Miguel Clara Vasconcelos

Miguel Clara Vasconcelos (Lisbon, 1971), Portuguese filmmaker, he taught Screenwriting at Nova University of Lisbon (F.C.S.H.) and was invited several times as mentor and consultant for the Guiões Festival — Portuguese Language Screenplay Festival, and as a jury member at international film festivals. In parallel, he writes, directs, and produces, with several national and international awards in literature and cinema. His filmography includes The Love Circus (Sub-Ti Award, Turin, 2018), Silent Meeting (Best Film, Indielisboa, 2017), Vila do Conde Extended (Brive, 2015), The Golden Triangle (Best Film, Curtas Vila do Conde, 2014), Mya's Universe (World of Maps Award, Capalbio Cinema, 2011) and Boxing File (Best Film, Curtas Vila do Conde, 2005). As a writer, he published short stories, poetry, and essays (Young Creator, Portuguese Club of Arts & Ideas). He also wrote and staged theater (A Doggy Crime, Loneliness Distress and Fall, 1/2 Guilt) and collaborated with the Therapeutic Theater Group of Júlio de Matos Psychiatric Hospital in Lisbon.

He holds a Master's degree in Film Studies from the University of Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle, and has training in Arts (Escuela Superior de Arquitectura y Bellas Artes, Universidad Europea de Madrid), Creation and Creativity Programme (Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian) and Literature (University of Lisbon and University of Coimbra).

As well as Portugal, where he currently lives, he has lived in Mozambique, Spain and France, working with people from many countries and cultures, learning other ways of being in life and other visions of the world. He enjoys cycling, swimming in the sea and playing chess.

@miguelclara

Patricia Geula

Patricia Geula (Kenya, 1995) garnered recognition by winning the Nairobi Film Festival Writer’s Prize 2022 for the feature film "The Water Calls to You" and was selected to participate in the Durban FilmMart, 2022. Her script for the short film "Whispers from my Mother" was selected for the Durban Talent 2021 program. Most recently, she won the script pitch competition with her film Zêzere at 39th International Interfilm Film Festival script, Berlin.

She worked for several years under the umbrella of AFROBUBBLEGUM, a collective of African artists whose ambition is to create fun, fierce and frivolous work. She has also collaborated with diverse organizations on the development of socially relevant documentaries, notably: Namati; Vivid Story, a NYC-based creative studio; Akili Dada, Kenya; Spring strategies, Netherlands; Bloomberg, Kenya.

Patricia navigates between Portugal and Kenya; centering her work on the intricate balance between the harsh and beautiful complexities of human existence and its ephemeral nature. She loves to take long walks and lay on grass, where more often than not, she dreams of having a pet cow called Baba.

@patriciageula