Masa Hilcisin is a filmmaker, producer, lecturer and scholar, who has been working at Prague City University since 2009. She holds a BA in Comparative Literature, an MA in European Studies, and a PhD from Masaryk University.

Her professional background includes work for media, cultural and human rights organizations in the region of former Yugoslavia where her interests were centred around human rights activism, cultural activism, media research and media formation within the context of nationalism.

For over a decade, Masa has been committed to making films on social issues and different aspects of violation of human rights. Her documentary films have been screened at various film festivals around the world including the Berlinale, the International LGBTI Film Festival in Mumbai, Frameline in San Francisco, MIX in NYC, and the International Women’s Film Festival in Dortmund|Cologne.

She has participated in a number of key projects at Prague City University, including Underground City XXI, Amnesty International workshops, and events organized by the Centre for Research and Interdisciplinary Studies.

As well as her work for Prague City University, Masa teaches documentary film production and film directing at Prague Film School, and is Czech Ambassador for the European Women’s Audiovisual Network. She collaborates with the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival as a member of the pre-selection team and collaborates as a producer with independent documentary film production company Bohemian Productions on feature documentary films.

In 2014, Masa gained her PhD from Masaryk University's Department of Film Studies and Audio-Visual Culture with a thesis on the subject of authenticity in representation in the observational documentary film of Helena Třeštíková.

Masa has been involved in many cultural and artistic projects including film festival curating, and various women artists support initiatives.

Education

PhD, Masaryk University, Brno

MA, University of Sarajevo

BA, University of Sarajevo

Professional Activities 

2014-2022 Prague City University lecturer/Associate Lecturer/Principal Lecturer 

2019-2022 Společnost pro kreativitu ve vzdělávání - creative worshops for children in primary education

2014-2022 Prague Film School - teacher of Film and Directing 

2000-2008 Journalist and Editor of Culture and arts at the National TV Sarajevo

- main coordinator of educational programme for journalist from former Yugoslavia at the Mediacentre, Sarajevo

- media researcher at the Centre for Human Rights  and the Foundation for rights of women 

- director of short films dedicated to topic of he human rights 

Publications and other creative activities 

2018 - series of Engaged arts workshops at the community centre InBáze

2017 - storytelling workshops in Europe, India, Mexico and Georgia

2015 - founder of SWAN, Festial for women artists

2015-2017 Czech Republic representative for the European network of audiovisual culture for women 

2014-2018 pre-selector of documentary films within One World festival, Prague