Organizers

Mirko Rucnov

Named as one of New York’s Five Emerging Filmmakers by the New York Press, Mirko Rucov is an Associate Professor of the Practice in Film Studies at Wesleyan University. In 2009, he graduated with honors from Columbia University’s School of the Arts MFA film directing program in New York. His thesis film, First Day of Peace, earned two of Columbia University’s highest recognitions: the Killer Films Development Award for Best Script and Director’s Vision in 2008, and the Faculty Select in 2009. Additionally, First Day of Peace was featured on NYCTV cable channel as part of the Columbia Cinema short film series. In 2010, First Day of Peace received Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short at the Slamdance International Film Festival (Oscar Qualifying Award). The film received a North American distribution deal with Film Movement, which selected First Day of Peace as the Short of the Month for October 2010. Mirko’s feature script was presented in Luxembourg and Sweden at the 2011 European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) Labs. In addition, Mirko was selected for the prestigious Binger 2012 Directing Lab. His most recent short film, Farewell to the Wind (2021), was screened worldwide. This poetic essay highlights the little-known history of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) as well as Yugoslavia (Mirko’s motherland) and Ghana, the two founding NAM members. 

Yared Zeleke

Yared Zeleke earned his MFA in Writing and Directing from New York University where his thesis short film, Lottery Boy, earned him an award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Agency in 2012. Zeleke’s first feature, Lamb, screened at Cannes Film Festival in 2015. It was the first out of his native Ethiopia to be in the Official Selection. The film garnered positive reviews, including from the New York Times, BBC, CNN, PBS, Guardian, Financial Times, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel. The North American premiere for Lamb was at the Toronto International Film Festival. Variety magazine subsequently featured Zeleke among the 10 Screenwriters to Watch. In 2016, Lamb made the shortlist for the Oscars’ Best Foreign Language Film Award. The film has sold to over thirty territories, including the U.S. and China. Zeleke's second feature script, Sunbirds, was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship and a San Francisco Film Society grant. The Sundance Institute is mentoring Zeleke through its FilmTwo Initiative. In addition to his own projects, Zeleke is a script consultant as well as a university lecturer on both screenwriting and directing.