Martika Ramirez Escobar (Comedy)
Martika Ramirez Escobar, born in 1992 and based in Manila, is a filmmaker known for her bizarre short films and debut feature “Leonor Will Never Die” (2022), which gained attention by winning the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit at Sundance. It was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the prestigious Independent Spirit Awards and received acclaim at TIFF, where she received the Amplify Voices Award. Martika earned the New Visions Best Director award at Sitges and collected several awards while being nominated in over a hundred festivals worldwide.
Martika graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines, and her thesis film, “Stone Heart” (2014), won Best Film at Cinemalaya and competed at the 19th Busan International Film Festival. She’s been part of various film programs like the Asian Film Academy, Berlinale Talents, Talents Tokyo and received support from the Purin Pictures Film Fund and Next Masters Support Program.
Known for her unique artistic style, Martika not only directs but also works as a cinematographer. Her cinematography has been featured in films that competed in Venice, Locarno, and Cinemalaya, where she recently won the Best Cinematography award for “When This Is All Over.”
She is currently working on her second feature film, “Daughters of the Sea”.
Chen Xi (Animation)
Independent animation director, Comics writer. Animation films have been selected in Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada, Animafest-International Animated Film Festival in Zagreb,Hiroshima International Animation Festival and other animation festivals; His films won the awards include International Jury Prize of Hiroshima International Animation Festival, Jury Award of Vienna Shorts International Film Festival, The Best Design Award of Ottawa International Animation Festival and other international awards; In 2010, he was invited by JAPIC (Japan Graphics and Image Association) to Tokyo to participate in the residency program, In 2012 invitated by L’abbaye de Fontevraud Culture and Arts Center in France to participate in the residency program, in 2015, he was invited to Canada by the La Bande Video Arts Center for residency program, in 2017, he was invited by the French Centre Intermonde Culture and Arts Center for residency program; in 2009, His work was included in the world’s best animation album of the Stuttgart International Animation Festival in Germany; served as the jury of the New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival in 2016; the jury of Animafest-International Animated Film Festival in Zagreb in 2019; the jury of 2020 Stuttgart International Animation Festival; the jury of 2020 Belarus Аnimaevka International Animation Festival; the jury of 2020 KROK International Animation Festival, served as the 2016 China Independent Animation Forum “Gravitational Wave” curator; He is one of the founder of “Fenaki Animation Week”; He is currently a lecturer in Beijing Film Academy.
Tan Si En (Drama)
Tan Si En is a film & TV producer and founder of film and tv company – Momo Film Co.
An alumnus of Berlinale Talents and Rotterdam Lab, Si En produced Dreaming & Dying by Nelson Yeo which made its World Premiere and won two prestigious awards at the Locarno Film Festival 2023. And Wet Season by Anthony Chen which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2019, Platform Competition. Wet Season has been selected by the Singapore Film Commission as the nation’s Oscars 2021 representative and was lauded critically, receiving 12 awards internationally including the distinguished Golden Horse Awards. Her latest co production The Year Of The Everlasting Storm premiered in Cannes Film Festival 2021 and Arnold Is A Model Student by Sorayos Prapapan premiered in Locarno Film Festival 2022.
Joseph Mangat (Documentary)
Joseph Mangat is a Filipino American filmmaker who has written, directed, and edited award-winning documentaries and narrative shorts. Ranging from exploratory fiction to experiential docs, his work reveals stories from rarely explored subjects with subtlety and depth.
Mangat is a Uniondocs & Rockefeller Brothers Fellow, a Tokyo Talents, Docs by the Sea, First Cut Lab, and International Emerging
Film Talent alum. He was the recipient of the 2020 Marché du Film-Cannes Docs “Docs-in-Progress” Award, the 2020 Film Philippines International Co-production Fund, the 2021 Tan Ean Kiam Foundation-SGIFF Southeast Asian Documentary Grant, the 2021 National Commission of Culture and Arts Endowment, the 2021 CreatePHFilms Development Grant for “Ponyboys,” and CreatePHFilms Scriptwriting Grant for “Dalisay,” and the 2022 Taiwan Creative Content Agency Fund.
His first feature documentary titled “Divine Factory” had its world premiere and was in competition at the 2022 Dok Leipzig Film Festival. It was also the official selection at the 2022 RIDM-Montreal International Documentary Festival and the 2022 Singapore International Film Festival.
Mangat holds a bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego, where he was mentored by avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin (a former Jean-Luc Godard collaborator). He also holds a Master of Arts in TV, Film, and New Media from San Diego State University, where he graduated with honors.
Rob Jabbaz (Horror)
A self-taught animator, Rob Jabbaz begun directing edgy animated shorts. His first foray into live-action was a Clearwater, a short film that was viewed close to 4 million times on youtube. Since then, he’s kept himself busy, culminating in his subversive and fast-paced horror debut feature film “The Sadness” (2021). The film premiered in Locarno, before sweeping a slew of major awards at genre festivals, including Best Horror Film and Best Director at Fantastic Fest, the Best Feature at Monster Fest, the New Flesh Feature Award at Fantasia, Best Fantastic Film at Curtas and another 3 wins at the cult festival Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. The film was picked up by American horror network Shudder.
Joant Ubeda (Music Video)
Joant Úbeda is an award-winning film director. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in film directing with New York University and is now based in Singapore. His graduation short, Spirit from the Meadow, played at festivals across 3 continents.
His heart close to the Singaporean music scene, he directed a one-shot music video for the band Spacedays and another time-bending music video for the cult artist Intriguant.
In 2020, he released his feature film debut, Sementara (“transient”). Its world premiere was accepted at the prestigious 31st Singapore International Film Festival where it won the coveted Audience Choice Award.
Currently, he works for PwC’s newest consulting arm, the Experience Centre, as an in-house film director to focus on creative technology projects that solve important issues within major industries and society at large.
