JURY

FEATURES

 

Johan Swinnen / Belgium

Johan Swinnen is an art and new media critic, editor and writer who teach photography, film, video and new media at the Vrije Universiteit, Brussels and at Artesis University College, Antwerp. Guest professor on film and photography at the Sorbonne and at Pathshala, Dhaka. He has written extensively for numerous catalogues on the central role of historical theory in contemporary art and information and communication media, and did also curatorial projects. Three books on ‘Film as philosophy’ and also essays in 'The Cinema of the Low Countries' (Wallflower, 2004), 'Photography. Crisis of history' (Actar, 2004), 'Encyclopaedia of the 20th Century Photography' (Routledge, 2005), 'Theory of Photography' (Routledge, 2006), 'Encyclopaedia of the 19th Century Photography' (Routledge, 2007) en 'The Weight of Photography. ' (ASP, 2009). He is currently researching and writing a book on the function of contemporary visual media in Times of Human Turmoil. He created experimental short films, such as ‘Tarra’ (about Spanish refusees during the Franco-dictatorship) and ‘Red in autumn’ about the start of the Green Party in Flanders. He has also been a member of jury at numerous film festivals.

 

 

GILLIES MACKINNON / Scotland

Was brought up in Glasgow where he studied mural painting at Glasgow School of Art. At the art school film society he first saw the movies of Bergman, Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Pasolini, Visconti and the early movies of Forman and Polanski. He knew then that he wanted to make movies, but he had many roads to walk before reaching that point.
He taught art in London secondary schools and found his way into youth work. He travelled as much as he could afford, wrote an unpublished science fiction novel and also worked as a freelance cartoonist for newspapers, magazines and books.
As a father of two, Gillies then applied to the National Film School in 1982 and was accepted. Since then he has made a feature film or TV drama every year, receiving a multitude of awards. These include 'The Grass Arena', 'The Playboys', 'A Simple Twist of Fate', 'Trojan Eddie', 'Small Faces', Regeneration', 'Hideous Kinky' and 'Pure'.

 

MARIJA SKARICIC / Croatia
After graduating acting from Zagreb Academy of Drama Arts, she performed in numerous stage productions in Croatian theatres.
She made her moving picture debut in television feature NO BIGGIE. The role of a drug addict in THE WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT won her a Heart of Sarajevo, Best Actress Award at Sarajevo Film Festival in 2004. Next year she co-starred in WHAT IS A MAN WITOUT A MOUSTACHE, and she also starred in an experimental narrative feature EINSTEIN'S GREATEST MISTAKE. She won another Best Actress Award at Sarajevo Film Festival for the role of a young Bosnian wanderer in DAS FRAULEIN, Locarno and Sarajevo Best Film winner in 2006. In 2008 she played one of the leading roles in Croatian feature MAN UNDER THE TABLE and in short film YELLOW MOON, part of ZAGREB STORIES omnibus. Early this year she was again engaged in a foreign production, German feature SHAHADA. She currently resides in Zagreb.

 

SHORTS

 

TERJE CARLSSON / Sweden

He is a documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist, based for many years in Jerusalem. Having directed and produced several documentaries all over the world, he has also worked as a lecturer, instructor and tutor for upcoming documentary filmmakers in Scandinavia. He is currently directing the international co-production Israel vs Israel.

 

FABRIZIO FERRARI / Italy

Since 1998 has been active in the fields of cinema and cultural events. Beginning with the organization and planning of seminars and workshops on screenplay writing and on digital video, he also created events aiming to promote Italian and foreign cinematography.
From 2000 to 2002 he assisted David Stephenson and Darren Brisker, working on the sets of various films. In the year 2000 he founded the RIFF (Rome Independent Film Festival) Cultural Association. With his work in the distribution and promotion of the material received, he has created a network of more than 15 partnerships with international film festivals, receiving support from institutional organizations such as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Italian Cultural Institutes, and the Embassies of many foreign countries.
He's now working at the 9th edition of the Riff Awards and to a new Festival with ecological and environmental themes, GecoFilmFest.

 

DANKO VOLARIC / Croatia

Alongside all kinds of TV programmes – from quizzes to music shows- he directed a number of documentary series dealing with social and history themes.
He is particularly interested in biographical films – the influence of political and social situation on the life of the individual, which he furnishes with carefully explored pictorial documentary archive material.
He is also the author of several documentaries of independent production which depict the reality of living in contemporary rural and urban Croatia, going beyond usual images and conceptions created by the media.
His films have been displayed on local and international festivals and reviews, and have won several awards.