JUDGES
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RUFAT ASADOV
Rufat Asadov studied at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Lenfilm Film School in St. Petersburg, Russia, and at the Prometheus Production Studio in San Francisco, USA. He directed more than 60 films (features and documentaries) shown at film festivals in the USA, Europe, Japan, and Russia. Rufat is a well-known documentary filmmaker who created three films dedicated to mountain Jews. His films have repeatedly participated in the competitive programs of prestigious film festivals and received high awards. In 2019, he received the award of the International Charitable Foundation of Mountain Jews named after Sergei Weinstein - for his contribution to the preservation of the cultural heritage of Mountain Jews and the documentary film "The Last Jew in the Village."
EMIL NAJAFOV
Emil Najafov graduated from Zangi Lyceum in 1996 and was admitted to the Azerbaijan State University of Economics. In 1998, he started working at the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He served in the military unit “N” in 2000-2001. After serving in the army, he worked as an economist at the State Statistics Committee until 2002. He started working for MGroup Production in 2002. He was the line producer and executive director of the "Car" reality show produced by the "Marj Show" TV. Since 2010, he has been an executive producer and producer of all projects at "Ultra production" working in cooperation with other local and foreign film production companies. His filmography contains 16 short, feature and documentary films.
HAJI SAFAROV
Haji Safarov is a Baku-based film critic, Talents Sarajevo'22 Alumni who graduated from Istanbul University in 2018. He began creating video-essays on Azerbaijani and world cinema shortly after graduation. In 2019, he participated in a workshop organized by the Batumi IAFF and Cottbus FF. The following year, Haji was a founding member of the Independent Cinema Platform and served on the jury for the "Support for Full-Length Film Projects - 2022" competition and the 38th Warsaw Film Festival. He is a co-founder, and concept creator of the Kinoyazar.az where attempting to cover all aspects of cinema.
FUAD SHABANOV
Fuad Shabanov is a Russian filmmaker of Azerbaijani origin. He graduated from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in 1991. His filmography includes narrative and documentary feature films and series. Fuad collaborates with the lead Russian TV channels, such as NTV, the First Channel and REN-TV.
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CALLE OVERWEG
Calle Overweg tried several different attempts to find himself in as a professional. From 1989 to 1995 he studied filmmaking at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin. In 1993 he participated in exchange program to the Higher School For Directors And Screenwriters in Moscow, Russia. He works as a director, author and editor. He also practiced teaching Live-TV at his alma mater and Writing for Documentaries at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.