Jouni Hiltunen

Jouni Hiltunen

Finland

Jouni Hiltunen is a documentary- and nature film director and cameraman at Katharsis Films Ltd. He studied as a videographer in the beginning of 1990´s and since then he has been working in many field of film industry, mainly as a cameraman, editor, producer and a director, first eight years at the one of the most iconic documentary film company in Finland, Illume Ltd.

He has directed about 25 documentary films, many of them made in remote locations or in arctic region. In 2001 he started working in Russia and Siberia, first making an award winning documentary film ”Blatnoi Mir”, story about three life-sentenced prisoners and their tattoos in the most secured prison in Russia, and few years later a documentary about the extraordinary history of Baikal Amur railroad building process, called ”BAM”. In 2012 he returned to far Siberia, Chukotka peninsula as a producer-cameraman to make an anthropological documentary about whale hunting Yupik Eskimos.

He founded his production company Katharsis Films in 2001 and since then he has concentrated on nature topics, making documentaries for the Finnish main television channel YLE TV1, including nature films ”The Unknown Bothnian Sea”, "Journey to the Sea”, ”A Young Crane’s Long Journey,” and ”Return of the White-Tailed Eagle”. All of them are also MAFF and other nature festival winners. Currently he is working as a cinematographer on a feature length documentary about Greenlandic Sled Dogs and a group of Danish volunteer veterinarians in Greenland, working title ”Howl into the Future”. He has also been making last two years a nature film about Finnish national bird Whooper Swan. The film will be ready by the end of 2025.

Tuul Sepp

Tuul Sepp

Estonia

Tuul Sepp is a scientist, science popularizer and writer. She is professor of animal ecology at the University of Tartu and her research topics range from marine biology and urban nature to cancer evolution. He is a member of several councils, including University of Tartu and Estonian Fund for Nature councils. For her research and activity in the field of science outreach she has gained wide recognitions, among others, national research award, L'Oreal UNESCO "For women in science" award, presidential prize for young researcher, and best science popularizer award. She is highly valued as a speaker in nature-related events and she has written numerous articles about nature. Her books include, among others, popular scientific books "Diary of an Evolutionary Biologist" and "Creative Animals in a Changing World", as well as children's books "Spring Fairy" and "The Order of Jackdaw".

Urmas Tartes

Urmas Tartes

Estonia

Urmas Tartes is a biologist by education. In his academic career, he researched insect life functions and nature conservation, but spent much of his time leading a scientific institution. Since 2010, he has worked as a freelance naturalist and nature photographer after stepping down from his position as a professor. As a nature photographer, Urmas observes and captures the diversity and habits of insects and other small creatures. His special focus is on insects active during the winter.

Urmas is a frequent speaker to various audiences with photo presentations about nature, especially insects. Hundreds of nature stories written by Urmas have been published in newspapers, nature magazines, and on websites. He has published several books on nature and photography. In 2009, he became the first Estonian to win a category in the world’s most prestigious nature photography competition, Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He teaches photography at the Estonian University of Life Sciences and nature photography at the Pallas University of Applied Sciences, and has conducted numerous nature photography courses and masterclasses. Urmas has also served on the jury of dozens of both major and minor photography competitions.

Urmas has participated at MAFF since its inception. He has given presentations at photo events, exhibited his work, and led workshops. In 2005 and 2006, Urmas was a member of the MAFF jury.

Jurgen Buedts

Jurgen Buedts

Belgium

Jurgen Buedts is a writer, director, producer. With his company Las Belgas, established in 2013 they are able to attract international talent and create award winning projects worldwide. 

Projects he produced, co-produced, wrote or directed include high end films but also artistic low budget arthouse projects, both fiction and documentary.

His work is seen on big and small screens and his network includes high end filmmakers, broadcasters, producers or networks worldwide. Jurgen is the producer of last year's MAFF winning film "New Pigs on the Block".

Alis Mäesalu

Alis Mäesalu

Estonia

Alis Mäesalu is a freelance cinematographer and photo artist whose main interest lies in the relationship between humans and the environment. Having studied photography at the Tartu Art College and earned a master's degree in cinematography in Toulouse, France, she uses her artistic visual language to highlight aspects of life that might otherwise go unnoticed by the casual observer.

