Erol Mintaş (b. 1983, Kars) completed his graduate studies in cinema—his MA thesis was about the cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky. His first short Butimar, and second short Berf (akaSnow) received many awards, and competed in various important film festivals around the world. In 2014, Mintaş’s first feature, Song of My Mother, made a major splash on the festival circuit, playing around the world and being awarded plenty of prizes, including the Heart of Sarajevo award for best film and best actor, and numerous other important awards.He moved to Helsinki in January 2017, where his new project Earth Song is currently taking place, supported by the Finnish Film Foundation(Suomen elokuvasäätiö) scriptwriting and development grant. Erol Mintas is the founder of the Academy of Moving People and Images (AMPI) and Helsinki Open Waves (HOW).