Gulya Sultanova’s field of specialization is German Studies and worked for a considerable period of time as a translator and teacher of German language. Since 2005 Gulya has been active in the public sphere firstly organizing youth exchange programs and in 2008 her focus of attention turned to LGBT activism to fight the strong prejudice against the LGBT community that still exist today in Russia. Bok to Bok LGBT Film Festival is an ideal opportunity to create a dialogue with wider society and through the activities of the festival real changes are being made: positive media coverage, growing annual audience figures. She took part of the Jury of the Teddy Award in the 59th Berlinale.

Director, photographer and an occasional musician, Juanma Carrillo has been working on the audiovisual field since 2000, moving between avant-garde cinema and video-art. His creations have been show in film festivals around the world, museums and renowned cultural centers.  In 2010, “Caníbales”, his Iris Prize nominated short film was shown in more than 50 international film festivals and stills continues to be shown in exhibitions. “Muro” (2010) still remains active due to viral spreading on the web.  “Fuckbuddies”, which opened in Zinegoak 8, is shown in festivals in South Africa, Canada, Australia and the United States.  Also his videos – like “This Leak”– are enjoying an wide circulation in the international museum circuit.  He is currently preparing his first long-film, “Islandia”, a project that develops many of the concepts already shown in his previous productions.

Michelle Hoekstra was born in Holland and lives in Spain. Her interest in film started at university where she used documentary applied to social studies. Over the years, she has worked for various film festivals, such as the Latin American Film Festival in Rotterdam, The International Festival of Short Film and Documentary ZINEBI in Bilbao, in a variety of jobs. For the last three years she has been festival coordinator of the Bilbao Fantasy Film Festival and co-organized the European Film Week in the Spanish Basque country. She also works as a freelance subtitler and translator.