Guests

Roman Pivovarník – producer

In 2021, he graduated in film production from the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. He works as an executive producer at HITCHHIKER Cinema and guča films. His producing debut was Po nás potopa (2022), a short documentary directed by Dorota Vlnová about the impacts of climate change in Slovakia. Together with Vlnová, he also completed the short documentary-experimental film Vo vnútri (2026), which will screen at festivals including Ji.hlava, DOC NYC and Festival dei Popoli. One of Slovakia’s few trained film eco-consultants, he worked as a sustainability manager on the miniseries The Tattooist of Auschwitz (2024), produced for Sky Studios and Peacock. He also makes his own films; his student film Pohľady (2021) premiered in the short film competition at the Cottbus Film Festival and screened at several other festivals.

Viera Čákanyová – director

Viera Čákanyová was born in 1980 in Bratislava. She studied screenwriting and documentary filmmaking at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and Prague. In her work she combines documentary, fiction and animation practices and explores the boundaries between these categories. With other colleagues she runs a production company Guča films. Besides making her own films, she also collaborates on other independent film projects as script editor and editor.

Anna Mach Rumanová – producer

Anna Mach Rumanová is a producer at filmsomnia. She is currently developing the documentaries Zóny nikoho (directed by Lucia Kašová, Viera Čákanyová and Barbora Sliepková), Prístavy (directed by Tereza Smetanová), Európu obchádza strašidlo (directed by Róbert Mihály), and the documentary series Šťastné dieťa (Lena Kušnieriková). Her completed projects at filmsomnia include MORD (Adam Martinec) and Chýbanie (Štěpán Pech), on which she worked as Slovak co-producer. She previously worked at kerekesfilm, where she co-produced Stepne (directed by Maryna Vroda), Rok vdovy (directed by Veronika Lišková), Hranice Európy (directed by Apolena Rychlíková) and Wishing on a Star (directed by Peter Kerekes). She also worked as executive producer on the series Budujeme Slovensko and the film Návštevníci (directed by Veronika Lišková).

Soraya Akhlaghi – director/protagonist: A Fox Under a Pink Moon

Soraya Akhlaghi as the main protagonist, is a strong-willed Afghan sculptor and illustrator has been trying for five years to escape Iran and join her mother in Austria. As multidisciplinary artist working across sculpture, painting and film. She began sculpting in 2016, creating around 150 papier-mâché sculptures by 2025. In 2018, she expanded her practice to painting, with over 50 works. From 2019 to 2025, she worked as a Co- director and cinematographer of *A Fox Under a Pink Moon*,

Choy Lin Mok

Choy Lin Mok is a Commissioning Editor with more than 25 years of experience in international documentary production. An alumna of the University of Cambridge and Johns Hopkins University, she has commissioned, developed and supervised documentary projects for leading global and regional broadcasters. She was Director of Regional Production at National Geographic Channel from 2001 to 2011 and Vice-President of International Production at Channel NewsAsia from 2011 to 2017. She is currently Commissioning Editor at TRT World, Türkiye’s global news channel. At the festival, she will represent the creative team behind For Life documentary

Susanna Edwards – director

Susanna Edwards is a director and producer who enjoys exploring themes that challenge established norms. Her work includes the multiple award-winning documentaries Sunshadow (Swedish Guldbagge Award for Best Documentary and the Special Prize of the Jury at Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, 1996), Respect! (nominated for a Swedish Guldbagge Award for Best Documentary, 2000),Dance My Heart Out (Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, 2013), and The Dialogue Police (Grand Pix for Nordic Documentary, Oslo Pix Film Festival, Award for Journalistic Relevance, DocsBarcelona, Special Mention, Doxumentale, Swedish Guldbagge Award for Best Editing, 2026). Her Film The Dialogue police will be presented at One World Slovakia.

Mehrdad Oskouei – juror of the European Glitch competition

Mehrdad Oskouei is an Iranian director and producer known for his documentary films about marginalized groups. In films such as *Sunless Shadows* and *Starless Dreams*, he sensitively captures the lives of incarcerated women and juveniles and explores themes of justice and gender inequality in Iran. His award-winning works have been screened at major film festivals and institutions such as MoMA in New York and the Louvre in Paris. At One World, he will present his latest film, A Fox under a Pink Moon, alongside its lead protagonist, Soraya.

