European Film College (EFC)

Trained at the National University of Theatre and Film, Bucharest.

I have taught Cinematography at the European Film College since 1994, after a
Cinematographer career with the Romanian Motion Picture Studios. After attaining the BA in Cinematography I worked for a number of studio productions ranging from commercials and corporate movies to documentaries and features until my debut as Director of Photography in 1989, while working simultaneously as a freelance journalist.

I am a member of the Dansk Filmfotograf Forbund (Danish Association of
Cinematographers) and a former Board member of the Danish Filmmakers Union, FAF.

Trained as a cinematographer at the NYU.

Suzanne Popp has worked as a cinematographer in both New York and Denmark. She will be teaching basic courses in lighting for film.

Whereas light for film is often seen as a very technical field, Suzanne Popp has a slightly different approach to it. In her classes the students are encouraged to study and describe light and to develop a very philosophical and emotional approach to the element.

Studied filmmaking at Ithaca College in New York.

I grew up near Boston, in an area noted for its writers (Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott, Hawthorne) and an appreciation of literature was instilled in me early on. I studied English at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and filmmaking at Ithaca College in upstate New York. After graduating I spent a year in the former Danish island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, then returned north to write a humour column for a Boston newspaper. In the early 1990s I moved to Los Angeles, where I wrote over 15 screenplays and worked in development for a variety of film and television production companies, including Centropolis (Independence Day, The Patriot) and Carsey-Werner (Cosby Show, Roseanne, etc). I also worked for a production company that specialized in Australian authors, helping them adapt their work for the screen. In 2000 I and my Danish wife moved to Denmark and since then I have taught scriptwriting at the European Film College.

Originally with a background in music and composition, Asger graduated with a BA in Sound Design from Sonic College in 2014. Since then he has worked and lived in both Berlin, Los Angeles and Copenhagen – on projects of all kinds and sizes. From Hollywood action films to Belgian news jingles and everything in between.

Aside from teaching at European Film College, Asger remains active in the industry by running a small sound design company and also as an occasional director with a handful of short films to his name.

Halfdan has directed and produced dozens of documentaries from all over the world.

He has been awarded prizes for his film work, in particular in the subjects of Climate Change and Pilgrimage. Until 2020 his playground was at DR -The Danish Broadcast Corporation.

Zareh was born in Fargo, North Dakota into a family of musicians and grew up in Tehran, London, Frankfurt, Paris and New York. At age 4 he switched plans from becoming an astronaut to making movies after watching the horror classic The Brides of Dracula on Iranian TV. Graduating from NYU film school, he began his directing career amidst the ruins of the USSR, drawn to stories set in the aftermath of genocide and dictatorship. Over the years he’s pursued his obsessions with esotericism, ancient life-ways and lost histories through acclaimed short and long-form films.

Zareh’s work screens regularly at festivals and has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix at the 2019 Kinoskop Analog Film Festival in Belgrade, Best Experimental Film at the 2021 ‘Caligari’ Festival Internacional de Cine de Terror in Valencia, Best Visionary Short at the 2021 Psychedelic Film & Music Festival in New York City, and Best Picture at the 2021 Hermetic International Film Festival in Venice.

Before coming to EFC, Zareh lived in Brooklyn, Albuquerque, and Yerevan, where he started a family and embraced his calling as a teacher, sharing his lifelong passions for cinema and learning at the American University of Armenia.

Lars has produced many award winning films and programs, including “SOLITAIRE”, a feature length Christmas film nominated for four Genie (Canadian Screen Awards), FUGITIVE’S RUN, KNUCKLEBALL, ALIVE, and THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WILD WEST. Films he has produced have been screened at festivals around the world, and have won dozens of awards worldwide. He has also worked on many other feature films as Line Producer and or Production Manageran.

Lars is an acclaimed documentary producer and director. His series SNOW SAFARI has been seen in over 35 countries around the world, and his 4 part documentary series THE INDUSTRY, profiling the music industry, was glowingly reviewed across Canada. Short films he has produced and distributed have been broadcast in prime time on BBC, SVT (Sweden), PBS, Slovak Broadcasting, and on multiple Canadian broadcasters. He has also produced music videos and specials, and was at one time the Head of Production for CMT Canada. Previously, Lars was a member of the Board of Directors for both the Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association (now the Alberta Media Producers Association), and for the Banff Television Festival in Canada.

Nicole Palo is a Belgian-American director and screenwriter, born in the US. After graduating from the University of Brussels with majors in Journalism and Scriptwriting, she studied in Denmark at EFC. In 2005, she directed the short film Anna ne sait pas, shot on Super-16mm.

In 2008, she won the micro-budget feature film contest organised by Cinéastes Associés, supported by ARTE and the Belgian French community. She directed Get Born from the script she wrote on the theme ‘Being 20’. The film, broadcast on ARTE in April 2009, and was released on DVD under the label Actes Belges.

She wrote and directed the feature film comedy Emma Peeters, produced by Take Five (Belgium) and Possibles Média (Canada). It was the closing film at the Giornate Degli Autori 2018 (Venice Festival). She won the Best Director award at the 2019 Monte-Carlo Comedy Film Festival with a jury presided by Emir Kusturica. She also works as an expert for the MEDIA Programme of the European Union (Creative Europe), as consultant and script doctor for several production companies and as teacher in feature film scriptwriting and acting.

Søren graduated from the National Filmschool in Beaconsfield, London in 1996. Moving back to Denmark with his family, after nearly 10 years in UK, he started working in the danish film industry as well as abroad.

His work as an editor covers the entire range from commercials to feature films, including TV-series and feature-length documentaries. Aside from his job as a teacher at EFC, he is also studying to become a psychotherapist.

”Sometimes you create from your instinct, not being able to put reasons or precise words behind your choices…until afterwards – working in an editing room is like that”