Director

Markus Steiner Ender is a director, filmmaker, photographer and musician based in Merano with a keen eye for the essence of the performing arts. His work focuses on visual storytelling, particularly in the fields of street theatre, puppetry and cultural heritage. As part of the team behind the international street art festival Asfaltart, he is responsible for communication, photography and online media, ensuring that the festival’s artistic vitality reaches a wide audience.

As a filmmaker, he co-directed The Guardian of Stories, a documentary filmed in Laos that explores the preservation of traditional storytelling through puppetry. He also served as Director of Photography (DOP), shaping the film’s visual language through his camera work. His expertise in cinematography and narrative design plays a key role in bringing artistic and cultural stories to life on screen.

He has developed a strong focus on performance photography. His 2019 exhibition A Family on Theatre Wheels documented the Italian street theatre family Girovago e Rondella, while in 2022 he presented photographs of the Spanish puppet theatre group Zero en Conducta.

Since 2005, he has worked as technical director at Funkhaus Südtirol, overseeing IT systems, audio and recording technology, and the technical infrastructure of Südtirol 1, Radio Tirol and RMI Südtirol Journal, ensuring reliable broadcasting operations and long-term technical stability.

Together with Claudia Bellasi, he initiated Artenlamondo as a creative project devoted to exploring and portraying performing arts and cultural narratives around the world through film, photography, podcasts and intercultural exchange.

Claudia Ingrid Bellasi is an artist, cultural worker and director. She graduated from the Università Statale di Milano with a degree in italian modern literature with a focus on education. In her thesis, she examined humour as an educational and learning experience in adulthood. During her studies, she developed a strong passion for street art performances, new circus and theatre.

She has been the Artistic Director of the Asfaltart International Street Art Festival in Merano for more than two decades. In this role, she defines the artistic programme and guides the festival’s creative direction. Her ongoing commitment has been fundamental to the festival’s growth and identity.

From 2023 to 2025, she was director and co-writer of the documentary film The Guardian of Stories (74 min.), which deals with traditional storytelling in Laos and has been shown internationally (Shanghai 2025, Adelaide 2025, Dhaka 2026 – Best Documentary Film, Kathmandu 2026).

At the same time, she works as an actress, juggler and clown in theatre, children's theatre and street theatre (including Freiluft Kinder- und Jugendtheater, Teatro Zappa, Altstadt Theater, Punkcakes Band and her solo piece Clodette). She has also worked as a theatre director, creating and staging her own productions. Among them is the children’s theatre piece L’uomo che piantava alberi, which she directed and brought to the stage with a strong poetic and environmental focus.

Together with Markus Steiner Ender, she co-founded Artenlamondo, a platform dedicated to documenting and connecting performing arts and cultural storytelling traditions through films, podcast, workshops and artistic exchange.