The juries for the Cinema Salvation, Eastern Vista, Interfaith and NETPAC of the 35th edition of Fajr International Film Festival have been revealed.
On Monday, festival director Reza Mirkarimi announced this year’s names at a press conference in Tehran.
The Cinema Salvation – International Competition jury is:
Florian Gallenberger
Gallenberger was born in Munich in 1972. He was a co-writer and director on Wim Wenders’ project with film students, DIE GEBRÜDER SKLADANOWSKY, which received an award for Best Documentary at the Montreal Film Festival. Besides his film work, Gallenberger is a professor at Munich Film School. His latest film, COLONIA, starring Emma Watson, Daniel Brühl and Michael Nyqvist, shot in different parts of South America and Europe, was screened in Toronto IFF, Zurich IFF and Berlinale.
Jessica Woodworth
Jessica Woodworth was born in 1971 in Washington, United States. She is a film director, screenwriter and producer who grew up in Europe and is based since 2000 in Belgium. Her films have screened in hundreds of festivals including Venice, Cannes, Toronto and Sundance. She has been on several juries including Ghent and Zagreb festivals. She is an advisor for film students at the Royal Academy of Arts in Ghent. Her production company, Bo Films, is located in Ghent, Belgium. She is currently developing two new fiction projects.
Lech Majewski
Lech Majewski is a Polish film and theatre director, writer, poet, and painter. He studied at Krakow Academy of Fine Arts and graduated from the National Film School in Łódź, Poland. His credits include such films as: The Knight, Prisoner of Rio, Gospel According to Harry, The Roe’s Room, Basquiat, Wojaczek, Angelus, The Garden of the Earthly Delights, Glass Lips The Milll & the Cross and Field of dogs. Presented in festivals at Toronto, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Berlin, Venice and Cannes, his films received numerous prizes.
Mieko Harada
Born December 26, 1958 .Mieko Harada is a Japanese actress from Tokyo. Harada most notably portrayed Lady Kaede in Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 film RAN, and further collaborated with him in his 1990 film Dreams.
In addition to being a prolific actress with roles in dozens of movies, Harada won the award for best actress at the 21st Hochi Film Award for Village of Dreams (Yoichi Higashi, 1996 winning the Berlin Silver Bear).
Uberto Pasolini
Uberto Pasolini (born on 1 May, 1957 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian film producer, director, and former investment banker known for producing the 1997 film The Full Monty and directing and producing the 2008 film Machan. Pasolini has worked within the British Film Industry since 1983. He became an independent producer and founded Red Wave Films in 1993.
Fatemah Motamed-Aria
Fatemah Motamed-Aria (born in 1961) is a multi-award-winning Iranian actress. She first got involved in theater during her teen years, and received her degree in theater from Tehran Art Institute. She is one of the most significant actresses of Iranian cinema. She has been nominated nine times for the best actress award at the Fajr International Film Festival and won the Crystal Simorgh four times.
Rasoul Sadrameli
Rasoul Sadrameli was born in December 1954 in Isfahan, Iran. The Managing Director of MILAD FILM began his journalism career while he was just 17, and he collaborated with Etela’at Newspaper as reporter, storywriter and editor of Incident page and then as the Editor of Parliamentary Service. He studied sociology at Paul Valéry university of Montpellier in France. He began his professional activities in the Cinema by production of a film entitled Blood Raining in 1981.
Selecting the best film in the Eastern Vista – Panorama of Films from Asian and Islamic Countries will be:
Hani Lachine
Born in 1951 in Monufia, Egypt, Hani Lachine is a renowned Egyptian filmmaker and actor. A graduate of Cinema from Cairo University, Lachine teaches directing and scriptwriting in the university as well as Pro Step Academy. Winner of numerous national and international awards, Lachine has also served as a member of jury on different occasions most notably in Egypt’s Cinema Syndicate Awards (in 10 editions) and Alexandria film Festival (as President of Jury).
