Meet the CIRCLE 2023 participants
Anda Ionescu (Romania)
With a Master's degree and studies in communication in both Romania and Denmark, Anda lonescu has been working in film production and cultural management for the past 7 years. Currently, Anda lonescu is a Managing Partner and Producer in Tangaj Production and has produced Andra Tarara's debut documentary "Us against us" and Bogdan Theodor Olteanu's second feature film "Mia misses her revenge". She has also recently produced Andrei Dăscălescu's third documentary "Holy Father" through Filmlab, in co-production with HBO Europe and is the delegate producer for Ruxandra Ghițescu's "Otto the Barbarian" debut feature - a Romanian-Belgian co-production - as part of a long-term collaboration with Alien Film. Anda is active on the European film market, being part of industry networks such as: EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs), Emerging Producers, Berlinale Talents, as well as a European Women's Audiovisual Network (EWA) and European Producers Club (EPC).
Anna Khazaradze (Georgia)
Anna Khazaradze is a Georgian producer/director with a bachelor's degree in Film and Television from the London College of Communication (UAL). Anna is a co-founder of a film production and service company - 1991 Productions, with several years of experience in financing and developing international and regional projects. Anna produced and co-directed Glory to the Queen 2020 (GE, AT, SRB), supported by Eurimages. The film travelled to 25 festivals worldwide, winning the best documentary prize in Georgia. She also directed short and commercial films. Her recently produced feature documentary film Smiling Georgia (GE, DE) will have its world premiere at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2023. Her recent works include Akin's new feature film, which is in the post-production stage, co-produced by 1991 Productions and French Quarter Films (Sweden), among others. At the moment, Anna is developing and producing the historical drama mini-series Nino and Iliko (Midpoint), her documentary debut Berliner (Nipkow, CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator), and 9-Month Contract (Spotlighted project at Cannes Docs 2023), and feature fiction Tear Gas (GNFC, CNC).
Chona Mangalindan
(The Philippines)
Chona was a Monbukagakusho Scholar and finished her studies in Japanese language and Photography in Tokyo. Her first short film "In Santa Ana" won Best Film at the Sorok Short Film Festival and was nominated for Best International Short Film at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. She has been a selected participant at the IDFAcademy, FIFDH's Impact Days, Docs by the Sea, Dok Leipzig's Short n’Sweet, AIDC's the FACTory, and the Scottish Documentary Institute’s Connecting Stories.
Christina Phoebe (Greece)
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Christina Phoebe is a filmmaker, visual artist, writer living in Athens, Greece. Her first feature "Amygdaliá" (2019) premiered at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (International Competition), won Best First Film at the Mostra internazionale del Cinema di Genova FLIGHT and other distinctions www.amygdaliafilm.com. A NYU graduate, she studied Creative Documentary at KET TV Control Center, was George Stoney Fellow at 64th Flaherty Film Seminar and an alumna of Sound Image Culture. She co-founded SURPLUS CINEMA, a collective platform and itinerant program for feminisms and filmmaking in Greece and intertwining diasporas; programs at Beursschouwburg, DocNomads, erg, Onassis Air, workspacebrussels. Her work has shown at 15th Venice Biennale of Architecture, 4th Athens Biennale, Flux Factory, One Minute Space, AMOQA, e-flux, le magazine Jeu de Paume; her writing published by Media Arts Education, kyklada press, Sternberg Press; her work received support from NEON, Greek Film Center and VJC.
Faezeh Nikoozad (Iran)
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Faezeh Nikoozad is an Iranian filmmaker and video artist based in Hamburg, Germany. She gained a BA in Production and Costume Design in Tehran and later a BA and MA in Filmmaking at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg (HFBK). Her work, which ranges from documentaries to experimental films and mixed media, cover a relatively wide spectrum of themes, including home, childhood memories and displacement. Faezeh's short films have been presented and honoured with awards at numerous interna- tional film festivals, such as the 2018 VIDEOFORMES Award in Ville de Clermont-Ferrand, France. Her graduation film MISSED EMBRACE was awarded the 2019 HFBK Berenberg Film Prize.
Fanny-Laure Bovet (Switzerland)
Fanny-Laure Bovet is a visual artist and documentarian from Switzerland.
She graduated from The Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL), where she studied photography and explored themes of transhumanism, family traumas, and Ageism discrimination. Her images regularly deal with the strangeness of life and a particular desire of exploring the unseen. With the ambition to empower women and tell stories about underrepresented communities, she is in the development of her debut documentary feature, “No Woman’s Road” produced by Kumoshika Productions in Geneva.
Julia Maryanska (Poland, USA)
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Julia Maryanska is a Polish-American filmmaker and producer based in the San Francisco Bay Area focused on creating media and events at the intersection of justice, eros and culture building. She has worked on award winning films such as “My Reincarnation”, and “Regarding Susan Sontag,” and is the associate director and producer of the feature doc, “The Village of Lovers” which is currently touring in Film Festivals. She has directed and edited short films and music videos that have won awards at festivals, been featured Uplift.TV, Gaia TV and more. She is the co-founder of the media collaborative, Re/Culture Media, which produces stories and immersive theatrical events in service to a regenerative culture. She is also multi-lingual, a photographer, violinist, a master NLP practitioner and a mother to a young girl.
Lisa Smith (UK)
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Lisa Smith is a producer who’s most recent works include an animated documentary series exploring stories of Roma and Sinti resistance during WW2 with Roma Trial e.V . She is Co-Curator of the International Festival of Romani Film AKE DIKHEA?. and Chair of (The Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and Other Travellers) She is founder of Patrin Films Ltd a collective promoting visibility of Romani perspectives through the production of documentary and fiction films.
Maša Nešković (Serbia)
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Maša Nešković graduated film directing from Belgrade’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts and has a PhD in Polymedia Art. She directed 4 short fiction films, 8 short and mid-length documentaries and a feature film “ASYMMETRY” (that were screened and won awards at several international film festivals), and 3 prime-time TV series. Maša's an EAVE and Sarajevo Talent Campus alumni. She’s currently developing her first feature-length documentary “KAFKA IN BELGRADE”, as well as her second fiction feature “IN FOG FOLLOW DOTS”. Maša teaches directing as an associate professor at FEFA Faculty in Belgrade.
Tereza Bernátková
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Tereza studied filmmaking at FAMU, Prague. She specializes in films based on archival material, whether it is official institutional archives or personal footage. Her films were two times part of the Czech Joy competition at Ji.hlava IDFF. On her last two films (History of the Czech Communist Party - 2021, Socialism in Motion - 2019) she collaborated with Czech TV. In her films, Tereza approaches archives as a lively source of alternative, off-modern histories that challenge dominant narratives.