Consultants & Guests

Farahnaz Sharifi is an award-winning Iranian filmmaker, film editor, and writer. She graduated from Soureh University in Tehran with a degree in Cinema Studies. Her films are mostly based on archived material, and she uses archive images and film to tell her stories. Farahnaz has received numerous awards both inside and outside of Iran. Her recent film, “My Stolen Planet,” premiered at the Berlinale 2024, has won more than 25 awards around the world, including the Second Audience Prize at the Berlinale Panorama, Best Film at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and the Creative Use of Archive Award at IDFA 2024. She is also a writer, and her book of short stories, „Breathing in Open Air,“ was published in Iran in 2009.

Vadim Jendreyko works as a director, author, producer and co-producer. In 2002, he founded the production company Mira Film GmbH (www.mirafilm.ch), producing independent films for cinema and television. His films have received numerous awards; „Bashkim“ and „The Woman with the 5 Elephants“ won the Swiss Film Award for Best Documentary, along with multiple festival awards and nominations for the German and European Film Awards. As a producer, he values directors who follow authentic cinematic visions and production partners who appreciate shared creative processes. He takes on assignments as a production and dramaturgy coach, works as a tutor for rough-cut labs, and occasionally teaches project-based courses at film schools.

Miranda Pennell is a London-based artist and filmmaker known for using images from British state archives to explore the intricate relationship between the past, present, and future. Her films emphasize imagination’s role in interpreting historical documents, often incorporating genre fiction to engage with complex histories.

The latest work, Trouble, awarded Best Short and Mid-Length Film at FIDMarseille, intertwines various cultural and historical elements, creating a counter-narrative to British colonialism in the Middle East. Recently, this work has been showcased at festivals in London, Rotterdam, Berlin, New York, and Vienna.

Having studied visual anthropology at Goldsmiths College, Pennell earned her PhD from the University of Westminster. Her feature film, The Host, which is based on the visual archive of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, toured British cinemas. Additionally, she teaches a course on the relationship between politics and poetics in archival filmmaking at UCL’s Open City Documentary Festival.

Jan Šikl is a pioneer in the collection of private, family, and film archives. His acclaimed series Private Century has captivated audiences at prestigious international festivals, including the Telluride Film Festival and Syracuse International Film Festival, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This intimate exploration of family archives reveals the spontaneous, private lives of individuals, transforming personal memories into public testimonies. The series has garnered numerous accolades, including the Pavel Koutecký Award and awards at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

His latest film, Reconstruction of the Occupation, delves into previously hidden, unique archives capturing the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

A graduate of the documentary directing program at FAMU, Šikl has produced a range of documentaries for Czech Television through his own production company, Pragafilms, further solidifying his role as a significant voice in contemporary documentary filmmaking.

Tomáš Bojar is an acclaimed filmmaker and documentarian whose latest work, Good Old Czechs, has been honored by the Czech Film Critics for its compelling storytelling. The film offers a unique, immersive look into the lives of two Czech RAF pilots during World War II, using rare archival footage to bring their story to life. Bojar’s academic background spans political science, international relations, and law, and his commitment to ethics, initially explored during his doctoral studies, continues to inform his approach to documentary filmmaking. His films have been featured at major international festivals and have earned numerous accolades, including the prestigious Czech Lion. Beyond filmmaking, he is an active member of Cinema Arsenal and teaches at FAMU, sharing his expertise with the next generation of filmmakers.

Juraj Machálek has long been involved in international licensing and cooperation with film archives. For several years he worked at MFDF Ji.hlava as program director. He now heads the sales department of the National Film Archive. He studied the theory and history of film and management in culture at the Masaryk University in Brno.

Šimon Špidla has collaborated as an editor with many of the Czech Republic’s leading filmmakers, including Věra Chytilová, Jan Němec, Erika Hníková, Lucie Králová, Martin Řezníček, and Jan Šikl. Recently, he contributed to Tomáš Bojar’s Good Old Czechs, which tells the compelling story of two Czech RAF pilots during World War II using unique archival materials. Špidla has also worked with archives in Reconstruction of Occupation and other documentary series.

