Filmmaker, producer, philanthropist and passionate activist, Abigail Disney devotes her life to social justice, peacebuilding and the women empowerment. Her first film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, was dedicated to the Liberian Nobel Prize Leymah Gbowe. In 2009, she created Fork Films, and produced the series Women, War and Peace, Citizen Koch, which attacked the Tea Party, The Invisible War, which denounced sexual abuse in the military, as well as Cameraperson, Oscar winner for best documentary. In 2015, she directed The Armor of Light, denouncing the links between the pro-gun lobby and evangelical Christians. She has publicly denounced the tax cuts of which she will benefit from in the US, as well as the misogyny and racism of her great-uncle, Walt Disney. With other commited women, she recently created Killer Contents.

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy is one of the most influential filmmakers from Central Asia. Two-time winners of the Academy Award for Best Short Documentary, her films tackle some of her country’s most burning issues, such as honor crimes (Saving Face, 2012 Oscar and A Girl In The River, 2016 Oscar), trangender people (Transgenders : Pakistan’s Open Secret), taliban child soldiers (Children of the Taliban), and sharia law (Song of Lahore). In 2012, Time Magazine included her in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2017, she was the first artist invited to chair over the World Economic Forum in Davos. The same year, she received the prestigious Knight International Journalism Award in Washington, for her talent, courage and the profound impact her films have had in Pakistan.

Marie-Pierre Gracedieu has led, at only 40, an already impressive career, alongside the biggest international authors. She got her start at Stock, as head of La Cosmopolite, until then dedicated to legends such as Stefan Zweig and Virginia Woolf. On arrival, she opens the collection up to contemporary authors, amongst which Sofi Oksanen and her thriller Purge. In 2012, Antoine Gallimard appoints her as head of the anglo-saxon section. Curious, sharp, tireless and passionate, she has since edited Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Taiye Selasi, Hisham Mater, Jessie Burton, Jonathan Coe, Arundathi Roy and Omar Robert Hamilton’s first novel The City Always Wins, published in French this month in collaboration with the FIFDH.

Anglo-Egyptian, Omar Robert Hamilton grew up in London. In 2011, as Egypt rose up against the Mubarak regime, he moved to Cairo and cofounded the Mosireen collective. They freely posted photos, videos, and documented demonstrations, the daily struggles and police abuse. This sense of urgency, this courage, this intensity and their shattered hopes are the plot of his first novel, The City Always Wins, which, after gaining acclaim in the Anglo Saxon world, is published by Gallimard, in partnership with the FIFDH. Omar Robert Hamilton has also published numerous articles in The Guardian and The London Review of Books, and founded the Ramallah Literature Festival.

Christian Lutz’s images are exhibited around the world. In 2007, he gained recognition for his work Protokoll, a personal dive behind the scenes of Swiss politics. In 2011, the Grand Prix Images Vevey selected an exhibition on the Nigerian oil fields : Tropical Gift was awarded the Swiss Press Photo. A year later, In Jesus’s Name earned him the wrath of the ICF Evangelical Church in Zurich. The book was withdrawn from sales but inspired Lutz to create a striking exhibition at the Musée de l’Elysée. Last summer, Insert Coins, which shows the backrooms of Las Vegas, was presented in Arles. For the past four years, he has been traveling across Europe and Switzerland to document the hotbeds of populism and the rise of the far right.

Daughter of a malien father and a senegalese mother, Aïssa Maïga grew up in Paris where she became enthralled with movies at a young age. She collaborated with Alain Tanner, who cast her as Lila in Jonas et Lila, à demain, Michael Haneke, Cedric Klapsisch Claude Berri, Michel Gondry, as well as Lucien Jean Baptiste (Even Has Your Eyes). Her part in Abderrahmane Sissako’s Bamako earned her a nomination in the 2007 Cesars (French version of Oscars) for Best New Female Talent, becoming the first actress of African descent to be nominated. She is due to appear alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor in The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, Andy Okoroafor’s 20 Pound Dream and South African Mickey Dube’s Comatose. Aïssa also sponsors the AMREF, Africa’s first public health NGO and has recently became the online brand ambassador for Estée Lauder.

Khalo Matabane is a prolific artist and one of the finest observers of social changes in his country, South Africa. In 2007, Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon, which addresses the issue of migration, was selected in Berlin. Matabane’s series When We Were Black has earned him numerous awards, including Best TV Drama and Best Director at the South African Awards. His superb State of Violence, an ode to the revolutionary past of his country, met an international success. Nelson Mandela : The Myth & Me won the Jury Prize at IDFA in Amsterdam. He presented at the last edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, the captivating The Number, based on gangs in South African prisons.

Teresa Villaverde is one of the leading figures of the 1990s generation of Portuguese cinema. She continues to enjoy great critical acclaim, by producing breathtaking films, and impeccable cinematography with a deep social fiber. In 1989, her first film Idade Maior was showored with awards. Three years later, Maria de Medeiros was awarded Best Actress in Venice thanks to Tres Irmaos. Acclaimed at Cannes in 1998, Os Mutantes was then distributed worldwide. Her latest film, Colo, was presented at the Berlinale. In it she presents a tender and tragic examination of the economic crisis in Portugal and its consequences for the middle class. Villaverde also founded the production company Alce Filmes.

Philippe Cottier is a Swiss lawyer. Since 1995, he has served as board member of the Helene and Victor Barbour Foundation and Secretary of the Board of the Foundation since 2005, representing it in various cultural activities. He has always been particularly interested in cinema and his participation in the Grand Price for Fiction, offered by the Hélène and Victor Barbour for the 2018 edition of the FIFDH is a continuation of his work.