With nearly 20 years of experience in various roles within the film industry—including lighting technician, first assistant director, and art department coordinator documentary and artist films have become closest to her heart. Among the dozen completed and in-progress documentaries are stories about the relationships between humans and nature. One of these, "Lumi and Leenu" (directed by Mirjam Matiisen), was featured in the MAFF program. Her most recent film, "On the Edge of Water," completed this year, tells the story of a woman living in the wilderness of Soomaa, raising Tori horses despite the challenges posed by natural forces. As a small turning point, Alis began studying architecture at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2021. In this field as well, the focus is on the relationship between human-made and natural environments and solving ecological problems in the near future.
 

Eva Kübar

Eva Kübar

Estonia

Eva Kübar is a documentary film maker from Estonia, film teacher and critic, who at the present mainly enjoys being a mother. Educated at the Baltic Film and Media School (BFM) as a film director, Eva has since completed several documentaries. Creatively she is most interested in the liminal areas between human and animal where strange phenomena and colorful characters can be found. 

Screened last year at MAFF, her short documentary “Feathers or Glam” shows the joys and pitfalls of keeping chickens in an urban setting and delves into the relationship of humans and pets in general. The screenings invited strong reactions and heated discussions on ethical dilemmas from audiences.

Eva’s roots are in South Estonia, one of the most inspiring settings for her, which she has used for several documentary projects. Southern Estonia is also portrayed in her latest, the short documentary “Hilda Ha. Off the Grid” about a single mother living an off-grid life, part of the Spring 2024 film cassette of the European Capital of Culture Tartu. 

The same region also serves as the setting for Eva’s forthcoming full-length documentary film “My Partners” about polyamorous people who have more than one intimate partner at a time. 
Additionally Eva works as a film producer, teaches filmmaking to youths at the Kinomaja Film School of Tallinn and occasionally writes reviews and articles on culture.
 

James Ewen

James Ewen

Norway

James is a cinematographer and director at Earthmedia Film, a wildlife film production company. A nature lover by birth he always hoped he would do something creative outside. After false starts as silversmith, sound engineer and then language teacher he studied Visual Anthropology at University.  In 2000 he started working in the film industry, this led to more than 10 years living and working in Africa. For the last 23 years has worked as a cinematographer on projects with the BBC NHU, National Geographic, and Disneynature, as well as producing his own films. Based in Norway but working internationally, he specializes in arctic and mountain environments, and is passionate about capturing stories in these remote places.  

Inga Tartes

Inga Tartes

Estonia

Inga is thoroughly passionate about mathematics. Mathematics is the language for describing the world. After attending a specialized mathematics class in Nõo, she graduated from the University of Tartu as an applied mathematician. Subsequently, she worked for a long time in the IT field at the local government. Five years ago, Inga decided to start publishing the work of her spouse, who is a biologist and nature photographer. She founded a publishing house called "Lugu ja lumm" (Story and Wow). To this day, the publishing house has collaborated with other authors who are familiar with or inspired by the nature of Estonia. In addition to spending her childhood summers in the countryside, Inga has learned a lot about the world by living alongside a biologist and accompanying him on photo trips. Both in the countryside and during photo trips, she has had the opportunity to experience genuine moments. Inga has attended MAFF for 5 years, both as a visitor and a participant. During the 2018 photo day, she, along with authors, presented the first book she published – the photography textbook "The Story and Enchantment of Nature Photography." As part of the 2020 photo day, there was an exhibition of her landscape paintings titled "Sources of Creativity" at the Lihula library. Inga is captivated by the nature of Estonia. Sometimes, she is able to capture this enchantment in a photo, and sometimes it becomes an oil painting. Inga enjoys the process of painting and the loss of track of time during that.

