Master & Guest Speakers

Dirk Westervelt has worked in many different film genres, including action, drama, and comedy. No matter what the genre, his primary focus is always on storytelling. After working for a time in the camera department, Westervelt moved to the cutting room on the first two features directed by F. Gary Gray, as Assistant Editor on FRIDAY and Associate Editor on SET IT OFF. He worked for George Tillman Jr. as an Associate Editor on SOUL FOOD, and as Editor on MEN OF HONOR, FASTER, and NOTORIOUS. While living and working in Prague, he served as Visual Effects Editor on Guillermo del Toro’s BLADE 2 and HELLBOY. He has also collaborated repeatedly with writer-director Rick Famuyiwa, was an Editor on JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 3D for director Eric Brevig. In 2014 he edited Jaume Collet-Serra’s RUN ALL NIGHT. In the last few years he has been working on James Mangold’s LOGAN, David Leitch’s DEADPOOL 2, and Mangold’s FORD v FERRARI.

Kevin has written over 30 different screenplays which resulted in produced films. They range from commercial action to critically-acclaimed features. They have attracted Academy Award winners and nominees including Donald Sutherland, Michael Caine, John Lithgow, Nick Nolte, Djimon Hounsou, Christopher Plummer, Sylvester Stallone and Dennis Hopper. Other prestigious collaborators include Orlando Bloom, Kevin Bacon, Patrick Swayze, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Ben Foster, Roy Scheider, Lesley Ann Warren, Tia Carrere, Michael Biehn, Charlie Sheen, Dolph Lundgren, Peter Weller, Jennifer Beals, Tom Berenger, Daryl Hannah, Amy Smart, Matthew Goode, Til Schweiger and Wesley Snipes. Bernhardt’s latest film MEDIEVAL was produced with Viktor Kristof, stars Ben Foster and Michael Caine, and was written and directed by Petr Jakl. Bernhardt’s latest screenplays include TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING, to star Joe Pesci and an adaptation of the NY Times Bestseller THAI HORSE, to star Jackie Chan. He is presently co-writing a new screenplay with Academy Award nominee John Cleese. 

Nancy is a CSA, Emmy Award Nominated Casting Director who has cast nearly one hundred projects internationally. Nancy bridges the gap between Europe and the US. She has developed a proven method for audition technique. Some of the titles she has worked on include: Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, EuroTrip, Snowpiercer and many more.

Steve Lichtag is a world-famous documentary filmmaker and the author of science films with a sea theme. He is the founder and president of the CRYSTAL PLANET endowment fund, focused on the protection of underwater flora and fauna. He has worked closely with personalities such as Jean-Michel Cousteau, Céline Cousteau, Dr. Samuel Gruber, Dr. Erich Ritter, Andre Hartman, Garry Atkinson and many more. He is currently completing the feature film “Stingl – Little Big Okima” and is preparing another film with the working title “Finding the Abyss”. It tells the story of the human desire to know the secrets of the depths, but also points to the plundering of the oceans by man. Steve is a member of a number of international film juries and institutions dealing with nature and its protection. In 2004, he founded the „Water Sea Oceans“ IFF, of which he is president.

Vladimir is a Ph.D. graduate from the Academy of Arts and Architecture & Design in Prague. He has been working on various film and theater project for the past 15 years. Some of the titles he has worked on are: James Bond – Casino Royale, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Mission Impossible IV, Carnival Row, and many more.

Viktor graduated in Communications and Information Security Management at the University of Defence in Brno. He then worked as a senior officer of the Communications and Information Systems and was later active in management. He completed the Executive MBA study program at the University of Technology in Brno and Dominican University of Illinois (USA). During his career, he enjoyed extensive periods in Australia and Japan. Besides that, he is active in many areas of cultural and political life.

Being part of Three Brothers Production Viktor focuses mainly in creating films with historical content. Three Brothers works with the industry’s leading dramaturgs and historians and utilizes the on site weapon house www.historicalprops.cz (the largest of its kind in Europe), workshop rooms and studios.

Alongside the numerous co-productions Viktor has also been involved in the production of a wide range of world and Hollywood movies (Dungeons and Dragons, Joan of Arc, Dune, Nomad, Knight’s Tale, Avalon, Blade II., The Children of Dune, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Van Helsing, Hellboy, Doom 3, Narnia – Princ Kaspian, Die Papstin, Henry IV, Anonymous, Borgias, Black Death, Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, Three Musketeers etc.).

Pius Okaba is a film director and actor that currently lives in Berlin, Germany, over his 10- year career in the film and television industry, he worked in various fields such as Format Buying, On-Air Image Design, Content Acquisition, Content Development/Management, airtime sales, directing and Production for both the film and television industry.

Pius Okaba is an alumnus of The New York Film Academy (NYFA) where he studied acting and he holds a Master of Arts degree in film directing from the prestigious University of West London. He is currently pursuing a second masters degree (MFA) in motion pictures and is a residence lecturer at the Prague Film Institute in the Czech Republic. His controversial film AYE, released in 2019 sees a wide acceptance across the European film industry. AYE won the award of Best Short Film at the African Diaspora Cinema Festival in Florence, Italy and was nominated and screened at I Will Tell International Film Festival, London, United Kingdom, Black Star International Film Festival, Accra Ghana, The South African International Film Festival, Johannesburg, South Africa, Africa international Film Festival, Lagos Nigeria, and Inshort Film Festival in Lagos, Nigeria.

Pius Okaba’s role as a witch hunter in the Czech fairy tale film Princezna Zakletá V Čase (Princess Lost In Time) has earned him an accolade in the European film market.

Sasha is a professional make-up artist, hair-stylist, and SFX artist. His 27 years of experience has amounted to working on dozens of films, commercials, fashion shows, magazines, and music videos. He has worked with numerous big names in the film and fashion worlds. He also has expertise in historic make-up and hair design. Sasha works on Czech and international projects and he speaks four languages: English, Czech, Persian, and Russian.

Petr is a Czech director, DOP and VFX supervisor. His projects include the action TV movie, Lost Legion, which was successfully sold to the Hollywood studio, Lions Gate, and the road movie feature, Montenegro, which is currently being distributed in cinemas through Europe.

Petr always seeks to tell the story with a visionary approach. Thanks to his skills as a VFX supervisor and editor, he applies early foresight to matters of post-production, which results in his trademark of polished and beautiful final scenes. As a storyteller he enjoys exploring the power of the imagination.

With hundreds of hours of work on shootings and thousands of hours in editing rooms and post-production, Tomas is real professional. During his career he managed and supervised large number of projects and worked with leading Czech directors and cameramen on dozens of films and television series.

During his studies Tomas gained experience with the film industry as a film technician and then gradually moved to his specialisation. Since 2013, he has run successful post-production studio CINEPOST at Barrandov Film Studios. In 2017, CINEPOST combined with another company PFX. Currently in PFX, Tomas is one of partners and also in charge of film and television post-production department.