Athula Disanayaka
Athula started his career as press journalist and photographer. Following his graduation in Bachelor of Arts, Athula joined Sri Lanka Rupavahini, the national broadcaster, in 1997.
Since then he worked as a successful TV producer and director of programs winning local and international television Awards, such as his documentary Schooling along the Wild Track (Special Jury Award, TV contest of ABU 2017/ Best Television Program Proposal, Japan Prize 2013), UdarataMenike – The Hill Country Railway Journey (Best Educational & Cultural Program, State Awards 2010/ Best Travel Program, Travel & Tourism Presidential Awards 2009) and Watarawuma (Best Magazine Program, Sumati TV Awards 2006). Currently, Athula works closely with many international organizations and functions as the national coordinator for the INPUT international television conference. Apart from TV program producing, Athula engages in photography and writing. He conducted three photography exhibitions and published a book titled “Sri Lanka – Miraculous Island in the Indian Ocean”.
ANANDA KAPUR
Anandana Kapur is an award winning filmmaker and educationist. Since 2004, she directs and produces documentaries. As a founder director of CINEMAD India, Ananda tells unique Indian stories about oral traditions, gender, and social innovations.
Her work is critically acclaimed and was showcased at over 50 film festivals. Some notable ones are Unseen Memories (winner, Toronto Smartphone Film Festival, 2017), The Great Indian Jugaad (winner, Stuttgart Film Festival, 2009), Jasoosni, Much Ado About Knotting, and Blood On My Hands. As a Fulbright Scholar and Indo-Canadian Shastri Institute Fellow, she is passionate about bringing the art and its nuances to people by teaching cinema to university students and youth leaders in India, USA and Canada. Anandana also curates and serves as jury at national and international film festivals. Her latest works include Aayi Gayi, a film that examines electricity policy in Bihar and an interactive documentary, Aashiyaan featuring domestic workers and homemakers in Delhi.
FRANÇOIS SMIT
François Isak Smit holds a Master of the Arts in Arts Management form the Salzburg University Business School in Austria. He studied towards a BA in Contemporary German Literature and Dutch Philology at the Freie Universität Berlin.
He has been on the Executive Committee of the Southern African Communications Association (a professional body that represents academics from southern Africa working in communications and related fields) since 2015. He was appointed National Coordinator for South Africa for the International Public Television Screening Conference in 2016. He is a founding member of the Culture and Arts Network and the //WOODRUFF Artist Collective. Currently, François is the Head of Postgraduate Studies at AFDA - The School for the Creative Economy, Johannesburg.
NOWELL CUANANG
Nowell is a Filipino journalist who writes, directs and produces investigative and cultural documentaries for one of the biggest TV networks in the Philippines, GMA Network Inc.
He is the only Filipino to win two George Foster Peabody Awards, one in 2009 for the documentary Ambulansyang de Paa (Ambulance on Foot) and another in 2012 for Salat (Bone Dry), as director and program manager respectively. He graduated Cum Laude from the University of the Philippines, Diliman with a degree in the Arts, Major in Broadcast Communication in 2003 and took International Studies as a scholar at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan. At present, Nowell is taking his Master’s Degree in Community Development at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.
