Participants 2008

Zaradasht Ahmed
Norway

Sara Zavarise is an editor and social documentary filmmaker.
She made documentaries for different companies (Synergia srl, The Family Srl, Alberto Osella & Co srl), no profit organizations (Acra, Amref, ICS - Consorzio Italiano Solidarietà, Fondazione Fretelli Dimenticati, Fondazione de André) and independent production companies (ZaLab, Festival dei Popoli, Filmmaker).
She worked as editor for the documentary “La malombra” By Andrea Segre and Francesco Cressati, produced by Jolefilm (doc, 2007, in competition at Torino Film Fest), and for a Jolefilm project on the TV channel LA7 including “Chi ga vinto?, a Marco Paolini’s journey inside rugby” (doc, 52 min) and “The rules of rugby” (15 videos of 3 mins each).
She is member of the ZaLab that organizes workshops of participatory videos in Europe and in developing countries.
Her works include “Maji - Water” (Italia-Kenya 2004, winner of the Unicef prize and menzione speciale della giuria at Mestre Film Festival 2005), “John” (Italia 2004, episode from the film Cluster), “Under the same roof” (Italia-Palestina 2005, winner at the CortoConcorso Massimo Troisi 2006), “Little hands” (Italia-India, 2006), “Solchi - the pain of memory” (Italia-Palestina 2006), “Celeste” (Italia 2006, winner at Luoghi del Femminile, section of the Filmmaker ’06 festival), “Carmine” (Italia 2007).
At present she is making a documentary about microcredit in Africa, Asia and South America in cooperation with the NGO Acra.

Since I finished my philosophy studies in 2004 I have been working as a journalist, NGO worker and video artist. In all my work I have two primary spheres of interest: first is protection of human dignity and human rights and second environmental protection & sustainable development. I found that writing is not the most appropriate medium for expressing my point of view. This is the reason why I became more and more interested in all phases and steps of film and video making.
For 2 years I had been writing scripts for youth show on Slovenian National Television. I have been an author of monthly radio show on asylum seekers for the second year. I wrote a script for a 50 min documentary on ecological and sustainable lifestyle. The realization (which will happen in the present year) of the movie is supported by two Slovenian Ministries. I am an author of short low budget documentary about women position in Arab countries that I shot (with my coworker Ana Fratnik) in Tunisia in 2007. I have also been working as an assistant director on Slovenian National Television and as a script girl in 3 short movies that were shot on film.
I have been coorganizing, interviewing artists and filming (and preparing video archive) an internation festival of independent artists Break 2.4 in 2007 which was tightly connected to human rights issues. For Break festival I also wrote script and directed 30 sec TV commercial.
I have been developing educational program on environmental protection and ecological/sustainable lifestyle for high school students. With a purpose to raise ecological awareness with high school students I directed, covered with camera (with my coworker Ana Fratnik) Planet of Change, which is the project enclosed.

Msc Social Anthropology – University of Copenhagen & EHESS, Paris.
MA Human Rights and Democratisation – EIUC Venice
Photographer, anthropologist and researcher on documentary projects, predominantly focusing on issues related to human rights, migration, globalization, development and poverty.
Work/field experience from countries like : Afghanistan, Australia, Burma/Myanmar, Brasil, China, Kosovo/a, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela.

I graduated from Kl.Ohridski University /Sofia, Bulgaria/, journalism and documentary. I am a very experienced journalist and I have got numerous publications as well as documentaries in national and local media. My interests are in the field of protection of human rights and especially minorities and environment protection. I was the one who made one of the first shocking films about the conditions at a home in Bulgaria for abandoned children. It is called ‘The particular case’ and was broadcast on the Bulgarian National Television.
I work as a PR at The National Revenue Agency in Lovech. In the meantime I take care of the media and society relations at the NGO ‘Ecomission 21 century’.

Harrie Timmermans (1951) turned to filmmaking after more than 20 years in photography. Social issues took him more than once to a far corner of the world. His first production was a portrait of a railway station in India. After turning to filmmaking the focus on social issues remained unchanged.
In 2006 a documentary about the daily life in a mental hospital in Georgia was completed. His most recent production is a documentary showing the hardship patients suffering the double stigma of mental health problems and HIV/Aids in Tajikistan.
His background as a photographer shows clearly in a carefully observing and strongly visual style.

