Masterclass: PETR LOM

Petr Lom was born in Prague in 1968, and grew up in Canada.  A former academic with a Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard, he gave up his university career in 2003 to become a fulltime documentary director and producer specializing in human rights subjects (he thinks it the best decision he ever made). His award-winning films have been broadcast in over thirty countries and screened at the most prestigious international film festivals (Sundance, Berlinale, Rotterdam). The first presence of the independent filmmaker Petr Lom at ASTRA FILM FESTIVAL was in 2006, when his documentary Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgystan won the Best Eastern-European Film Award. He returned in 2007 with On a Tightrope, winning the Best International Documentary Award. Petr Lom is the perfect example of the complete filmmaker. Entirely self-taught, he directs, shoots and edits his own films.  "When I was an academic – declared Lom in an interview, I was always asking, well what am I going to do with myself? Now I just ask, what film am I going to make next? And how am I going to be able to make that film?"