Hamida Omarova
Hamida Omarova was born on April 25, 1957 in Baku, Azerbaijan. She graduated from Moscow Cinematography University (VQIK) and then she continued her interest in Art (cinema, culture, theatre).She has also created some theatre plays and TV shows and programs.
Omirbaev Darezhan Karazhanovich
Omirbaev Darezhan Karazhanovich is a film director, screenwriter and film critic. Graduated from the Mathematics Faculty of the Kazakh State University (1980); Cinematographic, directing faculty VGIK (Master A. Plakhova, 1987(. He Worked as a teacher, programmer and editor at the film studio Kazakhfilm and is the director of the studio Kazakhfilm since 1988.
Zeki Demirkubuz
Zeki Demirkubuz was born in Isparta, Turkey, in 1964. He began his film career as assistant director to Zeki Ökten in 1986, and worked as assistant director for various directors until making Block-C (C Blok, 1994), his first feature film. After this first film, Demirkubuz continued to work as an auteur and independent filmmaker writing his own original screenplays. Film critics and international audiences noticed Demirkubuz with his second film, Innocence (Masumiyet, 1997) which was screened at Venice Film Festival and The Third Page (Üçüncü Sayfa, 1999) which was screened at several festivals in Turkey and Europe, including Locarno and Rotterdam.
Kamal Tabrizi
Kamal Tabrizi (born in 1959) is an Iranian film director. He was born in Tehran, with his parents having moved there from Tabriz. He is known for The Lizard (2004), Leily Is with Me (1996) and Tabagheye hasas (2014).
The Interfaith Competition jury includes:
Michał Legan
Michał Legan was born on July 24, 1979 in Zielona Góra, Poland. He is a theologian, a filmologist, a TV producer, the author of the theological interpretation of Andrei Tarkowski’s work Balthasar/Tarkowski. Theodrama in film as well as of the philosophical interpretation of Krzysztof Zanussi’s work Wojtyla/Zanussi. Personalism in film. He is the Head of the Theology of Media Institute at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow.
Katia Malatesta
Katia Malatesta graduated in Conservation of Cultural Heritage and she received her PhD in History of the Visual Arts from the University of Pisa. Katia Malatesta is the Artistic Director of an Italian Festival called Religion Today Film Festival. Since 1997, Religion Today has been the foremost international film festival dedicated to promoting peace and dialogue between different cultures.
Hojatollah Ayoubi
Hojatollah Ayoubi, born 1963, is the former head of Iran’s Cinema Organization, as well as the President of ECO Cultural Institute. He has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Lyon 2 in France. He had also held the position of Iran’s cultural attaché in Paris.
The NETPAC jury is:
Anne Demy-Geroe
Anne Démy-Geroe is a film programmer and scholar with a PhD in the area of Iranian cinema. She lectures on Asia Pacific Cinema at Griffith Film School and is a co-Director of the Iranian Film Festival Australia. She is a Vice President of NETPAC, the Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema, and involved with the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Rolando B. Tolentino
Rolando B. Tolentino is faculty of University of the Philippines Film Institute and former dean of the UP College of Mass Communication.
He is a member of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino Film Critics Group), Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND-UP), and Altermidya (People’s Alternative Media Network).
Houshang Golmakani
Houshang Golmakani is an iranian journalist, film critic and director. He was born in Gorgan on March 23, 1954. He is one of the three founders of Film (Iranian magazine), the oldest post-revolutionary film magazine in Iran. Houshang Golmakani is also a writer and a director. He directed a documentary about the life and works of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, STARDUST-STRICKEN; Mohsen Makhmalbaf: A Portrait (1996). He writes books about cinema and translates screenplays.
For all festivalgoers who are already planning their visit, check screening time and other information at Fajriff.com or email the Secretariat at Film@Fajriff.com.
Presided over by Reza Mirkarimi, the 35th edition of Fajr International Film Festival will take place from 21 to 28 April in Tehran.
