Since her 2014 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 12 Years a Slave (director: Steve McQueen), the Kenyan-Mexican actor, director, producer and New York Times bestselling author Lupita Nyong'o has become one of the most high-profile international actors, inspiring audiences and film critics alike. The daughter of Kenyan parents was born in Mexico City and grew up in Kenya. Lupita Nyong'o then studied Film and Theatre Studies at Hampshire College (USA). After further studies at the Yale School of Drama, she began her acting career and celebrated her breakthrough with 12 Years a Slave. For which, in addition to the Oscar, she received the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Critics' Choice Award, the Independent Spirit Award and the NAACP Image Award. Her screen successes include the Marvel film Black Panther, the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Us, Little Monsters, Queen of Katwe, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the horror film The 355. She will soon be taking on a role in the horror franchise spin-off series A Quiet Place: Day One. In addition to her film career, Lupita Nyong'o is also active on the Broadway stage and wrote the children's book “Sulwe” in 2020, which was on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Lupita Nyong'o is currently preparing a podcast focussing on non-fictional storytelling from the African diaspora and she is developing a series based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Americanah”. She was recently executive producer of the Sudanese film Goodbye Julia (directorial debut of Mohamed Kordofani). Goodbye Julia was selected by the Sudanese National Committee operating in exile to compete for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

Brady Corbet is an American director and actor known for his varied roles in the film industry. His acting credits include roles in Thirteen (2003), Mysterious Skin (2004), and Funny Games (2007). Transitioning to directing, Corbet debuted with the short film Protect You + Me (2008), which was presented at the Sundance Film Festival and received an Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking. His first feature-length directorial work The Childhood of a Leader (2015) gained attention at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival in the Orrizzonti section, winning awards for Best Debut film and Best Director. In 2018, he directed Vox Lux, a film that was nominated for a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Corbet is currently working on his third feature film, The Brutalist, which is in post-production.

Ann Hui grew up in Hong Kong, where she studied literature before attending the London Film School. She won the Golden Horse Award for her first feature film, The Secret (1979). The Story of Woo Viet (1981) and Boat People (1982) both premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The Romance of Book and Sword screened in the Berlinale Forum in 1988, followed later by invitations to the Competition for Summer Snow (1995) - awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress - and Ordinary Heroes (1999). My American Grandson (1990), Stunt Woman (1996), Eighteen Springs (1997), July Rhapsody (2002) and Goddess of Mercy (2003) also screened at the Berlinale. In 2011, A Simple Life celebrated its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Ann Hui has been honoured six times at the Hong Kong Film Awards and three times at the Golden Horse Awards for Best Director. She has also received the Berlinale Camera (1997), several honorary doctorates and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Christian Petzold is one of the most distinguished directors of contemporary German cinema. After studying directing at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, his TV work was followed by his cinema debut The State I am In (2000), which was invited to the Venice Film Festival and won the German Film Award. After Wolfsburg screened in the Panorama section of the Berlinale in 2003, he was selected for the Competition for the first time in 2005 with Ghosts. Five more Competition entries followed. In 2012, he was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director for Barbara, and in 2023, Afire received the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. Nina Hoss also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Yella (2007) and Paula Beer for Undine (2020). Other awards that Petzold has received in the course of his career include the Bavarian Film Award, the Grimme Preis, the German Film Critics Award and the FIPRESCI Prize for Phoenix (2014) at the San Sebastián Film Festival.

The Spanish director Albert Serra initially studied literature in Barcelona. In 2006, his debut film Honour of the Knights premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where Birdsong (2008) was also shown in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. Story of My Death (2013) was honoured with the Golden Leopard in Locarno. After The Death of Louis XIV was shown Out of Competition in Cannes in 2016 and Liberté in Un Certain Regard in 2019, Pacifiction was invited to compete in Cannes in 2022. The film was awarded two Césars, three Prix Lumières and three Premis Gaudí, among others. In 2012, Serra's 101-hour work Els tres porquets was shown at dOCUMENTA (13) and three years later his project Singularity at the Venice Biennale. Retrospectives of his work have been held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Modern in London and the Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin, among others.