Born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1977, she studied sociology and European studies at University of Debrecen, later South-East Asian studies at Humboldt University Berlin. In 2005 and 2006 she spent six months with working for NGOs in India and Indonesia. At present she is a guest student at the Film & Television Academy (HFF) “Konrad Wolf” Berlin and working as a freelancer in photography and film, specializing on portrait photography and social documentaries.

Since October 2007 I work as a camerajournalist for lokaalmondiaal. lokaalmondiaal informes people about global issues and encourages them to take action for the sake of others, through thought-provoking television programmes and documentaries and by organising public debates and campaigns. I work there 24 hours a week, the rest of my time I work as a freelance journalist for several magazines and mediaorganisations and am trying to set up documentaries.

Martin Rattini works as Filmmaker, Cinematographer and Photographer at helios, an agency for audiovisual communication at Bolzano, Italy. Most of his works, such as documentaries, participatory videos or fictional movies have social, ethical or environmental issues.

Since I finished the Film Academy of Budapest in 1996, I make historical and social documentaries for Hungarian art cinemas and televisions. I make my documentaries as an independent film maker, applying to state cultural foundations for support. I like very much making documentaries about the World War II. and about the past and the present of my city, Budapest. Four of my documentaries (Budapest retro I-II, Balaton retro, The Life of an Agent) were published on dvd and sold over 20.000 copies.

I am a Franco-British director, born and raised in Paris.  After studying literature at the University of Cambridge, I trained at the European Film College in Denmark.  I was then awarded an EU-funded artist's residency grant to live in Berlin and direct a documentary about the city (organised by the Pépinières européennes pour jeunes artistes).  I now divide my time between Paris and London, and am currently in post-production on a documentary that was shot in Mali, and which is being produced by Paris-based company Méroé Films.

Virginie Louis is a film producer with great talent to portray people’s lives and bring their humanity into light. After studying Journalism, she decided to get the tragedies behind the headlines known and give a voice to the unheard.
Over the years Virginie Louis has gained experience in filming in the field, interviewing people with the sensibility their dramatic situation required and reporting from the deadliest war zones like Darfur in Sudan, Afghanistan or the Palestinian Territories. She created the films series “From the Field” for the ICRC, a humanitarian organization.

I am trained in Political Sciences, Geography and Intercultural Communication and have been working in social movements for more than 10 years, mainly with focus on socio-environmental conflicts and processes of displacement, migration and multicultural society. In documentaries and media I am an enthusiastic autodidact. During a 1,5 years work stay in Peru with a local human rights NGO I researched, shot and directed my first documentary about social conflicts between indigenous communities and a Swiss copper mining project. The video is now used by the Peruvian NGO as well as by a German NGO network for educational purposes. As freelancing researcher, translator and production assistant I recently started to work with Kigali Films Cologne on productions in Peru and Colombia.

2007   “Speed up” length: 40”
2007 “Adesco” length: 2’ 36” (you can see it on youtube)
2008 “Piccola Asia” It’s about the garbage emergence in Naple. As shown, my personal style of directing is based on irony. Irony, in my opinion, is the key to talk about a hard issues in a “slight” way.
2008 “Giulia scopre il vento” length: 90”. This is a short film produced for a festival run by ENEL (the Italian power company). The festival is arranged by Future Film Festival (Bologna-Italy) and is based on issue: “The Future of Energy”. My video is in final with other 137 candidates. Actually we’ve been financed by “Film Commission” (a public structure working with local public administration). My project is based on a documentary named “Doll’s Hospital-Take care of them” and is based on the last doll’s hospital in the world located in the wide famous San Gregorio Armeno-Naple.

Sarah Hamilton is an experienced UK based television Producer/Director. She has made documentaries for all of the main UK terrestrial networks and was the Producer for a feature length drama documentary for Discovery US.  She has specialised in films about young people and their experiences and has filmed with teenagers and children in the UK, the US - New York and Los Angeles, Uganda, France and most recently China.  In 2006 her film Running For Your Life, won the Children’s Rights Award at the One World Media Awards.

Lisa Fingleton is a committed artist, film-maker and human rights activist. For the last 14 years she has worked with a broad range of community, youth, school and human rights groups using art and creative methodologies to promote social justice. Most recently she has worked as Filmmaker in Residence with three county councils (funded by the Arts Council of Ireland) facilitating local groups to create their own films from start to finish. She has participated in over 40 exhibitions internationally. Lisa has received numerous commissions and awards for her work.

