Archive Cinema City 2011.
Philippe Azoury
Philippe Azoury, born in 1971, is a film critic, mainly for the french daily Libération since 1999. He also writes about Books and Photography for the french weekly Les Inrockuptibles, and makes some collaborations with Vogue, Cahiers du Cinéma, GQ, Nobody (Japan), Trafic... He's the co-founder of Discipline in Disorder, a blog about books, and one of the unfamous guys behind the electronic music blog Alainfinkielkrautrock. This last decade, he published several books: Jean Cocteau, Désordres (Cahiers du Cinéma), Fantômas, Style Moderne (Yellow Now), Stigma (in collaboration with Antoine D'Agata). This year, he published the book À Werner Schroeter qui n'avait pas peur de la mort (Capricci). He's long-time working on a monography about Philippe Garrel.
Sharunas Bartas/ President of the Jury
Sharunas Bartas, film director and actor, was born in 1964, in Siauliai, Lithuania. He graduated film directing at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow (VGIK) in 1991. In 1989 he founded the Studio Kinema, the first independant film studio in Lithuania. The purpose of the foundation of Studio Kinema was clear: it was to create an environment for the making of films free of any form of commercial censorship or violence, and one which allowed original authorship without creative interference. Bartas is one of the most outstanding European contemporary film directors. His films have been shown at Cannes, Venice and Berlin, among many other international film festivals. He is the subject of one of this year’s Cinema City tributes.
Jan Cvitkovič
Archaeologist, screenwriter, director, actor, poet.
Eva Hubert
Eva Hubert is the Executive Director of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein. Having studied politics, history and pedagogy in Hamburg, Eva Hubert worked for several years as a teacher and was elected into the Hamburg state assembly as a member of the Green Party. For eight years she has been working at the Hans-Bredow-Institute doing media research.
Her responsibilities included the publication of the "International Handbook for Radio and Television". Eva Hubert is a member of the European Film Academy and holds several honorary posts in Hamburg.
Beki Probst
Beki Probst is head of the European Film Market since 1988. Born in Istanbul, she studied law and journalism before joining the daily newspaper Tercuman and the weekly newspaper Hayat.
From 1981 to 1988 Beki Probst was the Berlin International Film Festival's delegate for Turkey and Greece. In 1985 she organized a tradeshow for the Locarno International Film Festival. She also served on Locarno's Selection Board until 1995.
In 1988 Beki Probst became director of the "Film Fair" of the Berlin International Film Festival. She renamed the section "Film Fair" into European Film Market. Under her management the European Film Market was established as one of the biggest and most important international film fairs. In 1992 Beki Probst was decorated as “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” by French Cultural Minister.
Exit Point - the jury
Dorota Kędzierzawska/ President of the Jury
Dorota Kędzierzawska was born in 1957 in Polish town of Łódź. Her mother, filmmaker Jadwiga Kędzierzawska, directed children’s films and took her daughter along οn various shoots, exposing her to the world of film and using her as an assistant when she got older.
Her first university degree was in Cultural Studies from the University of Łódź; subsequently, she studied Film at the Gerasimov Institute in Moscow and then attended the Łódź Film School from 1981 to 1985, where she also directed her first films. She made four shorts before her first feature, both fiction and documentaries. Her unique brand of cinema mainly focuses on the lives and experiences of underprivileged children and women.
Sergey Lavrentiev
Sergey Lavrentiev began his career as a theatre actor in the 1970’s. He graduated the VGIK. During the perestroika he went on to become a leading film critic, known as one of the founders of the new wave in Soviet film criticism.
Sergey has written for numerous publications including Sovietsky Ecran, Iskusstwo Kino, and Kultura. After his article "Never ending story" (1987), Soviet censorship stopped to cut foreign films in national distribution. Since 1999, Program Director of two festivals – the IFF “Faces of Love” in Moscow and the Sochi IFF, and starting from 2001 the Program Director of Children FF “Kinotavrik” in Sochi.
Ana Maria Rossi
Ana Maria Rossi, a film and TV director. Graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. She worked on television for years, setting up and directing numerous shows, some of which are still broadcast. She has made documentaries, promotional films, commercials. She worked in marketing as well.
She directed the Serbian part of the film Some Other Stories, first shown last year at Cinema City, premiering internationally in Taormina. After that, it was shortlisted for and programmed at over thirty festivals. The feature has won five awards.
Igor Sterk
Igor Sterk was born in 1968. He graduated at Ljubljana Film Academy. His first feature film Express, Express (1997) won 15 international awards. His second feature film Ljubljana (2002) was selected for the Tiger Award Competition at Rotterdam International Film Festival.
His third feature film Tuning had its world premiere in competition at Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2005. The film received the award for best feature film at Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival. His short film Every Breath You Take (2008) was selected for competition in Venice. His last film 9:06 won 9 awards at the Slovenian Film Festival in 2009, including best picture of the year. It has won three international awards.
Visar Vishka
Visar Vishka is an actor. He graduated at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skoplje in 1999 in the class of Ljubiša Georgievski. He has starred in many films and tv series, including Balkan Bazaar, selected in the “Balkan Box” programme of this year’s Cinema City.
He has been Councillor to the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia for Film activities in 2007. He worked as selector of the 33rd and 34th MOT International Theater Festival, Skopje, Macedonia (2008-2009). Visar Vishka has hosted two pop music festivals – Nota Fest in 2003 and 2004; and Mikrofoni i Arte in 2005.
Up to 10.000 bucks - the jury
Nikola Ljuca
He was born on October 22, 1985, in Belgrade. He graduated from the Classic department of Language High School. Senior student of film directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, under Slobodan Šijan and Stefan Arsenijević. He speaks English and Italian. With the short film Thursday he received the first prize in the selection “Up to 10 000 Bucks” at Cinema City in Novi Sad 2010. After that, the film was programmed at over 10 domestic and international festivals, winning awards for the camera and acting in Montreal, Canada and the award for Best Director in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently working on his first feature film Humidity, with which he participated in the Script Station selection of Berlin Film Festival and in the CineLink, the co-production market at Sarajevo Film Festival.
Vladimir Paskaljevic
Vladimir graduated film directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade (2000). Since then, he wrote, edited and directed a notable series of TV documentaries about the integration of Gypsy children into Serbian society. His student short film Dolphins are Mammals (1997) won several international awards, including a FIPRESCI special mention at Montreal, Canada. Vladimir Paskaljević is the author of the acclaimed novel BDSM, on paradoxes in civil war and an absurd of growing nationalism, and a book of short stories called The Optimists (2006). His father, Goran Paskaljević, made an award winning film based on the same book. Devil’s Town (2009) is his feature debut film. It was premiered at Karlovy Vary IFF, Rotterdam IFF, Montreal WFF and won awards in Palm Springs IFF, Trieste IFF, Bellinzona IFF, Athens Panorama of European Films, among others.
Damir Todorovic
Damir Todorović graduated acting from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, under Petar Banićević. He is involved in various areas of stage expression: acting, video art, directing, performance. In 2006, thanks to the world acclaimed casting director Shaila Rubin, he started his international film career. Films in which he has played significant roles to the date are: Anthony, Warrior of God (2006), The Nativity Story (2006), Splendid's (2004), Fade to Black (2006), Butterfly Zone (2009) and Tatanka (2011), currently playing in Italian cinemas, based on Roberto Saviano's latest book, Beauty and Hell. Damir also has wide experience in theatrical performance. Since 2001, he has collaborated with numerous theater companies in Serbia, Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Macedonia and the UK.
