Line-up Participants

In the last two years, Iris Ordean (she / they) has been interested in the research of local-global networks as rhizomatic organisms, and looking at the function of art as it is experienced outside of the canonical structures of museums and galleries. She holds a PhD from Durham University (UK) and an MLitt from University of St Andrews (UK). In the last five years, Iris has worked as an independent curator for exhibitions and cultural projects in partnership with international cultural institutes, galleries and artist-run spaces.

Romanian ADA SOLOMON has produced or co-produced over 80 films (features, documentaries, shorts) such as: BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN (Radu Jude, 2021, Golden Bear) or Maren Ade’s EFA Winner & Oscar nominated TONI ERDMANN (2016)-executive producer.

She is Deputy Chairwoman of EFA board, Vice-President of the board of EWA Network, EAVE national coordinator, ACE Network board member, member of the European Producers Club & winner of EFA Co-production Award – Prix Eurimages. She was listed by The Hollywood Reporter as part of the Top 40 most influential women in film industry in 2023.

Jelena Knežević (Belgrade, 1983) is a producer and teaching assistant at the Department of Management and Production in Theatre, Radio, and Culture at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. With extensive experience in art projects within public institutions and the independent scene, she has contributed significantly to various initiatives. She was a permanent member of the TkH (Walking Theory) collective, executive director at Bitef festival and Bitef Theater. She is a member of the steering committee of the National Theatre in Priština.

Dana Dimitriu Chelba is the Director of Bucharest International Film Festival (www.biff.com.ro), and the initiator of it the festival that reaches its XXth edition this autumn.
A graduate of the Foreign Languages Department of the University of Bucharest, Dana Dimitriu Chelba had a Master in Cultural Management, at the University of Dijon, France.
She was a member of several important international film festival juries, she worked as a programmer for Drama International Film Festival, and Belgrade International Film Festival.
Dana is also a member of the European Film Academy and UCIN .

Mihai Mitrică is the co-founder of Animest International Animation Film Festival (2006), the only Oscar-qualifying film festival in Romania, co-founding member of the AFN – the European Animation Festival Network.
As festival director, Mihai is responsible for the artistic and management decisions of the festival. He is the main selector of several competition categories and retrospectives, and is the initiator of the festival’s most successful event, Creepy Animation Night, a program he has curated over the years for festivals in Germany, Slovenia, Brazil, Japan. He is often invited to international film juries and presents selections of Romanian animated short films at European festivals and film markets.
Before Animest, in 2004, Mihai started collaborating with Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), where he worked for 15 years as programmer, manager of the film department and curator of the horror film section Shadows Shorts.
Mihai is a producer of animated films, and works with some of the most promising names of the new generation of Romanian directors and animators. Of the latest short films produced with the SAFE FRAME studio, “Cradle”, directed by Paul Mureșan, has been selected for over 100 festivals. Mihai has three short films in the pipeline, one of which is a co-production with France.

Vicențiu Rahău is Programme & Coordinator – Indoor Events of Sibiu International Theatre Festival, since 2012, Artistic Consultant of “Radu Stanca” National Theatre, since 2015, Coordinator of the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre’s digital platform, since 2022, and Consultant of the Sibiu International Performing Arts Market, 2024. He finished philosophy studies at the Istituto Aloisianum Padova (2005) and Theater Studies at the University of Lyon 2 (2011). Holder of a PhD in Theatre and Performing Arts, since 2018, Models in Cultural Management, Individual Training and Community Development: Sibiu International Theatre Festival, he teaches at the “Lucian Blaga” University-Sibiu, Department of Drama and Theatre Studies.

Milena Jović, born in Belgrade in 2002. Currently in the third year of studying audiovisual production at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. Founder of the student film festival “Exchange” and working as a producer at the film company “Terirem Production”. Until now, I participated in various multimedia art programs such as the organization of theater, film and music festivals in Novi Sad and Belgrade. Producer of three student films and two student theater plays.

My name is Yurii Boiko, I am the program manager of the Ivano-Frankivsk International Short Film Festival 4:3 from the western part of Ukraine. I am responsible for the festival’s programming and cooperation with institutions and other festivals.
IFISFF 4:3 focuses on the niche of the 4:3 aspect ratio. We are the only festival in the world that focuses on 4:3, holding competitions and engaging in a full research of the format. Our main goal is to aim the process of the contemporary digital rethinking of 4:3 into one platform as well as to increase the audience of independent cinema in the Prykarpattia (Eastern Galicia).

