Yana Georgieva

(Head of Sales at Bankside Films)

After studying fine arts at school for eight years, Yana attended the University of Salento, Italy, where she graduated with a BA in Science and Technology of Fine Arts: Cinema, Theatre, Music and Fashion Since graduating from the University of Kingston MA in Filmmaking Yana has worked on various television programmes in production and film distribution as well as producing and directing multiple short films.

SLEEPING DOGS is the first feature film Yana produced, which received nominations from the British Independent Film Awards. She also produced KOSMOS, a scifi mystery thriller.

She is currently working as Head of Sales at Bankside Films. Based in London, Bankside is a leading international sales and film finance company for 8-10 independent films per year.

Shawn Connelly

(Producer & Chief Branding Officer Moondog Labs)

Shawn is a producer from the United States. Since graduating from University in his home state of Wisconsin, where he was a founding member of the Green Bay Film Festival, Shawn has created content for organizations and production companies in London, Thailand, and all over the U.S. While living in New York City, he worked on numerous pilots and reality television productions like Top Chef and Project Runway, and did post-production work for BBC America.

He has since gone on to serve as the Creative Services Director for ABC and CBS affiliate television stations in Wisconsin and Texas.

In his current role as the Chief Brand Officer at Moondog Labs, Shawn daily screens made-on-mobile films while connecting with filmmakers and content producers from around the globe.

He’s ridiculously pumped to be joining the jury at MoMo helping to encourage the mobile filmmaking movement, no matter which lens is used by the filmmaker.

Tara Hakim

(Artist & Filmmaker)

Tara Hakim is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker who strives to offer unique ways of interacting with, experiencing, and responding to the world around her and within her. Employing a softness which allows for an empathetic lens, Tara deals predominantly with issues of identity, sexuality, intercultural and intergenerational existences and experiences. Her work can be considered as an experimental and playful meditation on the everyday, the mundane and the dis-regarded details of our lives.

Tara completed her BA (Hons.) in Media & Cultural Studies at Kingston University and holds an MFA degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University. Her iPhone shot  film ‘Teta, Opi & Me’ has screened at festivals worldwide and won the Best Documentary and Audience Choice at MoMo 2019. A CineFam Micro-Cinema fellow, Tara recently completed ‘Tender Moist’, a short iPhone-shot sensual film exploring love and intimacy told from the point of view of a woman navigating what she calls ‘restricted gayness’.

Jason van Genderen

(Filmbreaker, Creative Agitator & Media Presenter)

With screenings and awards from Tropfest NY, Aspen Shortsfest, Palm Springs, San Francisco Short Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival right through to Sundance London, Jason’s made mobile stories that matter, becoming an unexpected voice for marginalised or emerging storytellers. It’s the very reason he proudly labels himself a Filmbreaker.

An equally passionate educator, Jason’s talks have inspired audiences from TEDx Newy to the Aspen Ideas Festival; from countless television show appearances to keynote addresses at film schools and festivals. His masterclass workshops continue to inspire both beginners and seasoned professionals alike. Jason has also consulted and collaborated with some of the world’s largest imaging brands, from Sony and Nokia to Nikon and currently Apple Australia. This year he also commenced an on-air role presenting guest segments on Channel 7’s ‘Get Arty’ children show, and has recently consulted to 7 West Media Group on broadcast applications for smartphone technology.

Jason is a father of three children and founder of content creation studio Treehouse Creative, the Pocket Film Academy and The Filmbreaker Movement. His aptly named ‘pocket studio’ is based on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia.

Raven Jackson

(Filmmaker, Poet & Photographer)

David Thackeray

(Actor & Director)

David trained as an Actor for 5 years and graduated from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Since graduating he has performed in various theatre/film/tv productions.

On top of his Acting career he has directed numerous theatre productions and recently assisted in producing and directing Simon Horrocks Silent Eye’s third episode The Unlocking Thought.

Previously David’s work has been nominated for the NSDF Awards and the MTN Awards. His directing work took him to London’s West End with This was the World and I was King.

David’s style of directing is very much with the understanding of the Actor’s process to create raw and truthful storytelling.

