Chairman
International Competition of Feature Films

Born in 1947 in Anshan, Manchuria; moved to Hong Kong as a child. Ms Ann Hui earned a master’s degree in Comparative Literature at The University of Hong Kong and studied filmmaking at the London Film School. Upon her return to Hong Kong she worked in television for four years before turning to feature films in 1979. After her debut work “The Secret”, she went on to make sixteen features including “The Story of Woo Viet” (1981), “Boat People” (1982), “Song of the Exile” (1990), “Summer Snow” (1995), “Ordinary Heroes” (1999), and “The Postmodern Life of My Aunt” (2007), which was screened at Art Film Fest 2008. Ann Hui has become one of Hong Kong’s most prominent and innovative filmmakers. She has also been involved in the production of several films, including Yim Ho’s “The Day the Sun Turned Cold” (1995). Her film „Tin shui wai dik ye yu mo“ (Night and Fog, 2009) is in the programme of this year‘s Art Film Fest.

International Competition of Feature Films

Marek Epstein was born in Prague in 1975. In 1998-2003 he studied screenwriting and dramaturgy at the Faculty of Film at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He finished his studies with “Rhubarb”, which was awarded the Sazka prize for an unrealized screenplay at Czech Lion Awards in 2003, first place at the national round of the international Hartley-Merill Prize screenwriters’ competition and an award at the screenplay competition of the Swiss Literary Fund. The screenplay was filmed in 2005 in a Romanian/Swiss co-production. In fact, Mr. Epstein received the Sazka award for best unrealised screenplay three more times – in 2005 for „Roming“ (filmed in 2007), in 2007 for the second best screenplay „Signal“ and in 2008 for the third best screenplay „Cows“. In 2008 he earned the Elsa Award for the best television screenplay. In addition to the above-mentioned films, more films have been based on his screenplays – „Ryna“ (2005) and „Václav“ (2007), as well as the television series „Poste restante“ (2009).

International Competition of Feature Films

With a PhD in social psychology including a thesis on the impact of images and a position as a journalist and film critic at Radio France International (RFI), since 1991 Shahla Nahid has covered and participated in many national and international film festivals as a film critic, a specialist in Iranian cinema and a jury member. These have included the Moscow IFF in 1999 and the FIPRESCI jury at Cannes 2006. She also has a weekly radio magazine on culture entitled “Silk Road”.

International Competition of Feature Films

Johanna Tomek was born in 1940 in Vienna, Austria. Her multifaceted interests are evidenced by her study of architecture, theatre, German, art history and drama education. She is best known, however, as an actress and a director of films and theatre, fields in which she is very active in Austria as well as abroad. In 1983 with Werner Schönolt she founded Theater m.b.H. (Theatre Ltd.), which she led until 2005. She has acted in films for television such as “Mooneys Wohnwagen” (Mooney’s Caravan, 1970), “Der Jagdgast” (The Hunt Guest, 1978) and “Esch oder Die Anarchie” (Esch or Anarchy, 1979), and she has also appeared in episodes of the serials “Tatort” (1986-1987) and “Kaisermühlen Blues” (1999-2000) as well as the feature films “Die Erben” (The Heirs, 1982), “Die Skorpionfrau” (The Scorpion Woman, 1989) and “Süßes Holz” (Licorice, 1995). Her most recent performance was in the brilliant Austrian comedy “Der Überfall” (The Hold-Up, 2000), which received the Bronze Leopard award at the Locarno IFF.

International Competition of Feature Films

Arben Zharku is an actor and producer from Kosovo. He is the founder and current executive director of the SKENA UP International Students Film and Theatre Festival in Prishtina. He graduated in Acting from the University of Prishtina’s Faculty of Arts in 2004, and in 2009 he graduated from EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs). Alongside his commitment to SKENA UP, since 2003 Arben has also worked as a manager at the Multimedia Centre in Prishtina, which aims to develop contemporary and children’s theatre. As an actor he has performed in a variety of theatre performances and films. As a producer he has been involved in various film productions, attempting to build film infrastructure and making an effort to expand his knowledge by observing film production experts at work. Arben has produced the feature film “Tonight Is Cancelled” and two shorts – “Three Minutes of Solitude” and “Pink River”. He is currently producing three documentaries and one short film.  

International Competition of Short Films

Born in 1976, Delphine Lyner studied Socio-cultural Animation at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and obtained her Executive Master in Arts Administration degree from the University of Zurich. Since 2003 she has been the executive director and since 2007 the president of the Swiss Youth Film Festival. Since 2008, she has been co-director of the International Short Film Festival Winterthur. She has held various advisory positions and has compiled short film programmes for other festivals and cultural events. She is a board member of the „Conférence des festivals“ of Switzerland.

International Competition of Short Films

Born in Montreal in 1964. Since 1985, his films have been selected at more than sixty festivals all over the world. His first feature “Clandestins” (Stowaways, 1997) was included in the official competition at Locarno, where the film won several prizes. His “L’ange de goudron” (Tar Angel, 2001) won the FedEx Award for Best Canadian Film at the 25th Montreal World Film Festival and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 52th Berlinale, in addition to nine nominations at the Jutra Awards and three nominations for the Génie Awards, including the categories of Best Film and Best Director. His latest feature, Délivrez-moi (Free Me, 2006), won the Audience Prize at the Ourense IFF in Spain, as well as the Best Screenplay award at the Brussels International Independent Film Festival. He was the Vice-President of Cinémathèque québécoise (2002-2006). Since 2008, he has been Visiting Professor at the Media School of UQÀM (Université du Québec à Montréal), where he teaches screenwriting and film direction.

International Competition of Short Films

Born in 1976 in Guatemala and raised in Colombia, Japan, and US. After earning a BFA in Art and Media at Tufts University, Hiroyuki started his career working for a Japanese TV production company in New York and gradually steered his career toward the motion picture industry. For three years he has organized the CON-CAN Movie Festival, an online Japanese independent short film festival. Hiroyuki has also produced an experimental documentary short film entitled “Six” with the directorial duo of Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti. The film was premiered at the Locarno IFF in 2009. It won the Grand Prix at the Macau IFF 2009 and was screened at more than twenty international film festivals, including Rotterdam and Tampere. Hiroyuki also works as an artistic editor, and his latest project “Ki-do-ai-raku” (accredited to contemporary artist Jae-Eun Choi) was included in the permanent collection at the National Gallery in Prague in 2008.