Jury members

Competition Jury

Dagur Kari

Bio

Dagur Kari was born in Aix-en-Provence to Icelandic parents and grew up in Iceland from the age of three. Upon discovering the works of Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismaki and François Truffaut, Dagur gravitated towards filmmaking. He graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 1999 with the award winning short Lost Weekend.

Noi the Albino is Dagur´s feature debut (2003). It swept over 20 awards at festivals around the world and had successful theatrical realeases in over 30 territories. His second film Dark Horse was selected in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes Film Festival in 2005. His next film, The Good Heart, was shot in New York and it was released in 2009.

Dagur´s latest feature Virgin Mountain was in the official selection at the Berlinale in 2015. It won three major prizes at Tribeca Film Festival (Best film, Best script, Best actor) and went on to win a dozen more awards at festivals around the world.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Bio

Rebecca co-wrote Ida (European Film Award for Best Film and Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film 2015) with the film’s director Pawel Pawlikowski. She co-wrote Disobedience with director Sebastian Lelio and co-wrote Colette with Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer. Both films are out later this year. Rebecca co-wrote The Disciple, a film that will be shot in Slovakia this summer, with its director Ivan Ostrochovsky and Marek Lescak.

She is developing a 6-hour television drama with Steve McQueen and several films including The Sea Change, to be directed by Kristin Scott-Thomas.

Her plays include The Night Season which opened at the National Theatre. Her Naked Skin was the first play written by a woman to be staged at the Olivier Theatre.

Stephane Foenkinos

Bio

Casting director for over 60 features (from Godard to Woody Allen), Stéphane is also a screenwriter for TV and cinema. With his brother, novelist David Foenkinos, he directed a short, Foot Story, and then Delicacy (2011), a first feature film starring Audrey Tautou. It was nominated for two César Awards and released in 35 countries. A second feature, Jealous, came in 2017. Starring Karin Viard, it too was nominated for Best Actress at the César Awards.

On his own, he regularly works for the theater and has directed other shorts, documentaries and music videos, mostly in Québec. Jealous, his second feature, is screened at TIFF 2018!

VLAD IVANOV

Bio

Vlad most recently wrapped in the leading role of Victor Ganz on Hier, a new film by Hungarian director Balint Keneyres. He featured in three films in the 2016 Cannes Film Festival: Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, Graduation (Cristian Mungiu), and Bogdan Mirică’s Dogs. He recently played Piotr, Jim Carrey’s boss in the film True Crimes.

He was Franco The Elder in Snowpiercer and Grossmeier in Sergei Loznitsa’s Into the Fog. He also played the role of Dinu Laurenţiu in Child’s Pose, which won the Golden Bear at Berlin in February 2013.

Winner of the LA Critics Award for his brilliant portrayal of abortionist Mr. Bebe in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Vlad Ivanov’s versatility has established him as one of Europe’s great actors. He also has a long career in Romanian theater. He speaks English, French, Russian and Italian.

Agnes Kocsis

Bio

Born in Budapest, Ágnes received her diploma from Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Arts. She majored in Polish language and literature, Aesthetics, and Film-theory. In 2005 she graduated as a film director from the Hungarian Academy of Theatre and Film Art, Budapest.

Her short film The Virus won the third prize of the Cinéfondation at the 59th Cannes Film Festival, and Fresh Air, her first feature film was presented at the International Critics' Week section of the same edition of the Cannes festival.

Adrienn Pál, her second feature film premiered at Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard and was awarded by the FIPRESCI Jury in May 2010. She has recently wrapped the production of her third feature, Eden.

Romanian Days Feature Jury

ALEXEI MEDVEDEV

Bio

Alexei was born in 1969 in Moscow. He studied at the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography. In the 1990s he pursued his career as journalist, film critic, translator. From 2000 to 2006 he was member of the selection committee of the Moscow International Film Festival.

He worked as a director of programming for many film festivals including 2morrow (Moscow, 2007–2009), Zerkalo (Ivanovo, 2011), 2-in-1 International Film Festival of Contemporary Cinema (Moscow, 2009-2012).

From 2012, he is one of the organizers of the Sakhalin International Film Festival “On the Edge”. He’s also curator of Yakutsk International Film Festival, and director of competition programs of the “Message to Man” International Film Festival.

KEREM AYAN

Bio

Born in Istanbul, Kerem studied film at the Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle and Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7. He worked in the Radio France Internationale for four years. He started working for the Cannes Film Festival in 2001 and meanwhile, organized the International Literary Adaptation Market in Monaco. In 2005, he launched the Political Films Festival in Barcelona and directed it for three years. In 2006, he became Assistant Director of the Istanbul Film Festival where he became Director in 2015.

Kerem Ayan also went into directing plays for the stage. He directed the short Fishbone in 2016. He’s preparing a new play for November 2018 and a first feature for 2019.

HERVÉ LE PHUEZ

Bio

Graduate of a Master of Modern Literature and a degree of Art History from the University of Tours, Hervé specialized in The Management of Cultural Events in 2000, and has since then worked for various film festivals.