Marc Martínez Jordan

(Director & Producer)

Marc Martínez Jordan (Calella, 1989) graduated as Director from ESCAC in 2012. His final career Project, Timothy (Official Fantàstic Competition Shorts), combines a naive atmosphere with a violent and distressing script. The Short Film won 38 awards and had more than 200 official selections in film festivals around the world.

He also co-directed Los Inocentes (Official Fantàstic Panorama In Competition in Sitges 2013), a 12-director adolescent slasher produced by ESCAC, was broadly distributed and sold in international markets.

His last work, a short film called Horseface with 30$ Budget, starring himself and his Grandma, has won more than 60 national and international awards (such as “Milano Film Festival”, “Brussels Short Film Festival”, “Sitges Film Festival”, “Las Vegas Film Festival” and “Mobile Motion Film Festival”) and has been selected in more than 250 film festival around the world.

His debut feature is a horror film called Framed, produced by Marc Carrete.

Daphna Awadish

(Filmmaker & Illustrator)

Daphna Awadish is an Israeli filmmaker and illustrator based in Amsterdam. She completed her BA in Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem in 2015. Her first film, Journey Birds, was screened at in multiple film festivals and has received awards throughout the world. It won Best Animation as well as the Grand Jury Prize at MoMo 2016. Today she lives in The Netherlands where she recently graduated from the Master of Animation program in AKV St. Joost. Her new film, Bear With Me, is an animated documentary based on interviews with immigrants about the influence of their move to a new country on their love and relationship. Daphna, having lived in different countries herself, explores the meaning of home in her work. She uses mixed media to portray personal narratives in a unique and intimate manner.

Samir

(Director, Author, Producer)

Born in 1955 in Baghdad, Iraq. Migrated with his family to Switzerland in the 60s. After studying at the School of Arts in Zurich, apprenticeship as a typographer. In the late 70s, training as a cameraman. Activist in the radical youth movement in the early 80s in Zurich. First works as freelance author and director in 1982.

Today Samir is well known for his unique fiction, documentary and experimental films, whose innovative character drew attention at various festivals and won numerous awards. His work to this day encompasses more than 40 short and full-length feature films for cinema and television. In the 90s he also worked as a director for national and international broadcasters.

In 1994 he took over Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion with filmmaker Werner Schweizer and producer Karin Koch. Based in Zurich, it builds up new Swiss film talents. Beside his own projects as an independent producer and director, he regularly directs theatre plays and works in the field of visual arts.

Anne-Catherine Lang

(Producer and owner of the neues KINO, Freienstein)

Anne-Catherine was born in Winterthur, where she attended the modern-language grammar school. In 1987 she completed her studies in journalism and in 1989 she founded Langfilm Verleih. In 1999, she became production manager at Langfilm. In 2004, she began producing films as co-owner of Langfilm. In 2014, she co-founded and is co-owner of Vinca Film, Filmverleih.

Anne-Catherine has produced several theatrically released films, including STERNENBERG by Christoph Schaub, STANDESBEAMTIN by Micha Lewinsky, ELECTROBOY by Marcel Gisler, DIE LETZTE POINTE by Rolf Lyssy or DAS KONGO TRIBUNAL by Milo Rau. In 2017 she produced the series SEITENTRIEBE by Güzin Kar, which will be aired on SRF 2 from February 25th, 2018 (Mondays – 8pm). Anne-Catherine is married and the mother of two adult sons.

Marc Zammit

(Actor, Producer, Director)

Simon Helbling

(Actor, Director)

Simon Helbling is a Swiss filmmaker based in London. He studies MA in Filmmaking at the renowned London Film School. His short movie FOR THE SEA, WHICH IS A SHINING DESERT (2016) won the award for best Swiss Film at the Mobile Motion Film Festival 2017. Since five years he directed and wrote several shorts, commercials and music videos and since ten years, he works as a writer (published by Reinhardt Verlag) and director in theatre (Schauspielhaus Zürich, Rote Fabrik, Schlachthaus Bern).

