JUDGES
Best Feature-Length Documentary
FRANÇOIS SCULIER
Francois Sculier started his career as a film editor in the 80's.
A fortuitous meeting with Joris Ivens and a collaboration with Jean-Daniel Pollet were decisive. Since then he directed short narrative films but especially documentary films that were screened in many festivals and has been an editing trainer at La Femis in Paris, Dok Incubator, Lussas, Cinédoc, Steps.
Francois worked in Europe, Iran, Burkina Faso, Zanzibar, Morocco, and Russia.
ILGAR NAJAF
Ilgar Najaf graduated from Azerbaijan State University of Arts, school of film directing. In 2004 he established the film studio “Buta Film” where he produced a number of films as a producer and director. Ilgar Najaf is a member of European Film Academy and Asia Pasific Film Academy.
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EVA NEYMANN
Born in Zaporozhje/Ukraine, based in Odessa/Ukraine;
graduated as a director at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (2007). Her
feature films and documentaries participated and were awarded at numerous international
film festivals. Her feature debut film At the River had its international premiere at IFFR
Rotterdam 2007. Her second feature film, House with the Turret (2012) received numerous
awards, a.o. Karlovy Vary East of the West Award, Tallinn Back Nights Grand Prix, Istanbul
Audience Award. Her film Song of Songs (2015) premiered at the Karlovy Vary’s official
competition, was nominated for the The Eurimage Audentia Award 2016 and European Film
Academy Award in 2016. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the
Toronto Film Festival, and won among others the Best Film Award and Best Ukrainian Film
Award at the Odessa Festival and the FIPRESCI award in Freibourg, Switzerland.
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YANNIS PALAVOS
Yannis Palavos is a part of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival program team. Yannis studied Journalism and Arts Administration in Thessaloniki and Athens. He joined TDF and TIFF in 2016, with a focus on Balkan cinema and documentary programming. Apart from his work at TDF and TIFF, he is an author and translator, recipient of the Greek National Literature Prize; his books have been translated into several languages, while his work as a translator includes works by William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Charles Dickens.
JUSTIN JAECKLE
Justin Jaeckle is a curator, writer and editor, working in the production, dissemination and critique of contemporary culture, currently based between Lisbon and London.
He is a programmer at Doclisboa International Film Festival, and curates the Architecture on Film season on behalf of the Architecture Foundation and Barbican Centre, London. Jaeckle has diverse independent and institutional curatorial experience, and acts frequently as a collaborator, editor and creative advisor. He has curated programme for and in partnership with Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Design Museum, Royal College of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum, Barbican Art Gallery and Cinema, Auto Italia, Cinemateca Portuguesa and Galeria Municipal do Porto. He has mounted independent artistic projects at venues including IBID, the Serpentine Pavilion, and Auto Italia South East.
