Born in New York in 1965, Singer studied cinema first at the New York’s School of Visual Arts and later at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. His debut movie, Public Access (93), showed him to be a director with an unusual gift for suspense, something that would be confirmed with The Usual Suspects (95), a film that made him famous among audiences and critics and that would be one of the high points of the contemporary thriller. He subsequently adapted Stephen King in Apt Pupil (98, Sitges’ closing film that same year) and he would change fantasy with X-Men (00) and X-Men 2 (03), screen versions of Marvel comics that can largely be considered the models for many of the superhero movies that have come out in recent years. The filmmaker would continue investigating the subject with Superman Returns (06) to later surprise us with the historical thriller Valkiria (08). He’s executive producer for series like House (04-) and Sexymoney (07-09) and is currently finishing up an adventure movie, Jack the Giant Killer and preparing a big screen version of the series Battlestar Galactica.

Born in Lérida (Catalonia) 3 November 1968, Jaume Balagueró Bernat graduated from the University of Barcelona with a degree in Communication Sciences and studied cinema at the Centre d'Estudis Cinematogràfics de Catalunya (CECC). He worked as a journalist and radio host (“La espuma de los días”, on Radio Hospitalet, the fanzine Zineshock) before tackling his first work in cinema, the short film Alicia (94), which picked up the Award for Best Short Film at the Sitges Festival that year. In 1999 he directed his first feature-length film, The Nameless, an adaptation of the Ramsey Campbell novel that won him the Golden Meliès Award for Best European Fantastic Film that year. As of this moment, in collaboration with the production / distribution company Filmax, his career took on an international dimension thanks to titles like Darkness (02), Fragile (05), [·Rec] (07) and [·Rec] 2 (09) –both co-written and co-directed with Paco Plaza– and the excellent TV film To Let (06).

Although his popularity in cinema is thanks to his collaborations with James Cameron –The Terminator (84), Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (89)–, Michael Connell Biehn, born 31 July, 1956 in Anniston, Alabama, he has developed a solid career as a character actor for 23 years. Maybe that’s why Biehn is remembered for his repertoire of tough guys, men of action with no fear of risk, linked to violent, disturbing stories. His filmography is full of outstanding titles like Rampage (William Friedkin, 87), Navy Seals (Lewis Teague, 90), Tombstone (George Pan Cosmatos, 93), Jade (William Friedkin, 95), The Rock (Michael Bay, 96), Cherry Falls (Geoffrey Wright, 00), Grindhouse (07), in the sketch Planet Terror, by Robert Rodríguez, and Puncture (Adam & Mark Kassen, 11). He has also directed the films The Blood Bond (10), along with Bey Logan, and The Victim (11).

Also known by the names of Xiaodong Cheng and Tony Ching, Ching Siu-tung was born in Hong Kong in 1953, and trained to be an acrobat in the Opera of Peking, where he also studied Wushu (Kung fu). He began his career in cinema as an actor and martial arts instructor in the early seventies at the Golden Harvest production company, and following a long career as an action movie choreographer, he debuted as a director in 1983 with Xian si jue [Duel to the Death], an innovative wuxia or swordsmen film. But his international recognition would arrive along with filmmaker and producer Tsui Hark, with A Chinese Ghost Story (87). With more than twenty feature-length and TV films behind him, Ching Siu-tung has been able to combine his career as a filmmaker –we would highlight Swordman I, II y III (90, 92 and 93)– and his work as an action sequence creator in movies like Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002).

Michael Ironside, whose real name is Frederick Reginald Ironside, was born in Toronto, Canada, on February 12^th, 1950. Known mainly for his roles as a villain or tough guy, he is also a producer, director and screenwriter, as seen in The Arrangement (99) or Allan A. Goldstein’s film Chaindance (91). His first big film appearance in David Cronenberg’s Scanners (81), although his face, with its rough, aggressive features, became popular thanks to TV, in V: The Series (1984–1985). Likewise, he’s also had outstanding appearances in movies like Top Gun (86), by Tony Scott, Extreme Prejudice (1987), by Walter Hill, Total Recall (90) and Starship Troopers (1997), both by Paul Verhoeven, The Perfect Storm (00), by Wolfgang Petersen, The Machinist (2004), by Brad Anderson, and X-Men: First Class (11), by Matthew Vaughn, as well as in the TV series ER, SeaQuest 2032, Stargate SG-1 and Desperate Housewives.

Juan José Bigas Luna, known artistically as Bigas Luna, was born in Barcelona, March 10^th, 1946. With a background in interior and industrial design, he found his way into the film world in the mid 70’s, debuting in 1976 with Tatuaje, a fibrous adaptation of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s novel. But it was in 1978 that he rose to fame with Bilbao, a turbulent story of love and possession, selected for the Cannes Festival. His cinema, loaded with high levels of eroticism, has flirted with different genres (comedy, historical drama, detective stories), with outstanding titles like Caniche (83), Anguish (87), Jamón, jamón (92), Bámbola (96) Volavérunt (99) and Yo soy la Juani (06). He was the discoverer of great stars like Ariadna Gil, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz or Jordi Mollà.

