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BARBARA NOLA
Barbara Nola graduated in acting from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. She started acting professionally as a student, at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, where she played Petrunjela in the production Dundo Maroje, directed by Paolo Magelli. She has been part of DK Gavella ensemble since 1993, appearing in numerous roles. She regularly collaborates with independent theatres and has played in many Croatian series and films, including Celestial Body by Lukas Nola.
TIJANA ZINAJIĆ
Tijana Zinajić studied French and Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana and later graduated in Theatre Directing from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television. She works as a theatre director, film director, actress and acting coach and has worked as a casting director for many Slovenian films and series. She has received numerous national and international awards for her work. Her feature debut, Bitch, a Derogatory Term for a Woman, was the most-watched domestic film in Slovenian cinemas.
PJER ŽALICA
Scriptwriter, director, producer, and editor born in Sarajevo, 1964. Professor of directing and scriptwriting at the Academy of Performing Arts Sarajevo. Member of the European Film Academy. His films have screened at many festivals, such as Cannes, Toronto, Locarno, London, and Tribeca NYC. He won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival for Fuse (2003), and more than 50 other awards, including EFA Annual Award Best Documentary, Warsaw Grand Prix, and others.
GORANA JOVANOVIĆ
Gorana Jovanović is a filmmaker from Belgrade. After graduating from the University of Westminster, she worked as a script consultant and writer on several feature and short film projects, before starting to produce her own films. Her 2020 short film, Armadila, was selected for competition programmes of Uppsala, Trieste and Go Short Nijmegen, won the award at Vienna Shorts and the Best Short Film award at Motovun Film Festival, becoming the festival’s EFA Short Film Candidate. Her films have been screened at IDFA, Locarno, Tampere and awarded at Oberhausen and ZINEBI, among others.
ALEN MUNITIĆ
Artistic Director of Kino Mediteran and Mediterranean Film Festival Split (FMFS). He started FMFS in 2008, after 10 years of experience at different Croatian festivals, such as Motovun Film Festival, Zagreb Film Festival, ZagrebDox and Animafest Zagreb. FMFS soon became the highest-attended cultural event in Split. In 2012, he started Kino Mediteran, the project of cinema revival on Croatian islands and in coastal towns where cinemas have been closed for a long time. Kino Mediteran is also a regional distributor with a focus on European independent films. In 2020, he started a VOD platform for arthouse films.
LÉO SEOSANTO
Léo Soesanto is a Paris-based film journalist, festival curator and writer. He is currently the short film competitions curator at Riga International Film Festival in Latvia. He has more than 10 years of experience in festival programming, advising and moderating from Cannes Critics’ Week, International Film Festival Rotterdam or Bordeaux Independent Film Festival, among many events. His writing has appeared in publications such as Libération, Les Inrockuptibles, Vogue, GQ, Premiere, Grazia and the French Cinematheque catalogue. He has been a member of many film festival juries, including Cannes, London, Locarno, Toronto.
LÉO ORTUNO
Léo Ortuno is a journalist and film critic for the online magazine Bande à Part and various TV programs (Arte, Canal+). He is a member of the Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma, where he has served on several juries. Additionally, he curates and programs short films at multiple film festivals in France, including Semaine de la Critique/Cannes Film Festival, Poitiers Film Festival, and Festival de Contis.
THIERRY VERHOEVEN
Thierry Verhoeven has been a film critic since 2009. He is mainly active for FilmTotaal, the largest Dutch film website, but also writes occasionally for Schokkend Nieuws, a bi-monthly magazine on genre cinema. In 2022, he became editor-in-chief of SerieTotaal, where he oversees other people's reviews of television series. Considers himself a cinematic omnivore who knows that quality has nothing to do with age, genre or nationality, but everything to do with craft, creativity and commitment on the part of those involved.
VERONIKA K. ZAJDELA
Veronika K. Zajdela is a TV and radio personality at Slovene National Public broadcaster RTV. She has been immersed in film and theatre for the last 20 years. She has been reporting from film festivals, especially Venice and Cannes, and she has served as a FIPRESCI jury member at 2020 Festival of Slovenian film. She interviews filmmakers at festivals, on film sets and in TV studio, and also records and edits film and film related content for national multilingual radio station RSI. She champions independent, local talent and is vocal about importance of preserving the cinema experience.
