Alia Syed

Alia Syed was born in Swansea, and works between London and Glasgow. For over 40 years, she has made experimental films that disrupt traditional narrative structures to create complex explorations of migration and colonialism, identity and place. Her work navigates geography, memory, and the fragmented nature of diasporic identity.

Syed’s films have been shown at numerous institutions around the world including, BBC Arts Online (currently), Tigers an Dragons: India and Wales in Britain, Glynn Vivian, Swansea (2025); CCA Glasgow (2025); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2023); Courtisane Festival, Belgium (2019); WKV, Stuttgart (2019); Yale Centre for British Art (2019); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2012-13), 5th Moscow Biennale (2013); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010); Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (2009); XV Sydney Biennale (2006); Hayward Gallery, London (2005); Tate Britain, London (2003); Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, Scotland (2002); Iniva, London (2002); The New Art Gallery in Walsall (2002); and Tate Modern, London (2000).

Syed’s films have also been the subject of several solo exhibitions at Talwar Gallery in New York and New Delhi. She was nominated for the Film London Jarman Award in 2015 and the Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists in 2020. In 2026 she is one of the four artists shortlisted for the 19th Film London Jarman Award. 

Gloria Vilches

Gloria Vilches (Spain, 1978) has coordinated Xcèntric, the CCCB's experimental film program, and other audiovisual projects at the center since 2009. She has also collaborated as a programmer with festivals and arts centres such as S8 Mostra de Cinema Periférico (A Coruña), Montehermoso (Vitoria-Gasteiz), Tabakalera (Donostia-San Sebastián) and Punto de Vista (Pamplona). She regularly gives classes on experimental cinema as a guest lecturer on master's and postgraduate courses.

Federico Windhausen

Federico Windhausen is a writer and curator based in Buenos Aires. He is the editor of A Companion to Experimental Cinema (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022). He has curated programs for the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, London Film Festival, Ambulante (Mexico), TIFF Free Screen (Toronto), L'Age d'or Festival (Brussels), and the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, among other venues.

Tena Bakšaj

Tena Bakšaj is a curator and cultural worker active on the independent art scene. She holds a degree in German and French Language and Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. Over the past ten years, she has been active as a curator, organiser and adviser with different artistic organisations and gallery events. Her professional interest is focused on non-institutional and interdisciplinary practices in contemporary art, with a particular focus on the local and regional context and the establishment of emerging artists. She took part in the realisation of many exhibitions and research projects, and has ongoingly developed curatorial and collaborative work models which challenge production conditions and representation methods in contemporary art beyond the dominant institutional frameworks. Since 2024 she is employed as a co-curator at Trotoar Gallery.

Photo: Sanja Bistričić Srića

Anja Banko

Anja Banko is a film critic, programmer, and pedagogue. She is currently working as a film curator at the Slovenian Cinematheque. She publishes in journals such as Ekran – magazine for film and television and occasionally in daily newspapers. She is one of the co-creators and mentors of Do zadnje besede, Ekran’s film criticism workshop, and also collaborates with Kinodvor’s youth programs Kinotrip and Kinobalon, preparing a wide range of educational film materials. She is also a member of the program team of the international festival of experimental audiovisual practices V-F-X Ljubljana and part of the selection team for programs of student films at the festival Animateka.

An• Fazekaš

An• Fazekaš is an essayist, critic, translator and editor in the field of literature, interdisciplinary art practices and pop culture, interested primarily in the meeting points and crossroads between genre and experimental modalities. She is a regular contributor to different independent media, works as the office manager and editor with the Oaza art organisation and is an editorial board member of the Kritika-hdp literature website.