INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION JURY

  • Olha Birzul

    Ukraine

    The film curator, author, culture manager, and coordinator of cultural diplomacy projects. She started her career as a journalist and editor of Ukrainian cultural media. In 2009, she joined the team of the Docudays UA International Human Rights Film Festival, working as programmer and coordinator of the Docu/Class educational platform. Additionally, she curated the Docu/Art special programme dedicated to connections between art and cinema. Olha also coordinated cultural diplomacy events and developed the See Ukraine festival project. From 2019 to 2021, she headed the Film Sector at the Ukrainian Institute, a public institution that develops international cultural connections between Ukraine and the world. She creates lectures on history and theory of non-fiction films and offers her expertise to various projects for documentary filmmakers. Since the full-scale Russian invasion, she has been curating film programmes dedicated to Ukraine in Slovakia, Austria, Germany etc. Author of “Your Book About Cinema,” the first Ukrainian non-fiction about cinema for teenagers (“Vydavnytstvo Staroho Leva,” 2024).

  • Laima Grazdanovica

    Latvia

    Laima Grazdanovica divides her work between theory and practice. Since 2019 she is programme director at Riga International Short Film festival 2ANNAS and has been a curator of short films since 2015. She has graduated from theater and film theory studies in Latvian Academy of Culture, and has an MA in Visual Communication at Latvian Academy of Arts. Lately she is working as a guest lecturer teaching about short film history and video art. Her own work focus is researching personal and collective histories through interconnectivity.

  • Illia Diadyk

    Ukraine

    The programmer for the Ukrainian distribution company Arthouse Traffic since 2009. During this time, he has acquired the rights to more than 300 films for further release in Ukraine. Among them are winners of international film festivals and Oscars laureats, including Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer, Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet and 20 Days in Mariupol by Mstyslav Chernov. He has also organized a number of international film festivals, including the Children Film Festival and the Kyiv Critics' Week etc. From 2010 to 2014, he was the program director of the Odesa International Film Festival.

NATIONAL COMPETITION JURY

  • MICHAŁ MARCZAK

    Poland

    Director / Screenwriter / Cinematographer

    Michal is a member of the European Film Academy, The Polish Film Academy, and Cinema Eye Honors in NYC. 

    His latest feature film, All These Sleepless Nights, earned him the Best Director award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and made its way onto numerous top ten movie lists, including those of Rolling Stone Magazine and IndieWire, which recently ranked it among the 100 best films of the decade.

    Marczak's previous documentary, Fuck for Forest, premiered at SXSW and received theatrical distribution in multiple countries. UK’s Dazed and Confused Magazine praised it as one of the “top ten most innovative and genre-pushing docs of recent years.”

    In addition to feature films, Michal directs music videos and has collaborated with artists like Radiohead (“I Promise”, “Identikit”), Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke (“Beautiful People,” which premiered at the Sundance Next Fest in 2020), Artur Rojek, and Brodka. His commercial work includes, among others, films for Coca-Cola, Ikea, Johnny Walker, and Sprite, earning him numerous accolades such as Cannes YDA, Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase, Creative Circle, and UKMVA nominations.

    Michal was also listed as one of the “top ten cinematographers of 2017” according to IndieWire, along with names such as Roger Deakins and Hoyt van Hoytema.

    Four years ago, Michal embraced fatherhood and ventured into writing. He has since written or co-written three feature films:

    Certainly The End of Something, Zap, and an adaptation of A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians written with Dorota Masłowska. He also played a key role in formatting the Polish adaptation of the cult series The Office and contributed as a writer /director to various other television projects. Michal has also created a hit audio series titled Black Romance.

  • Nadja Andrasev

    Hungary

    Nadja Andrasev is an animation filmmaker with an MFA from MOME Budapest. She is an alumna of Animation Sans Frontiéres and the Open Workshop residency. Her films, The Noise of Licking and Symbiosis were screened at numerous festivals and received over fourty awards, including the Joint Third Prize at the Cinéfondation Selection in Cannes, and the Jury Award for Best Animated Short at SXSW. After years of experience in the live action film industry, she is currently a freelance production manager, line producer and director of animated films.

  • Bohdan Zhuk

    Ukraine

    Bohdan Zhuk is director of the SUNNY BUNNY LGBTQIA+ film festival, and a programmer for the Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist, Ukraine’s biggest film event (52nd edition took place in October 2023). Born in Zboriv, Ukraine, in 1989. With education in linguistics and professional background as translator, journalist and radio host, he joined the Molodist team in 2014 as a press attaché (till 2015) and programmer. He programs competition and non-competition sections of Molodist and heads the queer festival Sunny Bunny, which was Ukraine’s oldest regular LGBT+themed event (since 2001) as part of Molodist. In 2023 Sunny Bunny became a standalone event, Ukraine’s first queer film festival, which took place in June 2023. Its second edition was held in April 2024.

    Zhuk also manages international events of Molodist dedicated to Ukrainian films: programs at festivals – Encounters (Bristol, UK), BEAST (Portugal), Jugendfilmtage (Zurich, Switzerland), Soura (Berlin), QueerScope festivals (Germany & Switzerland), image+nation (Montreal, Canada), as well as Ukrainian film days abroad (Munich, London, Paris, Porto, Prague etc.). He also works in the selection team of the BEAST International Film Festival (Porto) and works as freelance translator, in particular translates films for national releases and festival screenings.

    Jury member at Teddy Awards (Berlinale), BEAST IFF (Porto), image+nation (Montreal), TLVFest (Tel-Aviv), Crime & Punishment IFF (Istanbul), Mezipatra QFF (Prague), 2ANNAS Riga Short Film Festival, Lovers Film Festival (Torino), Docudays UA Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (Kyiv).

Ukrainian Film Critics JURY

  • Alyona Shylova

    A journalist, filmmaker and film critic. In her work, she often focuses on feminist critics and female experience. She is the host and creator of the Telegram and YouTube channels “Pidbory Femme Fatale”. She is a member of the Union of Ukrainian Film Critics and the committee of the National Film Critics Award KINOKOLO.

  • Alik Darman

    Film critic, film curator, curator of the Spaska street Film Club. Member of the Union of Ukrainian Film Critics  and the Committee of the National Film Critics Award KINOKOLO.

  • Liudmyla Chyrkova

    Host of the Suspilne Culture TV channel, film journalist.

    She is the author and host of the TV project about Ukrainian cinema, “Liudy Kino”, which aims to promote Ukrainian cinema among the general public, to get to know filmmakers, their works and creative approaches in more depth. Since 2022, she has been working on the project “Kultura na chasi” for Suspilne Culture TV channel: the daily program that provides an overview and analysis of the country's cultural processes in the context of the war.