BAFA 2022
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- Ovsanna GEVORGYAN
- Armenia
- Chanrado SOK
- Cambodia
- ZHAO Hao
- China
- Amy CHAN Tsz Kwan
- Hong Kong, China
- Arushi CHUGH
- India
- Dibakar SAHA
- India
- Prateek PAMECHA
- India
- Rishika BARUAH
- India
- Darina MANAPOVA
- Kazakhstan
- CHOI Dabin
- Korea
- LAU Kok Rui
- Malaysia
- Suraj PAUDEL
- Nepal
- April Dayne GARCIA
- Philippines
- Jan-Kyle NIEVA
- Philippines
- Jean Cheryl TAGYAMON
- Philippines
- TAN Yan Jun Perrin
- Singapore
- CHUNG Ai
- Taiwan
- WENG Yu-Tong
- Taiwan
- Parinee BUTHRASRI
- Thailand
- Ostin FAM
- Vietnam
- Armenia
- Ovsanna GEVORGYAN
- Directing / Team B
Ovsanna is an Armenian writer and director with an MFA in film directing from Columbia University School of the Arts. Her short film Tale of the Anguished Gardener (2019) premiered internationally at the Raindance Film Festival 2019. It was also in the official selection of the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia and the Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto. Her debut feature film script, My Heart Is Like Those Ruined Houses, was selected for the BRIDGES: Industry Day of the E-BRIDGES. East of West Film Days 2021 and won the Grand Prix at the Armenian Pitching of the Golden Apricot International Film Festival’s GAIFF PRO industry platform 2022. Ovsanna's most recent short film Orphanhood (2022) received the Best Cinematography Award for a short film by the Guild Cinematographers of Armenia. Her TV series project Land of Nairi was a part of Torino Film Lab Next - TV Series 2022 and Series Lab 2022 of the Doha Film Institute.
- Cambodia
- Chanrado SOK
- Cinematography / Team B
Charando Sok was born in 1994, in Phnom Penh. After graduating high school, he got fascinated by the role of media and its influences on public opinion in relation to concepts of freedom and transparency. While studying and working in the Bophana Center in 2014, he made 4 short documentary films, and some of which were screened to the public at festivals. In 2021, his fiction short film Sound of the Night (2021) was nominated for the Locarno International Film Festival and has traveled to around 20 international film festivals.
- China
- ZHAO Hao
- Directing / Team B
Zhao Hao is a Chinese writer/director born and raised in Rizhao. Since he graduated from the Kanbar Institute of Film & Television at New York University, he has been developing feature film scripts while making short films. His short film Fang Ke (An Invitation) (2021), which premiered at the Semaine De La Critique of the Cannes Film Festival 2021, has been screened in scores of film festivals worldwide. His feature script, 15 Seconds of Spotlight was an official selection of the SIFF Project at the Shanghai International Film Festival 2020. He is currently working on his first feature.
- Hong Kong, China
- Amy CHAN Tsz Kwan
- Sound / Team B
Amy Chan Tsz Kwan commenced her sound designer career in 2017. Her work ranges from feature films to drama shorts. Some of her recent works include Lost Pearl (2021), which was selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2022, The Murders of Oiso (2019), which went to the Busan International Film Festival 2019 and the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020, and Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down (2019), which was screened at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2020 and the Vancouver International Film Festival 2020. Her interest in sound also extends to interdisciplinary art. As such, she has worked with artists from various disciplines to co-create works and performances in recent years. Since Lost Pearl (2021), she has broadened the possibility of joining different sectors of the production by taking on the role of producer. She is currently focusing on the post-production of Japanese-Mexican documentary The Cloud Learner as the sound designer, and the development of drama short Anthea (working title) as the producer.
- India
- Arushi CHUGH
- Cinematography / Team B
Arushi Chugh is a director of photography from India currently based in the UK. A recent graduate of the cinematography course at the National Film and Television School, she has shot on films (16mm and 35mm) and digital mediums across short films, commercials, tv pilots and documentaries. Arushi has worked on a number of productions which have gone on to receive critical acclaim. Dragged Up was shortlisted for the Best British Short film at Iris Prize, broadcast on Film4, and available on All4 for a year. It has also received an honorable mention at the OUTshine Film Festival and was selected for the Encounters Film Festival among others. Do Not Feed the Pigeons, a film on which she did additional Photography, won the BAFTA Award for British Short Animation. Flavours Without Borders was nominated for the Royal Television Society Award as well as the New Voice Awards at the Edinburgh International TV Festival and was shortlisted at the SeriesFest. The Visit was screened at the BronzeLens Film Festival and the Woman with a Movie Camera Summit at the British FiIm Institute. It also won the Best Student Film Award at the HollyShorts Film Festival. Narratives that look at the layered relationships of characters who are on the periphery of the society at a moment of transition are of particular interest to Arushi. Imagery that depicts the intricacies of mood, emotion, and relationship through a symbolic approach to framing and lighting excites her.
- India
- Dibakar SAHA
- Sound / Team A
Dibakar Saha, a graduate of the prestigious Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, is a sound artist/designer based in Kolkata, India. His notable works include Cycle (2021) and Bablu Babylon Se (2021), which have received praises and accolades at several national and international film festivals. Dibakar has collaborated as the sound designer on an installation art project, Dream Your Museum (2022), which was screened at the Berlin Biennale 2022. He has also explored immersive audio in an experimental 360 VR film, A Discreet Exit Through Darkness (2022). His primary areas of interest are experimental films, immersive audio, sound art, and installation art.
- India
- Prateek PAMECHA
- Cinematography / Team A
Born in a small town of Madhya Pradesh, Jaora, in 1988, Prateek hails from the central part of India where he spent most of his initial formative years. Toward his graduation from Electronics and Communication Engineering, he discovered his love for cinema in a workshop on documentary filmmaking. After graduation, he was accepted to Film and Television Institute of India, India’s most prestigious film school, in Pune to study cinematography. His diploma film, CatDog (2020) won the First Prize at the Cinefondation of the Cannes Film Festival 2020 and the award for Best Cinematography at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival. After graduation from the institute, he assisted in several feature films like Milestone (2020), which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival 2020, and RK/Rkay (2021), which premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival 2021. Prateek then moved to independent cinema and has shot many narrative films as well as documentaries. Currently he is working on his documentary titled Jarjar ghar(Dilapidated House) which is currently in post-production.
- India
- Rishika BARUAH
- Cinematography / Team A
Born and brought up in the lush greens of Northeast India, Assam, Rishika believes in adapting and making visuals relatable yet beautiful, while preserving its essence. She graduated with a degree in Mass Communication and Psychology, which was followed by specializing in cinematography at film school. Rishika has been working in the mainstream as well as the independent film sector in the Indian cinematography. Her film Pareshan Gully ka Bhagwan Sikandar (2018) was nominated and screened at the Filmfest Dresden and the Indian Film Festival Stuttgart. Her film Naoka (2021) has won 25 laurels in total, which include the Best Indian Short film at the Colombo Independent Film Festival in Sri Lanka and the Critic’s Choice Award at the Tekka International Film Festival in Singapore, to this date.
- Kazakhstan
- Darina MANAPOVA
- Directing / Team A
Darina Manapova was born in a industrial city in central Kazakhstan in 1995. Darina has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Academy of Film and Television in Almaty. She works as a director on film and TV projects and has a feature film project currently in development. Darina produced and directed six short films, including Maulen (2019), which premiered in the Wide Angle at the Busan International Film Festival 2019. Darina has participated in several international workshops such as Talent Campus at the Fajr International Film Festival 2019, Talent Camp at the Swiss Youth Film Festival 2022 and was also selected for the Filmmakers Residency at the Basel House of Film.
- Korea
- CHOI Dabin
- Directing / Team B
Dabin was born and raised in South Korea until she went to Dalian, China, to go to high school. In Dalian, she learned English and Chinese. She majored in philosophy and filmmaking at Chungang University in Seoul, Korea, and continued her study in filmmaking by receiving a master’s degree at Dankook Graduate School of Cinematic Content. Dabin directed a short film Mold (2020) and a feature documentary film When a Hen Crows (2020), which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival 2020. Her works mostly contain feminist themes. Dabin is also a photographer, and has photographed the cover image of Kwak Pureunhaneul’s 1st album As If I am Not Here (2014). Dabin was the photographer of a vegan cookbook by Park Kyunghee that is expected to be published in 2022.
- Malaysia
- LAU Kok Rui
- Directing / Team A
Lau Kok Rui is a Malaysian writer-director based in Hong Kong. His shorts, Let’s Get Lost (2017), Have A Nice Day (2018), and Rootless in the City (2019), were selected by film festivals including the Asian American International Film Festival, the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, and the Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival. He is currently working on the post-production of his debut feature film The Sunny Side of the Street, which has been selected for HAF Goes to Cannes in the Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum 2022.
- Nepal
- Suraj PAUDEL
- Editing / Team B
Suraj Paudel is a freelance writer/director/editor based in Nepal. He majored in Film Studies at college. Suraj has worked in short films that have traveled to many prestigious film festivals across the world. He most recently edited the short film LORI (Melancholy of my Mother’s Lullabies) (2022), which competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or, won the Special Mention of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival 2022. Apart from that, he has also directed short films including One Mole of Water, which won the 2nd Prize in My View H2O: The Asia-Pacific Video Contest in 2012 and Aama (2013). He was the production designer of the short films Tattini (The Moon is Bright Tonight) (2018) and Ma Khushi Chhu (I am Happy) (2011), both of which had their world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival. Suraj is currently engaged as a film educator, while preparing for his new short film and a feature film editorial debut.
- Philippines
- April Dayne GARCIA
- Cinematography / Team B
Dayne Garcia is a Filipina camera operator and cinematographer. She holds a BFA degree in Industrial Design from the University of the Philippines Diliman and a certificate in motion-picture production from the Asia Pacific Film Institute. She first entered the film industry in 2017 and has since then worked on various projects as a camera operator for feature, commercial, TV, and documentary films. She also was a cinematographer for short films, music videos, and just recently, her first feature. On her non-film production days, she works as a dive professional who teaches intro to scuba diving and leads adventure dives. Combining her passion for film and water, Dayne specializes in underwater filmmaking and hopes to make her first underwater/ocean inspired documentary film in the future.
- Philippines
- Jan-Kyle NIEVA
- Directing / Team A
Kyle is a director-producer and the co-founder of Screen Asia, a Manila-based entertainment company. At the age of 18, he began exhibiting his directorial work in institutions such as the EYE Filmmuseum Amsterdam and received his first international awards. His work explores the concepts of exploitation, human nature, and eschatology within the realm of dark humour. His latest film, Kids On Fire (2020), premiered at the Busan International Film Festival 2020 and the Film Fest Gent 2020. It was selected for various global festivals and received several accolades. Kyle has produced internationally acclaimed fiction, documentary, and virtual reality films including Filipiñana (2020), which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival 2020. He graduated with a bachelor′s degree in Film from the University of the Philippines Film Institute and was trained as an international producer at Open Doors of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, Talent Lab with the Tribeca Film Institute, and Full Circle Lab.
- Philippines
- Jean Cheryl TAGYAMON
- Editing / Team A
Che Tagyamon is an editor, director, and animator from Manila, Philippines. Che has worked as an editor for feature films like Cleaners (2019), which was screened in Torino Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival. Her own short films which include Judy Free (2019) and Grandma Loleng (2016), which have also screened in various film festivals. Her previous works often address the subjects of diaspora, class, and memory in relation to women’s psyche. She is an alumna of the Berlinale Talents 2019, Southeast Asian Film Lab of the Singapore International Film Festival 2018, Docs by The Sea 2020, Busan Film Commission-Busan Asian Film School’s FLY Film Lab 2019 and ASEAN-ROK Film Leaders Incubator, where she was given the Best Fellow Award in 2017.
- Singapore
- TAN Yan Jun Perrin
- Cinematography / Team A
Born in 1999, Perrin is a cinematographer based in Singapore. She has been experimenting with photography and film mediums for the past 6 years. Since graduation from film school, she has been actively shooting narrative short films, including You Will See (2022), which premiered at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2022. Her subsequent short titled Playing it Safe (2022), is undergoing post-production.
- Taiwan
- CHUNG Ai
- Cinematography / Team B
Chung Ai, a cinematographer from Taipei, Taiwan, earned her MFA in Film Production with an emphasis in cinematography from Chapman University. Her visual approach embraces multicultural and feminine sensibility, which could be simultaneously impromptu, yet carefully composed. Her works were selected for and won awards in numerous international film festivals. A Young Tough (2020) won the Michael Chapman Student Heritage Awards from the American Society of Cinematographers in 2020 and Best Cinematography for the 86358 Short Film Festival. Wild Seed (2020) won the Best Cinematography for the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival and the Marlyn Mason Award for the Rhode Island International Film Festival. The Fragrance of The First Flower (2021) was selected for the Tokyo International Film Festival in TIFF Series section and was named one of the Best TV Shows of 2021 in Variety magazine. Her feature debut Fantasy · World (2022) premiered at the Taipei Film Festival 2022 as the closing film and was selected for the Hong Kong International Film Festival.
- Taiwan
- WENG Yu-Tong
- Directing / Team A
Weng Yu-Tong graduated from ESRA International Film School in Paris, with a master's degree in Production and Distribution. She started from production management and engaged in international co-production for years. During her time in Paris, she has participated in the production of feature films, such as Stray Dogs (2013) directed by Tsai Ming-Liang, The Road to Mandalay (2016) directed by Midi Z and Bitter Money (2016) directed by Wang Bing. She also was the line producer for a young Chinese director's debut film in Beijing. After directing two high-profile historical shorts, The Double (2012) and Undercurrent (2020), she won both directing and screenwriting awards. Following that, she decided to develop her first feature, which is a Taiwan-Japan co-production, and became an alumna of Talents Tokyo and Produire au Sud Taipei.
- Thailand
- Parinee BUTHRASRI
- Cinematography / Team A
Parinee Buthrasri is a cinematographer working across Asia and Europe, where she brings a unique sensibility and heightens the feminine gaze in moving images. She focuses on stories with female characters and the queer genre. Buthrasri began her career at Electric Eel Films in 2009. She is pursuing her MA in cinematography at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Buthrasri recently won awards for Best Cinematography at the Calcutta International Short Film Festival 2021 in India and Bueu International Short Film Festival 2021 in Spain with her short film Lemongrass Girl (2021). Her works including A Room with a Coconut View (2018), A Second Chance (2018), People on Sunday (2020), Squish! (2021) have been screened at the Locarno Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur. Buthrasri is an alumna of the camera studio at Berlinale Talents 2022.
- Vietnam
- Ostin FAM
- Directing / Team B
Ostin Fam is a filmmaker born in Hanoi. His films focus on the concept of cultural flexibility - how people reconcile among their multiple identities in different countries and regions. After graduating from Wesleyan University, Ostin was one of four filmmakers in the U.S. who were selected to participate in the Marcie Bloom Fellowship program of Sony Picture Classics in 2017 and 2018. A member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, he was also invited to participate in the Telluride International Film Festival's Student Symposium, the Tribeca Film Festival's Bloom/Spiegel Partnership program, and the ASEAN-ROK Film Leaders Incubator: FLY2019, where he won a scholarship from the Asian Film Academy under the Busan International Film Festival. Ostin is the Program Director of ON THE REEL Film Lab and the Sonic Ground sound design workshops, which are a part of the EMOTIONS initiative under UNESCO Vietnam. Ostin's short films have been featured at many film festivals around the world such as Busan International Film Festival, International Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, SeaShorts Film Festival and Singapore International Film Festival.