Tom Fassaert – director 

Filmmaker Tom Fassaert (1979) spent his childhood in both The Netherlands and South Africa. These contrasting environments have undoubtably shaped the way he looks at the world. But his love of film stems from his father’s passion for home movies. Common thread in his films is intimacy between himself and his subject. Through this intimacy, he investigates themes like bonding, intergenerational trauma and the desire for autonomy. Gently, he observes both the tragedy and the absurd wrapped inside a recalcitrant reality. His debut film, An Angel in Doel, premiered at the Berlinale in 2011, where it received world-wide attention. His second, A Family Affair, opened IDFA 2015. It won the Special Jury Award and was nominated for a European Film Award. Variety mentioned Fassaert as ‘One of the ten documentary makers to watch’. At One World Slovakia he will present his new documentary Beetween Brothers.

Eric Seleky – Head of Audience & Development at Movies that Matter

Eric Seleky – Head of Audience & Development at Movies that Matter, where he initiated a programme on the Dutch colonial past. Of Moluccan-Javanese and Curaçaoan descent, he was project manager and editor of de Volkskrant’s series on the Dutch colonial past, and co-wrote articles and opinion pieces calling for an official Dutch apology to the Moluccan community for their mistreatment in the Netherlands. Eric is looking forward to join One World Slovakia this year as a host of pannel: Colonialism Between East and West: Who Tells the Story?

Zsófia Zurbó

Zsófia Zurbó studied Film Studies at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest and at Charles University and FAMU in Prague. Since joining Éclipse Film in 2015, she has progressed from production manager and assistant producer to producer and, in 2026, became co-owner of the company, where she develops and produces creative documentaries and international co-productions. Alongside her work at Éclipse Film, she has collaborated on documentary and television projects as a scriptwriter, researcher and assistant director. She is the Hungarian coordinator of KineDok, has held several roles at the Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, and is a founding member of MADOKE, the Hungarian Documentary Association.

Adam Straka – juror of the European Glitch competition

Adam Straka is a film scholar and educator at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava. In 2019, he co-founded the distribution company Film Expanded, which focuses on distributing documentary films. Since 2024, he has been an active member of the Coordination Team of the civic platform Otvorená Kultúra!

Marta Balaga – juror of the Slovakia and Czechia for Human Rights competition

Marta Bałaga is a film journalist and moderator, writing regularly for Variety. She has collaborated with various film festivals, including Helsinki Intl. Film Festival - Love & Anarchy and Finnish Film Affair, and The Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund. She has led MIOB’s LAB of Cultural, Creative and Festival Journalism and Söderlångvik Masterclass aimed at film industry professionals based in the Nordics. She’s a member of FIPRESCI and the European Film Academy, and has served on many juries, including Venice International Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival.

Enikő Gyureskó – juror of the European Glitch competition

Enikő Gyureskó holds a Bachelor’s in Art History and a Master’s in Design and Art Management. Since 2020, she has been part of the KineDok team, a member of the Documentary Association Europe and the European Film Academy. From 2022 to 2025, she served as a board member of MADOKE, the Hungarian Documentary Association. She is a member of the Documentary Association Europe and the European Film Academy. Since 2016, she has been working full time on VERZIÓ, first as Festival Coordinator; from 2021 as Managing Director, and since 2024 as Festival Director. VERZIÓ International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival is a major Hungarian film festival organised annually in November.

Alisa Kovalenko – director

Alisa Kovalenko is an award-winning Ukrainian documentary filmmaker, human rights advocate and veteran. Her films explore social realities, the human impact of war, resilience and the pursuit of justice. Her films Alisa in Warland, Home Games, We Will Not Fade Away and My Dear Theo have screened at major international festivals including IDFA, Berlinale, Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival and CPH:DOX, receiving numerous awards worldwide. Her latest film, TRACES, won the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary at Berlinale 2026 and the Grand Jury Prize at Movies That Matter.

Martin Trabalík – juror of the Slovakia and Czechia for Human Rights competition

Martin Trabalík focuses on social issues in his work. During the refugee crisis in 2016, he began creating documentary projects and has since worked in Nagorno-Karabakh, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and other countries. In 2018, he received the UNHCR Award and the Czech Press Photo Award for his work on the displacement of the Rohingya from Myanmar. His 2021 film Incendios won the Best Feature Documentary Award at the International Film Festival in La Paz. His second feature-length film, What About Péťa?, about a father raising a child with a disability, had its world premiere at the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival and won the main prize Slovakia and Czechia for Human Rights at One World Slovakia last year.