of Big - Sur Películas, has directed and co-written the short films "ASUNTO DE GALLOS", (Idartes Award for Short Film 2008, Official Selection of the International Festival Clermont - Ferrand 2012), and "LA CARTERA", shot in Barcelona in 2013. |
 Badewa Adeseye AjibadeDirector Nigeria Badewa Ajibade is a Nigerian filmmaker. Badewa was trained at the Toronto Film School in Canada and is currently an MFA film production candidate at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. He has written, directed and produced 4 short films in addition to this documentary. His work has been screened around the world and has earned him recognition such as awards from film festivals. |  David OntoriaDirector Spain I'm a 31 year-old filmmaker and I've shown great interest in the arts since I was very little. Writing, composing music and making movies are my three favourite modes of artistic expression. I studied Fine Arts and then a course on scriptwriting. |  Enricka MHDirector France Enricka MH wrote and directed her first short film “La K-Z”, in 2019, a self-production which won several prizes in festivals. “Dorlis”, her second movie, was written at La Ruche de Gindou Residency, shot in Martinique and produced by Caïmans Productions. |
 Thierry Siegried BUGAUDDirector France A graduate of the Institut International de l'Image et du Son, Thierry Bugaud studied ethnology at Paris VII university. He produced a number of photographic series, including Les Grands Moulins de Paris. In 1998, he created the Art Evolution studio and produced around a hundred music albums. He also made sound documentaries: La Terre des Hommes Intègres in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali. He then went on to found La Boite Dans la Boîte and has been producing documentaries since 2008. |  Andrés MosqueraDirector Colombia |
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