I´m a journalist and documentary filmmaker who believes in communication as a key tool for world development.
I have been filming in different countries in West Africa for the tv documentary series “Routes for adventurous travellers”, which has been broadcasted in the Catalan TV channel, Canal 33 (Televisió de Catalunya) and sold in travel bookshops in Spain. I have also been the scriptwriter and video editor for this production.
In 2005 I took part in the Summerdocs, a course on Documentary Filmmaking at the NFTS (National Film and Television School) in the UK. The film “Welcome to London” has been screened in the Cinema Festivals OVNI 2006 , Baumann’ 06, Vídeo Esferes ´07 and Human Rights Festival'07 in Alicante (Spain) and México.
I have also been a news presenter in Canal Terrassa TV (Barcelona, Spain), as well as a TV Documentary Program director on Immigration and World Development. I have filmed on site in El Salvador and Mexico. My documentary about Tijuana (Mexico) “An experience of cooperation” has been screened in several Spanish TV stations and schools as well as in a UNESCO schools meeting in Spain.
I have a BA in Journalism from the UAB (Barcelona, Spain) and I´m starting a MSc in Development Studies at SOAS, University of London in 2008-2009. I´m the co-founder and current president of the NGO CoMex and I'm working on a film about the street children in a neighbourhood of Tijuana.

I work with socially active culture, art, education and society integration projects in a former soviet military base Karosta (Warharbour) at the coast of the Baltic sea, Latvia.
I make films myself, run a contemporary art gallery, mediatheque, organe cultural events, workshops and develope open space, networking and communication concepts within locals and professionals. The newest project involves cooperation with local Liepaja University and as a result a new education programme “New media arts” has opened in Karosta...

I am an Italian clinical psychologist with a PHD in Planning and Public Policies (IUAV – Venice University of Architecture).
I have been working as a public policy researcher for 15 years, with a specific focus on participatory planning and program evaluation.
As a free lancer, I work for different clients (Universities, Research Centers, Local Authorities, NGOs) and in different areas: participatory urban planning, participatory social planning, contrast and regularization of undeclared labor, occupation and social inclusion, etc. I have mainly worked in Italy (northern and southern), but I have also done a case study in the US (Bronx-NY) and in Senegal, for an Italian NGO.
After years of experience in this field, I realize that video would be an effective means to reinforce evaluation activities. Documentaries could improve the possibility of communicating the results to a larger public and could make this information be used in the best way possible.

Independent documentary filmmaker focussed on cultural and social issues.
MA in Economics, Languages and Cultural Area Studies at the Universities of Passau, Malaga and South Dakota. Postgraduate Studies of "Intercultural Japan Competence" in Tübingen and Kyoto. Educated as Videojournalist.

Co-author & co-director of the investigative film "The Brussels Business" (ARTE, RTBF, ORF, 2012 - developed at ESoDoc 2008). 
PhD from EUI and lecturer at IE Business School. Data-visualization expert. Best Belgian TV Journalist Award 2014.
Author of "Homo Cooperans 2.0" (2015) and consultant about the collaborative economy. Author of the book "Webdoc. Survival Guide for Online Filmmakers" (2011) and "Le Cohabitat. Reconstruisons des villages en ville" (2012).

Specialties: Ideas generator and mind-solving problem.

Matthieu Lietaert
Not So Crazy! Productions (BE)

Jamie is a web-doc producer, director and designer. His earlier career included productions for television brands, videos and interactive projects for the likes of Channel 4 (emap), The National Gallery, Michael Franti and the BBC. He has since translated such skills into documentary and web-doc productions inclusive of user experience design. Jamie worked with Matthieu Lietaert on development of The Brussels Business and is currently co-author and co-producer on the related web-doc platform; We R Democracy together with arte France & Germany. (Winner of best cross media project at Sunnyside & official selection at Power to the Pixel, BFI, London). He is also currently developing mobile citizen journalism platforms with greenfilm Germany.

His projects have won awards such as the Promax International Gold, Best Interactive Project for RWC, and been a ‘soho shorts’ film festival finalist. Jamie’s work has likewise been featured in several creative industry publications such as: creative review, shots, stash and broadcast.

Jamie Balliu
Up Creative (UK)