Jury
Isabelle DANEL
International jury 2022
Born in France in 1962, Isabelle Danel has been a journalist and critic specialized in cinema since 1982. She worked in Télérama, L’Événement, Rolling Stone, Première and is currently writing for Bande-à-part.fr and L’Éléphant. For the last three years she was part of the radio show about series : Une heure en séries on France Inter. She published several books : En haut des marches le cinéma, Conversation avec Robert Guédiguian, Marilyn Monroe de A à Z. Former president of the SFCC, french association of Cinema Critics (2013/2019), she is, since may 2018, the president of the FIPRESCI.
Adam PAZERA
International jury 2022
Adam Pazera graduated from sociology, and also has an academic background in film studies. Since the 1980’s he worked on various fields connected to cinema and films. He was the a moderator of a film discussion club (operating at the Silesian University in Katowice), the director of the Filmmaker Club – Silesian Film Association, and also the manager of cult Cinema „Światowid” in Katowice. As a culture animator he has been the promoter of many film events, and participated at several international film festivals (Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Miskolc) and film conferences. He is also the co-founder of local and foreign film festivals. Adam works as a columnist for local and national newspapers, with a focus on festival and international conferences reports and film reviews, but he also appears in radio with his festival reviews.
Balázs ZACHAR
International jury 2022
Balázs Zachar following a fifteen-year long practice in film and media law, and being the legal director of the Hungarian Film Fund, started working as a producer in 2018. Since then he worked on several projects with Proton Cinema. He produced numerous short films, among which BREAK (dir: Levente Kölcsey) premiered in Locarno in 2020. In 2021 his first feature as producer, WILD ROOTS, directed by Hajni Kis premiered in Karlovy Vary IFF, won several international festival awards and also received the Hungarian Film Award. He is a graduate of EAVE Producers’ Workshop of 2018.
dr. Sándor TAKÓ
International jury 2022
Hungarian Cinema Award-winning producer, film director, lawyer, university lecturer. He is the producer of the first Netflix-distributed Hungarian film series, A martfűi rém. Head of the FilmHungary film production agency, author, editor and publisher of several books on film. He is a Hungarian Academy of Arts Fellow and a member of the National Film Board’s Age Rating Committee.
Éva DARABOS
International jury 2022
Éva Darabos is a Hungarian animation artist graduated from the animation department of MOME in 2019. Her graduation film Bye Little Block! won several international and national awards, including Best Design at OIAF 2020, Best Short at KAFF 2021 and Cinemira 2021, and it was the CineNewWave category winner at Cinefest 2021. She adores all motion picture techniques and she enjoys watching films of every genre. Besides developing her new film idea she works as a freelance animation artist and also started a group called HEN with former classmates.
Gábor MURAY
International jury 2022
He graduated from the Péter Pázmány Catholic University, Faculty of Humanities with a specialization in film history. He is a journalist, an editor and photographer. He used to run the cultural column of weekly newspapers Magyar Nemzet and Mandiner. Since the first festival, he has been happy to visit CineFest, several times as member of the jury. He is taking part in the work of the Content Rating Commitee of the National Film Office of Hungary. Most recently, he was in charge of the rethinking and restructuring of Magyar Krónika, and is still the magazine’s editor-in-chief.
Gábor OSGYÁNI
International jury 2022
Gábor Osgyáni is a cultural anthropologist and regional development expert. He has been making documentary films for 20 years. His films usually focus on understanding and mitigating social differences. In addition, he is primarily engaged in the visual interpretation and the memorial culture of the fatal cataclysms of 20th century Hungarian history. He is the director, co-creator, producer and production manager of multiple festival award-winning works.
Gerhard MIDDING
Fipresci jury 2022
Gerhard studied journalism, literature, dramatic arts and art history in Münster and Berlin. As a free-lance film journalist based in Berlin, he covers world cinema for numerous publications in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, notably daily and weekly newspapers (among them „Die Welt“, „Berliner Zeitung“, „falter“, „Freitag“) film magazines („epd film“, „Ray“) as well as the online edition of „Die Zeit“. He also runs a blog „epd film“: He has a special interest in film history and would really love to discover the lost Emeric Pressburger film „I’d rather have cod-liver oil“ one day.
