Joel Potrykus
	Writer/director Joel Potrykus resides in Grand Rapids, MI working with his production band, Sob Noisse. His most recent film, The Alchemist Cookbook (SXSW, 2016), along with the final installment of his Animal Trilogy, Buzzard (SXSW, 2014), have been released by Oscilloscope Laboratories. His debut feature, Ape (Winner of Best New Director, Locarno Film Festival 2012), found distribution through Factory 25. Along with production, Potrykus teaches filmmaking at Michigan State University.
Adam Minnick
Adam J. Minnick is an American cinematographer who resides in Austin, Texas and is known for his work on Buzzard (2014), The Alchemist Cookbook (2016) and Actor Martinez (2016). Minnick studied Photography (B.F.A.) at Colorado State University and later continued working in motion pictures. Upcoming completed works include feature films by directors Nathan Silver, Jack Dunphy, Caleb Johnson and long-time creative collaborator, Joel Potrykus
Mike Ott
	Mike Ott’s films have won numerous awards including the Someone to Watch Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. He recently completed his desert trilogy which includes the feature films Littlerock, Pearblossom Hwy, and Lake Los Angeles, as well as Actor Martinez, co-directed with Nathan Silver, and premiered at Rotterdam and went to screen at Tribeca in 2016. His work has screened at over 100 festivals, including Berlin, SXSW, Cairo and Vienna.
Jaime Manrique
Founder and director of LABORATORIOS BLACK VELVET, integral film management company. He’s been the director of communications and release campaigns for more than 40 Colombian films and film festivals, among them the Cartagena International Film Festival - FICCI - since 2011 (and currently). He’s the founder and artistic director of the Bogotá Short Film Festival / Festival de Cortos de Bogotá – BOGOSHORTS and concept designer of the BOGOSHORTS Movement. Creator and editor of PANTALLA COLOMBIA, weekly newsletter about the present Colombian film industry, owned by PROIMAGENES Colombia, an institution of which he’s been a digital communications consultant for more than 15 years. Film analyst in more than 15 magazines in the last years. He’s been a professor for different universities: Externado de Colombia, Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Politécnico Grancolombiano, among others.
Paula Markovitch
	Paula Markovitch, is a renowned writer and filmmaker. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the 28 of May of 1968. Her parents, Armando and Genoveva, were plastic artists. During her childhood Paula lived in a military dictatorship context and that experience marked the theme of most of her work, specially in her most recent film “The Prize” (“El Premio”) By the age of 22, Paula moved to Mexico City where she currently resides. Her most renowned films are “The Prize”, awarded with the Silver Bear in Berlin International Film Festival, an Ariel to Best Film, Best Script and Best editing Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias 2011. The film was also awarded in International Festivals like: Morelia, Guadalajara, Lima, Jerusalem, Armenia among others, being the most award-winning mexican film in 2011. Paula Markovitch, has also participated as a writer in international renown films like: “Sin Remitente”, “Temporada de Patos”, “Lake Tahoe”, “Dos abrazos” among others. In literature her most recent publishing “El Monstruo”, is a book of tales that aproaches the absurdity of everyday life. Paula Markovitch has also developed in research and teaching in multiple mexican universities, her study line is focussed in the intern relationship between literature and cinema. Paula has been a counsel for renown international films like: “Historias Mínimas”, “Rompecabezas”, “Ciencias Naturales” among many others. Paula is currently working on her next film as a writer and a director: “Cuadros en la Oscuridad”. The film has the support of the Polish Institute of Cinematography, and she recently recieved the prestigious support of Berlin International Film Festival through the World Cinema Fund.
Rubén Imaz Castro
Rubén Imaz Castro (Mexico D.F. 1979) He studied at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica where he graduated with distinction Cum Laude with his thesis project and Opera Prima TURTLE FAMILY, which was premiered in San Sebastian and won several awards at the international film festival circuit including the Coup de Coeur in the Toulouse Film Festival. In 2010 his second film CEPHALOPOD was presented at the International Film Festival of Guadalajara where the film was awarded for best actor. For the writing of CEPHALOPOD, Ruben attended the residence of the Cinefondación from the Cannes Film Festival. In 2012 he produced FOGO by Yulene Olaizola which was premiered at the Directors' Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival. EPITAPH is his previous film, a co-direction with Yulene Olaizola which was premiered at Tallinn Film Festival.
Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez
	Ishtar Yasin is a writer, director and actress. She was born in Moscú and in 1973, after the militar strike she refugees with her family in Costa Rica. Her ethnicity is Costa Rican, Chilean and Iraqi. In 1985 she travels to Moscow and studies with master Alexei Betalov, in the State Institute of Cinema VGIK. In 1986 she was awarded with a Pushkin acting prize in Moscow and in 1990 she was the leading actress for the film “Luna Llena” in Kasajastan. In 1992 she founded Teatro Ámbar where she develops as a playwright, director and actress. In 2004 she got a residency in writing in the Center of Cinematography Writing CECI del Molino de Andé, in Normandy, France. In 1998 creates in Costa Rica, Astarté Productions where until now, she works as a screenwriter and director. In her audiovisual work stand out “Florencia de los ríos hondos y los tiburones grandes” (1999), “Te Recuerdo Como Eras” (2 004), “La Mesa Feliz” (2005), “El Camino” (2008), “Les invisibles” (2010), “Apocalipsis de nuestro tiempo” (2014). Her first film “El camino”, premiered in Berlin International Film Festival in the FORUM section, and was part of a selection of more than 60 international festivals, achieving 15 internatinal acknowledgements, among them the Jury Special Prize of the Friburgo, International Film Festival in Switzerland, the FIPRESCI Award in the Guadalajara Film Festival, México; the Rail D’Oc Award of the Toulouse Latinamerican Film Festival, France; among others. Ishtar has been jury in international film festivals and has screened her movies in diferent places like the Asociasion of Latinamerican Studies in Toronto, the Film Archive of Harvar University and with travelling cinema “El Cine Carretero”, in Damascus, Haiti and Nicaragua. Since 2012 shes’ a teacher in filmmaking in the Film School of Universidad de la Comunicación in Mexico City. Currently she works in the post-production of her second film “Dos Fridas” www.ishtaryasin.com