PYFF organizers: Paul & Petra Ratner
PYFF co-producer: Pavlina Saward
Petra & Paul Ratner have been organizing film festivals for over a decade. They produced the Prague 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) from 2011 till 2018, starting it from scratch and growing the contest to 84 teams. Over 10,000 people have visited 48 HFP screenings over the years, garnering millions of views online. The winners of Prague 48 HFP have also won international awards, showing their films at Cannes and at prestigious film events in the United States. Numerous winners have gone on to successful careers in film and television.
In their work in organizing festivals in the Czech Republic, Petra and Paul worked closely with such corporate partners as Canon, Stella Artois, Jameson, Nova Cinema, Czech Television, ČEZ Group, Copy General, Magnesia, Voyo, Panavision, Bonton Film, Kinobox.cz, Radio One, Radio Spin as well as the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Czech Tourism, Czech Consulate in the United States, Czech News Agency, and the Czech Film Commission.
Petra is now also the Director of Events and Marketing for the acclaimed Sarasota Film Festival, a 25-year-old renowned film festival in Sarasota, Florida in the United States, with a yearly attendance of 50,000 people. Paul is the Managing Director for the same festival.
Paul also organizes the International Screenlife Contest for Bazelevs Entertainment, the company of the acclaimed director and producer Timur Bekmambetov.
Paul & Petra have previously worked on the jury of the Santa Fe Film Festival, while Paul worked for several years as a programmer and digital reporter for the Slamdance Film Festival. Both are also award-winning filmmakers in their own right, having won dozens of awards at film festivals worldwide for their narrative and documentary work like “Moses on the Mesa” and “The Caveman of Atomic City”.
Pavlina Saward started her filmmaker career as a Production Assistant on the TV series “Lovejoy”. Since then she has worked in various film production positions like Production Coordinator, On Set Coordinator and Production Manager.<
She has worked on 19 Feature Films, including “Mission Impossible,” “Fatherland,” “Dungeons & Dragons,” “From Hell” and “Bourne Identity.”
Aside from Feature Films and TV movies, Pavlina also worked on more than 130 commercials as a Production Manager. For the last 10 years, she’s been running the Agency Driven By Creatives,which represents international directors, cinematographers, production designers and photographers.
Pavlina has also been one of the judges on the 48 Hour Film Project in Prague for a number of years.
She lives in Prague with her two children and husband Nick, who is an executive producer.
