
		Julian Cole Director of With Gilbert and George \| UK Since starting to make films in 1982, Julian has worked across a wide range of film and television genres, developing his skills as a producer, director and camera operator. He has authored over 9 documentaries which have established his reputation as a unique and innovative independent filmmaker. He has worked with prolific director Derek Jarman and also Gus Van Sant and made a series of music videos for Pet Shop Boys and Eurythmics. He is currently completing a feature length biography of his MP and Britain's most controversial politician, George Galloway. Julian also works as an occasional freelance writer and visiting lecturer.

		Saskia Frederica Heyden Director of Risk, Stretch or Die \| Germany Born 1980, growing up in Berlin. Saskia graduated in 2005 from the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester with the film „Riding the Wind of Change“ which was screened in several festivals. In 2007 she finished the Cultural Studies programme at the European University Viadrina, which enabled her to further explore the visual arts and documentary filmmaking with projects based in Berlin's transgender scene. She is currently working at ma.ja.de. filmproduktion

		Océan Leroy Actor, Male Impersonator \| Film : Risk, Stretch or Die \| France Océan was born and raised in France, before living in London and studying in Paris, Oxford and Berlin. First contact with the arts with Music (award-winner of the Madeleine de Valmalète Piano Competition), then Dance (Tanzfabrik Berlin), and underground Theater (Theater Westöstlicher Divan, Berliner Ground Theater), Océan had his/her stage debut as a drag performer at the Go Drag! Festival with Diane Torr and Bridge Markland in 2002. Having taken acting, singing and scriptwriting classes, Océan is famous for his multimedia-performances involving video-clips and dia-show projections, choreography, live singing and poetry slam. Océan acted in a few films in various men or women characters, including “Lost in Generations” and “Fucking Different Tel'Aviv”. Currently Océan is accompanying the international festival tour of the documentary film "Risk, Stretch or Die" (Saskia Heyden, 2007) about his transgender life.

		Jun Lana Director of Roxxxanne \| Phillipines Jun Lana is a Filipino playwright, screenwriter, producer and director. His debut screenplay “Sa Pusod Ng Dagat” (In the Navel of The Sea) directed by his mentor Marilou Diaz-Abaya premiered at the 1998 Berlin International Film Festival and also won him the Best Screenplay Award from the 1998 Brussels International Film Festival. In 2006 he directed his competition-winning screenplay “Milagroso”, which was aired as a television special and became a finalist at the 2006 Asian TV Awards. His company Octobertrain Films produced “Roxxxanne” in 2007, and is currently co-producing his next movie.

		Laura Gerber Director Asian Hotshots Film Festival \| Germany Laura Gerber was born in Berlin in 1980 and completed postgraduate studies in Cultural and Social Anthropology with an emphasis on documentary filmmaking, Visual and Media Anthropology as well as Queer and Gender Studies. Parallel to her work at university she is producing her own films and holds several jobs for both film festivals and film productions. Since 2007 she is the director and head of the South East Asia section as well as the Queer:Asia section of ASIAN HOT SHOTS BERLIN, the first festival for Asian independent film and video art in Berlin, Germany. In October 2007 she started teaching a course on filmmaking in South East Asia at Free University Berlin

		Sun Koh Director of Lucky 7 \| Singapore Sun Koh started as a production assistant on TV commercials and later as writer & director on numerous documentaries & telemovies for 5 years. She completed her debut short film The Secret Heaven in 2002, and became the first Singaporean to win the Silver Hugo at the 38th Chicago International Film Festival. The film was a festival favourite and screened in more than 30 festivals worldwide, including the Cannes Film Festival. Her second short film Bedroom Dancing, which has been described as an "ode to physical love", also made IFFR official selection in 2007. A key figure in Singapore's 2nd generation of filmmakers, Sun is an alumni of the Berlinale Talent Campus 2003 chaired by Wim Wenders, and the Asian Film Academy 2007 chaired by Iranian New Wave Auteur Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Sun is currently writing her new feature film script.

		Christian Scheuss Journalist \| Germany Starting as volunteer at a local radio station in the 90's, he is working since as gay journalist in Germany, and gay here means more than his orientation. It is also his profession. He is writing for gay online and print media. Together with a small team, Chris is running the website : www.queer.de. He is co-author of several books about gay relationship and sexuality, and is also doing public relation work for the gay and lesbian cultural festival "Sommerblut" in Cologne. His work and his love for movies brought him to Berlinale Film Festival and Torino Gay and Lesbian film festival in Italy.

		Josh Kim Director of The Postcard and The Police Box \| USA/South Korea Josh Kim is a 2nd generation Korean-American. Raised in rural Texas, he graduated from Trinity University with a degree in Finance. He has also studied abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris, the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Seoul National University, and the Hong Kong Film Academy. After work in both radio (NPR) and TV news (CNN), he later dropped out of film school and made his first short film in Hong Kong, The Police Box. He later moved to Korea to work for his uncle, director LEE Min Yong (A Hot Roof) and in the meantime shot another short in Korea, The Postcard, which premiered at The Pusan International Film Festival in 2007.

		Jay Aquitania Actor of Roxxxanne \| Philippines Jay Aquitania is a popular young actor in the Philippines. He has appeared in numerous films and TV series, including the wildly popular soaps “Mulawin” and “Encantadia”.

		Anita Schoepp Director of Dedicated \| Canada Anita is an all-round artist. She does arts in various media. Photography, installation and video arts. Mostly experimental work as you can see in her film Dedicated but also in her photo that is exhibited in ”What's Queer?” exhibition.

		Daisy Mohr Director The Birthday \| The Netherlands Daisy Mohr (Amsterdam, 1978) has been working as a Middle East correspondent for the past six years. Based in Beirut she covers Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran for the Dutch print, radio and television media. Her first documentary The Birthday, co-directed and co-produced with Iranian journalist Negin Kianfar, premiered in 2006 and received various awards around the world. In 2007 Mohr directed Daddy is a Martyr, an intimate portrait of the family of a Hezbollah guerrilla fighter who died in the 2006 Lebanon war.

		Petra Van Dongen Co-founder Cinemasia Film Festival Holland \| The Netherlands Petra van Dongen is the co-founder of CinemAsia: the Asian Film Festival of the Netherlands. She also works for Rialto Theatre in Amsterdam on a freelance basis in charge of special programs, such as the Gay & Lesbian Summer Tour and New Malaysian Cinema which will take place in November 2008

		Siqi Sun Director You and Me \| China Siqi Sun, female, was born in Beijing in 1983. Now she is studying Director in the Beijing Film Academy (BFA). She knows the Chinese traditional culture deeply by the living period in Beijing. Film is the lifelong dream and career for her, and she believes she will become an excellent director in the future. The important mind she wants to show is finding and discussing the different kinds of human nature by using the traditional thinking.

		AMAURY GRISEL Photographer Q! Life in Paris France Amaury Grisel was almost 13 years old when he started to develop his first photos in his father’s lab. His artistic influences reflect his passion for Asia, but his main source of inspiration resides in his numerous travels and encounters which have taken him all around the world - India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Québec, Congo, just to name a few – giving him a new and surprising look at the world. The photos of Amaury Grisel not only seek to establish a meaning, to tell a story, but also seek to create an emotion in all of us triggered by the interaction between the subject, the scene and the artist’s point of view. His talent and patience have captured the unseen, like the bond that unites these two women kissing on a balcony, or these two boys from two different cultures yet sharing breakfast together. His latest collaborations with musicians and video artists have given Amaury the opportunity to create a series of photo-montage and discover other artistic fields.