The Cave

Feras Fayyad is an award-winning filmmaker who has received particular recognition for his work on contemporary Syrian issues and the political transformation of the Arab world. His most recent film, “Last Men in Aleppo,” earned him a 2018 Academy Award nomination and an Emmy for Best Documentary Feature. The film followed a small group of volunteer rescue workers with the White Helmets civil defense organization. “Last Men in Aleppo” premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary competition. The film went on to screen at festivals around the globe and received another 18 international awards, including Best World Cinema Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, Audience Award Washington D.C. International Film Festival, Best World Cinema Sarasota Film Festival, a Peabody Award and the Critics’ Choice Award.

Fayyad was born in Syria in 1984. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in audio-visual arts and filmmaking from The International Film and Television School EICAR in Paris. He has directed and edited several films, both documentaries and fiction. His other films include the feature documentary “My Escape” and television documentaries “Between the Fighter in Syria” and “Wide Shot-Close Shot.” He also produced, co-wrote and edited the award-winning short film “One Day in Aleppo” directed by Ali Alibrahim.

Kirstine Barfod has an extensive background in filmmaking and has produced and co-produced several feature documentaries and series and short fiction films. She is currently working with the Oscar-nominated director Feras Fayyad (“Last Men in Aleppo,” The Cave) on his third feature documentary, “The Mystery of Epilogue.” Other forthcoming films are the feature documentary “Family Apart,” by Mira Jargil and the documentary series “Absolute Beginners,” by Thora Lorentzen. Previous credits include the acclaimed feature documentary “Venus,” by Mette Carla Albrechtsen and Lea Glob (Audience Award, 2017 IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival); the feature documentary “Born to Lose,” by Palle Demant; and the comedic short “Euroman,” by Gavriil Tzafkas.

A leading figure in Denmark’s film industry, Sigrid Dyekjær has produced over 20 documentary features in the past 20 years. She is a co-founder of the respected production company Danish Documentary Productions, which she established in 2007 with directors Eva Mulvad, Pernille Rose Grønkjær, Phie Ambo and Mikala Krogh.

Her most recent credits include Feras Fayyad´s (Oscar nominated with the film Last men in Aleppo), “The Cave”, premiered at TIFF 2019 and won Audience Award, Viktor Kossakovsky’s acclaimed “Aquarela,” released in the United States by Sony Classics in August 2019; Jørgen Leth’s “I Walk”; Mulvad’s “Love Child” and “A Modern Man”; Grønkjær’s “Hunting for Hedonia” and “The Monastery”; Jacob Thuesen and Tómas Gislason’s “The Missing Films” about Lars von Trier.

Alisar Hasan is a Syrian journalist, writer and producer. She produced the 2013 short film “Untold Stories,” which screened at the Locarno Film Festival and CPH:DOX.

Born and raised in Damascus, Muhammed Khair Al Shami is a video journalist, production coordinator and cinematographer. As a video journalist, he works for several international media and television companies, including Getty Images, BBC World, Al Jazeera English, TRT World, Anadolu news agency and AFP.

Born and raised in Damascus, Ammar Sulaiman is a video journalist who works for several international media and television companies, including BBC World, Al Jazeera English, TRT World, Anadolu news agency and AFP.

Born and raised in Damascus, Mohammed Eyad is a video journalist who works for several international media and television companies, including BBC World, Al Jazeera English, TRT World, Anadolu news agency and AFP.

Peter Albrechtsen is a Danish sound designer and music supervisor based in Copenhagen, where he works on both feature films and documentaries. His recent credits include the smash Norwegian thriller “Thelma” and the Cannes Award-winning Finnish feature “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki.” He also worked as a sound effects recording mixer and sound effects recordist on Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk.”

His recent documentary credits include the festival favorites “Bill Nye: Science Guy,” “Transformations” (aka “Land of the Free”) and “True Conviction.” In 2018 he was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Along with his sound work, Albrechtsen has worked as a music supervisor and has collaborated closely with globally acclaimed musicians such as Antony and the Johnsons, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Efterklang.

Per Kirkegaard is one of the most established editors in the Danish film industry. He has edited numerous critically acclaimed documentaries and features. Among his credits is “Accused,” winner of the European Film Academy Discovery Prix Fassbinder.

His latest credits include the feature “Borg vs. McEnroe” and the documentaries “The Kingmaker,” by Lauren Greenfield, and “That Summer,” by Gören Hugo Olson. Other credits include the television documentary “Armadillo,” which earned him an Emmy for best editing of a long-format documentary, and “Chuck Norris vs. Communism,” selected for the Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Documentary competition.

Kirkegaard is renowned for his musically attuned editing style, his precision as a storyteller, his loyalty to the projects he engages in and his unique eye for the poetic yet specific. For the past four years, he has been one of the lecturers at dok.incubator, a documentary rough cut workshop in Europe.

Matthew Herbert is a prolific and accomplished musician, artist, producer and writer whose range of innovative works extends from more than 30 albums including Ivor Novello-nominated film scores (“Life in a Day”) as well as music for the theater, Broadway, TV, games and radio. He has twice collaborated with acclaimed director Sebastian Leilo, composing the scores for the Academy Award-winning “A Fantastic Woman” and the recent “Gloria Bell.” Herbert has performed around the world, from the Sydney Opera House to the Hollywood Bowl, in various guises: as a solo artist, as a DJ and with a host of musicians, including his own 18-piece big band.