Daniela Cölle – executive director, dramaturgy

Daniela Cölle studied Film Theory at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where she got her PhD. in 2008. In the course of her studies, Daniela worked as an e-learning and educational projects manager as well as an editor of the internet magazine 5D film section. From 2008 to 2012 she devoted herself to film production and from 2012 to 2014 worked as the executive director of Filmtopia Ltd. distribution company. Daniela Cölle has been organising the 4 Elements Film Seminar since 2003. 

Ondrej Starinský – executive director, programme manager and fundraising specialist

Ondrej Starinský graduated from the Film Theory study programme at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in 2005. He has worked as a PR manager for several Slovak film festivals (MFF Bratislava 2010, FIFFBA 2010) as well as a print traffic coordinator at Art Film Fest (2008 – 2013). In 2011 and 2012 Ondrej was in charge of the PR activities for the film Visible World as well as of the film’s participation at film festivals both in Slovakia and abroad. For nine years he worked for the Open Society Foundation (NOS – OSF), first as a “Novinárska cena” press award coordinator and later as a media programme manager. From May to December 2014 he was responsible for fundraising activities of the Petit Academy Foundation – a non-profit organisation under the auspices of the Petit Press publishing house. Since 2006 he has been the co-ordinator of the 4 Elements Film Seminar. Starting with the seminar’s side events co-ordination, Ondrej later moved on to shipping and he has also been responsible for communicating with the distribution and world sales companies, handling the screening rights, fundraising and communication. Since 2015 Ondrej has been a statutory representative of the 4 Elements civic organisation and the executive director of the 4 Elements Film Seminar.

Zuzana Očenášová – dramaturgy, fundraising

Zuzana Očenášová studied psychology, gender studies and film theory. She received her doctor’s degree in European studies and policies at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at Comenius University. Between 2001 and 2010, Zuzana was a member of several non-governmental organisations focusing mainly on human rights and the rights of women. Since then she has been devoting herself primarily to research. In the audio-visual sphere, she has worked as a film editor of Vlna magazine as well as the jury secretary at Art Film Fest. She has been co-organising the 4 Elements festival since 2000. From 2008 to 2015, Zuzana was a statutory representative of the 4 Elements civic organisation and the director of the film seminar.

Martin Ciel – head dramaturge

Having worked at the Slovak Academy of Sciences and later on at the Slovak Film Institute, Martin Ciel (Doc., PhD.) now holds a position of a teacher at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. He is a film theorist and critic. Martin has lectured at various institutions in New York, Prague, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and Minsk. He is the author of such technical publications as Film. Illusion and action, 1992 (Film. Ilúzia a akcia), The Scholarly Reflection of Film in Slovakia, 1997 (Odborná reflexia filmu na Slovensku), Moving Pictures, 2007 (Pohyblivé obrázky), Motion Picture Analysis Methods and Possibilities, 2011 (Metódy a možnosti analýzy filmového obrazu), Film and Politics (Film a politika, 2017) and various other studies in scholarly journals and anthologies. He has worked as a programme advisor at various international film festivals. Martin has been taking part in the preparation and organisation of the 4 Elements Summer Film Seminar from its very beginning.

Martin Kaňuch - head dramaturge

Martin Kaňuch is a book editor at the Editorial Department of the Slovak Film Institute and a member of its editorial board. He has worked as a coordinator of the Czecho-Slovak Filmological Conference project. Since 1998 Kaňuch has been the editor-in-chief of Kino-Ikon film magazine. Moreover, he is a dramaturge and a technical introduction lecturer and has been taking part in the organisation of the 4 Elements film seminar since its very beginning.

Silvia Klasová – 4 Elements for children management and dramaturgy

Silvia Klasová graduated from the Dramaturgy and Screenwriting study programme of the Film and Television Faculty at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in 2003. In the course of her studies, Silvia was a co-organiser of the Áčko film festival and worked as a dramaturge for Mladosť and Múzeum, two Bratislava-based film clubs. As a member of the film clubs movement, she also devoted herself to publishing and other activities. After finishing her studies, she worked as a MEDIA Desk Office co-ordinator for several years. In 2010 and 2011, she assumed the role of a creative producer for TV Markíza and took patronage over several projects in development. Since October 2011 she worked as a writer and later on as the head writer for TV Nova and since August 2013 as a creative producer for the TV series Street (Ulice). In 1999 Silvia founded the 4 Elements Summer Film Seminar, which she also ran till 2008. At the same time, she was a statutory representative of the 4 Elements civic organisation. After her maternity leave, in 2011 Silvia decided to join the 4 Elements Summer Film Seminar again, establishing the project of 4 Elements for children, which has become part and parcel of the film seminar.

Monika Lošťáková - programme coordinator, production of 4 Elements for Kids

Monika Lošťáková graduated audio-visual studies at  the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. She has worked on several film festivals and events such as  MFFK Febiofest, Art Film Fest, Fest Anča and Ekotopfilm. For the 5th time she is one of the organizers of the international educational event  Visegrad Film Forum. She is the office manager of the production company Nutprodukcia (films Spoor, By a Sharp Knife, Circus Rwanda).

Tomáš Hudák - catalogue editor, dramaturge

Tomáš Hudák works in film programming, organizes film festivals and occasionally writes. In A4 - space for contemporary culture, he is in charge of the film program of Kino inak. He is a member of the programming team and program coordinator of MFF Cinematik Pieštany and MFF Bratislava, editor of magazine Kinečko and in the past he used to work at the Slovak Film Institute Archive. He has been part of 4 Elements since 2016 as the editor of the festival’s catalogue and since 2018 as the program coordinator.

Peter Gašparík – PR manager

Peter Gašparík is a graduate of the Screenwriting and Script Editing programmes at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica and the Academy of Performing arts in Bratislava. During as well as after finishing his studies, Peter took active part in screenwriting and dramaturgy of several (live-action, documentary and animated) short films. He made his screenwriting debut with the feature horror film Evil (Zlo), and continued with his 2015 drama film The Cleaner (Čistič), both directed by Peter Bebjak. He has held the position of a PR manager for various film events and projects (The Slovak Film Week, The Sun in a Net, educational events for film professionals MIDPOINT and FÓRUM, Hitchiker Cinema company projects, the film Felvidek: Caught in Between and the film Filthy). Peter has worked as the PR manager for 4 Elements since 2011 and he is a statutary representative of the 4 Elements civic organisation.

Adrián Juráček – artistic design and realization of the 2022 edition visuals

Adrián Juráček graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. After his studies, he worked as a freelancer and since 2015, he has been running his own studio – Malina Studio. He mainly focuses on brand design – from name to logo, and packaging design to a complex visual identity. Thanks to the design of the visuals for the current edition of 4 Elements, he returned to his student days, which were full of experimentation and poster creation in the former Studio 304.