Director/Co-Writer/Producer

Tamara Kotevska

Tamara Kotevska was born on the 9th of August 1993 in Prilep, North Macedonia. She spent her high school education between North Macedonia and Tennessee. Analyzing the cultural clashes of the two worlds and fascinated by the unique real human stories, she predestined her early career as a documentary filmmaker. She graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje. With her second documentary film "Honeyland" (co-directed with Ljubo Stefanov) she made history at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival where they won three awards (Grand Jury, Impact for Change, Cinematography). "Honeyland" kept making history with over 50 grand prix wins at festivals around the globe, eventually leading to two Academy Award nominations in 2020, the only film in history at that point to land 2 nominations in 2 different categories (documentary and fiction), making Kotevska one of the youngest documentary directors to be nominated. After "Honeyland" she directed "The Walk", premiering at DOC NYC 2023 and still traveling world festivals. Kotevska is devoted to discovering new forms of filmmaking, In her films, she aims to create unforgettable stories, strong characters and perception-changing messages.

Director of Photography/Co-Writer/Producer

Jean Dakar

Jean Dakar was born to Syrian-Turkish parents and has been raised between Germany and Spain. His multicultural background has ignited a deep interest in exploring different cultures around the world. Jean graduated in Film Production from the Arts University Bournemouth and began his career as a Cinematographer in London. Influenced by photographers such as Jimmy Nelson, Jean developed a passion for indigenous subjects and began working on documentaries which have taken him from the ancient Kyrgyz walnut forests to the ex-colonial stone town of Mozambique. In 2021 Jean began his collaboration with Tamara Kotevska on the feature documentary “The Walk”, produced by Grain Media, a film about a Syrian refugee girl following the journey of the 11 foot tall puppet “Amal” across a dozen borders. Jean’s background of working on projects outside of his comfort zone in diverse countries has been crucial in shaping his technique of approaching projects beyond his cultural and lingual familiarity.

Producer

Sigrid Dyekjaer

Producer Sigrid Dyekjær has produced more than 60 documentary films during the last 24 years. She is the producer of the Oscar nominated film 2020 The Cave by Feras Fayyad where she won an Emmy for best producer and a Peabody Award. She won best producer at Cinema Eye 2020 for The Cave, and was nominated for Producers Guild of America also in 2020. She premiered her first documentary film in her new company Real Lava, at Sundance 2022 The Territory by Alex Pritz, for which she won an Emmy, a Peabody and 2 Awards at Sundance, including the Audience Award. The film would go one to win 25 awards in its run. It was shortlisted for an Oscar as well as 3 Emmy nominations 2023. She won the Emmy for Best Producer 2024 for The Territory. The film is produced together with Darren Aronofsky, and also nominated at Producers Guild of America. It was picked up by National Geographic. She is the Executive Producer on Apolonia Apoloina by Lea Glob, working on film for over 13 years. The Film was shortlisted for an Oscar in 2023, the 4th Oscar shortlisted film of Dyekjaer's career. The film won 18 awards including IDFA, Hong Kong and Docs Against Gravity in Poland and later secure US theatrical Distribution. Her newest films are Democracy Noir by Connie Field, premiered at CPH:DOX 2024, and VIKTOR by Olivier Sarbil, produced with Darren Aronofsky and Protozoa team, premiered at TIFF 2024 in Platform Competition . Her film A Photographic Memory by Rachel Elizabeth Seed, premiered at the 2024 at True False and has been touring most US festivals during the 2024 year. Her film Under the Sky of Damascus by Heba Khaled and Oscar nominated Talal Derki and Ali Wajeeh premiered at Berlinale Panorama Feb. 2023. She has produced the film MERKEL by Eva Weber that premiered at Telluride 2022 and sold to Netflix. She was behind Oscar nominated Guy Davidi´s film INNOCENCE that premiered at Venice Film Festival in Orizzonti Competition and won for best Mediterranean film. She has produced Aquarela by Victor Kossakovsky, shortlisted for on Oscar in 2020, and co-produced Lauren Greenfields film The Kingmaker 2020 and Ulrich Seidls film SAFARI.

Producer

Anna Hashmi

Anna Hashmi, founder of The Corner Shop with offices in LA and London is an Emmy and BAFTA winning and Oscar Nominated Producer, with a current slate of documentary films including, ‘Cuts – No Ifs Or Buts’ – winner of Locarno Pro Jannuzzi Smith and Le Film Francais Awards, directed by Sarah Lewis, currently in post-production, ‘Chronicle’ with Oscar Nominated and Sundance winning dp and director Ellen Kuras, currently in post-production and ‘Storks’, a feature documentary from Oscar Nominated and Sundance winning director, Tamara Kotevska, currently in production. Hashmi has experience with private investors from the UK and USA with budget ranges up to $800k, and worked with commissioned budgets from Channel 4, The Guardian Docs, Lyfta Docs, Universal, Capitol Records and Participant Media. The Corner Shop is currently selected as one of the BBC’s Small Indie Funding Companies, with projects in development. Additional experience in development, funding and production extend to the BAFTA winning TV series for Channel 4, ‘How To Be A Person’ directed by Sindha Agha, the Oscar Nominated short film, ‘Invincible’ directed by Vincent Rene-Lortie, and the DOC NYC Grand Jury Prize winning short documentary ‘Holy Cowboys’ directed by Varun Chopra.

Producer

Enrico Saraiva

Enrico has been working with Cinema and TV production for 15 years. Under his Tugawood Pictures he financed and produced critically acclaimed films: Mainstream, directed by Gia Coppola in co-production with American Zoetrope. The film played in the Venice Film Festival, Telluride and was later picked by IFC for US territory; the film Skin, directed by Guy Nativv and picked by A24. Winner at Tiff and was played at several festivals, such as Berlin and Tribeca and the portuguese film Mosquito, Opening film of Rotterdam film Festival and winner of the audience award at Mostra cinema festival in São Paulo. Under his Alecrim Vagabundo label specialized in documentary films, currently producing the documentary series Chasing Rhinos commissioned by Red Bull Studios and SIC TV. The documentary film “Os Lobos” about the Portuguese rugby team and the movie “Carminho” from Ana Rocha de Sousa about Portugal fado singer Carminho. Enrico works with private and public investors on budgets ranging from 700 k to 3.5 Million Dollars.

Producer

Harry Vaughn

Harry Vaughn produces alongside Sigrid Dyekjaer at her Danish company Real Lava (“The Territory”, “A Photographic Memory”). His credits include Olivier Sarbil’s “Viktor” (Toronto International Film Festival, 2024), Connie Field’s “Democracy Noir” (CPH:DOX 2024) and Agnieszka Zwiefka’s “Silent Trees” (Hot Docs, 2024). He is the grant programmer for Jewish Story Partners (“A Still Small Voice”, “Last Flight Home”) and previously headed acquisitions at sales agency Cinephil ("A House Made of Splinters", "Red Herring"). From 2014 to 2021, he was documentary programmer for the Sundance Film Festival and later its senior programmer. He has advised on juries and labs around the world, including at Dok Incubator, Sarajevo Film Festival, Visions du Reel, Hot Docs Forum, the El Gouna platform in Egypt, the IDA awards and Cinema Eye Honors.