Alina Pietrăreanu is an interdisciplinary artist and an independent producer, interested in artistic experiments and exploring the role that art can have in contemporary society. She is the president of the association Sangri-La Artistic Ground and the artistic director of International Performing Arts Festival – Ecosistem, an inclusive project focused on enabling an international dialogue between the artists intersted in interdisciplinary experiments and the public, through international and local performances, immersive instalations, conferences, grants for emerging artists and educational activities. As an artist, she directed and wrote several theatre shows and performances, like Minus World or the solo Terra Movement. She debuted in literature with the novel To live under a constant pressure (Paralela 45 Publishing House, 2022). In the audio medium, she is the co-writer and director of Orbis – an audio series nominee for The Uniter Award Gala this year.

I am a project manager with 7 years of experience in the cultural field. I have coordinated projects with non-reimbursable European and national funding, dealing with clients in the theatre, contemporary dance and film industry. I am a lifelong learner, eager to efficiently deliver the best results possible while placing work ethics at the core of my approach to management.
To name a few projects i have been working on, i can start with Caleido, a performing arts festival and producer focused on promoting cultural dialogue and niche artistic performances. I have been working with Dash Film for managing their project “Block – The Cultural Heritage of Bucharest’s Neighbourhoods” which involves the production of a documentary; i have been working really close to unteatru Theatre but mostly for their project “unteatru, mobile theatre” in which we transformed a usual car in a mobile theatre, produced a show about the legends behind the Saxon community in Transylvania and went on a tour with it. I have been managing one of the main projects at Ferentari Studios – which involves artistic mentorship and producing two theatre performances, music, and art installation. In summary, i choose to work on projects that combine artistic and cultural value with social and community development stakes.

Hello! My name is Elena Tudorache, and at the beginning of this summer, I will graduate in Theater Directing at UNATC “I.L. Caragiale” Bucharest. My first show, “Jacques or Submission” by Eugène Ionesco, has been entered in all the theater festivals in the country that I have found so far. Additionally, I have worked as an assistant director in a state theater in Bucharest. Until now, I had no significant contact with the independent theater and film area. I am happy to see people gathered together and the community that is formed every time around a few days of the festival. I enjoy organizing things and wish to develop myself in as many fields as possible. The master’s program I want to apply to, “Cultural Management and Marketing,” is closely related to the organization and creation of cultural events, including festivals. I believe this project can provide me with new information about managerial trends and the skills needed to develop in this field.

Masterand in documentary film at Unatc, producer at SND, in competition with films in several festivals, planning to organize a documentary film festival.

Jean-Lorin Sterian is a researcher, writer, artist and cultural manager currently based in Bucharest. He has a PhD in anthropology, researching what he coined to be homemade culture, the encounter between works of art and home. Between 2008-2015 he opened lorgean theatre, the first Romanian living-room theater and since 2014 he manages HomeFest, a performative arts festival held in houses and flats in Bucharest. The international version of HomeFest, lorgennale is envisioned as a travelling festival of performative arts among the cities of Europe. In 2016-2017 he was a fellow at Schloss Akademie Solitude. Since 2022 he is the local project manager for Theater in Palm, a theatre platform financed by Creative Europe.

Claudiu Oprea, born on 21st of March 1990 in Bucharest, Romania, with a bachelor’s degree in Acting and a master’s degree in Film Directing, with over 15 years of experience in writing, directing and acting in films, currently a PhD candidate in Cinema Studies at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca.
In 2015 he began his role as organizer and programmer at the Hyperfest International Student Film Festival, one of the few student film festivals from Romania, with over 600 films were presented in the past 9 years. The festival has masterclasses and jurors from the top of the Romanian film industry such as Cristi Puiu, Cristian Mungiu, Nae Caranfil and others, as well as international names like director Andrea De Sica and Locarno film programmer Enrico Vannucci.

I’m Cristina, originally from Galați and grow up near the Danube River from where I have an addiction to the water. I’m now living In Timisoara where I started as a bookseller and after I decided to be more creative and get involved in different cultural areas and this was the beginning of me exploring the vast domain of the culture field.
My study area is sociology and I always wanted to understand the city life better, its community and diverse cultural projects. I was, and still am, part of many associations like Ceau, Cinema! Festival, The Architecture Biennale, TESZT festival theater, sit+read.artbookfair or Simultan Festival, Basca Theatre etc..

I’m Ioana, and I’m passionate about films and making animations. Currently, I’m a first-year student in the Digital Media Specialization at West University Timișoara. I first started attending the Film and History Festival in Râșnov, where I was initially a volunteer, then part of the youth jury, and now I am helping coordinate the festival’s summer school program, focusing on social media communication. I am also part of the team of Ceau, Cinema! Film Festival, assisting with content creation, and last year I animated the festival’s anniversary spot. Now I am focusing on researching networks in the European cinema industry, together with Fabian Leiba and Eric Szilveszter.

