Pavel Štingl (born in 1960 in Prague) studied at the documentary film department at FAMU in Prague. His graduation film Naučit se bát/ Learning to Fear from the environment of young doctors received a whole range of awards and determined one of the main directions of his filmmaking. In 1990, he started a long series of political documentaries from the countries of the former Soviet block awarded at numerous festivals: Japan Prix for Země bez hrobů (The Land without Graves), Prix Italia for Pozdrav ze země, kde včera znamenalo zítra (Greetings from the Country Where Yesterday Meant Tomorrow) and others. He filmed in Romania, Albania, various parts of the former Soviet Union, Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh, China, South Africa, Israel and many other places of political conflict. In 1995, Štingl launched his own production company K2 through which he produced several documentary series and a number of extensive co-production documentaries.