Niels Bourgonje is a fiction / commercial director based in Amsterdam. His films have been selected for Academy Award and BAFTA qualifying festivals and have won more than 200 awards. His latest film, the psychological horror SHUT, won the Méliès d’argent in 2023. Niels’ horror short film SWIPE is being adapted into a feature screenplay by Timur Bekmanbetov’s Bazelevs. He is repped by Sukee Chew - Hopscotch Pictures.
Livia Ulman is a screenwriter. She mainly writes together with her partner Andris Feldmanis, for both film and TV. In 2021, their film Compartment No. 6, co-written with Juho Kuosmanen, won the Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival. In 2022, the film January, co-written with Latvian director Viesturs Kairišš, won the Best International Film award at the Tribeca Film Festival, and the Best Film award at the Rome International Film Festival. Currently, Ulman, along with Feldmanis and Juho Kuosmanen, is developing a miniseries called Your Margot, based on the Finnish bestseller of the same name, and a domestic series about romance scamming as well as other film projects. In her spare time, she writes short stories and has written a children’s book, Eric Stoneheart jointly with Feldmanis based on their children’s film of the same name.
Rain Rannu is an Estonian screenwriter, movie director, investor and entrepreneur. Rannu is operating under his self-founded indie film production company Tallifornia founded in 2018 by him and Tõnu Hiielaid that focuses exclusively on full length narrative features. He has written and directed four full-length feature films: Chasing Ponies (2016), Chasing Unicorns (2019), Child Machine (2022) and most recently Free Money (2023).
Scott Clifford Evans is an artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Vienna, Austria. His film and installation projects focus on “trash,” the absurd, and the grotesque, and often involve collaborations with visual artists. Murderkino (2019–), Evans’ ongoing, episodic, art-trash-horror installation/film project, has screened at Breitenseer Lichtspiele and Spark Art Fair in Vienna, HÕFF – Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival and Kai Art Center in Estonia, and Splat!FilmFest in Warsaw. “Murderkino: Geisterklo” won Best International Short at Frostbiter: Icelandic Horror Film Festival in 2023 and Best Monster at Hellifax Horror Fest 2023. Murderkino was also the basis of Evans' exhibition "Murderkino" at Galerie Charim, Vienna, curated by Brigitte Huck in the frame of the curated_by gallery festival 2020. The first four episodes of Murderkino were also previewed at KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin in 2020. Evans’ debut feature-length film, The Demoniacs (2023) had its international premiere at BUT (B-movie, Underground, Trash) Film Festival in Breda, Netherlands in Jan. 2024.
Ene Kallas is a writer, Saaremaa native and now Tallinn-dweller. She has worked as a librarian, teacher, and journalist. She studied information science, theology, and multimedia design. She is currently the editor of the newspaper Postimees. She reads and writes science fiction and poetry. She has published four poetry collections, and her stories and poems have also been in various anthologies. She respects darker tones in music, films, games, and literature. And swimming.
Veiko Belials is an Estonian science fiction writer, children's author, poet, translator, and hobby photographer. In 1991, he graduated in forestry from the Estonian Academy of Agriculture. Since 2000, he has been a teacher at Luua Forestry School. He has written seven science fiction books, seven poetry collections, and two children's books. Since 2015, Veiko has been the President of the Estonian Science Fiction Association. Veiko Belials has won the annual Estonian Science Fiction Award, Stalker, nine times.
Jüri “Sci-Fi Guru” Kallas is an Estonian sci-fi literature expert, translator, publisher and editor. Kallas has previously been the director of the Estonian Sci-Fi Association, and the the editor for Elmatar and Fantaasia. He works for the sci-fi magazine Reaktor, and is currently compiling a bibliography for Estonian sci-fi. Kallas’ interests also venture into music and films.
Olen suur filmifänn ja harva on päevi, mil ma midagi ei vaata, kasvõi lihtsalt õppimise kõrvale. Eriti naudin filme, mis panevad mõtlema või loovad stseene, mis tekitavad tugevaid emotsioone – olgu selleks viha, kurbus või rõõm. Filmide suurim võlu minu jaoks seisneb selles, kuidas need suudavad vaataja viia täiesti teise maailma.
Lisaks filmide vaatamisele naudin ka ise nende kallal nokitsemist. Videote monteerimine on justkui pusle kokkupanemine, kus iga „tükk“ leiab oma õige koha, luues midagi täiesti uut ja lahedat.
Olen juba pikemat aega tugevalt seotud olnud visuaalmeedia ja filmikunstiga. Muu hulgas ise kirjutanud ja tootnud lühifilmi, millega kogesin festivalil osalemise pinget ja eduelamust. Näitlejameisterlikkust õppisin Läänemaa Ühisgümnaasiumi mahukas muusikaliprojektis, mistõttu oskan senisest paremini tähelepanu pöörata ka rollide usutavusele.
Naudin tohutult filme, milles leidub kihte ja sügavust ning silmi naelutav nüanss. Populaarsed õudusfilmid on sageli minu jaoks puuduliku usutavusega, kuid HÕFFi programm on järjepidevalt tõestanud, et õudusfilm võib olla ka vaimselt hirmsa mõjuga ja tekitada oodatava emotsiooni. Ootan tohutult hirmsaid ja ebameeldivaid elamusi!
Minu jaoks annavad filmid kiire elutempo juures imelise võimaluse sukelduda hetkeks mõnda täiesti teise maailma, unustades kõik päriselu probleemid. Tihtipeale võib mind leida vaatamas mõnd romantilist põnevusfilmi, fantaasiafilmi või õudukat. Mulle meeldib analüüsida inimeste psüühikat ning inimkonna käitumismustreid, eriti põnev on neid jälgida just tulevikku või maailmalõppu kujutavates ulmekates. Õudusfilmide puhul hindan ma enim seda, kui pinev hirmutunne tekitatakse läbi reaalsete igapäevaelu situatsioonide, ilma mõne fantaasiamaailma tegelaseta.
Kuigi tegelen peamiselt muusikaga, on ka filmimaailm mulle juba pikka aega südamelähedane olnud. Filmi juures meeldib mulle see, kuidas selles segunevad nii visuaalne ja auditiivne, luues kunstivormi, mis annab hõlpsasti lugu edasi, jättes samas vaatajale ruumi loo tõlgendamiseks. Kõige rohkem pakuvad mulle huvi sümbolistliku ja mittelineaarse süžeega ning tugeva stiiliga filmid.
Filmid, kunst, kirjandus – ilma nendeta ei kujutaks elu ettegi. Nii raamatud kui ka filmid mängivad minu elus suurt rolli. Peaaegu igal vabal hetkel võib leida mind lugemas või mõnd head filmi nautimas. Õudusfilmide žanri osas olen üsna kriitiline. Kuna pean end väga emotsionaalseks inimeseks, siis enim hindan filmi juures psühholoogilist mõju. Väga heaks loen vaid need, mis ka järgnevatel päevadel mõtlema panevad või õhtul uinuda ei lase.