Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Head of the Jury, Iran).
Film director, writer, editor, and producer. He is currently the president of Asian Film Academy.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf was born in southern Tehran on May 29, 1957. Before the Iranian Revolution he was shortly associated with militant opposition groups while he was only 15 year old. Нe was jailed at the age of 17 for more than 4 years, and was let out of jail only after the revolution when he was 21 year old. After the revolution he abandoned politics and became a writer and filmmaker of the post-revolutionary Iran. His literary activities included research into the arts, novels, short stories and screenplays that were published 27 books in Farsi and other languages.
As script writer he wrote in 1981 the screenplay for “Towjeeh” directed by Manuchehr Haghaniparast. In 1982 he wrote the screenplay for “Marg Deegari” directed by Mohamad Reza Honarmand. He made his first film “Tobeh Nosuh” in 1983. Among his famous cinema works are “Boycott” (1985), “The Cyclist” (1987), “Time of Love” (1991), “Gabbeh” (1996), “Kandahar” (2001).
“Boycott” is set in pre-revolutionary Iran. The movie tells the story of a young man named Valeh (Majid Majidi) who is sentenced to death for his communist tendencies. It is widely believed that the movie is based on Makhmalbaf’s own experiences. Mohsen Makhmalbaf creates a spare and deeply affecting portrait of human despair, exploitation, and resilience in “The Cyclist” (1987).The movie is about Nasim, a poor Afghan refugee in Iran, who is in desperate need of money for his ailing wife. Finally Nasim agrees to ride a bicycle in a small circle for one week straight in return for the money he needs to pay his wife’s medical bills. “Time of Love” (1991) is Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s ninth feature film and the first film of what he calls his "third period". It is a romantic trilogy that offers three variations of the same story.
Makhmalbaf directed “Gabbeh” in 1996. The film follows the nomadic Ghashghai people, whose bright, bold carpets tell stories. The main yarn features a young woman who loves a mysterious stranger, but is forbidden to marry him. Makhmalbaf attempts to follow the carpet idea by making his film dreamily romantic and non-realistic. Events seem to leap around in time and space, much like a dream. “Kandahar” (2001) is a fictional odyssey inspired by a true story. It is Makhmalbaf's look at Afghanistan before September 11^th, as the Taliban's laws strip women of civil rights and hope, and a Western-cultured Afghan woman returns to prevent her sister's suicide during the last eclipse of the 20th century.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf is known not only for his cinema career. He also taught cinema for years in his film school. Today he lives with his family in Kabul, where he is helping to build schools and hospitals. He has also assisted an Afghan director to produce a movie.

 

Grazina Arlickaite (Lithuania)
Head of Vilnius Film Festival; Member of European Film Academy

Grazina Arlickaiteis a member of European Film Academy, Artistic director of Nordic Film Forum SCANORAMA, director of Public Institution Kino Aljansas. She is also a film researcher, lector in Lithuania Music and Theatre Academy on the Cinema and theatre faculty.

 

Moritz de Hadeln
Director and founder of the Nyon Documental film festivals (1969-1980), director of the Locarno International Film Festival (1972-1977), director of the Berlin International Film Festival (1980-2001), director of the Venice Film Festival (2002-2003).

Born in 1940 in Exeter, England, de Hadeln's European family background provided him with a unique education in the Arts. After freelancing as a photographer, de Hadeln was given the opportunity to direct his first documentary “Le Pele” (1963). Followed several years of work with cinematographer Ernest Artaria. In 1967, de Hadeln directed his second film “Ombres et Mirages” and during this same period, worked as a film editor in Zurich together with Yves Allegret and as assistant director at CCC Film Studios in Berlin.
Moritz de Hadeln has been director of the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival from 1969 to 1979 and director of the Locarno International Film Festival from 1972 to 1979. In 1979, de Hadeln was invited to direct the Berlin International Film Festival. He was the executive director of the Berlin International Film Festival, from 1980 to 2001 and established the German event as one of the best organized festivals in the world. In the early 80's, in spite of the ongoing "Cold War" situation in the divided city, he managed to bring East and the West together at the festival. Together with Beki Probst, he founded the “European Film Market”. As the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and German unity was restored, de Hadeln was quick in seizing the opportunity to make the festival one of the most prestigious meeting places of the newly born German capital. After years of detailed planning, in 2000, he successfully managed to relocate the event in the newly rebuilt Potsdamer Square, the historical heart of the town, while giving to the festival a new corporate identity. After leaving the Berlin event in 2001, de Hadeln served as head of the Venice Film Festival – the world's oldest film festival. Over the years, he has also served on film fest juries worldwide. Swiss citizen since 1986, Moritz de Hadeln currently resides in Berlin (Germany) and Gland (Switzerland).