2024 Jury
Fiction
Kathrin Kohlstedde
Searching for the right formulations for the questions of this world, Kathrin Kohlstedde studied philosophy and political science. During her studies, she managed along with a group of friends the university cinema club where she fell for the world beyond this world: cinema. Since 1999, she has brought her love and passion for film, its contents and the audience to Filmfest Hamburg as the Head of Programme. Kathrin is a selection member of the Berlinale Co-Production Market, a member of the advisory board of the Hamburg media school and member of the European Film Academy.
Sarah Bell
Sarah Bell is a lecturer in Film Studies, with prior experience of working in theatre and the UK film industry. She has worked as a performer, fire eater, locations manager and assistant producer. Her research interests are in Horror Studies, she loves horror films, and ghost stories
Oscar Bradshaw
Oscar Bradshaw is a third year Film Studies student at LJMU, with a keen interest in Chinese and Indian cinema, along with coming-of-age and action films. In addition to his studies, Oscar served on the jury of the 2022 European University Film Award in 2022 and is also President of the LJMU Film Society, which aims to introduce audiences to films they may have not discovered yet.
Documentary
Giannis Misouridis
Giannis Misouridis is an experienced cinematographer and independent film director based in Greece. As a DoP he has worked, among others, with documentary filmmakers Marianna Economou (The Longest Run, 2015; Food for Love, 2013), Marco Gastine (As Far as the Sea, 2019; Democracy: The way of the cross, 2013), Valery Kontakos (Mana, 2015) and others. In 2023 he was the lead cinematographer for the television documentary series Little Islands (ERT). For a more extensive filmography see http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2675130/
Salma Shalaby
Salma Shalaby is a documentary filmmaker and producer with extensive professional, media/ Journalism experience: as an Investigative reporter, Writer, Producer. Salma has worked with Endemol Middle East and also in international environments for various film festivals such as the Red Sea Film Festival, CIFF and ACA, multimedia & digital producer in film and television, producing documentaries, commercials, and other content for broadcasting networks. For her work with Amnesty International, UNICEF and the UN, she was awarded the Inspirational Award form Reverend Jesse Jackson. She is currently working on an Arts PhD in Virtual Reality.
Emma Rock
Emma Rock is a final year Film Studies student at Liverpool John Moores University with an obsession for filmmaking. After graduation, Emma plans to pursue a Masters in screenwriting. She enjoys film which challenge the conventions of traditional cinema and is a fan of an ambiguous ending.
Animation
Deborah Sheppard
Deborah Sheppard is an award-winning producer and highly experienced senior marketing and distribution executive who believes in the power of connecting talent to opportunity. She works across production, education, and consultancy, helping filmmakers put their projects in front of audiences. As Marketing Director at United International Pictures and Paramount Pictures UK for over 12 years, Deborah has presided over the campaigns for 420 releases across multiple genres, from festival films and local acquisitions, to major blockbuster studio franchises.
Marta Sniezek
Marta Sniezek is an animation director living in Ireland. She graduated from Ballyfermot College with a National Diploma in Classical and Computer Animation and got her Honours Bachelor’s Degree in IADT. Marta has been a freelancing director and media creator since 2018, her work includes creating lyric videos, illustrating museum exhibitions as well as character designs for Video908 in Berlin. She was also the chief editor and storyboard artists for the 3D video projections for Senegal’s Dubai Expo 2020. Marta is currently working as a full-time Animator in Studio Meala for RTE’s upcoming TV Series ‘’Doodle Girl’’, as well as directing animation on an upcoming short film ‘Rerooted’.
Christian Spurling
Christian Spurling, born in Ireland, got his animation degree in IADT in 2021 with his graduation short ”Small Hours”. He specialises in background and layout design as well as directing and world building. He has worked on a number of freelance jobs, ranging from album art for a local Irish artist as well as concept art for budding authors. He is currently illustrating development work for his upcoming graphic novel as well as directing an upcoming paper cut-out animated short film ”Rerooted”, funded by Frameworks, Screen Ireland, that will premiere in Galway Film Fleadh 2024.
Josh Darlington
Josh Darlington is a third-year film student at Liverpool John Moores University. He has an interest in American Cinema, the film musical and film theory and hopes to explore these subject areas more in his master’s degree. He has been developing his research skills by working closely with Ruth Doughty as a museum archivist assistant on the Littlewoods Heritage Project and he also delivers film lectures to school students when they visit the university, giving him experience in film lecturing and academia.
Experimental
Ger Zielinski
Dr. Ger Zielinski lectures on critical media studies in the School of Professional Communication at Toronto Metropolitan University. He researches the intersection of queer cultural production, contemporary media art, and festivals, with a growing interest in environmental media studies. He served on the programming committee for several years at Pleasure Dome (https://pdome.org) and worked as an artist’s film and video programmer independently. Zielinski is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the “Political Cinemas” book series at Edinburgh University Press. For more on his recent research on festivals, see his SSHRC-funded project “Buffering Online and Off” https://buffering.blog.torontomu.ca/.
Karolina Monwid – Olechnowicz
Karolina Monwid-Olechnowicz is a Polish filmmaker and MA graduate of the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School. She received a prestigious scholarship from the Minister of Education and Science for significant artistic achievements (2022). Her shorts have been shown and awarded at several international film festivals, such as: Tous Courts (France) , Porto Femme (Portugal) , BJX Bajío (Mexico) , as well in Poland – Koszalin Youth and Film Festival and many others. She creates an intimate original cinema focused on discovering hidden emotions, often embedded in the original micro-world to encourage viewer reflection.
Jacob Harris
Jacob Harris is third year Film Studies student at Liverpool John Moore’s University, with a passion for pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling. He has directed and produced several short films, exploring the realms of experimental cinema. Additionally, he has gained valuable experience briefly working as a camera assistant at Mackinnon and Saunders, therefore leading to a specific interest in cinematography.
