DIRECTORS EXCHANGE - (Re)claiming authority over Narratives

Monday, 17th of February – 10:00-10:45

HUB75 I Marlene Dietrich Platz, 10785 Berlin
Free entry without accreditation

Who has the right to tell someone else’s story and can authority and collaboration organically co-exist When it comes to fictional re-tellings, observational documentaries and exploring hard realities, how does the process between the director and those who live these realities come together to make authentic and moving works such as the three films made by our panellists: Paula Tomás Marques, Yihwen Chen, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor.

Nastaran Tajeri-Foumani

Activist, musician, lecturer*researcher
Pronouns none

Nastaran Tajeri-Foumani is a non-binary queerfeminist moderator, activist, musician, and lecturer*researcher. Nastaran focuses on topics such as intersectional queerfeminism, social justice and anti-racist/anti-discriminatory practices, and queer themes in film and art. For over 16 years, Nastaran has moderated and curated various political panels and film talks. In addition, Nastaran works as a moderator for the Berlin Film Festival's Panorama section and curates queer short film programs internationally. 

Yihwen Chen

Director, "QUEER AS PUNK", Forum
Pronouns she/her

Yihwen is a Malaysian documentary filmmaker and journalist. Her body of work primarily focuses on human rights, social issues and gender equality, politics and environmental justice. Her documentary on female circumcision, The Hidden Cut, won the Society Of Publishers in Asia 2019 Awards for Excellence in Reporting Women’s Issues.

In 2019, her debut feature documentary, Eye on the Ball, about Malaysia’s blind football team premiered in London. Most recently, Wen’s #MeToo short documentary, The Boys Club, won the NETPAC Award during its world premiere at the Busan International Short Film Festival 2022. 

Wen's second feature documentary, Queer As Punk, spotlighting marginalized communities in Malaysia, was supported by the Hot Docs CrossCurrents Fund and IDA Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund and premiered at Berlinale 2025. She is also an alumna of IDFAcademy and American Film Showcase.

Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor

Director, "DREAMERS", Panorama
Pronouns she/her

Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor runs Joi Productions and her producing credits include the hit Blue Story and Aml Ameen’s debut, Boxing Day, the first all-black Christmas film out of the UK, which became the top grossing film of its genre. In 2020, she was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow and a BAFTA Breakthrough, as well as Joi Productions receiving a BFI Vision Award. In 2022 Ringside Studio acquired a stake in Joi Productions. In 2021, Joy directed For Love, a short film with the support of BBC Film, which premiered at BFI London Film Festival with a Best Short Film Nomination. It was later nominated for Best Short Film at SXSW in 2022 and won an Honorable Mention in the Best Short Film category at BlackStar Film Festival and Best Short at DeadCentre Film Festival.

Paula Tomás Marques

Director, "DUAS VEZES JOÃO LIBERADA" (Two Times João Liberada), Perspectives
Pronouns she/her or they/them

Paula Tomás Marques is a portuguese filmmaker and teacher living between Porto and Lisbon. Having completed a postgraduate degree in Filmmaking at Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (San Sebastián), she previously did a postgraduate degree in Sociology at ISCTE (Lisbon), and was originally trained in Directing and Cinematography at The Lisbon Theatre and Film School. Paula Marques directed the films IN CASE OF FIRE (2019), BLINDMAN’S BUFF (2021) and DILDOTECTONICS (2023), exploring themes of gender, sexuality and historiography. These themes are informed by her lived experience and by historical and sociological research, which is part of her practice. Her work has been shown in several festivals and screenings, including Ann Arbor, Anthology Film Archives and New York Film Festival (USA), BFI Flare (UK), Curtas Vila do Conde and IndieLisboa (Portugal), Go Short (Netherlands), Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg (Germany), Curta Cinema e Olhar de Cinema (Brazil), San Sebastián International Film Festival (Spain), Viennale (Austria), Visions du Réel (Switzerland), among many others, earning several awards. Her first feature film, TWO TIMES JOÃO LIBERADA has its premiere at the Perspectives section of the Berlinale 2025.