He studied cinematography at the Film School in Zlín and editing at Prague’s FAMU, and has directed a series of contemplative films.

A lawyer (and formerly a graduate of Film Studies in Prague), he specializes in copyright law and audiovisual regulation, working as both an attorney and occasionally as a lecturer. He is the author of several academic texts in the field, including the publication Film Law: A Copyright Perspective (2nd expanded edition, 2020). He also participates in academic research, focusing on topics such as contractual relationships between filmmakers and producers and the impact of copyright law on sampling musicians. Currently, he serves as a member of the Artistic Council at FAMU.

Adam Brothánek, a graduate of FAMU, works as a film editor and dramaturge with a specialization in archival audiovisual materials. One of his most recent projects includes editing the film Kapr Code, a playful documentary opera that was celebrated by the jury at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival and recognized by Czech film critics as the Best Czech Documentary of 2022. The film creatively weaves family 8mm footage into a sung reconstruction of life after death.

Brothánek serves as the Vice Chairman of A.F.S. and teaches at FAMU’s Department of Editing. His contributions extend to numerous other significant works, including Lost Coast, Walking and Running, and more.

Jan Daňhel is a film editor, educator at FAMU, and a member of the Czech and Slovak Surrealist Group. In addition to his editing work, he is also a prolific photographer, having presented numerous solo exhibitions.

As a film editor, Daňhel has contributed to a wide range of significant feature films and documentaries. He has extensive experience working with archival materials, as seen in projects like Vratislav Effenberger, or The Hunt for the Black Shark and the documentary cycle Private Century. More recently, he has collaborated on films by renowned director Jan Švankmajer, further showcasing his versatility and deep engagement with both fiction and documentary cinema.

Jan Gogola Jr. is a prominent figure in Czech documentary film and journalism, working as a director, dramaturg, and educator at the Department of Audiovisual Creation at the Faculty of Multimedia Communications (FMK) at UTB in Zlín, as well as a lecturer at the Institute of Documentary Film. He began his career as a dramaturg at Czech Television, later becoming the head of programming at its Brno branch. He has also taught at FAMU and JAMU, inspiring new generations of filmmakers with his innovative approach to documentary filmmaking.

Gogola’s authored films include the philosophical farce Nonstop (1999), the feature essay Národ sobě aneb České moře v osmnácti přílivech (2001), and the situational essay Exkurze aneb Historie současnosti (2015). In 2023, he co-created the film Vězení dějin with Matěj Hrudička, focusing on memory and identity through archival materials.

He has left a significant dramaturgical mark on several award-winning films, such as Czech Dream (Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda), Forman vs. Forman (Jakub Hejna, Helena Třeštíková), and Dálava (Martin Mareček), which examine both Czech and international cultural and societal phenomena. His documentary work is characterized by a strong sense of situation and human stories, which is also reflected in his work for Czech Radio, where he produced the portraits Změnit čáry v dlani (2016) and Sraz ulice (2017).

He studied at the Department of Film Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, and graduated from the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU in Prague. His short film An Attempt at the Spiritual Repair of a Television Repairman Josef Lávička in Nine Pictures (2008) received a Special Jury Mention at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival 2008. Another short film, 59-184-84 (2009), was featured in the competition at Ji.hlava 2009 and subsequently selected for several short film showcases in the Czech Republic and Europe.

As a cinematographer and editor, he has collaborated on projects by other directors, including Jan Gogola Jr., Peter Kerekes, and the duo Vít Klusák & Filip Remunda, among others. He co-directed, alongside Klára Tasovská, their feature-length debut Fortress (2012), which won Best Czech Documentary at Ji.hlava 2012, screened at numerous international documentary festivals, and was nominated for the prestigious LUX Prize 2013.

