PAULO ANTONIO PARANAGUA

A Brazilian writer, critic and essayist, who was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1948. A film historian who specialises in Latin America, he is the author of books that include "Le Cinéma Brésilien, Le Cinéma Cubain & Le Cinéma Mexicain", published by the Pompidou Centre following the retrospective that he himself organised. His latest book is the doctoral thesis that he presented at the Sorbonne in the year 2000 on the subject "Cinema in Latin America: The shattered mirror, historiography and comparative studies". A journalist at Radio France Internationale since he settled in France in 1982, he has collaborated with the television channel Cine-Classics since 1998. A regular collaborator with the magazine "Positif", he was in charge of the "Latin-American Film Festival" in Toulouse and since 1996 has organised the retrospectives at the Biarritz Film Festival.

CARMELO ROMERO

Born in La Rioja (Spain) in 1938. He graduated in Law at Saragossa University and since 1964 he has been a member of the Senior Body of National Civil Administrators. In 1975 he joined the General Department of Cinematography which would later become the ICAA, (the Institute of Cinematography and Audio-visual Arts). From 1978 until his voluntary retirement in the year 2000 he was General Deputy Director, first of Businesses & Activities and later of International Relations and Promotion, and from this post he publicised Spanish films at various international forums. He was in charge of the Valladolid Film Week in 1974, 1975 and 1978. In 1999 he promoted the first market that specialised in Spanish cinema - the "Lanzarote Screenings" and in 2001 he has set up and co-ordinated two new markets as part of the Málaga Film Festival: "Market Screenings" and "Mercadoc". Recently he was named a member of the FIAPF International Committee of Experts on Festivals and he has been responsible for the "Latin American Cinema for the Next Millennium Festival". In 1998 he received the Golden Camera Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

ESTHER SAINT-DIZIER

A French specialist in Latin America, born in Castres (France) her parents were refugees of Spanish Civil War. She studied Latin-American literature and history at Toulouse-le Mirail University. Secretary of the France-Latin America Midi Pyrénées Regional Committee (NGO) from 1983 to 1999, she has taken part in numerous solidarity projects with various Latin American countries. A founder member of the "Latin-American Cinema Festival" in Toulouse, since 1989 she has been president of the association that organises the festival. She forms part of the editorial committee of the annual review "Cinémas d'Amérique Latine" and is in charge of programming the "Festival in Toulouse".