Team
Kristina Nikolova
Director, Producer
Born in Bulgaria, Kristina grew up in a family of cinematographers. She left the country at 18 to study economics at the University of Chicago but ended up getting a BA in Film Theory instead. Kristina shot her first feature film (on film) at age 20 and worked for several years as a cinematographer on B movies in LA before going to NYU's Tisch Graduate Film program where she directed five and shot 14 award-winning shorts (Sundance, Camerimage, Full Frame Doc FF). Kristina’s directorial feature debut, Faith, Love and Whiskey, premiered at Slamdance 2012, and was nominated for Best Debut Feature by the Bulgarian Film Academy. She shot and produced her husband and collaborator Paul's first feature Touched with Fire (starring Katie Holmes and Luke Kirby, produced by Spike Lee), which premiered at SXSW 2015 and was a New York Times Critics’ Pick. Kristina is currently finishing her feature documentary In Hell With Ivo and shooting another feature documentary, Project CETI, about a group of scientists who are attempting to communicate with whales using AI.
David France
Executive Producer
David France is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy-nominated, and BAFTA-winning filmmaker, New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning investigative journalist. His films include How to Survive a Plague (2012) and The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017). His film WELCOME TO CHECHNYA (HBO Max 2020) premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the special jury award for documentary editing, and it received the Panorama Audience Award and Amnesty International Film Prize at 2020 Berlinale. The film was further recognized with a Peabody Award, a BAFTA Award, and the Seigenthaler Prize from RFK Human Rights. It was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and was shortlisted for the Oscar in 2 categories.
David's film HOW TO SURVIVE A PANDEMIC (HBO MAX 2022) premiered at 2022 Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. It scored The Cinema for Peace Award on Global Health 2022 and an Emmy award for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary.
France’s latest film FREE LEONARD PELTIER premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and it received three awards at the 2025 Thessaloniki Film Festival, including the International Competition Silver Alexander (for directing), the International Amnesty Award, and the FIPRESCI Award for Best Documentary in the International Competition.
As Executive Producer, he has overseen multiple projects including QUEENDOM (Greenwich Entertainment 2024), shortlisted for an Oscar 2025.
Alexander Stanishev
Cinematographer
Member of Bulgarian Association of Cinematographers, European Film Academy and The Syndicate 7.
He shot the American drama “Touched with fire”, directed by Paul Dalio, produced by Kristina Nikolova, Jeremy Alter, Jason Sokoloff, executive produced by Spike Lee and starring Katie Holmes and Luke Kirby.
Тhe feature documentary “The Magic Life of V” by director Tonislav Hristov was in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance Film Festival 2019, in Berlinale Generation Competition 2019 and nominated for Golden Frog for Feature Documentary at Camerimage 2019.
Alexander won the Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography at Slamdance 2012 and the Bulgarian Film Academy Award for Best Cinematography 2012 for the feature film “Faith, Love and Whiskey” by director Kristina Nikolova.
He shot 5 feature films, episodes from 9 prime time TV series, 4 feature documentaries, numerous short films, music videos and more than 300 commercials.
He was filming all around USA ( New York, LA, Sacramento, Utah, Texas, Vermont, Boston) and Europe (Finland, UK, Turkey, Greece, France, Italy, Austria, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Belarus, Germany, Netherlands, Montenegro, North Macedonia) for different projects.
In 2012-2015 he conducted cinematography workshops in Kemi-Tornio university of Applied Sciences in Finland.
Julian Atanassov
Cinematographer
Julian’s path began at his dad’s photo lab in the basement of their home, where he spent hours and hours washing, drying and cutting silver gelatine prints, helping out. He was also deeply connected to the mountains, part of the local junior ski team.
After school he moved from city to city ending at the Berlin Film Academy, the DFFB, where he shot his first feature.
He ‘s done several major projects ever since, working everywhere from California to Iran, taking home Sundance ‘s Grand Jury Price for his film YALDA, A NIGHT FOR FORGIVENESS, which tells the story of a young woman sentenced to death in Iran.
His latest documentary work is with Kristina on Project CETI, exploring the language of the sperm whales in the Caribbean Sea. Julian works in features, documentaries and commercials.
He lives with his family in Berlin and Sofia.
Anastas Petkov
Editor
Anastas Petkov is a film editor whose work has premiered at numerous festivals worldwide, including the Locarno International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, South by Southwest, Seattle International Film Festival, Mostra, DOC NYC, and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
He works in both documentary and fiction films and is currently based in Paris, France.