“I am happy to share my latest campaign for Xiaomi: Together. This is the first film I’ve done using AI for the visual effects and it was an interesting and seamless experience. Definitely the future,” says Brent Bonacorso. 

Sophia Bierend won for her writing the Degeto Impulse Award and was simultaneously working as an assistant director on the Netflix series Unorthodox and the film I’m Your Man. Both projects were realized by Maria Schrader, for whom she also works privately as an assistant. Inspired by this collaboration, Sophia applied for the talent lab at the War On Screen Film Festival in France. She won and got funding for her short film script The Taster. She wrote and directed the movie, which won the Student BAFTA in 2023 and is now successfully screening at various festivals all over the world. As a screenwriter she is part of various Writers Rooms, wrote among others several episodes for the youth series ECHT (KiKA, ZDF).

Here’s a quick synopsis for the Taster: In a near-future Romania, young Ozana (Silvana Mihai) is chosen to work as a food taster for the leader of forces occupying her country. The sole rule she must follow is that she must never look this man in the eye. Writer/director Sophia Bierend has made a captivating master class in slow-burn tension and world-building, phenomenally well-executed and performed according to Fantasia Film Festival’s Mitch Davis.

Fantasia Review: STAY ONLINE, the feature-film debut of Ukrainian filmmaker Eva Strelnikova, follows Katya (Liza Zaitseva), a volunteer from Kyiv who is fighting against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While using a laptop donated to the resistance, she comes into contact with the original owner’s superhero-obsessed son, who is looking for his lost parents. In an effort to make a positive change in this boy’s life and pull herself out of a destructive cycle, Katya risks all that she holds dear to locate his parents.

As the first Ukrainian feature film to have been shot since the beginning of the ongoing Russian invasion, STAY ONLINE is a necessary piece of protest art that commands and deserves your attention. The focus on seeking and dispersing information through the internet is as pertinent as it has ever been. Considering the invasion has essentially lost its time in the limelight on North American news outlets, people have had to shift to alternative sources, such as TikTok, to procure information. Using the screenlife format to full effect, Strelnikova crafts a somber but honest story that will leave your heart in your throat and your eyes on the screen. Evoking the likes of Aneesh Chaganty’s SEARCHING and Mick Jackson’s THREADS, STAY ONLINE twists and turns through the war-torn streets of Ukraine, giving its audience a harrowing glimpse into life during wartime.