Competition

Polish film critic, journalist and programmer curating various cultural events, expert in film education and artivist involved in projects counteracting cultural exclusion (Polish Cinema for Beginners, HUMcore, Brave Festival). His work has appeared in numerous magazines (‘Kino’, ‘Filmweb’, ‘Newsweek’, ‘Images’), as well as in several books on film, art and culture. Speaker and PHD candidate at University of Wroclaw, member of European Film Academy, International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI, Wroclaw Film Foundation, and Dante Alighieri Society. Since 2023 voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

Giedrė Žickytė (1980), is a European Film Award (EFA)-nominated director and producer, and the recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts (2022). She founded the Vilnius-based production company Moonmakers in 2014 to explore unique human stories through the compelling power of cinema. She has directed and produced internationally award-winning documentaries such as Master and Tatyana, I’m Not From Here (co-directed with M. Alberdi), and The Jump, which was selected as Lithuania's official entry for the Academy Awards. In addition, she produced Sundance award winning documentary The Earth is Blue as an Orange (dir. Iryna Tsilyk, 2020). In 2021, Giedrė received the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas from the President of Lithuania for her contributions to the art of cinema.

Heidi Zwicker is a Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, focusing on international and U.S. Narrative Feature Films, Midnight and Shorts. She has been contributing to various Sundance Institute programs for over fifteen years and frequently travels internationally, representing the Sundance programming team at festivals and markets, meeting emerging filmmakers, and serving on juries. Heidi was a Programmer at Palm Springs International Shortfest from 2011-2014 and is Senior Programmer at the Provincetown International Film Festival. Originally from the north shore of Boston, she has a degree in English from University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth and an M.A. in Critical Studies of Film and Television from UCLA.

Denis Krupnov is a producer and co-founder of REASON8 Films, a London based sales and production company. Starting at Lionsgate in Los Angeles in 2003 Denis moved to London in 2005. Denis holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and is a member of the European Film Academy.

Mania Akbari (born 1974, Tehran) - an internationally recognized artist, curator, and filmmaker, identifying herself with the intersectional feminism movement. She earned her first recognition in Iran's underground art scene, striving for freedom beyond censorship. During the digital cinema revolution in Iran, she transitioned from painting to the film camera, making it her primary form of storytelling. Among her most significant awards are the Venice International Film Festival (2004) prize for Best Feature Film (Digital Cinema category) for the film '20 Fingers' (2004); the New:Vision Award (2019) at the Copenhagen CPH:DOX festival, and the FIPRESCI International Critics' Association Prize (2019) at the Ankara 'Flying Broom' festival for the film 'A Moon For My Father' (2019).