He has been a curator for several international film events: a special showing of Belgian shorts for the Festival of Morelia in Mexico (2005) and from 2004 to 2011 he was a delegate for French-speaking countries at the Huesca Film Festival in Spain. He was also part of several juries: Next Film Festival (Romania), Huesca Film Festival (Spain), Cineramabc (Brazil), Rencontres Audiovisuelles de Lille (France), Cinemaiubit (Romania)...

He is currently the coordinator of programming for the International French Speaking Film Festival of Namur in Belgium.

Romanian Days Short Jury

STEFAN KITANOV

Bio

From 1992 through 1999, Stefan was director and programmer of the Cinema House, the leading art house cinema in Bulgaria. In 1997 he founded Sofia International Film Festival, accredited by FIAPF.

Since 1995 he has produced and co-produced around 20 films for directors as Rangel Valchanov, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Stephan Komandarev, Dusan Milic, Nadejda Koseva, Levan Koguashvili, Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens.

He was member of juries in Venice, Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, and Wiesbaden, among others. He is a member of the European Film Academy and The Festival Band.

STEFAN LAUDYN

Bio

Stefan is the director of the Warsaw Film Festival, after joining the team in the mid-80s. A graduate of Polytechnics, in the 1980s he was involved in Warsaw rock and alternative music scene as band manager and event organizer. In 1990 he became the first head of theatrical distribution of Warner Bros. films in Poland.

In 2000 he founded the Warsaw Screenings, an event promoting Polish cinema abroad. Since 2003 he is the coordinator of Alliance of Central and Eastern European Film Festivals. In 2005 he founded the CentEast Market Warsaw, specializing in films from Eastern Europe.

He is an adviser for numerous film directors, producers, and festivals, and also jury member and panelist at various film events in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He occasionally writes about film, most recently for “Psychiatra” quarterly.

STEFAN UHRIK

Bio

Stefan studied scriptwriting and dramaturgy at The Film Academy (FAMU) in Prague. He wrote several television films and plays, as well as the feature Only a Day (1988).

In 1992 he started to work for The International Film Festival Karlovy Vary creating The Forum of Independents, an important part of the main programme. In 2007 he established Prague Short Film Festival. Since 1998 he also works for the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg, where he was in charge of Co-production Meetings and in 2012 he became the member of The Program Committee.

In 2004 he produced for two documentaries, Souvenir, directed by Alice Nellis, and The Memorial Who Wasn´t, directed by Peter Kerekes.

He wrote for several Czech film magazines and newspapers, lectured about independent cinema at Prague Film school FAMU and Masaryk University in Brno and was member of several festival juries (Warsaw, Munich, Sofia, Potsdam, Pilsen, and in 2017 main jury of the Karlovy Vary film festival).

FIPRESCI Jury

ANTON FILATOV

Bio

Anton is a Ukrainian film critic and journalist, author of more than a thousand articles about cinema published in different resources. Founder and editor of the online resource CutInsight, as well as a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy. Member of the FIPRESCI jury in Odessa Film Festival.

EVA PEYDRÓ

Bio

Philologist, film critic, cultural journalist and writer, member of FIPRESCI. Weekly contributor (2003-2014) to the Spanish culture and entertainment magazine “Cartelera Turia”, as film critic and columnist. She has translated and written pieces for art catalogues and magazines and has taken part as a juror in international film festivals (Cannes, San Sebastián, Venice, and Karlovy Vary, among others). She has written two awarded children novels, “Saïda’s Holiday” and “Saïda’s Treasure”.

She is the director of “El Hype”, a culture and entertainment online magazine.

LONE NIKOLAJSEN

Bio

Born in 1982, Lone studied at Copenhagen University and holds a degree in Comparative Literature. During her studies she co-edited the student journal "Trappe Tusind" and organized several literary events. Since 2013 she has worked as a freelance film critic, mainly for the Danish daily newspaper “Information”, where she is a regular contributor of reviews of and articles on TV, film, radio, podcasts and literature.

Juriul Tinerilor Francofoni

Alina Sălăjan

Bio

Studentă în anul trei, la Facultatea de Litere, secția LMA (Limbi moderne aplicate), sunt de trei ani voluntară și stagiară la Institutul Francez Cluj-Napoca unde am descoperit pasiunea mea pentru evenimentele culturale francofone. M-am implicat în numeroase proiecte ale Institutului (Festivalul Filmului Francez, Festivalul Très Court, expoziții La Cave sau dezbateri de idei). Grație experiențelor mele profesionale și umane, am dezvoltat o înclinație pentru cinematografia franceză care tratează, în mod original, subiecte pasionante, de actualitate.

Ana Olaru

Bio

Recunosc cu pudoare că mă aflu în imposibilitatea de a-mi crea un rezumat. L-am recitit recent pe Camus. Îl învinuiesc pe el pentru faptul că mi-e greu să mă definesc. Cred cu fermitate într-o afirmație pe care o auzi negreșit în repetate rânduri dacă devii student la Comunicare și PR. Afirmația e următoarea: „Comunicarea construiește realitatea.” Filmul e un mod cu totul fascinant de comunicare, un instrument infailibil de reconstrucție și deconstrucție a realității. Pentru asta îl iubesc. Acesta este motivul pentru care mă gândesc uneori că paradisul ar putea fi un cinematograf.

