Baltic Film, Media and Arts School, Tallinn University (EE)
Pia Tikka
Principal investigator
Pia Tikka is a professional filmmaker and research professor at the Baltic Film, Media, and Arts School, Tallinn University, Estonia. Currently, she leads the five-year research project “Cinematic minds behind-the-scenes”, funded by the Estonian Research Institute (PRG2109). Her focus is on filmmakers’ creative processes from a neurophenomenological perspective, based on her previous work on the topics of enactive cinema, complex narrative systems and neurocinematics.
Willeke Rietdijk
Senior Research Staff
Willeke Rietdijk is a post-doctoral researcher on the project, responsible for the micro-phenomenological part of the study. Originally qualifying as a clinical psychologist, she worked as an educational researcher for 13 years at the University of Southampton, UK and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Alongside, she completed her PhD studying micro-phenomenological processes of insight meditation and an MLE Varela Award-funded larger-scale follow-up study. She has a deep interest in the enactive approach and 4E cognition and is a cofounding member of a group of enactive researchers meeting weekly to explore participatory and enactive approaches in academia.
Sander Paekivi
Senior Research Staff
Sander Paekivi is passionate about applying my expertise in mathematics, data, and statistics to solve real-world challenges. I developed my knowledge in these areas throughout my academic journey, which culminated in a postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems. There, Sander honed skills in stochastic systems and data analysis while exploring how technical approaches can address complex problems.
William Primett
Senior Research Staff
William Primett is a researcher forming an enquiry into computational embodiment through the lens of choreographic principles. Following the core themes behind their PhD thesis: “Non-verbal communication with physiological sensors: the aesthetic domain of wearables and neural networks”, William’s research aims to compile principles in computational neuroscience, somaesthetic enquiry and narrative structure in audio-visual media.
Mehmet Burak Yilmaz
Research Staff (PhD Candidate)
Mehmet Burak Yilmaz is a practising cinematographer and junior researcher at the Baltic Film, Media and Arts School of Tallinn University. His doctoral thesis explores camera movements and cinematographers as embodied meaning-makers. As a cinematographer, he has shot various fictions, documentaries, and commercials in different countries, and he is an active member of the professional film industry.
Aalto University (FI)
Kirsi Reinola
Research Staff (PhD Candidate)
Kirsi Reinola is a doctoral candidate and educational planner at Aalto University School of Arts, focusing on film and TV screenwriting. She is a screenwriter and publishes articles and essays exploring how various constraints and limitations direct, benefit and nourish the screenwriter’s work. Reinola is president of the Finnish Screenwriters’ Guild Association.