Gregor JANEŽIČ
International confederation of art cinemas jury 2022
Gregor Janežič works as a programmer in Kulturni dom Cerknica. His responsibility consists of taking care of education film programmes, young audience development and carefully selected film program. He has been a part of the Europa Cinemas jury in Karlovy Vary. He also actively participates in the Slovenian Art Cinema Association
Greta AKCIJONAITE
International jury 2022
Greta Akcijonaite is Lithuanian cinema entrepreneur. She has diverse experience from arthouse cinema and various festivals founder to distribution company Greta Garbo Films owner and, finally, a producer. Educated as film director and culture manager, G.Akcijonaite has started her career as a manager of cinema Skalvija, later opened a private arthouse cinema Pasaka (Vilnius) and eventually a boutique cinema Kino Deli, where she combined cinematic and gourmet experiences. With a strong focus on innovative tools for audience development, Greta was the founder of international project European Film Challenge.
György LUKÁCSY
International jury 2022
He graduated from Pázmány Péter Catholic University majoring in aesthetics. He also attended the Faludi Ferenc Academy, the Jesuit Order’s adult education institute, where he studied film history and aesthetics. For ten years he worked as a film critic for Heti Válasz, published studies and was a regular expert for the cultural channels of public television. In 2018, he co-authored and edited the book Csíksomlyói Passió, published by MMA Publishing House. He is the editor and scriptwriter of several documentaries and online series. Since 2018, she has been a literary collaborator at the National Theatre. Festival director of the Hungarian Cinema Festival.
Inês GIL
International ecumenical jury 2022
Inês Gil teaches film and photography at the Lusófona University in Lisbon. She published her PhD thesis in 2005, on “Cinematographic Atmosphere“. She directs documentaries and video installations, often related to spirituality. Her last project (in pre-production) is about a family in the Azores who has to raise her teen triplets. She started to participate in SIGNIS and Ecumenical Juries in 2010 (Venice) and participated in numerous International Film Festivals since.
Judit Anna MOLNÁR
Fipresci jury 2022
Born in Budapest in 1982. After graduating from high school, she first attended the journalism program at MÚOSZ, then graduated from ELTE in Film Theory and Aesthetics. She worked in cultural television programs, films, as a communication specialist in cinemas, at film festivals and for film associations. She wrote and edited the film portal magyar.film.hu for nearly eight years and currently works as a freelancer.
Kinga SZŰCS
International ecumenical jury 2022
Kinga Szűcs is an assistant professor at the Department of Religious and Social Sciences of the Lutheran Theological University. Kinga obtained her first Master’s degree at the Hungarian-German Department of Eötvös Lóránd University (ELTE), where she also had the opportunity to delve into film and theatre studies through her personal interest. She earned her next Master’s degree from the Central European University (CEU) in history, and then pursued her studies at the Lutheran Theological University, where she graduated with a master’s degree in theology in 2014, majoring in social ethics. She received her doctorate in 2021, is a member of the Ararat Creation Care Working Group and is responsible for communications at the European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN).
Klára BUZOGÁNY
International jury 2022
Klára Buzogány graduated with a master in journalism in 2004 from the Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where one of her teachers „cut up” her way of thinking about movies with Buñuel’s Le chien andalou. After a couple of detours at local newspapers and radios, she became a crew member at the then in-print, now online, Transylvanian Hungarian-language Filmtett magazine. From 2009 to 2017 she was editor-in-chief at Filmtett, since 2019 she works here as a news editor and permanent autor. Since 2004 she is one of the organizers of Filmtett’s summer filmmaking workshop and Filmtettfeszt Hungarian Film Days held in 15 Transylvanian cities.
Michal NOHEJL
International jury 2022
After graduating from Zlín film school, Michal Nohejl was accepted to the directing department at FAMU where he studied under Věra Chytilová. He shot a number of short student films. His graduation film “Fobie” (Phobia) was selected for the Panorama of Young European Film at Febiofest 2007. Since 2006, he has worked as commercial director. He is a part of the directing duo Mods who quickly became some of the most promising local commercial directors. Many of his commercials and music videos were awarded at both local and international festivals. He also worked as actor in Czech film “Poupata” or theater play “Why does Mr. R. run AMOK” based on Fassbinder’s film at MeetFactory in Prague. His feature film “Okupace” (Occupation) was in 2022 awarded the “Czech Film Critics Award” and “Czech Lions Award” as the best film of the year.