Shalini Allenspach

(Team Lead Sponsorship & Live Marketing, Samsung Electronics Switzerland GmbH)

Since the beginning of 2017 Shalini Allenspach has been working at Samsung Electronics Switzerland GmbH, where she is responsible for all sponsorships, partnerships and live-marketing activities in Switzerland. Before she worked at Credit Suisse where she oversaw the global cultural partnerships of the bank, e.g. Bolshoi Theatre, National Gallery London, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonics and many more. Her expertise is in the fields of sponsorship, marketing communications, event management and advertising – nationally and internationally. She holds a Master degree in Marketing, Services & Communication from the University of St. Gallen. Shalini is a passionate traveler but still most creative and at ease when being up in the mountains in her home canton Graubünden.

Anne Walser

(Producer, Co-Owner C-Films AG)

Ricky Fosheim

(Writer/Director/Producer/Cinematographer)

Ricky Fosheim is the founder of Detention Films, where he has produced three feature films and dozens of music videos. Ricky produced, directed, and shot And Uneasy Lies the Mind, one of the first feature films shot entirely on the iPhone. Uneasy had it’s world premiere at Cinequest and screened in the Film Excellence in Title Design Awards at SXSW, where it was nominated against True Detective, Masters of Sex, Pacific Rim, and The Lego Movie. Ricky’s groundbreaking camera work for Uneasy was published in the August 2014 issue of American Cinematographer. In 2013, Ricky shot Virginia Cassavetes’ directorial debut Love and Skin, which won the NociCortin Award at Hollyshorts Film Festival. In 2015, Ricky’s short documentary Bayanihan: The Spirit of Community won Best Documentary at the Asian Film Festival. Ricky spent five years as a freelance cinematographer at Will Ferrell’s comedy website Funny or Die, where he had the opportunity to shoot for almost every major actor in Hollywood. Ricky holds two degrees, a B.A in Film Production and a B.B.A. in Business Entrepreneurship from Loyola Marymount University.

Thomas Brun

(Head of Innovation tpc AG)

The expression TV-Dinosaur might match better: His career at Swiss Television as an operator began in 1981, followed by a year at the legendary “Karussell”, a program broadcast early in the evening. After that he worked as an editorial assistant during the launch of the news magazine «10 vor 10». He worked for RTL/Pro 7 for two years as a project manager for the new tpcag, founded SRG’s first multimedia department, before becoming head of New Media. Today, he works as “Head of Innovation”, where they organize and present events such as mediafutureday.ch and test new, unusual and impossible devices. Currently these are many portable gadgets and devices for a possible “momo-operation” for our “mojo’s” (mobile journalists).

Rhona Mühlebach

(Artist and Filmmaker)

Rhona Mühlebach is a Swiss artist and filmmaker based in Scotland. She studied cinema at the University of Art and Design Lausanne. Her short movie ABSEITS DER AUTOBAHN (2014) was selected for major film festivals across the world and won several awards. She is currently part of the renowned Master of Fine Art programme at the Glasgow School of Art.

Patrik Rosenberg

(Brand Communication and Live Marketing Manager, Samsung Electronics Switzerland GmbH)

Since 2012 Patrik Rosenberg has been working at Samsung in Switzerland, where he and his Team are responsible for all kinds of Brand activation in Switzerland. In the past, he worked for several Companies, Advertising and PR Agencies as Marketing Communication, Sponsorship and Event Marketing Manager. He holds a Master degree in Brand and Marketing Management from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences. He’s been involved in national and international projects like the renowned Birgit Nilsson Prize at the Royal Opera Stockholm, the most important Music Prize for Classic and Opera Music. Storytelling is an essential part of his daily work.

Monika Schärer

(TV presenter on travel and culture shows)

Monika Schärer presents travel and culture TV shows. She’s been working in Radio and TV since 1989. In April 2011, together with her husband Christian Rösch, she took the helm of TOPIC FILM, one of the oldest film production companies of Switzerland. In Alaska in 2012, she produced her first documentary for Swiss TV, ROUSSEAUS KINDER, about a Swiss emigrant family. It was awarded “Best Documentary” in the category Snow Dance by the AIFF Anchorage International Film Festival. The film was also shown at the Solothurn Film Festival in 2013.