Jacek Karczewski

Jacek Karczewski

Poland

Conservationist, activist and promoter, dedicated to Nature with all his heart. His third book See the Bird (Zobacz ptaka. Opowieści po drodze) has been published recently. Before that there was Night of the Owls (Noc sów. Opowieści z lasu) and Her Majesty the Goose (Jej Wysokość Gęś. Opowieści o ptakach). He could also be heard on the radio or seen on TV. Producer and writer of several nature films and TV series. Chief copywriter and author of most of the publications of Jestem na pTAK! (NGO from Poland which aims to spread knowledge about birds), a trust for which he was the co-founder and president for many years. Creator of many projects and artistic visions carried out by the trust. A lot of attention has caught bold and innovative campaigns, which are not only among the largest of their kind in his native Poland, but have also become a point of reference for others. Jacek also cooperates with organisations from outside of Poland. He's a great friend of our Festival, for years deeply in love with Estonia, its nature and landscapes.

Nima Asgari

Nima Asgari

Iran

Nima is a graduate of environment and natural resources and studied filmmaking in the Iranian Youth Cinema Association, which is one of the most prestigious filmmaking associations in Iran and now he is the main member of the Wildlife Pictures Institute. Nima started his work in 2007 in the Iranian Cheetah Society as a researcher and cinematographer on endangered and vulnerable species in Iran, such as the Iranian cheetah, the great bustard, the persian onager, the houbara bustard and so on, also he made a documentary about all these species in Wildlife Pictures Institute and IRIB. Most of Nima's films are about the relationship between human societies and nature and the threats and effects of humans on the extinction of wildlife species. Nima has made more than 30 documentary films and has received more than dozen of  international awards from documentary film festivals such as Jackson Hole Film Festival and has been recognized as the best director by the Iranian Documentary Community. His most famous films are: “Ranger and Leopard”  and “Houbara”, which he made with his old friend Fathullah Amiri. Nima has won the Grand Prix, the 1st Prize and twice the Best Director awards at our Festival.

Mirjam Matiisen

Mirjam Matiisen

Estonia

Mirjam is a documentary film director from Estonia. Most of her films have observed the relationship between human spirit and nature, two of her previous films have been in the programm of MAFF. In the university she studied journalism and later filmmaking as an MA in Baltic Film and Media School. She has worked many years as a script editor for TV, mosty covering topics about environment, science and social sphere. At the moment she is doing a documentary movie about a woman who is living in a deep forest in the Soomaa National Park and raising there Tori horses (breed of horses originating at the Tori). Mirjam also works as a project coordinator in NGO Mondo, where she is concentrating on migration issues.

Gerli Nõmm

Gerli Nõmm

Estonia

Gerli is a media professional with years of experience in television and live television as a script editor and presenter of culture news. She studied audiovisual media and documentary filmmaking in Baltic Film and Media School, Tallinn. She graduated in 2016 with a feature length ethnographic documentary "Three Jewels" and in February 2020 her second documentary "The Paradox of Camino" was premiered. Coincidentally both of her films are about strong and passionate female characters on their spiritual journeys. At the moment Gerli is working in the field of communications and educating herself about climate and environmental topics, wishing to contribute to solving the climate crisis with the right tools of communication.

Jason Peters

Jason Peters

United Kingdom

Jason has been fascinated by wildlife ever since growing up on a farm in Sussex, England. Very early on he developed a deep respect for all that was wild around him but then soon discovered that the natural world was in deep trouble. He studied biological sciences with specialisation in zoology at university in London, gained work experience at the BBC NHU in Bristol and then became involved in various conservation projects around the world. This included working in the rain forests of Northern Vietnam and with cheetahs in Southern Africa. He went on to study wildlife film-making in Cape Town and following this worked mainly as a researcher before taking over the helm at Wildlife-film.com where he is very happy working to help the industry through its information services and directories. Ever keen to assist and connect all those involved in the wildlife film-making world!

Roman Droux

Roman Droux

Switzerland

Producer, director and DOP at Memox Films, a documentary production company located in Switzerland. With his background as MSc-Geographer and Geologist he combines filming and storytelling in many ways. Since years he works in the field of outdoor and nature films. As funder of Memox Films he produced over 20 films that have been showed and broadcast around the world. With his latest and very successful film Bear-Like he has been awarded across the globe: New York Greenpoint Film Festival (Best Documentary Feature), New York Film Awards (Best Documentary Film Soundtrack), German Wildlife Film-Award, FIFAD Les Diablerets (Best Documentary). And many more. This documentary is currently broadcasted across the globe. Roman often shoots in very remote regions of the world such as the Tajik Pamirs, the harsh Patagonian Mountains or in the Alaskan Wilderness amongst Grizzlies and produces regularly for the Swiss National Broadcaster SRF.

