Our Team
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Florian Zapra
Managing Director
Born in Romania in 1977 I am an avid filmmaker and founder of Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival.I have produced four short films (Clowns, Through His Eyes, Oz, Animals) and participate in numerous festivals, also a couple of award-wining music videos. One of his films, “Clowns” won Best Comedy Award at Ballinamore Film Festival in 2011. I have previously Managing Director of Short Day Film Festival and produced the Louise Kelleen video for “Easy Talk”, which won Best Music Video 2013 award at Underground Film Festival. Trained at the Gaiety School of Acting and has several screen experiences ranging from short films and advertisements to feature films including Asterix and Obelix, alongside famous actor Gerard Depardieu.
Wale AtoYegbe
Short Films Selection Manager
Wale Atoyegbe is an independent filmmaker based in Plymouth, UK. He studied film in Ireland and the UK, where obtained a HND and BA in Film.
Wale has been part of the festival, since it’s creation, mainly watching and selecting the short films featured in the festival.
Wale believes that storytelling is paramount in the short film featured in the festival. As long as the films show and tell us the story correctly. The budget and production value has no influence being selected, story is the key.
Arber Sula
Operations Manager
Arber is the Ops Manager and Co-founder of Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival /DISFMF. After being a member of DYT and Calypso’s Tower Of Babel, Arber went to Coláiste Dhúlaigh College of Further Education and then Wolverhampton University where he got his Honors Bachelor Degree Video and Film Production. While there, he worked on a number of shorts including A Soldier’s Misfortune and was nominated across a number of festivals and a Special Nomination in Athens Film Festival. On the return to Dublin, Arber worked on projects such as The Rattle of Benghazi by Paco Torres as Assistant Production Manager (APM), Bad Man by Stefanos Melikidis as Producer and PM, Normal by Stephen Brady as a PM, Product Of A Nation by Jonathan Caffery Project Coordinator, Mute by Philip Ronayne as PM, Running to Stand Still by Fergus Kavanagh as Project Coordinator. Yes, Arber is a busy man but he would not have it any other way. DISFMF is one of the best projects Arber has been involved in. Being part of one of the largest global communities of filmmakers is rewarding and exciting. Meeting talented artists and watching their work is a privilege. I feel honored to share this experience with them.
Melanie Meisch
Marketing Manager
Melanie was born in Germany and raised in Greece. She had from a young age a passion for arts and music and attended a music high school. She has a Masters in Applied Linguistics and studied as well translation and interpreting. After working for one of the biggest social media networks in Dublin she started using her knowledge in order to help festivals get the most out of their advertisements. She was the social media manager for the Dublin Web Fest and joined our festival as the Head of Marketing.
Bart Chowanski
IT & Visual Technician
Bart was born in Turek, Poland and has always been interested in the technical side of film production. At the age of 17, he travelled to Ireland alone and began studying his future profession. He developed an unrivalled talent for editing while studying Film Production in Colaishte Dhulaigh and went to earn his BA Degree in Film Production in Wolverhampton, UK. He is working at the moment for Agtel, he is lead video editor and colourist bringing a passion for film and music to all his work. Never one to turn down a challenge, Bart has worked trough the night to have edited videos live online for clients within hours of an event.
During those years he acquired his own personal edit style, while gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the various computer software that goes with it. Even on the front line of technology, Bart has learned to adapt to new software and programmes quickly and efficiently which ensures that every project he works on are of the highest quality using state of the art equipment.