Asheville is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 12th-most populous city. According to the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 94,589, up from 83,393 in the 2010 census. It is the principal city in the four-county Asheville metropolitan area, which had a population of 424,858 in 2010, and of 469,015 in 2020.
Kim Longinotto is a British documentary film maker, well known for making films that highlight the plight of female victims of oppression or discrimination. Longinotto has made more than 20 films, usually featuring inspiring women and girls at their core. Her subjects have included female genital mutilation in Kenya, women standing up to rapists in India, and the story of Salma, an Indian Muslim woman who smuggled poetry out to the world while locked up by her family for decades.
Kira Georgievna Muratova was a Soviet-Ukrainian award-winning film director, screenwriter and actress of Romanian/Jewish descent, known for her unusual directorial style. Muratova's films underwent a great deal of censorship in the Soviet Union, yet still Muratova managed to emerge as one of the leading figures in contemporary Russian cinema and was able to build a very successful film career from 1960s onwards. Muratova, along with Nikita Mikhalkov, Vadim Abdrashitov, Aleksandr Sokurov, Aleksei German, and Aleksei Balabanov are considered arguably Russia's lead filmmakers who weathered the collapse of the USSR yet managed to productively continue their filmmaking work from the early 1990s onward.
Yvonne Welbon is an American independent film director, producer, and screenwriter based in Chicago. She is known for her films, Living with Pride:Ruth C. Ellis @ 100 (1999), Sisters in Cinema (2003), and Monique (1992).
The National Film Festival for Talented Youth, held annually in Seattle, Washington, showcases work by filmmakers 24 and under from across the U.S. and the world. It was created in 2007 with the goal of becoming the most influential youth-oriented film festival in North America. The festival includes film screenings, filmmaking workshops and panels, concerts by youth bands, and a gala opening night.
James Kicklighter is an American film director, producer, and writer from Bellville, Georgia.
Petra Costa is a Brazilian filmmaker and actress. She has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2018.
Emily Carmichael is an American film director, screenwriter, and animator. Her short films have screened in competition at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, Slamdance, and other US and International film festivals. Carmichael co-wrote the screenplay for the 2018 science fiction sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising.
Ana Lily Amirpour is an English-born American film director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She is best known for her feature film debut A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, self-described as "the first Iranian vampire spaghetti western" that made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014, and which was based on a previous short film that she wrote and directed, which won Best Short Film at the 2012 Noor Iranian Film Festival.
The 100 Words Film Festival is an American event held annually in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 2014, it celebrates concise, cinematic storytelling — each film must contain exactly 100 spoken words, requiring filmmakers to focus on the essence of the story. The word limit is a part of the festival's goal to democratize filmmaking by making it financially achievable for nearly everyone.
Elle-Máijá Apiniskim Tailfeathers is a Blackfoot and Sámi filmmaker, actor, producer and curatorial assistant from the Kainai First Nation. She has won several accolades for her film work.
ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival (ShPFF), is an annual LGBT film festival held in Shanghai, China. It was first established in 2015.
Dustin Thomas Kahia is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for writing and directing his film, Call of the Void (2016).
Shilpa Ranade is an Indian designer, animator, illustrator, filmmaker and academician. She has been faculty at the Industrial Design Centre at IIT Bombay since 2001. She has directed animated short films for Channel 4, UK and her films have been screened all over the world, winning accolades in some of the most prestigious film festivals. The award-winning animation movie Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya was her last full-length feature film which world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her other films are Naja Goes to School and Mani's Dying.
Safar Shakeyev was a Kazakh filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He was born on 2 September 1991 in the city of Kokshetau of Kokshetau region. His father is composer and singer Yerkesh Shakeyev.
Penny Lane is an American independent filmmaker, known for her documentary films. Her humor and unconventional approach to the documentary form, including the use of archival Super 8 footage and YouTube videos, have earned her critical acclaim.
Abby the Spoon Lady, born Abby Roach, is an American musician, former radio personality, and free speech activist. Her music focuses on the American roots genre.
Anna Margarita Albelo is a Cuban-American filmmaker, based in Los Angeles, USA and Paris, France. Her work is known for containing subject matter pertaining to post-modern conceptualizations of identity, namely feminist womanhood and sexuality. She was nominated for the John Cassavetes Spirit Awards in 2020 for producing "Wild Nights with Emily" by Madeleine Olnek, starring Molly Shannon.
Alex Sangha is a Canadian social worker and documentary film producer. He is the founder of Sher Vancouver which is a registered charity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) South Asians and their friends. Sangha was the first Sikh to become a Grand Marshal of the Vancouver Pride Parade. Sangha received the Meritorious Service Medal from Governor General Julie Payette in 2018 for his work founding Sher Vancouver. Sangha's first short documentary film, My Name Was January, won 14 awards and garnered 66 official selections at film festivals around the world. Sangha's debut feature documentary, Emergence: Out of the Shadows, was an official selection at Out on Film in Atlanta, Image+Nation in Montreal, and Reelworld in Toronto. The film was the closing night film at both the South Asian Film Festival of Montreal and the Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival where it picked up Best Documentary.
Ekwa Msangi is a Tanzanian-American filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter. She teaches Production and Cultural Studies at New York University.
