Michal Buchowski

One of the most distinguished anthropologists from Central Europe. Author of several books and many articles in international journals. Professor of social anthropology at the University of Poznan and of Comparative Central European Studies at Europe-University Viadrina in Frankfurt am Oder. Scientific interest in modes of thought and systems of beliefs, as well as in Central European social and cultural transformations. Fulbright Senior Fellow and Humboldt Foundation Scholar. Professor at the Universities of Kansas and Berlin, Visiting Professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ (2001-2002), and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Columbia University in New York (2003-2004). Member of Astra Film Fest juries in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

Sándor Buglya

Professor at SAPIENTIA Hungarian University of Transylvania – Cluj Napoca, Department of Film and Media Studies; Cinematographer, director, dramatic adviser at Duna Television – Budapest; Artistic Director of Forum Film Foundation; Has directed more than 400 shorts, experimental, animation and educational films, feature length documentaries, feature films, television programmes. Author of several publications on visual language, creative video, the film genres, Hungarian documentary film; Training activity for film professionals.

Giorgio Ficcarelli

Studies in political science, PhD in International Economic Relations, studies in the history of cinema; organized film festivals in the Czech Republic, Lebanon, Belgium, Italy. He is an active member of several committees in the field of cinema, delivers lectures and writes for cultural reviews in Italy, France, the Czech Republic, and Uruguay. Currently he is the Head of Pre-Accession Coordination Section for the Delegation of the European Commission in Romania.

Andrei Gorzo

One of the best appreciated young Romanian film critics; He is Assistant Professor at the National School of Film “I.L. Caragiale” Bucharest, conducts a seminar in Film Studies. Gorzo publishes extensively in cultural reviews and magazines and delivers lectures on variety of film topics. He is also well-known as a translator of British and American literature. He is the winner of The Romanian Film Critics’ Award for film journalism and reviews.

David MacDougall

David MacDougall is a pivotal figure in the development of ethnographic cinema and visual anthropology. As a filmmaker, he has directed in Africa, Australia, India, and Europe. His films have won numerous international awards, including the Film Prize of Cinéma du Réel and the Earthwatch Film Award. As a theorist, he articulates central issues in the relation of film to anthropology. His works provide an overview of the history of visual anthropology, as well as commentaries on specific subjects, such as point-of-view and subjectivity, reflexivity, the use of subtitles, and the role of the cinema subject. Member of Astra Film Fest juries in 1998 and 2000.

Frances Pine

Ph.D. in Social Anthropology; Senior Lecturer Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths College; Senior Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle; She has an international reputation in postsocialist research in anthropology and in related disciplines; Member of various professional associations, founding member of the Centre for Democracy and Society. She has lectured at Cambridge University and at various other Universities in Europe. Her publications include several books and articles covering Central Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics. Her current research interests are in anthropology of central eastern Europe; gender; kinship; memory and history; anthropology of childhood; economic anthropology; work and migration.

Liviu Popescu

Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Bucharest and at Media Univsersity. Has worked as news editor for a number of TV channels in Romania, and as a producer for BBC WS. Currently he is Editor in Chief at the Romanian Public Television News Department.

Cristi Puiu

One of the most acclaimed Romanian film directors and screenwriters of the new generation. He is the author of award-winning shorts and feature films. He has a declared interest in documentary, which is visible in his feature films. Winner of many awards, including Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Silver Hugo Special Jury Prize of the Chicago Film Festival ,both for his feature film The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu, and The Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for his short film Cigarettes and Coffee. 

Michael Sinclair Stewart

One of the most distinguished anthropologist working in Eastern Europe as well as a film Producer in independent production companies and BBC. Currently coordinator of Marie Curie Funded International training program in anthropology for citizens of former socialist countries. (See http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mariecuriesocanth); Ph.D. in Social Anthropology; He has been, variously a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Budapest (Collegium Budapest), a Rubin Research Fellow at School of Public Policy, UCL; a Leverhulme Research Fellow, Dept. of Anthropology, London School of Economics. Member of Astra Film Fest jury in 2004.

Michael Yorke

Documentarist and profesor in visual anthropology. Lectures in Visual Anthropology at such institutes as the LSE, SOAS, Oxford University and the Manchester University Granada Centre. He is an active busy member the Royal Anthropological Institute Film and Festival committee and runs the Oxford Academy of Documentary Film for training social scientists in digital filming. Winner of many awards for his television documentaries, including the San Francisco Golden Gate Award, two Royal Television Society awards, a BAFTA nomination, the UN Environmental Award, the National Geographic Earthwatch Award, the BBC Asia Award among many others. (see www.oadf.co.uk)