Although we come from various towns and environments, we all have the love of cinema
Among us there are people responsible for film selection, fund-raising, partnerships’ development, accompanying events, coordination of the yearlong educational activities as well as social media specialists. We also get support from our devoted volunteers, without whom the dynamic development of our festival wouldn’t be possible.
Maciej Misztal
FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
Initiator and director of Lublin Film Festival (until 2016 known as IFF Golden Anteaters). Krzysztof Kieślowski Faculty of Radio and Television University of Silesia graduate in Organization of Film and Television Production studies. Curator of film screenings at many festivals. The author and host of the Warsaw Short Framing and Off na zakręcie projects. For over 5 years, he has been developing his original method of building local communities by using the phenomenon of cinempathy. In his work, he combines the experience of a cultural animator with filmmaker practice. Instructor of film workshops for young people. Production manager of award-winning documentaries and short films as well as many TV programs, including international co-productions. At the LFF, he takes part in the selection of short films.
Andrzej Rusin
PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR
Graduate of history at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, cultural animator in Lublin, film instructor at the Centre for Culture in Lublin, where he is coordinator of the Project Cinema Circle. He is involved in workshop work with young people and the organisation of film screenings. Since 2012, juror of the Unia Film Festival, from 2008 to 2019 juror of the Lublin Cranes Cultural Award and in 2023 member of the Jury of the Opolskie Lamy Film Festival. In 2012-15 and 2019-2020 he was a consultant for the scholarship programmes of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. As an instructor, he has participated in many film educational projects.
At the LFF he participates in the selection of short films, with a special interest in the short films of our eastern neighbours.
Emilia Rusin
HEAD OF THE FESTIVAL’S OFFICE
Graduated from the MFA in Painting and the Culture Management at University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska in Lublin. The artist painter, co-organizer of the Festival since 2009. Her specialty is animated film, she organizes numerous animated films screenings at the Centre for Culture in Lublin. She manages the work of the festival office and she takes part in the selection of short films.
Krystian Drozd
FEATURE FILMS COMPETITION COORDINATOR
A film connoisseur, librarian, cultural animator. Films have been his passion for over twenty years. Along with Joanna Ziomek and Monika Kopiec he runs the “Benshi” Film Discussion Club.
Monika Kopiec
FEATURE FILMS COMPETITION SELECTOR
A certified art therapist with a special interest in the area of film therapy. She writes about it at patrzajwserce.
Together with Krystian and Joanna, she runs the “Benshi” Film Discussion Club. Her studies in psychology allow her to deepen her love for such themes in cinema.
Joanna Ziomek
FEATURE FILMS COMPETITION SELECTOR
film expert, librarian, graduate of Polish philology; initiator of the “Benshi” Film Discussion Club in Lublin; she collects favorite shots and has been consistently watching Polish films for years.
Tomasz Raczkowski
FEATURE FILMS COMPETITION SELECTOR
Tomasz Raczkowski – socio-cultural anthropologist, reviewer. Doctoral student in the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Wroclaw. He researches social contexts of cinema and related discourses. Winner of the main prize in the Critic Writes competition at the Kamera Akcja Film Festival in Łódź in 2016. Since 2018 he has been a regular contributor to Film.org.pl. From 2021-2023 member of the Opole Llamas Festival team, From 2024 member of the LFF team.
Monika Czapka
VOLUNTEERS COORDINATOR
A graduate of the venerable and now defunct faculty at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, which was Scientific Information and Library Science. A former employee of the “Brama Grodzka – Teatr NN”, where at the Dom Słów she had the opportunity to coordinate (among other things) volunteers for the Lublin Literary Meetings “Miasto Poezji” or the International Typographic Meetings “TypoLub”. Currently, she is the head of herself and vice president of the “5Medium” Foundation, for which she coordinates the Youth Space: Po prostu Fajne Miejsce. She coordinates projects (e.g. “Kreatywni w Fotografii”, “Akademia Cyfrowych Kompetencji”) and conducts workshops such as handicrafts and DIY for different age groups. More recently, she has been an ecotherapist. She has a black cat Żelka and a blue-red fish Ribar. She enjoys traveling to Balkan countries (especially Macedonia), exploring the forest (with different senses), infrared photography, reading books (education obliges) and wearing hats (name also obliges).
Gosia Cichalewska
TRANSLATIONS COORDINATOR
English philology graduate. Associated with LFF since 2019. Bookworm that specializes in devouring detective, crime and horror literature.
Olga Obel
TRANSLATIONS COORDINATOR
English philology graduate. Associated with LFF since 2019. Specializes in a variety of film translations because of her passion for cinematography and pop culture.
