KRISZTINA DANKA, Executive
Director, is a
religious and literary studies scholar, an activist, cultural diplomat and
filmmaker. She possesses a Ph.D. in Comparative
Literary Studies and Indian Aesthetics from the University of Budapest, and a
Certificate in Screenwriting from New York University. As a college
lecturer she has been teaching Indian literature and media communications since
1998. She
was formally initiated into her spiritual life by her master, H. H. Sivarama
Swami, in 1991.
She
is the writer-producer of 25 documentaries, author of 3 books, and dozens of
articles. Her
documentaries related to environmental, humanitarian, human rights, religious
and minority issues, interfaith
dialogue, Indian spirituality
and culture, have been
broadcast on six international television channels. (The complete list of her films is available in the Filmography section.)
As an activist and media spokesperson, she
has led several international campaigns against religious and minority
discrimination in Europe, Budapest, Brussels, London and New Delhi. She has participated
in the Hungarian Prime Minister's official delegation to the Republic of India.
She has helped to run humanitarian campaigns on behalf of the Hungarian
Government and the Food For Life Global Foundation, including a charity program
feeding 20,000 tsunami victims daily in Sri Lanka, in early 2005. As
a cultural diplomat she has organized several conferences, film festivals,
concerts, exhibitions and other inter-cultural and educational events in Europe,
New York and Washington, DC.
* * *
MARK DeGASPERI, Associate Director, has been a manager, writer, script doctor, lecturer and professional story analyst in New York for twelve years. He has read and scouted screenplays, stage plays and books for film and TV adaptation, most recently for Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Robert DeNiro`s Tribeca Productions and Miramax Films. Previously, he has covered material for Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, the William Morris Agency, Jonathan Demme`s Clinica Estetico, Stanley Jaffe`s Jaffilms, Imagine Films and Polygram Films.
He teaches Advanced Screenwriting (Screenwriting III) at New York University/SCPS, and a Marketing Your Screenplay seminar at NYU. He has received an NYU/SCPS Award for Service.
He was also heavily involved in the non-profit theatre world and contributed to the Off-Off and Off-Broadway theatre community in New York.
