Anastasia Veber is a director and screenwriter based in Berlin. She won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival (2022) for her film *Trap*, and received two awards at the 65th Oberhausen International Short Film Festival (Special Mention and Second Prize in the NRW competition for *Syndrome IO*). Anastasia is participating in the Cannes Residency program this year and was part of the Locarno Film Academy in 2023. She is currently working on her first feature film, Kindergarten Optimisten, selected for the TFL ScriptLab 2024. In her artistic practice, she explores youth discrimination, combines narrative tools with cinematic performances, and draws on religious discourse in the creation of her films. She graduated with a degree in Directing from the St. Petersburg School of New Cinema in 2018 and in Screenwriting from the St. Petersburg University of Film and Television in 2016. She balances her creative work by working remotely as a curator of directing classes at the St. Petersburg School of New Cinema and as a screenwriting consultant for other filmmakers.