Catherine Breillat is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in cinema. Taking advantage of the medium of cinema, Breillat juxtaposes different perspectives to highlight irony found in society.
Barbara Jean Hammer was an American feminist film director, producer, writer, and cinematographer. She is known for being one of the pioneers of the lesbian film genre, and her career spanned over 50 years. Hammer is known for having created experimental films dealing with women's issues such as gender roles, lesbian relationships, coping with aging, and family life. She resided in New York City and Kerhonkson, New York, and taught each summer at the European Graduate School.
Regina Marie Kirk, known professionally as Jenna Fischer, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007; she was also a producer for the series' ninth and final season.
Safi Faye was a Senegalese film director and ethnologist. She was the first Sub-Saharan African woman to direct a commercially distributed feature film, Kaddu Beykat, which was released in 1975. She has directed several documentary and fiction films focusing on rural life in Senegal.
Steven Markovitz is a South African film and television producer. He has produced, co-produced and executive-produced features, documentaries and short films. Steven has been producing and distributing for over 20 years. Since 2007, he has worked all over Africa producing documentary series' and fiction. He is a member of AMPAS, co-founder of Electric South & Encounters Documentary Festival and the founder of the African Screen Network.
Akosua Adoma Owusu is a Ghanaian-American filmmaker and producer. Her films explore the colliding identities of black immigrants in America through multiple forms ranging from cinematic essays to experimental narratives to reconstructed Black popular media. Interpreting the notion of "double consciousness," coined by sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois, Owusu aims to create a third cinematic space or consciousness. In her work, feminism, queerness, and African identities interact in African, white American, and black American cultural spaces.
Geetanjali Thapa is an Indian actress who primarily appears in Hindi films. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress (2013) for her performance in Liar's Dice.
Jackie is a 2016 historical drama film directed by Pablo Larraín and written by Noah Oppenheim. The film stars Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy. Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, and John Hurt also star; it was Hurt's final film released in his lifetime before his death in January 2017. It is the first film in Larraín's trilogy of 20th century iconic women, succeeded by Spencer (2021) and Maria (2024). The film follows Kennedy in the days when she was First Lady in the White House and her life immediately following the assassination of her husband, United States President John F. Kennedy, in 1963. It is partly based on Theodore H. White's Life magazine interview with the widow at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in November 1963.
Arrhythmia is a 2017 Russian drama film directed by Boris Khlebnikov. Participant of the contest Kinotavr. It was released on 28 September 2017. Filmed in Yaroslavl, Russia. This is a movie described a paramedic devoted to his patients struggles to make time for his wife who begins to believe his patients are more important to him than she is.
Made in Bangladesh is a 2019 Bangladeshi drama film directed by Rubaiyat Hossain. It premiered in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, following the participation at BFI London Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival and other major festivals. Distributed by Pyramide Films, the film was widely released in France on 4 December 2019 and running for several months following the theatrical release worldwide including USA, Canada, Denmark, Portugal, Germany, China, Mexico, Singapore, Australia, Turkey, Bangladesh and Japan.
Jenna Cato Bass is a South African film director, screenwriter, and author. She has written short stories under the pseudonym Constance Myburgh, one of which was shortlisted for the 2012 Caine Prize.
The Third Wife is a 2018 Vietnamese costume drama film written and directed by Ash Mayfair, in her feature debut. Set in the 19th century, it follows a 14-year-old girl who becomes the third wife to a landowner in rural northern Vietnam.
Poppie Nongena is a 2019 South African biographical drama film written and directed by award-winning director Christiaan Olwagen. The film is based on a biographical novel Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena by Elsa Joubert which is also considered as one of the finest African novels of the twentieth century. The film stars Clementine Mosimane playing the title role, Anna-Mart van der Merwe and Chris Gxalaba in the lead roles. The film was released on 31 January 2020 and received positive reviews from the critics. It won several awards and nominations at a few film festivals. The film won 12 awards in the 2019 Silwerskerm Film Festival including the Best Film Accolade. The record haul of 12 awards is regarded as the highest tally ever recorded for a single film at an Afrikaans film festival.
Lusala is a 2019 Kenyan drama film written by Silas Miami, Wanjeri Gakuru and Oprah Oyugi, and directed by Mugambi Nthiga on his directorial debut. The film stars Brian Ogola, Alyce Wangari, Stycie Waweru, Mkamzee Mwatela and Alan Oyugi in the lead roles. The film is based on the life of a 22 year old young man Lusala, who is caught between his personal mental health issues and his sibling affection. The film had its initial release in Kenya on 6 June 2019 during the NBO Film Festival and was also screened at a few other international film festivals.
Shasha Nakhai is a Filipino-Iranian Canadian film director, most noted as co-director with Rich Williamson of the 2021 film Scarborough. The film won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture, and Nakhai and Williamson won the award for Best Director, at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.
Good Madam is a South African horror film, directed by Jenna Cato Bass and released in 2021. A commentary on the contemporary state of race relations in South Africa in the years following the end of apartheid, the film stars Chumisa Cosa as Tsidi, a single mother who moves back in with her mother Mavis while her mother is working as a live-in caregiver to an elderly white woman.
Nicole Fortuin is a South African actress, dancer, and theatre maker. Her films include Flatland (2019), Indemnity (2021), and Late Bloomer (2022). On television, she is known for her roles in Roer Jou Voete (2015–2016) and Alles Malan (2019–2022).
Love Life is a 2022 Japanese–French drama film written and directed by Koji Fukada. Set in contemporary Japan, the film is inspired by a song of the same name by musician Akiko Yano, originally released on the album of the same name in 1991. In 2000, the singer Hitomi had released an eponym album on AvexTrax records. It revolves around Taeko and her husband Jiro facing "love" and "life".
The Swearing Jar is a 2022 Canadian romantic musical drama film, directed by Lindsay MacKay. Adapted from Kate Hewlett's musical play of the same name, the film stars Adelaide Clemens as Carey, a music teacher who stages a concert of music about their relationship as a birthday present for her husband Simon, only to be drawn into a dilemma when she also begins to fall in love with Owen, the guitarist she hired to help perform the concert.
Izel Bezuidenhout is a South African actress. She began her career as a child actress. She is best known to international audiences for her roles in the films Flatland (2019) and Wild is the Wind (2022).
