Wingonia Ikpi is a Nigerian film director, scriptwriter, producer. In 2017, she wrote Eno’s Demons, a short advocacy film which won The Best African Film Award at the Amazing Shorts Film Festival in Madrid, Spain. She also has firsthand experience contributing to popular television shows like Tinsel and Halita. In 2019, she took the role of a facilitator for a scriptwriting class at the Nigerian government's N-Power program. Her recently concluded directorial debut, Otana, is a horror film which she wrote, directed and produced.
Jury for films up to 5 minutes
Wingonia Ikpi
Writer, Director, Producer
NIGERIA
Hannes Jaenicke is a German-American actor, writer, documentary filmmaker, and environmentalist. He has starred in more than ninety movies, including Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (1997), Half Past Dead (2002), and Cease Fire (Waffenstillstand, 2010) and in numerous TV series, including Catherine the Great (1996), 'Highlander - The Raven' (2000) and Mirage (2020). As a documentary filmmaker and activist, he fights against climate change and the extinction of endangered species. He supports numerous charity organizations like Sea Shepherd, Ocean Care, the Christoffel Blind Mission (CBM), International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). His first book 'Wut allein reicht nicht ' (Anger isn’t enough), published in 2010, and stayed on the SPIEGEL bestseller list for 10 weeks, his second ('Die grosse Volksverarsche', both published by Random House), topped it for 9 weeks. He has been working on documentary projects with german TV station ZDF since 2006, and has won multiple awards with the documentary series Im Einsatz für... (In action for...).
Hannes Jaenicke
Actor, Writer, Filmmaker, Environmentalist
GERMANY
Chuck Chae is a South Korean director, D.O.P and producer. Chae’s fascination for the process of transformation observed between humanity and technology interaction is portrayed through various different film medium grammar. Chae directed Buddy which won the Best VR Experience award at the 75th Venice Film Festival. Chae directed Korea-China co-production feature film Lapse (BIFAN 2018 Nomination). Chae was Executive VFX supervisor for Detective Dee 3, which was nominated for Best Visual Effect award at the 55th Golden Horse and 38th HongKong Film Awards. Chae also produced a feature documentary Children Gone to Poland which follows the story of North Korean orphans in Poland. He has also directed and designed a VR cinema attraction Follow the White Rabbit (Cannes - Marche Du Film 2017). Chae was also the creator behind LG's recent AI Virtual Human Reah Keem, soon to be acting in his upcoming films.
Chuck Chae
Director VR, D.O.P.
SOUTH KOREA
Maria Nela Lebeque Hay is a cuban curator, film programmer and critic of cinema and visual arts based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founder and director of the YOUNG CUBAN CINEMA EN EL SUR and co- founder of "ESTAMOS AQUI" project since 2020. Experienced in Latin American cinema and particularly experimental, young filmmakers, afro cinema and LGBTQ+ representation, she has curated films in Cuba, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Spain. She served as jury and member of panels in several film festivals like Buenos Aires International Human Rights Film Festival; International film festival of film schools of Uruguay; Llamale H Film Festival and INSTAR film Festival. She is member of the FAC Film Laboratory in Montevideo, a group dedicated to the creation and research of experimental practices. She was elected Talent Gadalajara 2020 and is a member of the FAC Film Laboratory in Montevideo, a group dedicated to the creation and investigation of experimental practices.
Maria Nela Lebeque Hay
Curator, Artistic Director, Film Programmer
URUGUAY
Hannu Salonen is a finnish-born, german-based director and screenwriter. After the graduation from the Northbridge High School in Whitinsville, Massachusetts (U.S), Salonen attended the Kallio High School of Performing Arts in Helsinki, Finland. 1993 Salonen began his film studies at the Berlin Film Academy (dffb). Over the past two decades Salonen's shot over three dozen highly acclaimed and commercially successful feature films and high end series like ARCTIC CIRCLE or OKTOBERFEST BEER & BLOOD. The past years have established him as one of the preeminent directors dedicated for the new wave of modern film- and TV-making.
Hannu Salonen
Director
FINLAND, GERMANY
Jury for films 5 to 25 minutes
Marianna Ölmez is a screenwriter and director living in Munich, Germany. In 2013, she wrote and directed her first play, which was followed by three more due to its great success. The door to the film industry opens through the Drehbuchwerkstatt München, in which she participates in 2016/17. She makes her debut as a director for film and television with the short film The Mission, which won the 3rd Audience Award at UNIFIED FILMMAKERS 2021.
Marianna Ölmez
Writer, Director
GERMANY
Gülsel Özkan writes, directs, and produced more than 30 feature films, documentaries, and as a 3D producer, she has contributed to the realization of many projects, mainly short films. Her films have a political dimension, with a thematic focus on human rights, social issues and the environment. She spent time in Ecuador and Guatemala, where her films received special mention at the XVIII Festival de La Habana Cuba. Her documentary Dornen in meinem Auge (1998 ) won the Odyssey Special Jury Prize at the Interfilm Festival Nuremberg and was nominated in three categories for the Prix Europe Berlin. Her screenplay for Heimat Babylon (1999) was nominated for the German Screenplay Award and took 2nd place at the „Baden Württemberg Screenplay Award". Der Schwarzarbeiter (2002) a short film she directed won the 1st prize for best short film at the Osnabrück International Film Festival and the 1st place Short Film Award 29th International Film Weekend Würzburg 2003. She has been a jury member and jury president at many national festival such as Beyond Film Festival and African International Woman Festival in Harare/Zimbabwe.
Gülsel Özkan
Writer, Director, Producer, Managing Director
GERMANY
Tebogo Timothy Chologi, aka Mrembola, is an artist who worked in fields like poetry, pantsula dance, writing/acting for theatre, TV and film. His passion for filmmaking led to him completing the qualification of a National Certificate in Film and Television Production. He acted in productions such as Roped, Tlhala Ntša, Kgaratlho, Caged, and Naphtal. He directed and produced the films Inmate, Mobocracy, Ghetto Situations, Lesedi, One for the Ghetto, and The Shack. The Shack has been screened at many festivals and won awards for Best Arthouse Film (2020, Kismet Film Festival, USA); Best Director Award and Audience Award (2020, UMgungundlovu Film Festival, RSA); Standard Bank Gold Ovation Award (2021, Makhanda National Film Festival, RSA); third place in Jury Award (2021, Unified Film Festival, Germany); finalist (2021, Cannes World Film Festival, France).
Tebogo Timothy Chologi
Actor, Director, Producer
SOUTH AFRICA
Wahyu Mul is one of the founders of the Indonesia Nature Film Society (INFIS), a home for activists with an interest in documentary films and concern for introducing and building Indonesia’s natural and cultural wealth to the public. INFIS works to produce the best documentaries to push for progress in Indonesia’s nature and culture conservation. Experience as Journalist & Documentary Filmmaker for more than 20 years, he has received some awards for his works. His Film "Whale Shark Episode" on Serial Teroka at Kompas TV, was nominated for the Best Natural History/Wildlife Program Category in Asian Television Awards 2012. Currently, he is developing a documentary film series about Indonesia's Underwater World.
Wahyu Mul
Filmmaker, Activist, Founder
INDONESIA
Jay Piong is a Malaysian born filmmaker who obtained her filmmaking degree at the London Film School. She has worked on numerous short films as a director of photography. She is a driven and determined individual with realistic ambitions, she expresses her ideas visually and always hungry to create more creative content. Her goal is to sharpen her craft, expand her artistic network and gain greater prominence through her work.
Jay Piong
Director of Photography, Producer
MALAYSIA