Genoveva Dimitrova – Jury Chairman

Dr. Genoveva Dimitrova is one of the leading Bulgarian film critics. She was born in Pleven. She studied Russian Philology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and film studies at NATFA “Krastyo Sarafov”. From 1991 to 2018 he was an editor at the “Kultura” newspaper until it was stopped. There she has been running a column “At First Sight” since 2000. From October 2018 to the end of 2019, he was an editor and columnist for the “K” newspaper. He works as a film critic at the Bulgarian National Film Archive. From 2020 to 2022 he leads a weekly column for cinema in the newspaper “Trud”. From 2022 – in the newspaper “Filter”. She is the author of two books about the Russian and Bulgarian cinema.

Part-time film teacher at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” Kliment Ohridski” in the Master’s degree programme “Translator-Editor”.

She is the screenwriters of two documentaries: “Night in Sofia” (2008) and “Offline” (2017).

Dr. Dimitrova is a member of the Management Board of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers, a member of the Union of Bulgarian Journalists and FIPRESCI. She has also been a jury of numerous national and international festivals.

He has several nominations and an award for operational criticism of the Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers in 2006. She was nominated seven times for operational criticism by the Bulgarian Film Academy and received the award in 2016.

Linda Olte

Linda Olte is a Latvian director, writer and editor. After many years of working in Latvian Television on several successful programs, documentaries and series, Linda’s debut feature “Sisters” (2022) premiered at the Warsaw Film Festival, winning best film award in competition 1st or 2nd movie and International Fipresci Jury award, “Sisters” has screened and won in more than a dozen festivals around the world, one of them is The Golden Linden IFF 2023 where Olte’s film won three awards; Best Film, Best Actress and Best Director. Linda also received Latvian National Film Award as best director 2023. Linda’s work on the documentary “My Father the Banker” (2015) earned her a National Film Award for Best Editing. She is currently developing her next feature film “The Child”.

Mariusz Grzegorzek

Film , theater and television director, screenwriter, set designer, graphic artist, film producer.

A graduate from the Directing Department of The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Lodz, and since1989 a lecturer and an artistic supervisor of many student films there. In 2012 he was elected for the Rector of The Lodz Film School and he held this position until 2020.

His school films Krakatou and The Worm gained recognition winning the main awards at the most important short film festivals. In 1993, he made his debut feature film Conversation with a Cupboard Man, invited to the main competition of the International Film Festival in Venice, where he received the award for the best debut, followed by, among others, The Special Jury Prize in Gdynia, the prize of Andrzej Munk and the Grand Prix in Alexandria.

The next feature films are The Queen of Angels (1999), I Am Yours(2009) and The Singing Napkin (2015), awarded with the Golden Claw Award in The Vision Apart Competition at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia.

He is the author of music and documentary films devoted to outstanding figures of contemporary music, such as Arvo Part, Meredith Monk, Giya Kancheli, Paweł Szymański and the other ones inspired by medieval and Polish folk music. Grzegorzek’s wide range of musical interests also includes television productions of classical music concerts (cooperation with, among others, Hilliard Ensemble) as well as music video clips (including for the Maanam band). He created a graphic design of concerts (including “Various Faces of Chopin” performed in China).

As a theater director associated mainly with the Jaracz Theatre in Lodz, in which he created several performances, many times awarded with Golden Masks for the best staging of the theatrical season .. He also co-operated with the Powszechny Theatre , the Studio Theater in Warsaw and the National  Old Theater in Krakow. He directed the diploma performances of students of the Film School’s Acting Department in Lodz and performances for the Polish Television Theater.

For many years, together with the psychotherapist Wojciech Eichelberger, he has produced TV series Windows and Night Watchman, focusing on the problems of human spirituality.

One of his great passions is computer graphics and design. He has been the author of many posters and publications for theatres in Poland.

A member of  both the Polish and the European Film Academy. A longtime expert of the Polish Film Institute.  An artistic director of the Film Studio Indeks  operating at the Lodz Film School.

Pandora Jones

Pandora Jones began her career in film and television as a child actress. Between the ages of six and sixteen she took leading roles in Gareth Jones’s critically acclaimed D-Trilogy of feature films: DESIRE, DELIGHT and DELIRIUM. DESIRE, with Oscar Pearce and Tella Kpomahou, opened at the Sarajevo International Film Festival and was nominated Best UK Feature at Raindance 2009, and DELIGHT, starring Jeanne Balibar and Gavin Fowler, was nominated for Best Feature at Moscow IFF 2013. Her repertoire includes both screen and stage acting; her roles in theatre include the philosopher Pausanias in PLATO’S SYMPOSIUM(2023) at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre, praised for its ‘unfailing acting panache’. 

While pursuing her acting career, Pandora trained as an Art Historian at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. A specialist in the visual culture of the Venetian Renaissance, she has written works on the relationship of art with Eurasian politics, religion, and gender, themes she pursues in her contemporary film work. 

Pandora has authored several screenplays on behalf of Scenario Films, most notably for the television series epic AMERICANA. In 2024 she joined the company as a Development Executive, and is currently responsible for the international feature film DEAD MEN’S MUSIC, set in Ukraine, and Albanian-British musical production THE BELLGIRL, in collaboration with the English National Opera. 

Sanjin Malesevic

Sanjin Malesevic is an award-winning Los Angeles-based visual artist and filmmaker. He was born in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then-Yugoslavia. He always had an interest in film, but it wasn’t until he moved to the United States that he finally started working in the medium. He graduated from the Long Beach City College in 2012, and four years later, in 2016, he was already recognized as one of the “40 under 40” most influential Long Beach artists. The 40 Under 40 Award was presented to him by the Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia on behalf of the Long Beach Post.

Malesevic is best known for his short films “Tetched” (2016) and “Toni” (2022). With “Toni,” Malesevic won multiple awards like Best of the Fest Award and Audience Award at the Hollywood Short Film Festival in Los Angeles, California, as well as an award for the Best Regional Film at the Festival of Serbian Fantastic Film in Belgrade, Serbia.

He is currently in development of his new short film with a working title “Taint.” “Taint” will be the third film in his T Trilogy of films that already include above-mentioned “Tetched” and “Toni.”