BY DIRECTOR: M

Kleber Mendonça Filho was born in 1968 in Recife, Brazil. He graduated in journalism and has worked as a film critic and also as a film programmer in Recife's top alternative cinema. Over the last decade, his short films have won over 100 awards in Brazil and abroad. 'Neighbouring Sounds' (2012) is his first fiction feature.

Born in 1960 near Osaka, Japan, Takashi Miike is a highly prolific director who has more than 80 films to his name since making his directorial debut in the early 90s. Although his films are often associated with black humour, inventive violence and audacious style, Miike has shown his versatility in other genres by making children's dramas and a horror musical. His landmark films include 'Ichi the Killer' (2001) and '13 Assassins' (2010).

Nanni Moretti, born in 1953, is an Italian director, screenwriter and actor, best known for directing 'Dear Diary' (1993), which was followed in 1998 by a sequel 'Aprile'. His 2001 film 'The Son's Room' won the Palme d'Or at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Moretti is also an avid water polo player, and an outspoken political leftist.

His winning the Palme d’Or cemented the position of the Romanian New Wave on the landscape of world cinema. But a glance at the filmmaker’s acclaimed features highlights the tenuousness grouping one generation of filmmakers together. After a series of successful shorts and the solid feature 'Occident' (2002), '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' (2007) revealed the breadth of Cristian Mungiu’s talent. An extraordinary drama that runs the gamut from tense, thriller-like scenes to biting satire, the film’s strength nevertheless lies in its profound humanity. This was further explored in 'Beyond the Hills' (2012), which won Mungiu the Best Screenplay award at Cannes and saw its two leads (Cristina Flutur) and (Cosmina Stratan) share the Best Actress prize. They play two friends from childhood whose shared traumas are relived through the strict rules of a convent one of them lives in and to which the other seeks refuge. It is a startling and powerful indictment of religious hypocrisy. 'Graduation' (2017), which was awarded the Best Director prize at Cannes in 2016, returns to a more familiar territory explored by other Romanian New Wave directors – the insidiousness of the behaviour amongst members of the ruling class. Once again, Mungiu’s eye captures the nuances of human dynamics and his wry humour is never far away.