We proudly present — the selectors of 9th STIFF

Three people are responsible for the selection of the best student films from around the world — the selectors of the 9th STIFF. Maša Drndić, Marta Ban and Sendi Bakotić selected forty best films out of 700 applications from sixteen countries and arranged them in eleven competitive film program blocks. The films compete for a total of four awards: the best feature, animated and documentary film and the audience award.

In addition to forty competitive films, the selectors sweetened the program with five more non-competitive films, created as part of the New Documentary Film School — Filmaktiv. 

It is up to us only to check the program and reserve the dates in our schedules November 24 to 27, 2022 for four days of travel to the world’s best student films.

The 9th edition of the Student International Film Festival (STIFF) will take place from 24th to 27th November in Rijeka’s Art-kino cinema. The audience will be able to watch 45 films from 16 countries divided into eleven program slots. The films will be competing for best fiction, animated, and documentary film, as well as the audience choice award.

Maša Drndić is a graduate of the Academy of Applied Arts at the College of Rijeka and earned her master’s degree at the Baltic Film and Media School in Tallinn (specialising in film photography). As a cinematographer, editor and director, she has shot a number of short and medium-length feature films, documentaries and commercials. Her films have been screened and awarded internationally. She was involved in the founding of the Student Cultural Center in Rijeka and has been the artistic director and selector of the Student International Film Festival (STIFF) since 2014. She also works as a mentor for film workshops and as a consultant for film photography and editing. For many years she has been cooperating and working for the association Filmaktiv as a writer, director and coordinator of numerous film and educational programs, as well as initiator and director of the educational program New School of Documentary Film.

Marta Ban graduated in Italian language and literature and Croatian language and literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Rijeka. During her studies, she wrote about films for the portal Ziher.hr, Novi list and portal Novi list. As a representative of Art-kino and Croatia, in 2017 she participated in the 28 Times Cinema program at the Venice Film Festival, which gathers young film lovers from the European Union, in the jury of the Giornate Degli Autori festival selection. She has been working at Art-kino as a public relations associate since 2019.

Sendi Bakotić holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature and Russian Studies (Faculty of Philosophy, College of Zagreb and Saint Petersburg State College, Russia) and a degree in Drama and Media Studies from the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka. She is the artistic director of the organization Kolektiv Igralke and performs in numerous productions in Croatia and abroad. As part of the Igralke collective, she creates theater pieces, including the documentary piece “Bakice”, which was performed at some of the most important European theater festivals (Theatertreffen-Stückemarkt, Berlin, Mladi levi, Ljubljana). For many years she has been a program selector for the Student International Film Festival STIFF and from 2021 also for the ZOOM Festival of Performing Arts in Rijeka. She writes performing arts reviews for Kulturpunkt.hr. As an IETM alumna, she is a member of the international network of artists and producers Possible Futures Forum and was selected among 11 critics from all over the world for the dance critics program of Springback Academy 2020/2021.