JUDGES
No Main Competition
REZA SIAMI
Reza Siami is a director and documentarist from Iran. His filmography includes five feature films, two TV series and approximately 50 documentaries. He has been a jury member of Iranian and International Film Festivals including Istanbul’s Silk Road Film Festival, Iranian Young Cinema Film Festival, Student Film Festival of Yarad and Antakya International Film Festival. He is the founder of Iranian Turkish Film weeks and a Head of Ardebil Documentary house. Reza also teaches cinematography.
ISMAYIL IMAN
Ismayil Iman is a writer, playwright and director from Azerbaijan. He is an author of sixteen plays, his filmography consists of nine films most of which were written by him. His works have been included in eleven literary miscellanies published in different countries. Ismayil is a winner of many script contests and has been acting as an expert and jury member at various competitions arranged by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijanfilm studio, and international theatre festivals. Ismayil is a member of the Union of Theatre Workers of Azerbaijan.
KIRSTINE BARFOD
Kirstine Barfod is an EMMY awarded producer who also received a Cinema Eye award for Outstanding Achievement in Production, a Peabody award. She an Academy Award nominee for producing THE CAVE, directed by Oscar-nominated director Feras Fayyad (LAST MEN IN ALEPPO). She has produced and co-produced a dozen feature documentaries and documentary series, including REUNITED, THE MAGIC LIFE OF V and IBRAHIM. She has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2019.
BOGDAN MUREŞANU
Bogdan Mureşanu is a Romanian writer and director born in 1974. As a screenwriter, he won Best Short in the 2008 HBO TIFF scriptwriting competition with The Human Torch which premiered in 2013. He produced and directed his first short film in 2012, based on his own script, Half Shaved. In 2016 his short art film Negruzzi 14 was showcased at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest. In 2018 his fictional short The Christmas Gift travelled the world, winning no less than ten awards in less than six months.
RUFAT HASANOV
Rufat Hasanov is Head of the Audiovisual and Interactive Media Department at the Ministry for Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. After a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Bates College in Lewiston, USA and a Postgraduate Degree in Directing for Cinema & TV from the HCFDS in Moscow, Rufat first worked as an editor for a number of internationally acclaimed projects. He was a CEO of Baku-based “Debut” Film Studios before joining the Ministry for Culture in 2020. He has been involved in several initiatives including the launch of the Azerbaijani Film Commission “Filming Azerbaijan” as well as the establishment of ARKA – Cinema Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan.