Guests 2025

He started making films only when he was 37, thanks to his collaboration with Michael Glawogger. Subsequently, he became an incisive author mapping the deepest and most bizarre recesses of Austrian soul in his stylised documentaries. His films have always contained the elements of staging, so it’s no surprise that he has become an established feature film director and a resident at the world’s biggest film festivals. This truly iconic filmmaker will present the selection of six films at the SFS, including his latest monument Wicked Games: Rimini Sparta..

This Swedish poet, novelist, film director and non-conformist ranks among the most distinctive figures of Swedish culture. A young, introverted poet flew into the world of cinema like a comet with his feature debut Show me Love (premiered at the KVIFF). Later on, he established himself as a renowned Scandinavian filmmaker with a clear auteur style. He was partly influenced by the Dogme 95 Manifesto and his films are characterised by audience identification with the characters, raw authentic style, shooting at real locations and subjective edits.

The programme was organized in collaboration with the Bergamo Film Meeting.

After graduating from Prague’s DAMU (1978), he got his first engagement with the Vinohrady Theatre, but soon left due to disagreements with the management. Later he performed at the Studio Ypsilon Theatre and Theatre beyond the Gate. From 1993 to 1999, he was part of the National Theatre ensemble. He was cast in his first film role by Karel Kachyňa. The character of Petr, a young teenager in Kachyňa’s film Love, defined the nature of his following roles – torn young men and students in love. The success of television comedy The Grand Bet on Small Beer shifted his career towards comedies and entertaining TV shows. It was only in the 1990s that he started to receive more serious roles earning him four Czech Lions.

She comes from a famous acting family, her father was Jozef Kroner who starred in the Oscar-winning film The Shop on the Main Street. After graduating from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (1974), she started acting in the Theatre for Children and Youth in Trnava and Astorka Korzo 90 Theatre. She also gives guest performances in Czech theatres, such as Studio Dva, National Theatre or Prague City Theatres. Although she had starred in a wide array of TV shows, she only began to establish herself as a film actress after the dissolution of Czechoslovak federation, thanks to her collaboration with various Czech film directors. She holds two Czech Lions.

The leading contemporary African filmmaker was born in Abéché in eastern Chad. He left his country during the civil wars in the 1980s and studied in France (journalism in Bordeaux and film in Paris). Although he has lived in France since 1982, the vast majority of his films are set in Chad. His work explores the fundamental aspects of life in Chad – the specifics of Islam, civil wars, migration to Europe or the current status of women. Five of his films were presented at the Cannes and Venice festivals.

Damiano Garofalo, who will introduce the work of Lina Wertmüller at the SFS, is an assistant professor at the Department of History, Anthropology, Religions, Art and Entertainment of Sapienza University in Rome where he teaches the history of cinema, television and film distribution. He focuses on the history of Italian cinema from a cultural and industrial perspective, the history of Italian television with particular reference to forms of consumption and social dynamics and the relationship between cinema, history and memory, specifically in the representation of the Holocaust in audiovisual media.

He has been a film critic and journalist for nearly thirty years. He has mainly worked for the Danish national broadcaster DR (Danmarks Radio) in radio and television broadcasting and websites. In 2023, he published his comprehensive book, Miraklet 1996–⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠2006: Ti år der forandrede dansk film (The Miracle 1996–2006: Ten Years That Changed Danish Cinema). He currently works on his own websites, www.lyskameraord.dk, full of reviews and podcasts.

Ian Nathan is an award-winning author, presenter and filmmaker who wrote more than twenty best selling film books, including Alien Vault, Ridley Scott: A Retrospective or Tim Burton: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work. He is also the director of Aliens Expanded, an ultimate documentary about one great movie sequel, the presenter of the Classic Movies series on Sky Arts and the former editor of Empire, one of the world's biggest film magazines.

Professor Duncan Petrie is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of York. In his long career, which began with his graduation from the University of Edinburgh, he has focused on the British film industry and, during his stint at the University of Auckland, on New Zealand cinema. He is one of few film experts to have studied the work of cameramen in British film. In 1996, Film British Institute published his book, The British Cinematographer, where he also looks at the Czechoslovak cameraman Otto Heller.

Ho Hsiao-mei comes from a dance background. Her early works were inspired by Taiwanese traditional culture. She explored the cultural image of Taiwanese people and reflected the contemporary social situation, while using art as a social commentary. Her works are often contemplative and reflect the diversities of Taiwan with its hidden silence and intensity. She uses unique visual effects to express the inner thoughts of people in modern society. She will present her VR project Sister Lin-Tou a zúčastní se VR panelové diskuze.