Zoran Dragelj is an award-winning filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, Canada. Known for his bold visual storytelling and commitment to cross-cultural dialogue, Zoran has made significant contributions to cinema and media arts over the past two decades. From 2009 to 2015, he served as an Alumni Senator at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and he currently holds the role of New Media Director for the International Press Academy and the Satellite Awards in Los Angeles.

A passionate educator, Zoran spent over four years teaching film theory and directing at the Canadian Film and Television Institute, mentoring emerging talent with a focus on community-driven creativity. His most recent feature film, Friends Like These, premiered in Los Angeles in 2019 to critical acclaim and went on to win major awards in Atlanta and Miami. As an associate producer on Dark Harvest, he helped bring this celebrated Canadian indie feature—starring Cheech Marin—to screens worldwide.

In Spring 2025, Zoran presented a TEDx talk in Vancouver titled “Stepping into the Unknown,” reflecting on his lifelong journey of bridging cultures through film and community work. He is also one of the founding organizers of the Croatian International Film Festival in Šibenik, Croatia.

Zoran’s body of work includes a major retrospective of his short films and videos in Florence, Italy, with additional exhibitions and screenings across New York, Toronto, Berlin, and Venice. His works are distributed by La Videotheque Nomade (Brussels), archived by Europeana and GAMA, and held in the permanent collection at Transmediale (Berlin), underscoring his dedication to preserving cultural memory through media arts.

As an auteur filmmaker, I have tried to formulate a delicate balance between appearances of things versus the hidden emotional reality in everyday life.

Also I am pondering how our culture of digital and social sharing has narrowed the gap between ’creators’ and ’patrons.’ With widely available creation tools like Apple’s FCPX, Photoshop, and ’democratic’ means for distribution online via YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, we’re now simultaneously makers and consumers of an never-before seen amount of content.