Magdalena Olbromska
media group
Educator, animator and cultural manager professionally associated with the cultural sector since 2014. For 10 years she worked at the Workshops of Culture in Lublin (co-organization of festivals, cooperation with the publishing house
Warsztaty Kultury and the cultural and social magazine “Kultura Enter”). Currently, she is associated with the Centre of Culture in Lublin (
specialist in promoting and organizing events of the Lublin Dance Theatre). Her passion is learning about new cultures and collaborating with creators and artists from different parts of the world. In her free time, she coordinates and co-organizes international projects with foundations and associations whose idea is to strengthen intercultural dialogue and promote art and science among partner countries. Privately, a lover of theatre and circus art. Additionally, since 2021, she has been developing in media and journalism by running her channel on the YouTube platform (content: conducting interviews with artists who share their knowledge and experience with viewers).
Tomasz Górecki
media group EDITING COORDINATOR
An employee of the Academy of Modern Media and Communication of the Catholic University of Lublin, a graduate of “multimedia engineering” at the Lublin University of Technology. Experienced editor in various film forms (music videos, 2D animation, vlogs, short promotional, documentary and educational films). More recently, also a cinematographer. Involved in the media section of the LFF since 2019.
Rafał Karaś
media group
Kasia Deputat
media group
She graduated from the Film Production Organization at the Film and Television Academy in Warsaw. In 2015, she began her adventure with the festival as a film editor, currently the editing coordinator of the LFF TV.
Filip Wesołowski
technical GROUP COORDINATOR
Filmmaker, he is usually involved in lighting and set design on the sets.
He runs workshops in which young people create their own short films.
So far, he has been associated with projects carried out by, among others, the Children’s Art Center in Poznań, the Lodz Film School and, of course – the Centre for Culture in Lublin.
Kasia Deputat
media group
She graduated from the Film Production Organization at the Film and Television Academy in Warsaw. In 2015, she began her adventure with the festival as a film editor, currently the editing coordinator of the LFF TV.
Janek Jankowski
hospitality ambassador
A graduate of English Philology at the Catholic University of Lublin. He participated for the first time in the Lublin Film Festival in 2019 as a volunteer translating films and taking care of guests.
Roksana Wrona
hospitality ambassador
Student of Cultural Animation at UMCS. She began her adventure with the festival in 2021 as a volunteer.
Our former co-workers:
Agnieszka Bąk
Short films selector
The student of Journalism and Social Communication at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin. She co-creates the “Kino w eterze” programme at Radio Free. She has been interested in cinema since high school, and she holds a special place in her heart for The Two Riversides Film and Art Festival.
Iga Wójtowicz
MEDIA GROUP COORDINATOR
Graduate of film studies and new media knowledge at the Jagiellonian University. During studies she actively participated in the organization of the Krakow Photomonth, in 2019 she was a jury member of the Krakow Film Festival, in 2020 of the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. Since 2021, she has been working at Radio Lublin, where she can be heard in the author’s film audition Iga Movie and in the program “At the cinema in Lublin.”
Julia Hawrot
TECHNICAL GROUP COORDINATOR
Marcin Kwaśniewski
Short films selector
Olga Zdybel
VOLUNTEERS COORDINATOR
Coordinator of volunteering at the Lublin Film Festival since 2017. She works at the Center for Culture and Civic Initiatives in Podkowa Leśna. Creator of the WolONline project. Vice-president of the tanTHEO foundation, event organizer at Projekt Efektywny. She cooperated with the Nowa Sztuka Association. Co-organizer of six editions of the National Student Theater Festival “Kontestacje”. She worked as a Junior Program Specialist at the Teatr Stary in Lublin. Juror of the Independent Short Film Competition at the 7th Film and Art Festival “Dwa Brzegi”.
Kuba Borkowski
CO-CREATOR OF GOLDEN ANTEATER STATUETTE
Interior decorator and plumber. Since 2013 photographer at Sztukmistrze Foundation. One of the co-ordinators at EJC 2017 – European Juggling Convention in Lublin. 2016-2019 he worked in the festival’s TV crew, where he was camera operator and editor. Co-creator of the Golden Anteater statuette for the 11th edition of the festival.
Tomasz Wieleba
MEDIA GROUP COORDINATOR
By profession a multimedia librarian. After work, a cinema fan and an avid photographer. Associated with LFF since 2017. Since his studies, he has been strongly involved in voluntary work in various cultural institutions. During the LFF, he coordinates the activities of volunteers from the LFF TV group, supervises the creation of audiovisual content for the purposes of documentation and promotion of the festival.