Sven Začek

Sven Začek

Estonia

Sven Začek has been a freelance photographer for 17 years now. He shoots everything, but he is especially keen on wildlife and landscapes. During this time he has managed to publish seven books, write hundreds of articles, give hundreds of workshops and present hundreds of slideshows. Between that he has been an editor in chief and publisher of Estonian nature photography magazine LoFo.

His highlights are:

• A photostory about Ural owls, was published in National Geographic Magazine in 2012
• Wild Wonders of Europe photographer
• Nikon Ambassador since 2008
• Nikon Creator from 2021

Marina-Evelina Cracana

Marina-Evelina Cracana

Sweden

Marina-Evelina studied film production at the Scotland Screen Academy in Edinburgh. After making several award winning shorts, she started to produce documentaries alongside Oscar Hedin at Film and Tell, in Stockholm. Some of their recent titles include Earth: Muted which was bought by SVT and ARTE France, and won multiple international awards among which the Grand Prix at MAFF and Best Documentary at Matera Film Festival. Live Till I Die was selected in prestigious film festivals such as DOXA, DocEdge and Home of Films (Hof). In the past five years, Marina developed film projects at established training programmes - EURODOC - and film forums - Nordisk Panorama, Baltic Docs, Medimed, When East Meets West and MIA. She is also an expert in impact and educational film distribution. As an example, Earth: Muted is to be screened in all EU countries accompanied by a debate on sustainable food production through The Green Screen Project.

Madis Reimund

Madis Reimund

Estonia

Madis is a walker in nature from the ground up. Through this, an interest in photography was born to capture different moments. As a logical continuation, the path led him to the Baltic Film and Media School, where he obtained both a bachelor's and a master's degree in cinematography.
Madis' favorite genre is documentary film, because when you shoot it, you never know what material you will get home with. He has made documentaries both as a cinematographer and as a director. In addition, he also works as a cameraman for the nature and environment programme Osoon that comes to air every week on ETV. In 2018, he was awarded the Television Award for Best Television Cinematography at The Estonian Film and Television Awards (EFTA) gala.

Kadri Tüür

Kadri Tüür

Estonia

Kadri Tüür has studied Estonian nature writing in the department of semiotics in University of Tartu and she has defended her PhD in the same department with a semiotic analysis of nature representations in literature. Currently she works at Tallinn University as a researcher in a group studying Estonian environmentalism. In addition, she teaches Estonian literature in Tallinn and academic writing in UT Viljandi Culture Academy. In 2018, she co-supervised Katrin Frosch’s MA thesis on ecocritical study of two Estonian films. Kadri lives permanently on Muhu island in a family farmstead where she engages in scything bush, growing tomatoes, and offering guided tours in the vicinity.

Carlos Perez

Carlos Pérez

Spain

Producer and director at 1080 Wildlife, a wildlife documentary producer located in Spain. For many years, he has pursued working on wildlife, which he is most passionate about. With the 1080 production company, he has managed to produce more than 15 international productions that have been broadcast around the world in recent years. In 2016, he was elected Best Director at the Kolkata International Wildlife Festival and recently his documentary “The Island of the Hippopotamus” was awarded in New York and India as the best documentary shot in Africa in 2020. He received the Adenex Award 2017, was distinguished by the Montijo City Council for his career as a documentary director in 2018, and received the Avuelapluma Film Award in 2019. His productions have received more than 120 international awards. Carlos is a regular contributor to several TVE programs: “Que Animal”, “The Green Beetle” and “Here the Earth”.