He contributed as a co-creator and second-unit director and cinematographer to the HBO Europe drama series Pustina (2016). Together with Klára Tasovská, he co-directed and shot their second feature-length documentary, Nothing Like Before (2017), which had its world premiere in the First Appearance competition section at IDFA in Amsterdam.

Since November 2018, he has been a faculty member at the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU, leading a dramaturgy seminar. He is also the producer of the film I’m Not Everything I Want to Be, which had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale 2024.

Klára Tasovská is one of the most acclaimed Czech documentary filmmakers of her generation. Her latest work, I’m Not Who I Want to Be Yet, a formally unique documentary crafted from thousands of analog archival photos and pages of personal diaries, captivated audiences at the Berlinale festival.

Tasovská’s earlier documentary, Fortress, co-directed with Lukáš Kokeš, earned the Grand Prize at the 2012 Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, was nominated for the Lux Prize, and competed at festivals in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Moscow, and beyond. The duo also created the feature-length film Nothing Like Before, which premiered at the prestigious IDFA festival.

A graduate of the New Media Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Tasovská also studied documentary filmmaking at FAMU.

Alexander Kashcheev is a film dramaturge and editor. As an editor, he contributed to the creation of the acclaimed documentary I’m Not Who I Want to Be Yet, a formally unique work composed from thousands of analog archival photographs and pages from personal diaries, which captivated audiences at the Berlinale festival.

Kashcheev studied acting at the Theatre Academy in Moscow and attended the School of Documentary Film and Theatre under Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov. He has a long-standing collaboration with acclaimed animated film director Daria Kashcheeva, whose film Daughter was nominated for an Academy Award, as well as with other prominent filmmakers.

Andrea Slováková is a documentary filmmaker, curator, and film theorist. She holds doctorates in Film Studies from the Faculty of Arts and Media Studies from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. She also studied documentary filmmaking at FAMU and strategic management at Cambridge Business School. She teaches the theory and history of documentary and experimental film at Czech universities.

Andrea has held leadership roles at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, where she continues to work as a dramaturge. From 2020, she served as the Dean of the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU). She publishes extensively on film, contributing to various journals, and has served as editor of the magazine dok.revue and the anthology on documentary film DO.

She has directed the AMU Press and co-founded the publishing house Nová Beseda. Her films include a portrait of mathematician Petr Vopěnka, a film about clouds, and an essay on surveillance mechanisms.

Lucie Česálková is a film historian. She works at the Department of Film Studies at Charles University and serves as the editor-in-chief of Iluminace, an academic journal published by the National Film Archive. Her research focuses on the history of Czech non-fiction and documentary films within their socio-cultural and political contexts and their role in cultural memory. She often explores lesser-known films produced by organizations and institutions outside the film industry, now scattered across corporate and private archives. These topics are the subject of her monograph Atoms of Eternity: Czech Short Film of the 1930s to 1950s (2014).

Currently, Lucie is examining the framing of nature as a resource in Czech culture, particularly film, from environmental and energy humanities perspectives. She studies the visual regimes of coal, water, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power, the narratives and tropes surrounding them, and the mechanisms of rendering resources visible or invisible.

Together with Christian Ferenz-Flatz, she co-leads the informal international research group Socialist and Post-Socialist Useful Film under NECS (European Network for Cinema and Media Studies), where she is also a member of the Steering Committee.

Matěj Strnad is a passionate advocate for the broader accessibility of both Czech and global film heritage, serving as the Chair of the International Commission for the Accessibility of Film Archive Collections. At the National Film Archive, he has focused on the digital restoration of Czech cinematic treasures and is currently involved in acquisition, restoration, and presentation projects that breathe new life into the archive’s holdings.

A graduate of the Center for Audiovisual Studies at FAMU, Strnad’s creative work and research delve into the remediation, preservation, and archiving of technical images and new media art. In 2018, he organized a symposium for the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), further demonstrating his commitment to fostering dialogue and collaboration in the film preservation community.