Monica NALDI
International confederation of art cinemas jury 2022
Monica Naldi has a Phd in art history and attended the Milan’s public school of cinema. In 2012 she started to work with Paola Corti managing Cinema Beltrade, the one-screen theatre at risk of closure in Milan and two other cinemas in the outskirts of the city. Their work, particularly in Cinema Beltrade, has a focus on independent movies and documentaries, with attention at sharing social and cultural values. During the closure of cinemas in 2020/21, she contributed to a number of projects aimed at maintaining the connection with the audience, and at creating a network between independent cinema operators.
Piotr SZCZYSZYK
International confederation of art cinemas jury 2022
Head of Film Department – Kino Pałacowe, ZAMEK Culture Centre. He got Master’s Degree in Film Studies and Media Culture at University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań. As a film critic, he cooperates with several Polish film magazines. He is pre-selector of New Horizons IFF in Wrocław and chief of program of OFF CINEMA IDFF in Poznań. He was member of Jury at the Belinale Forum 2018. Since 2020, he has been head of film department and manager of Pałacowe cinema in Poznań.
Prof. Dr. Zita HORVÁTH
International jury 2022
Prof. Dr. Zita Horváth was born in Zalaegerszeg on 17th June 1970. She studied at Miklós Zrínyi Secondary Grammar School in Zalaegerszeg, and spent two years at the Zala County Archives after graduation from there. In 1997, she obtained a university degree with excellence at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Miskolc, majoring was history. She obtained her PhD degree in 2001 and her doctoral habilitation in 2016. Climbing the corporate ladder, from 1999 to 2020, from assistant lecturer she became a professor. Former head of department, vice-dean, dean, general vice-rector, then deputy state secretary for 3 years at the request of Dr. László Palkovics, state secretary. Rector of the University of Miskolc as of 1st August 2020.
Raphaela SCHMID
International jury 2022
Raphaela Schmid is a writer-director based in Vienna, Austria. She studied Philosophy in Vienna, Berlin and São Paulo before entering the Filmakademie Wien, where she is studying screenwriting and directing. Her films were screened at numerous national and international film festivals, e.g Sarajevo Film Festival, Viennale and Filmfest Gent. Her latest film FISH LIKE US (2020) was awarded Best Short Film at the Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival 21’, received the Best Short Film Award at Diagonale 20’, as well as the Jury Prize and Audience Award at Vienna Shorts 20’ and was furthermore nominated for the Austrian Film Award 21’. Currently, Raphaela is developing her first feature film.
Susanne BIRCK
International ecumenical jury 2022
Susanne Birck studied Cultural Sciences and received a university degree as Magistra Artium. During her studies, her main subject was film history. Her Master thesis is about the US-American Western movies by John Ford. She works at a district administration in northern Germany as a project manager for cross-border German-Danish co-operations. As a freelance journalist, she regularly attends the Nordic Film Days Lübeck in order to write film reviews and do interviews with filmmakers (published in an online magazine). Highlight in her journalist career was definitely to interview the Finnish filmmaker Klaus Härö.
Szonja SZABÓ
International jury 2022
Szonja is a European writer and film director living and working in Budapest, Hungary. She was born in 1983. She has written and directed several short films and documentaries, many of which have been screened at international film festivals worldwide. She has directed popular TV-series along with music videos in Hungary. Regardless of the genre she works on, she is always very passionate about and dedicated to her projects. Her stories always focus on the depiction of the soul and the specific human interests behind all actions. Her visual perception is unique and the general atmosphere of her films is determined by her strong pictorial rendition.
Viera LANGEROVÁ
Fipresci jury 2022
Film critic, lecturer and scriptwriter. She studied film and theater theory at the Academy of Arts (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Cultural Studies at Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic). She worked as an editor in Slovak and Czech periodicals. After living in Kazakhstan and Pakistan she did her dissertation on Asian film. She is the author of the books Film Geography: Continental China, Hongkong, Taiwan and the travelog book Urdu, Purdah, Burka. Five years in Pakistan. She works as a programmer for IFF Art Film Fest in Košice, Slovakia. Member of Slovak Club of Film Journalists.
Zoltán NEVELŐS
International ecumenical jury 2022
Zoltán Nevelős graduated in Hungarian and English literature and linguistics at the university in Szeged. He made documentary programmes at Duna Televízió’s Religion Department. As a programme manager he joined the channel’s Film Department, continuing in the Film Department of joined public media MTVA. He served as editor of DVD Est Extra magazine between 2001 and 2005. He translated dozens of feature films for dubbing. For many years he was advisor and catalogue editor for Titanic Budapest Filmfest. His articles on film were published mainly in Filmvilág magazine.
