TONISLAV HRISTOV
Screenwriter, director, and producer. He graduated in Film Directing from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, as well as from the Documentary Campus Masterclass programs for producers and directors. He took part in the Berlinale Documentary Campus in 2009. His films have been selected for festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale, Karlovy Vary, IDFA, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Leipzig, Sarajevo, San Francisco, and many others.
Among his most successful documentary films are The Good Postman (nominated for Best Documentary at the European Film Awards, 2017) and The Last Seagull (winner of the Grand Prize “Golden Rhyton,” 2023). His feature debut The Good Driver won Best Bulgarian Film at the Sofia Film Festival, while Tonislav received the national debut awards “Golden Rose” and “Vasil Gendov.” He is a member of the European Film Academy (EFA), the board of the Finnish Documentary Guild, and the Bulgarian Association of Film Directors. He is also a lecturer at various European universities. As a freelancer, he works with the Finnish public broadcaster YLE, which supports many of his projects.
GALINA LARDEVA
Professor of History of Art, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts „Prof. Assen Diamandiev”, Plovdiv, curator, art critic. Art Director of National Autumn Exhibitions Plovdiv since 2013. Author of the books Art of Transition. The Problem of Unconventional Art in Bulgaria, (pub. Janet 45, 2008) and The Work of Art as a Autopoietic System (pub. Janet 45, 2017), and numerous studies on the contemporary visual art.
IVAN POPOV – ZAEKA
A director and creative director with over 21 years of experience in animation and advertising. He has worked on campaigns for major international companies and has directed more than 200 animated videos and short films. He also creates visual effects for music videos, games, and dance performances.
In 2013, he founded ROBO Lab – one of the leading studios for animation and visual communication in Bulgaria. He holds a degree in Animation from New Bulgarian University and is a licensed sailing yacht captain.
YURI DACHEV
A playwright for theatre and film, as well as a director. He is a lecturer at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts “Krastyo Sarafov” and host of the weekly cultural review program Recipe for Culture on Bulgarian National Television. Among the documentary films he has worked on are Bread Over the Fence, Alphabet of Hope, Blue Sunsets and White Horses, Zhendov’s Winter Evenings, and others, while his work in fiction films includes Dog Boarding House, Journey to Jerusalem, and The Wedding. Many of these titles have been awarded at national and international film forums.
GALYA ZHEKOVA
She holds a degree in Journalism from Sofia University and in Film Studies from NATFA. She also earned a Master’s degree in Arts and Contemporary Culture from the Department of Cultural Studies at Sofia University. She has 15 years of experience as a reporter and editor in various print and electronic media. Since 2022, she has been working as a film expert at the Bulgarian National Film Archive.