BEAST Selection Committee 2024
Ana Martins (Portugal) is currently working as a researcher at i2ADS, with a fellowship granted by FCT (2022.12105.BD). Is a PhD candidate at FBAUP, already holding a MA in Art Studies from the same institution. With a BA in Cinema from ESTC-IPL and in Heritage Management by ESE-IPP. Also collaborated as a researcher at CHIC Project, supporting the incorporation of artist films into the Portuguese National Cinema Plan and the creation of content for the Online Catalog of Films and Videos by Portuguese Artists from FBAUP. Currently developing her research project: Cinematic Art: Installation and Moving Images in Portugal (1990-2010).
Andrei Alecsandru (Romania) is a multidisciplinary visual artist with an education in Graphics, operating in the fields of printmaking, experimental graphics and paper production, video-art, sound and alternative photographic processes, among others. Currently, he is a lecturer in Graphic Arts, part-time curator and graphic designer. He is part of various cultural projects teams, ranging from visual arts, performance and film.
Bianca Stanea (Romania) is a cultural manager and artist working at OKNA – Espaço Cultural and for BEAST – International Film Festival. She shares here time between Porto, Berlin and Bucharest working mainly with event production. Among her biggest interests are documentary film and visual arts as ways of capturing social issues.
Cátia Rodrigues (Portugal). Film programmer and critic. She is a doctoral student in Artistic Studies at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of NOVA University Lisbon. In 2020, she graduated in Philosophy from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto and, in 2024, as an IFILNOVA scholarship holder, she obtained a Master’s degree in Aesthetics and Artistic Studies at FCSH, where she defended the thesis “The gesture of showing in Abbas Kiarostami. An analysis based on Wittgenstein and Agamben”. She is a film programmer at Curtas Vila do Conde IFF and BEAST IFF, and since 2021, she has also curated Mostra de Primeiras Curtas at Livraria Térmita in Porto. She is a member of the editorial board of La Furia Umana journal and a film critic for À Pala de Walsh. She was editor of CINEblog IFILNOVA.
Ema Lavrador (Portugal) is an artist and researcher based in Porto. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sound and Image and a master’s degree specializing in Computer Animation from the School of Arts of Universidade Católica Portuguesa. In both her research and artistic practice she explores different media, working mainly with photography, live-action and animation cinema.
Leander Meresaar (Estonia) is an Animator and film maker.
Rita Marinho (Portugal) is a curator and producer of cultural events. She has a degree in Art History from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto and a master’s degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto in Art Studies – Museological and Curatorial Studies. In 2018/2019 she did an internship at the FBAUP Museum where she curated and assembled exhibitions, as well as researched the Museum’s own collection, focussing on its female artists. Her areas of study focus mainly on the relationship between social minorities (specifically women and members of the LGBTQ+ community) and the fields of artistic production, art history and exhibition curation.
Xu Moru (China/Portugal), a lover of walking and swimming who has a special interest in boredom. Her works emerge in the interdisciplinary space of installation, performance, video, photography, conceptual art, and social practice. She has created a diverse body of artwork that explores urbanity through walking games. Currently the director of the artistic residency De Liceiras 18 (@deliceiras_18) in Porto, Portugal.