Felix von Muralt

(Cinematographer and filmmaker)

Felix von Muralt is a cinematographer and filmmaker. From 1982 to 1983 he attended the International Center of Photography in New York. His photographs have appeared in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, Le Monde, Vogue, Elle and Geo. Later he learned the craft of cinematography at Cinerent film equipement service and as an assistant. Muralt has worked as a cinematographer on more than 40 films, including DIE SCHWARZEN BRÜDER, DER LETZTE MENSCH and SCHELLEN URSLI.

Lukas Rüttimann

(Journalist and author)

Lukas Rüttimann is a journalist and author. He was Head of Entertainment at “20 Minuten” and “Blick, editor in chief of “Rockstar Magazine” and editor of the ” SonntagsZeitung “. Reviews on film, radio and television is one of his areas of expertise. Today he is a self-employed film reviewer for the “Blick”-group.

Yana Georgieva

(Producer and film Sales at Bankside Films)

After studying fine arts at school for eight years, Yana attended the University of Salento, Italy, where she graduated with a BA in Science and Technology of Fine Arts: Cinema, Theatre, Music and Fashion Since graduating from the University of Kingston MA in Filmmaking Yana has worked on various television programmes in production and film distribution as well as producing and directing multiple short films. SLEEPING DOGS is the first feature film Yana produced, which received nominations from the British Independent Film Awards. Last year she produced KOSMOS a scifi mystery thriller. She is currently working as film Sales at Bankside Films, London based international sales and film finance company for independent films.

Olivier Egli

(Director/ Creative Director/ Producer)

Olivier is a filmmaker with a strong emphasis on branded storytelling. He has a classical background in general film- and screenwriting-studies. As director and producer for several established Swiss production companies he has shot numerous commercials, corporate films, music videos and short films. At Red Bull he is responsible for the development of storytelling concepts and the production of innovative content.

Nadia Holdener

(Advisor and producer)

Nadia works as an assistant at Cast / Audiovisual Media at the Zurich University of the Arts. Cast students produce “short stories for the shared screens“. Additionally Nadia is adviser and producer for online video content/Social Media and holds workshops on how to produce videos with simple equipment. In 2015, she started a YouTube-Channel with her partner for lifehacks. Nadia studied Cast / Audiovisual Media and worked at the Swiss National TV Station (SRF) for 9 years as a host and editor for the children’s program.

Virginia Hey

Virginia is an Australian actress best known for the Warrior Woman in Mad Max 2 and General Pushkin’s girlfriend in the Bond film The Living Daylights.

She is well known for the role of the blue priestess Zotoh Zhaan in Farscape, for which she was nominated for best supporting actress by the Saturn Awards.

Virginia has just finished filming Si Horrocks’ Web Series kosmos and has four films to shoot this year.

Rebecca Panian

After studying journalism and communication, Rebecca worked for Swiss Radio and Television. From 2012 – 2015 she did her Masters in feature film directing at the Zurich University of the Arts.

Since 2006 she made among others short films like Aromat, Things Change and Simone as well as the 60 min documentary Clavesuona.

In 2012, Things Change won the 2nd prize at Helvetas-Clip Award. Her latest work, the documentary film Zu Ende Leben won the Audience Award at the Zurich Film Festival and has it’s theatrical release in Switzerland in April 2015.

Martin Zimper

Martin is head of a new field of studies at the Zurich University of the Arts, Departement Design. He established the academic programme “Cast/ Audiovisual Media” in 2007. His students produce “short stories for the shared screens”.

Martin holds a Ph D in communications and has a long and successful track record as programme director, managing director and co-owner of private radio stations and networks in Austria. International speaker (Streamingmedia London, UC Berkeley Center for New Media, XMedialab Sydney), Award-Winner (Best of Swiss Apps in Gold). Published Scriptwriter.

Marcus Markou

Marcus is a British playwright, film maker and internet entrepreneur. He is also the writer and director of British feature film Papadopoulos & Sons which was completed in 2012. The film was self-distributed by himself and went so far as beating blockbuster G.I. Joe: Retaliation during its opening week in London. This success places the film among the Top 5 self-distributed UK films in the past 15 years.

In 2014 Markou was nominated by the London Critics Circle Awards for Breakthrough British Filmmaker.