I am a Business & IT student passionate about film and film festivals, interested in documentaries and projects in the rural areas of Romania. I am part of the Ceau, Cinema! Film Festival team and currently doing an internship at the Project Center Timișoara, working with the team that manages Cinema Victoria and Cinema Timiș. This year, together with Ioana Satmari and Eric Szilveszter, we started researching networks in the European cinema industry to spot trends and gain insights using network and data science.

Andreea Tatiana Grigore is an Actress, Artistic Director, and Glotto Drama Professor in Iasi, Romania. Her recent completion of an artistic residency in Oslo, Norway, through the Ro-Cultura program, has expanded her international partnerships and has also solidified her reputation in the cultural field. With over 11 years of experience, she directed numerous theater performances, established partnerships with various art institutions, trained artistic teams for festivals, and created innovative Art Therapy programs. Throughout her career, Andreea Tatiana has orchestrated events with an audience of over 50000, built a supportive artistic community, and facilitated courses for 2000 students. Her collaborations with cultural spaces have led to significant improvements in the quality of life through theater and art. With a focus on expressive acting, she is dedicated to contributing her creativity, leadership, and expertise to dynamic artistic projects. Her passion and experience make her a valuable asset to any artistic endeavor.

With a background in communication, sustainability, and community engagement, I have immersed myself in various projects where art served as a powerful tool for conveying important messages to the wider public. In festival management, I’ve played a part in in program creation, partner relations, and others. The most recent and dearest project where I’ve invested my energy and motivation is the vibrant Câmpulung Film Fest, one of the best examples of combining civic initiative with unique cinematic experiences, as a tool of engaging and educating. Such initiatives keep me motivated to cultivate a valuable and necessary form of resilience for the world in which we live, where we interact with various ideas and currents that are sometimes overwhelming.

With a background in communication and new media, Sabina has been working in the past 15 years in various creative projects as a communicator and project manager >> from jazz festivals (Jazz in Church, Green Hours International Jazz Festival) to film festivals, visual arts exhibitions, training in entrepreneurship in creative industries, conferences dedicated to the creative sector or educational projects (One World Film Clubs, Jazz for Kids, EducaTIFF). Lately she is super interested in how to generate conversations about the climate crisis through cultural projects. Her most important project right now is CULMEA: Film and environmental education, a film festival and cinematheque for young audiences that takes place in Brașov, Romania (www.culmeafestival.ro)

Iulia Hermeneanu entered the world of cultural events before starting high school and that’s how she discovered what she wants to do when she grows up! She is always on the move and ready for action. She started organizing events at the age of 15, as a volunteer, and currently she is in charge of communication, concerts and the volunteer team of the Râșnov Film and Histories Festival. In addition to these, she is or was part of the organization or management team of more than 20 cultural and sports events or projects, from the Brașov area and beyond, organizing more than 80 small and medium-sized events to date.
She is ambitious, has a strong personality and is determined to have the best possible outcome of everything she does.

Diana Gabriela Ludu (born October 30, 2001) is a writer and screenwriter raised in Romania, in a small provincial town, Făgăraș. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication (Screenwriting, Filmology, Advertising), obtained from the Film Faculty of the “I.L. Caragiale” National University of Theatre and Film. She is pursuing Master’s studies at the same university, specializing in Screenwriting. She publishes film reviews on the “Acoperișul de Sticlă” (online magazine) and is working on the literary adaptation of her bachelor’s screenplay titled The Last Day of Summer. Her dissertation screenplay, still in the early stages of development, is called Tesserae.
She is currently living in Bucharest, but she hasn’t forgotten where she came from, hence all her stories are strongly connected to small Romanian towns (reflecting her origins) and the journey of healing within families affected by tragedy.

My name is Claudia Falutoiu, born in Bucharest, currently living in Transylvania. Through my travels and work experience, I’ve come to realise my purpose: to act as a cultural catalyst. This term encapsulates my mission to connect, inspire, and transform within the realm of culture. I have had experience as an art & sound curator in the Netherlands. I have collaborated with several art galleries from Brussels and London for temporary projects and then returned to Romania to bring my skills, knowledge and positive attitude to my home country. I have been involved in the production of several festivals in the field of artists’ management, logistics, music curating and management and in the last 2 years I joined a creative association next to Sighisoara and during summer tourist season we propose dynamic art projects in a fortress 15km south of Sighisoara, in the village of Apold under the concept TRANS.FORT, a project for conversion and adaptive reuse of heritage buildings.