The Film Team
Vahram Mkhitaryan – Director, Co-writer, Cinematographer, Producer
Vahram Mkhitaryan is a director, producer, screenwriter, photographer, and translator. In 2001, he graduated in Feature Film Directing from the Faculty of Culture at the Armenian State Pedagogical University. After completing his studies, he specialised primarily in the production of social advertising campaigns.
He first came to Poland in 2005 as a fellow of the Lane Kirkland Program of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. He is a graduate of both the feature film and documentary courses at the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing (Wajda School).
He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the LucjanBokińc Award for Best Film in the Young Cinema Competition at the Gdynia Film Festival, the Golden Apricot at the Yerevan International Film Festival, and the Grand Prix of the European Short Film Jury at the Premiers Plans Festival in Angers, among others.
A member of the Polish Filmmakers Association, he has served since 2022 on the Board of the Directors’ Section and is a co-founder of the Tricity Branch of the Association. In 2016, he obtained a doctoral degree in fine arts from the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He has been awarded scholarships from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the International Visegrad Fund (Bratislava), as well as a scholarship from the Ministry of Education and Science for outstanding young scholars. Since 2012, he has been affiliated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. He teaches “Elements of Film Production” and “Small Film Form Production” in the Photography and Intermedia programmes, and serves as Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia. In 2023, he co-founded and now heads the Interdepartmental Chair of Small Film and Video Forms at the same faculty.
Aleksandra Majdzińska – Co-writer, Producer
Aleksandra Majdzińska is a writer, translator, and screenwriter. She primarily creates short literary forms. She is the author of the books Mokrut and Other Stories (2019) and Shalom Bonjour Odessa (2022).
She is the recipient of the Marek Nowakowski Literary Award (2023) and the Bydgoszcz Literary Award “Łuczniczka’s Arrow” (2023). She won the award for Best Screenplay at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Armenia and was nominated for the Jan Machulski Award in the category of Best Screenplay.
She translates contemporary Armenian prose. Her short stories have also appeared in collective publications, and she has published in CzasLiteratury and TygodnikPowszechny. She is a member of the Polish Writers’ Association and the Polish Filmmakers Association, and since 2024 has served on the Chapter of the Marek Nowakowski Literary Award. Her books have been translated into German, Spanish, Hebrew, and Swedish.
Arsen Babajanyan – Composer
ArsenBabajanyan graduated from the Yerevan State Conservatory and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. In 2012, he was a scholarship holder of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage’s Gaude Poloniaprogramme.
He is the recipient of numerous international music awards, including First Prize at the 8th PRE-ART Competition in Zurich and Third Prize at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition in Berlin. He also received the Award for Best Music for the documentary film The Shepherd’s Song (directed by Vahram Mkhitaryan) at the Żubroffka International Short Film Festival in Białystok.
Katarzyna Figat – Sound Director
Katarzyna Figat is a sound director and film scholar. She lectures at the Faculty of Sound Engineering at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and at the Łódź Film School.
She works professionally as a sound recordist, music supervisor, and musical consultant on feature films, documentaries, and television series.
A graduate of the Faculty of Sound Engineering at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, she received her Master of Arts degree with distinction and, in 2019, obtained a doctoral degree in musical arts, also with distinction. At the same time, she completed Cultural Studies with a specialisation in Film Studies at the University of Łódź. She has been responsible for sound design, music supervision, and musical consultation in films by leading Polish directors, including works by Janusz Majewski (Excentrycy, czyli po słonecznejstronieulicy, Ostatni klezmer, Czarnymercedes), Krzysztof Zanussi (Eter), JuliuszMachulski (Volta, Małyzgon), Robert Gliński (Czuwaj, Zieja), Wojciech Adamczyk (Dziewczyny ze Lwowa and numerous theatre productions), RyszardBrylski (ŚmierćZygielbojma), Marek Brodzki (Historia w ożywionychobrazach series), MichałBukojemski (DziennikSierakowiaka), and JanuszJózefowicz (sound production for the musicals Metro and Romeo i Julia).
Sławomir Witek – Editor
Born in 1974 in Gdynia, SławomirWitek is a graduate of the University of Gdańsk. In 2012, he completed his studies in directing and cinematography at the Gdynia Film School.
He works as a cinematographer and editor of feature and documentary films. The films he has worked on have been screened at numerous major international and Polish festivals, including Cannes, Camerimage, New Horizons, the Gdynia Film Festival, Hot Docs Toronto, Tampere, and many others. They have also received numerous awards. He is a member of the Polish Filmmakers Association. Since 2023, he has been affiliated with the Intermedia programme at the Faculty of Sculpture and Intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. He also teaches at the Faculty of Graphic Arts and is a member of the Interdepartmental Chair of Small Film and Video Forms at the same faculty.