Tomáš Hirt is a trained sociocultural anthropologist and science theorist, working at the Department of Anthropology at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen and the Institute of Ethnology and Central European and Balkan Studies at Charles University. His academic and research activities primarily focus on applied and visual anthropology.

He has participated in long-term ethnographic field research in Roma settlements in eastern Slovakia and among Czech expatriate communities in the Balkans. In addition to teaching university courses and seminars on the fundamentals of the humanities, cultural theory, and ethnographic research, he specializes in the theory and practice of ethnographic filmmaking in the contexts of anthropology and documentary cinema.

Tomáš provides theoretical and methodological consultations to students at art-oriented universities, supporting their research activities and assisting in the creation of their (primarily film-related) works. His research also encompasses (archival) studies of audiovisual and photographic representations of Roma and marginalized populations.

He is the author and co-author of numerous academic studies, methodologies, short documentary/ethnographic films, exhibitions, and e-learning applications designed for secondary school teachers.

Michal Rataj is widely recognized as a composer of film scores, including works such as Promlčeno, Jan Palach, Rodina je základ státu, České století, Bohéma, Sever, and Život a doba soudce A.K. Among others. As a music composer, he primarily focuses on electronic and instrumental music, and since 2008, he has been performing as a sound artist across Europe and the United States.

His compositions are regularly featured at both domestic and international festivals and concert series, collaborating with orchestras and soloists from around the world. Michal moves fluidly across musical genres, performing with diverse soloists from classical, experimental, and jazz music fields.

He teaches composition, music technology, and film scoring at the Department of Composition at HAMU (Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) and previously taught at NYU Prague until 2020. His compositional and research interests include the exploration of sound and space, and he is the author of projects utilizing large speaker arrays in both studio and public spaces.

Václav has long been exploring the connections between meditation practices, creativity, authorship, and artistic creation. Since 1999, he has been engaged in the study and research of Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner at the Department of Authorial Creativity and Pedagogy at DAMU under the guidance of Ivan Vyskočil and his team, completing his studies in the doctoral program.

He spent several years studying meditation in traditional communities of Southeast Asia, particularly in Bali and Java, and later conducted similar research in Nepal and India. During a two-year residency in Bali, he completed courses in local traditional philosophy, shadow theater, dance, and music. His research continued during his doctoral studies, where he examined the influence of Buddhist meditations—especially Vipassana and Samatha—on the process of experimentation within the discipline of Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner.

Currently, Václav is expanding his focus to include Buddhist traditions of East Asia and teaches dialogical acting at FAMU.

Hana has created a series of short films almost exclusively focused on natural science and ecological themes, primarily in collaboration with the Academy of Sciences and Czech Television. She explores appropriation and recycling of archival materials in her long-term research on natural science films, including collaboration with the National Geographic Archive in Washington. In addition to numerous lectures, one of the upcoming outputs is a feature-length film currently in progress, exploring the political history of the Šumava National Park. She studied Bengali and Film Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, documentary filmmaking at FAMU, and completed an interdisciplinary doctoral program in ethnozoology at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University.

Jan Motal is a philosopher, dramaturge, author, and educator. He works at the Faculty of Social Studies and Journalism at Masaryk University, where he leads the Center for Media Ethics and Dialogue. He also teaches at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology at Palacký University and the Theatre Faculty of JAMU. His research focuses on the relationship between radicality and dialogue in art, communication, and religion. He has published several books on the topic, including Radical Dramaturgy (2022) and Radical Theology (2024).

He teaches media ethics and, together with his team, actively supports socially responsible journalism, documentary filmmaking, and media. He is a member of the expert council of the Independent Journalism Foundation, the editorial board of Deník N, and a media expert for the Network for the Protection of Democracy.

He co-founded a conference on ethics in documentary film as part of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival and continues to contribute to it. As a member of the artistic group Dílo, he engages in experimental work focusing on narrow-gauge film, photography, and sustainable creativity.