Barbara Miller and Soraya Leila Emery

Foto: Jason Ashwood

Director Barbara Miller (1970), hailing from Zurich, has a Master's degree in law and a foundation course in film studies and philosophy from the University of Zurich under her belt. Together with Christian Frei, she realised Oscar-nominated cinema documentary WAR PHOTOGRAPHER. Since 2001, she has directed over twenty socio-critical documentaries for the "DOK" programme and the big screen. Her cinema documentary FORBIDDEN VOICES has been screened at over 70 international film festivals, while her multi-award-winning work #FEMALE PLEASURE was the most successful cinema documentary in Switzerland in 2018 and the most successful Swiss documentary worldwide in 2019. Furthermore, in directing WISDOM OF HAPPINESS, she once again managed to break attendance records. Barbara Miller has been President of the Swiss Screenwriting and Directing Association (Verband Drehbuch und Regie Schweiz, or ARF/FDS) and a member of the Swiss and European Film Academies since 2017.

Foto: A. Peyer

Soraya Leila Emery (*1993) is a Swiss-Moroccan choreographer and dancer based in Zurich. She graduated in contemporary dance from CFPArts Geneva in 2014, then from SEAD Salzburg in 2017, and obtained a Master’s degree in Choreography from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in June 2024. Her work focuses on the theme of female pleasure, seeking to define what pleasure is and to translate it into a choreographic score in order to reshape the narrative around female sexuality, bodily autonomy, and empowerment. Approaching pleasure from a feminist perspective, her research also questions the preservation and transmission of cultural identity, as well as the representation of the Arab female body. In 2023/2024, she was an associated artist with TanzPlan Ost, where she created TURN ON. In 2025/2026, she is an associated artist at Tanzhaus Zurich, where she will premiere the solo Coming Soon in March 2026. From 2026 to 2028, she continues her association with Tanzhaus Zurich, developing the third chapter of her trilogy on pleasure. www.sorayaleilaemery.com