Piret Eensoo

Piret Eensoo

Estonia

Piret’s day-to-day activities are related to people, nature and bringing the two closer together. The interest in linking nature to education has been with her since working at school and kindergarten and is there also now that she is the head of the Environmental Education Office at the Environmental Board. The motto for the office’s activities is ‘Take Care of What You Love!’ and all the activities support the nudging of the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes of students and adults towards understanding the importance of biodiversity and having environment-friendly consumption habits. A dozen years at the Environmental Board also include managing the nationwide nature evening project, which allowed interested people for several years to take part in horizon-broadening lectures, nature film screenings and field trips, and brought Piret the honorary title of a Nature Friend of the Year from the Estonian Nature Conservation Society. Nature and capturing it have been linked for Piret since the hobby groups at basic school; similar interests are shared by her whole family. Today, Piret often takes a camera along when she goes to nature. She mainly takes photos in her favourite place, home forest in Järvamaa, but does not say no to the possibility of a hike in the mountains or by the sea.

Hans Markus Antson

Hans Markus Antson

Estonia

Hans is a young nature photographer whose passions in addition to nature include videography and sports. Hans has been active in nature photography for the past eight years. He is mainly interested in wild animals, larger birds (Galliformes, Strigiformes), and landscapes. Due to his interest in nature, he has graduated from the University of Tartu ecology and biodiversity conservation studies, but he currently earns a living mainly in the video field. Hans has also worked in television for Kanal 2, where he worked for a few years as an editor of video stories.

Having once been engaged in cycling and duathlon, he still likes an active lifestyle and considers it important to train daily; he also enjoys hiking. This spring, Hans and his partner went on a walking trip of 400 km. Detailed documentary videos or vlogs of the trip can be found on Youtube. The next long walking trips have already been planned for autumn and winter. Hans is very active on social media: he has about 50 vlogs on Youtube and on Instagram he shares daily adventures in the form of stories and posts. In addition to animal photos, Hans considers it important to share the life outside photos and show how the captured moments are born.

Aistė Žegulytė

Aistė Žegulytė

Lithuania

Aistė studied photography and later film directing in Vilnius. During her Master's studies, she did a traineeship in Poland at the Krzysztof Kieslowski Film School in Katowice. After completing her Master's studies, she worked as a teacher at Vilnius College, and to this day, she teaches film workshops in schools with various cinema art projects.

“Animus Animalis: A Story about People, Animals and Things”, made in 2018, is her first long-form documentary. It premiered at the prestigious Leipzig Documentary and Animation Film Festival, where it was screened in the competition program. The film has already visited a number of festivals around the world: the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX in Denmark, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece, the Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival in Canada, the Matsalu Nature Film Festival, and many more.

Since 2018, Aistė has been a member of the Lithuanian Cinematographers Union. A year later, she received the Young Creator Award from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania for her film “Animus Animalis”. In Lithuania, “Animus Animalis” has won the national Silver Crane Award as the best documentary of 2019 to 2020. It was also selected as the best feature-length documentary at the first Lithuanian National Film Awards in 2021.

Aistė has also participated as a jury member at photography festivals. She is also a mentor and teaches documentary film directing. From 2019 until now, she has been working on her new documentary “Biodestructors”.

Pille Maffucci

Pille Maffucci

Estonia

Pille has been a dedicated MAFF fan for at least the last 10 years. For the second year, she contributes to screening MAFF films in Narva. Pille currently works as a teacher at the Estonian Language House in Narva. Different projects introducing Estonia and broadening the horizon are an important part of this work.

Pille is a German philologist and a teacher of Estonian as a foreign language by education and has worked in various fields – museum pedagogy, journalism and the translation field. This is how she sees her calling: as a mediator and translator, if necessary: from one language to another, from one way of thinking to another.

Marta Pulk

Marta Pulk

Estonia

Marta is a film director whose works feature a strong visual handwriting and relentless interest towards the human spirit and what makes us fight. Her films often spotlight a sharp societal theme and combine together the robust and the poetic. Working in both documentary and fiction, Marta’s films have screened in numerous festivals, including Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Zagrebdox, Doc Buenos Aires, Docs Against Gravity, SFF and BAFICI. In 2018, she developed a film under the mentorship of Werner Herzog in the Peruvian Amazon. She is currently directing an international coproduction – a poetic documentary called “Tell Me”, set to premiere in fall 2021. It’s a portrait of humanity in isolation, told through anonymous voice mails collected all over the world.