Juries

33rd FilmFestival Cottbus 2023

International Festival Jury

Nana Janelidze is a scriptwriter, film and stage director and producer. She also worked as music compiler and as a playwright and stage director at the theatre and she is the author of two books about famous Georgian filmmakers. In 1999 Nana Janelidze established her own production company “N&N Studio”. Nana Janelidze held the position of the Director of the Georgian National Film Centre (GNFC) from 2013 till 2016. Upon completion of her term as a Director of the Georgian National Film Centre (GNFC), Nana Janelidze became actively involved in her profession of film directing. Her last film is IARE LIZA (Liza, go on) – shown at this years FFC SECTION SPECTRUM.

Avelina Prat is a writer and director currently living in Spain. She studied architecture and worked as an architect for several years before turning to film. As a screenwriter, she has worked on more than thirty feature films and has also written and directed short films and documentaries. Her first feature film VASIL (ES/BU 2022) premiered at the Warsaw Film Festival and is screening in the Spectrum section.

Grzegorz Stępniak is the artistic director of the film festival Mastercard OFF CAMERA. He holds a PhD in Humanities, his dissertation explores queer implications of childhood, adulthood and age in American performance art and cinema. He also holds degrees in Theatre Studies, Drama, and Film and Performance Studies.

Short Film Jury

Thomas Drechsel was discovered as a teenager at school and made his acting debut at the age of 12 in the feature film SUMO BRUNO. He received his first major role in the feature film NAPOLA - ELITE FÜR DEN FÜHRER (2004). In 2006 he then played the young Bruno in ELEMENTARTEILCHEN, who is portrayed in adulthood by Moritz Bleibtreu. Drechsel gained even more fame in the German soap GUTE ZEITEN, SCHLECHTE ZEITEN through his role of Max 'Tuner' Krüger, whom he has embodied since April 2009.

Franziska Gärtner scouts stories, cinema features and new talents as a Development Producer in Berlin at X Filme as well as X Verleih. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Film and TV studies. Curious about shorter formats, commercial and international producing, she began working for Tony Petersen Film and was part of creating the sub-label Little Big Bang. She was then a participant of the one-year masterclass for up-and-coming producers Atelier Ludwigsburg Paris at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, la Fémis in Paris and the National Film and Television School in London. Within that year she started developing and producing projects independently with other creatives.

Originally from Kazakhstan, Yuliya Kim is a producer based in Paris. She started her career in 2011 at Kazakhfilm as an international cooperation manager and was involved in the Eurasia Film Festival.  In 2015, she founded East Wind Production to drive international collaborations and co-productions with Kazakhstan. Yuliya's collaborations notably include films by Darezhan Omirbayev (LAST SCREENING, 2022, Page XX), Yerlan Nurmukhambetov (HORSE THIEVES. ROADS OF TIME, 2019), Farkhat Sharipov (SCHEME, 2022). Since 2019, Yuliya is Executive Director of the Almaty Film Festival and Artistic Director of the POST SPACE international film camp.

U18 Jury

Students of grade 12 of the Lower Sorbian Grammar School:

Lilli Zander, 17 years old: In the subject "Sorbian Journalism" we focus on the production of short films, which awakened and strengthened my interest in this area. It is therefore a great honour for me to be part of the jury for the U18 competition of the Cottbus Film Festival this year.

Maja Melcher, 17 years: In my free time I play volleyball and I also like watching films and series. I am very happy that I can take part in this year's film festival in Cottbus and I am also very excited about the different films!

Nico Wiesner, 17 years old: I play the piano in my free time. As I also like to go to the cinema and watch a lot of films, I am very happy to be a part of the U18 jury.

Dialog Jury

Sinta Weisz she took her first steps in moderation at Onyx TV, Chaîne Voyage and Rfm TV (in Cologne and Paris) while studying political science. Sinta discovered her love of acting in a short film co-produced by Oliver Stone. After that, she appeared in the action series "Alarm für Cobra 11", the literary adaptation "Liebe ist nur ein Wort" and the cinema comedy "Unter Frauen", among others. She is currently working on her first screenplay for a feature film. Sinta's second love is still presenting, for example for a large cosmetics manufacturer and an energy company.