Vice-Dean of the Facultat de Comunicació and director of Audiovisual Studies at UPF.

Mar Targarona Borras (Barcelona, 1953) started the Fundació Taller de Guionistes (Screenwriter’s Workshop Foundation) seventeen years ago, a pioneering school in Spain exclusively dedicated to the screenplay writing discipline. Over a thousand students have passed through their classrooms, learning the trade of writing with images. This year, the Taller de Guionistes has taken a further step forward, launching a new editorial line.

Targarona studied Dramatic Arts at the Institut del Teatre (Theatre Institute), an education that she expanded on at the National Theater School of Strasburg and the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in Los Angeles. She then worked as a playwright as a member of the Dagoll Dagom theater company. In 1985 she began to work in the advertising field. Ten years later she shot her first feature-length film, "Muere mi vida". Since then she has produced TV movies, series and movies, among which a few of the most outstanding are "The Orphanage", "Julia’s Eyes", both praised by critics and at box offices alike, and "XP3D", that will be premiering soon.

Caroline Williams was born on March 27^th, 1957 in Austin (Texas). She studied at the University of Texas, and at the same time began working as an actress doing small roles in different movies. Caroline achieved popularity when she played the courageous disc jockey Vanita "Stretch" Brock in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (86), by Tobe Hooper. Williams also had memorable roles in two other sequels, Stepfather II (89), by Jeff Burr, and Leprechaun 3 (94), by Brian Trenchard-Smith. However, Caroline’s acting skills have been largely confined to television where she has participated in series like Hunter, LA Law, Murder, She Wrote, ER, NYPD Blue, Nip / Tuck or Gray’s Anatomy. She is married to director / producer Andrew Lipschultz and is the mother of two children.

In 1951 he studied Philosophy and Arts in Madrid, wrote several plays and starred in, among others, The Time of Your Life by Saroyan, Medea by Euripides and The Tempest by Shakespeare. Influenced by the life and work of the impressionists, he engaged in painting with an obsessive enthusiasm. He gave up his studies to go to Paris where he held temporary jobs. In 1958, he arrived in Barcelona with his wife and practiced journalism with the pseudonym of Martin Girard. Despite his growing success, he left journalism to publish his first books, breaking away from the naturalism that was in vogue. Some of his stories were adapted for cinema and, in 1966, he began his film work. As of this moment, he would alternate books with movies nonstop. Some outstanding pieces from his filmography are: Ditirambo, Rowing With the Wind and El Detective y la Muerte.

Pedro Olea, born in Bilbao on July 30^th, 1938, cut short his Economy studies to get a degree as a filmmaker at the Official Cinematography School of Madrid. He began working for the Spanish national television TVE, where he made medium-length films, both documentaries and fiction. He debuted in cinema with the feature-length movie Dias de viejo color (67), picking up the Film Writer’s Circle Award for “Best New director” and grabbing another award at the Tangier Film Festival. But it was with El bosque del lobo (70) that he attained success among critics and numerous international awards. After this, he put together a solid film career including outstanding titles like La casa sin fronteras (72), No es bueno que el hombre esté solo (73), Tormento (74), Pim, pam, pum…, ¡fuego! (75), Un hombre llamado Flor de Otoño (78), Akelarre (83), Morirás en Chafarinas (94) and Más allá del jardín (96). He currently just finished shooting La conspiración (11) for TVE, a historical thriller on General Mola.

Born in Busto Arsizio (Italia) on 7 September, 1947. Interested in cinema since he was a teenager, he drew Dario Argento’s attention with his science fiction film Il tunnel sotto il mondo (69), later being hired by him as assistant director and screenwriter –4 mosche di velluto grigio (71), Due occhi diabolici (90)–. Thanks to the experience he chalked up, he directed his first “professional” film, L'assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora (75), the success of which allowed him to direct movies with larges budgets, like the famous Starcrash (79), Contamination (80) and, especially, his diptych Ercole (83) and Le avventure dell'incredibile Ercole (85), starring American bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno. Revered as the master of Italian exploitation, Cozzi (also known on the international market as Lewis Coates) has achieved enormous popularity for his critical popularization of genre cinema in his country, either through numerous books –“ Il cinema di fantascienza sul sentiero dei mostri atomici”, “La storia di Urania e della fantascienza in Italia”– or documentaries like Dario Argento: Master of Horror (91) Il Mondo di Dario Argento: The Museum of Horrors (97).