Ana-Luisa Călușeriu

Bio

Studentă la Facultatea de Litere, specializarea Limbi moderne aplicate (franceză-engleză), sunt o „devoratoare de filme”, asta nu înseamnnă că vizionez orice gen de filme. Încerc să îmi aleg cu grijă „meniul”. Îmi plac, în mod special, filmele clasice, educative, istorice care reușesc să transmită un mesaj clar publicului. Pentru mine un adevărat film de cinema nu se rezumă numai la niște efecte speciale al căror scop este de a hipnotiza publicul.

Ceea ce contează cu adevărat este de fapt conținutul. De fiecare dată cand vizionez un film, sunt foarte atentă la conținutul său, la acțiune. Textul (replicile personajelor) este și el foarte important pentru că poate face diferența între un film de calitate și un fiasco. Filmele frantuzești ocupă primul loc în lista mea de preferințe. Sunt pur și simplu unice. „Intouchables” (Invincibilii), „Ce que le jour doit à la nuit” (Ceea ce ziua datorează nopții) și „Joyeux Noël” sunt doar cateva din minunile cinematografiei franceze. Există și câteva filme americane care într-adevăr pot fi considerate niște capodopere, precum : „War Horse” (Calul de luptă), „Hacksaw Ridge” și „The Last Samurai” (Ultimul Samurai). Nici comediile nu lipsesc din listă. „Papa ou maman” și seria „Johnny English” (avându-l în rolul principal pe minunatul Rowan Atkinson) sunt comediile mele preferate.

Pentru mine, un film de succes este cel care reușește să cucerească inimi, cel care transmite emoții puternice spectatorilor, și, cel mai important, cel care educă publicul.

Codruta Naghi

Bio

Studentă în anul doi la Facultatea de Litere, secția franceză-norvegiană, sunt o persoană energică, sociabilă, spontană, amuzantă și deschisă. Pentru mine, filmul este cel mai bun mod de a arăta o mică parte a realității, dar de asemenea și iluziile la care aspirăm. Ce filme îmi plac? Nu contează genul dacă filmul are un subiect captivant, o acțiune atrăgătoare și mai ales dacă actorii au o interpretare admirabilă. Au fost multe filme văzute care nu se încadrau în genurile mele și totuși mi-au plăcut. Când vreau să mă relaxez, aleg cu precădere să mă uit la un film. Ador filmul. Pot spune că filmul îmi face viața mai frumoasă: mă informează, mă relaxează, îmi dă senzații și emoții noi. În acest moment, un film care mi-a transmis multe stări ar fi « Ceea ce ziua datorează nopții ».

Olimpia Buhai

Bio

Teodora Șandor-Martin

Bio

Mă numesc Teodora Șandor-Martin și vin din Baia Mare. Sunt studentă în anul doi la Facultatea de Litere din Cluj-Napoca. Pasiunea pe care o am pentru film a pornit din copilărie, ca o tradiție de familie și pe parcurs s-a îmbinat și cu pasiunea pentru teatru. Făcând parte dintr-o trupă de teatru francofonă în liceu, am dezvoltat un entuziasm pentru limba franceză pe care l-am hrănit apoi în calitatea mea de stagiar la Institutul Francez din Cluj-Napoca.

Shadows Shorts Jury

ADELE HARTLEY

Bio

Adele Hartley is the founder and director of Dead by Dawn, Scotland’s International Horror Film Festival. The festival celebrated its 25th Edition in April 2018.

She is regularly invited to give lectures to film students on successfully navigating the festival circuit and also to literary fiction students on effective horror storytelling. She has run genre panels for the Edinburgh International Film Festival and is a consultant programmer for Amsterdamned and Rotterdamned film festivals.

She has been a presenter for the Arts Show on BBC Radio and is the editor of three volumes of the Read by Dawn short horror story collections.

CHRIS CHALKLEN

Bio

Chris is a writer, director and animator working for London-based production company Wilder Films. He's made three award-winning short films, and worked on several TV shows and feature documentaries including Michael Caine's My Generation.

His latest short film Holy F__k, an exorcism sex comedy, played at 40 international festivals and won 11 awards including Best Short Film at Full Moon Horror & Fantasy Film Festival. He recently finished shooting a new short horror called Tickle, a psychological and supernatural horror about the trauma of domestic abuse, which is now in post-production.

LUCIANA NEDELEA

Bio

Luciana is an archaeologist and has a PhD in History (Archaeology) from the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, where she works as a research assistant.

She has worked as a graphic designer with heavy metal bands from across the world, like Dark Funeral, Nightbringer, Mare Cognitum, Ashbringer, Ghost Bath, Descend into Despair, Highland, Chaos Invocation, Kalmankantaja and many more.

She has created many artistic illustrations and imagery for big organizations from the USA, like Grey Faction and The Satanic Temple.