Beata Dzianowicz has directed numerous documentaries, theatre productions, musicals and two feature films. She graduated from the University of Silesia in Katowice with a Master's degree in Polish Literature (1993) and a PhD in Film Directing (2012). Since 2008 she has been a lecturer in film directing at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School at the University of Silesia. Her award-winning documentary "Kites" - shot in Afghanistan - won, among others, the prestigious Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique at the 61st Locarno Film Festival (2008). "Shreds" received the Best Debut or Second Film Award at the 47th Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdynia, the Best Screenplay Award at the 38th Warsaw International Film Festival, the Golden Teeth Award for the "most interesting film" in Chicago, the Grand Prix at the Kozzi Film Festival in Zielona Góra and was nominated for an award by the Association of Polish Directors. Grzegorz Przybył and Michał Żurawski were awarded acting prizes for the film.

Vlad Petri is a director interested in political and social issues, often mixing personal images with archive footage. His films, which straddle the line between documentary and fiction, have been screened and awarded at international festivals. His first documentary, “Where are you Bucharest?" premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. His second feature film, "Between Revolutions", premiered in the Forum section of the Berlinale, where it won the prestigious FIPRESCI award. In addition to his feature films, he has also made short films that have been shown and won awards at various festivals.

Debut jury - members from the award-giving institutions BTU and Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

Alice Palchetti, Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf and director of the trailer of the 33rd FFC

Prof. Christer Petersen,  Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg: Lehrstuhl Angewandte Medienwissenschaften

Dr. Verena Issel, BTU, Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg: Lehrstuhl für Bildende Kunst

FIPRESCI Jury

Giuseppe Sedia is an Italian journalist who lives and works in Poland. He is a reporter for the Italian daily Il Manifesto and former editor of the Krakow Post. An accredited Tomatometer critic, he maintains the website and film archive Kino Mania (kino-mania.net), dedicated exclusively to Polish cinema. His articles and essays on film and visual arts have appeared in several magazines in Italy and abroad (Cineforum, Film International, Sentieri Selvaggi). He has been a member of FIPRESCI since 2013 and has sat on the jury of several international film festivals.

Angelo Mitchievici ist derzeit Professor (PhD Habil.) an der Fakultät für Literaturwissenschaften der Universität "Ovidius" in Constanta, wo er vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft unterrichtet. Seit 2010 ist er Mitglied des rumänischen Schriftstellerverbands USR, des rumänischen Filmemacherverbands UCIN und des Internationalen Verbands der Filmkritiker FIPRESCI. Er ist außerdem Mitglied der RAAS (Rumänischer Verband für Amerikastudien), Filmkritiker und stellvertretender Redakteur der România literară, der renommiertesten rumänischen Literaturzeitschrift, sowie der Zeitschrift Ex Ponto. 

Katrin Hillgruber studied Modern German Literature, Theatre Studies and the History of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe in Hamburg and Munich before working as a trainee at the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and spending six years as a staff writer for the "Tagesspiegel" feature section in Berlin. Since 2002, she has worked as a freelance cultural journalist and literary and film critic for Deutschlandradio, "Tagesspiegel", FAZ and artechock, among others. Frequent trips to Eastern Europe, most recently in September `23 with the "Bridge of Paper" (www.paperbridge.de) to Ushhorod in Ukraine. Since 2015, programme work for the Munich festival filmPOLSKA and its successor, the Mittel Punkt Europa Filmfest (www.mittelpunkteuropa.eu).

Ecumenical Jury

Beáta Kézdi (*1982) is journalist and the editor in chief of the website and the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary. She studied from 2001-2009 at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University Communication, Hungarian Literature and Pedagogy. She has been working as a reporter for Petőfi Radio from 2005-2006 and as a project manager in a Development Education Program of the Hungarian Interchurch Aid from 2008-2010, then from 2010 as a journalist, editor and theatre critic of the website of the Hungarian weekly called Heti Válasz. Moreover, she is a member of the newly founded Interfilm Hungary. Was a member of the Ecumenical Jury at Cinefest, Miskolc and Molodist, Kyjev.

Dr. Brigitta Rotach (* 1958) is a historian of comperative religion and cultural journalist. She was editor of "Sternstunde Religion" (SRF) for many years and programme director at the "Haus der Religionen-Dialog der Kulturen" in Bern. Since May 2023, she has been co-presi[1]dent of the Jewish Liberal Community (JLG) in Zurich. She is a founding member of "SERET" and "Yesh! News from the Jewish Film World" and on the board of INTERFILM Switzerland. She has served on the Ecumenical Jury at the Locarno Film Festival in 1998 and 2006 and on the Interfaith Juries in Nyon in 2010 and 2014 and Leipzig in 2017.

Jury of the Long Night of the Short Lusatians

Luisa Nawka, musician and filmmaker (studies sound at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)

Sophie Bock, Actress Staatstheater Cottbus

Sylke Laubenstein-Polenz, Stiftung für das sorbische Volk