DOCUMENTARY FILM COMPETITION JURY

Chairman

South Africa

He is one of Africa’s leading documentarians. Resident of Johannesburg, he has directed and produced numerous feature length documentaries, many of which have seen international broadcast, theatrical release, festival prizes and critical acclaim. In 1997 he completed a Masters in Social History at the University of the Witwatersrand, he then entered the TV and film industry as a freelance current affairs journalist producing documentary shorts. He soon thereafter moved on to focus his energy on historical and socio-political documentary feature length and drama production winning critical acclaim in both genres. “Miners Shot Down” released in 2014 won local and international critical acclaim garnering 28 awards including the Taco Keiper award for investigative journalism and an International Emmy for best documentary. “Everything Must Fall” his second film in the trilogy also won critical acclaim and awards at home and abroad. His last film in the trilogy “How to Steal a Country” was released in 2020 and is presently doing the festival circuit alongside his new feature length “Time of Pandemics” film which looks at the HIV and COVID pandemics, vaccine development and the tensions and symbiosis between science and politics.

 

 

Turkey

Was born in Ankara in 1961. He completed his undergraduate degree in Ankara University Technical School of Press and Broadcast. He earned his PhD degree in documentary cinema. He has many productions as a scenarist and director in documentary cinema since 1988. He participated in many film festivals and won various national and international awards. Besides the scenarios, he has also written articles, books, stories, and essays. Currently, he is working as associate prof in Maltepe University communication faculty and as head of the department of radio, cinema and television. His filmography includes documentaries “The Signature of the Movement: Earthquake “ (1988), “Behind the Snowy Mountains” (1989), “The Living Shadows” (1989), “Golden City Istanbul” (1996), “On the Edge of Discovery” (2000), “Between Two Worlds” (2000), “The Light is Looking for Its Voice” (2001), “A Letter for Tomorrow” (2006), “Colours of Anatolia” (2007), “I, Nail Gureli” (2014), “InstANt” (2020), “Innocence” (2021), “Figures” (2024).

 

 

Russia

Director and screenwriter of non-fiction films. He was born in 1959 in Molodechno, Minsk region. In 1982 he graduated from the architectural faculty of the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute, in 1991 – VGIK (workshop of documentary films by V.P.Lisakovich). He has been living and working in Moscow since 1999. Associate professor of the Irkutsk branch of VGIK. Winner of national and international film festivals, nominee for the TEFI Award. As a director, he took part in the production of documentary projects "Chechen Diary" (TV series), "Wild Hunt", "The Last Year of the Empire" (TV series), "Korean Trap", "Slave and his women", "Andrey Bitov. A writer in a semi-written world", "Chekhov's Riddle", "Tales of the Vienna Forest", "And only three strings", "Flight of the Champion", "Super Series-72", "VDNKH. Pavilion № 75" and others.