Natalie was born on November 18th 1975 in Linz (Austria) as the granddaughter of two well known Austrian painters. At the age of 16 she spent one year with a Russian host family in Moscow witnessing the collapse of the Soviet Union. She studied law and translation (Russian, Spanish) at Karl-Franzens University of Graz, spent one semester with the ERASMUS program in Valladolid (Spain) and wrote her thesis in law at the Jerusalem University on “Implementation of Human Rights on the Example of Freedom of Religion in Israel”, for which she got an award for excellency. At the age of 22 she became an intern of the United Nations Drug Control Program in Peru. After several years of further studies and working in France and Spain, she concentrated on documentary film direction and production. In her films she is reflecting her personal experiences and visions of life and taking advantage of being able to communicate without the need of a translator (six languages). Mrs. Halla is also mother of three children. Since 2010 she has worked as producer, script writer and director of several feature length documentaries, mainly humanitarian and social issues. Her film „Life In Four Elements” participates in this year’s Film Competition.