Maxime Coton (1986) is a writer and media artist living and working in Brussels. In 2004, he published a poetry collection at Tetras Lyre editions, one of the editorial references of the genre in Belgium. It became the first step of a devotion to literature in different forms and media, because books are needed but not enough. Since then, he has published several books, awarded with various prizes. His practice beyond writing includes musical performances, film poems and digital art experiments (including, Living Pages, a Virtual Reality Poem, awarded a Lumen Prize). In his cinematographic approach, he particularly explores documentary and experimental cinema. With each film, what interests him is to pursue this permanent cross-over between what is given to see and what is given to hear. His approach is therefore fundamentally poetic, whether he is making cinepoems or other forms that are apparently further from words.
Alex Schuurbiers (NL, 1990) is an autodidact analogue photographer, filmmaker and writer living and working in Antwerp, Belgium. She studied Theatre- Film and Literature Sciences at the University of Antwerp. Her practice is characterized by working always in analogue and often combining text with moving images.
In her own words, “I try to capture a moment in time, and to capture time in translucent pieces of film; to make time - something that feels so abstract - corporeal. All of my work is analogue, and the texture of film is an active contributor to my storytelling. It's embedded in the past like a memory but tangible in the present like emotion. I feel that recognition is one of the greatest sources of comfort, thus I hope to create films that connect with the audience at a deep, embryonic level, leaving the viewer with more questions than answers, opening the door to (self)exploration." Her third short film WHERE I LAY MY HEAD TO REST will be screened this year at Tranås at the Fringe. Currently she is starting the production of SONG OF HOMECOMING (working title), her first foray into more documentary-based filmmaking. She also continues to take photographs.
Mona Abbasnejad is a documentary maker and has worked with television, radio and film for over ten years. In her own words, “I make films because I love stepping into other people's lives, to get really close and share their sorrows, anger, hope and happiness. To be touched, to feel empathy, even love. And, through these stories, reaching out to other people. This is a way for me to create recognition, understanding, empathy, and closeness. To touch and be touched.”
Graduated from the Philosophy Department in Vassar College in 2016, Pırıltı is the director of various interactive performances, a few experimental short films and a mythic documentary. Pırıltı is currently studying an Artistic Research Master’s at the University of Amsterdam with a Maguire Fellowship.
Born in İzmir, Turkey 1995. Ozan is a graduating senior at Dokuz Eylül Fine Arts Academy, Illustration Department. In his works, Ozan works with natural elements to question humanity, and its encounters with the unconscious.
They have worked as a duo on the animation film and video essay: Süveydâ. A project that unfolded through over three years of conversations and translation from one medium to the other. After that, they pursued their individual artistic practices in İzmir and Amsterdam while continuing to converse about ecology, post/trans-humanisms, the role of unconscious desires in face of the totalizing whole of so-called globalizations and while exploring different eco-materials, technologies, rituals and myths.