Professional Jury Feature Film International
Daniela Adomat
Leipzig, Germany
Daniela Adomat is managing editor of the main editorial office of TV Movies-Series-Children of the MDR. She is responsible for the planning and the acquisition of fiction-film programmes for children and adults. She has studied Political Sciences and Journalism and has accumulated years of experience as a reporter, producer, cinematographer and director of numerous productions. Additionally, she is the ARD’s commissioner for short films.
Prof. em. Dr. phil. habil. Rüdiger Steinmetz
Leipzig, Germany
Prof. Dr. em. Rüdiger Steinmetz is expert of the state media authorities in Saxony (SLM). He studied German Studies, Communication Studies as well as Political Science at the University Göttingen, the LMU Muinch and the University Marburg. 1992–2018 he was chairholder of Media Science and Media Culture at the institute of Communication at the University of Leipzig. Since 2016, he researches and publishes on the topic of ‘TV next door. Pictures of upheaval in Saxony’s local TV’ (1990-95).
Eduard Barnsteiner
Klein Wittensee, Germany
Eduard Barnsteiner studied Law at Augsburg University and got trained as a businessman for cinemas at ZFU Cologne. He worked in different leading positions in the cinema and film distribution industry. Together with his wife Britta Wilkening, he has been running the film distribution company barnsteiner-film for 17 years.
Etelka Kobuß
Chemnitz, Deutschland
Etelka Kobuß is a certified primary-school pedagogue (college) and a certified social pedagogue (university). Since 2009, the Hungarian by birth is Chemnitz’s commissioner for migration. One of her responsibilities is the organisation of both the annual intercultural weeks as well as the intercultural film week. She is member of the Day of Peace committee and of the jury of Chemnitz’s Peace-Award.
Silke Haverkamp
Erfurt, Germany
Silke Havenkamp studied Pedagogy (Diploma) with a focus on intercultural communication and counseling. As a recording manager she was part of multiple cinema and TV film productions. She also worked as an editor at Family Entertainment and as producer at Bastei Media. Since 2017, Silke Haverkamp is active an editor for KiKA and is responsible for the editorial office Fiction in this position.
Professional Jury Feature Film National of Goethe-Institut
Rana Abdelaziz
Goethe-Institut Cairo, Egypt
Since 2018, Rana Abdelaziz has been working at the Goethe-Institut in Cairo with the focus on the film scene of the regions North Africa and Middle East. In addition to the supervision of the regional film archive, she is responsible for the Goethe Film Week in Cairo and curates the regular film program. Rana Abdelaziz also coordinates support oft the Goethe-Institut Cairo for local film festivals and filmmakers. She has organized the annual Science Film Festival in Cairo in 2018–2020, whose screenings are especially targeted to students and young people.
Auksė Bruverienė
Goethe-Institut Vilnius, Lithuania
After the graduation from Violin and Philology Studies, Auksė Bruverienė worked in the press and culture department of the German Mission in Lithuania, followed by working freelance as a translator, moderator and project manager in numerous Lithuanian as well as international cultural and media projects for some years. Currently, Auksė Bruverienė has been working at the Goethe-Institut Vilnius as a coordinator of cultural work, often focusing on film. In addition to Lithuanian as her native language, she speaks German, English and Russian. She has two small daughters and loves children’s films.
Júlia Kühne Escolà
Goethe-Institut Munich, Germany
At first Júlia Kühne Escolà studied Film in Dortmund. Afterwards, she completed the International Master in Cinema Studies (IMASCS) in Bochum with study stays in London and Barcelona. During her studies she was active as a freelance film maker among others for the DCP monitoring of the international Women’s Film Festival Dortmund/Cologne. Currently, she is a voluntary in the Film, Television and Radio department at the Goethe-Institut headquarter in Munich, where she advises colleagues abroad on the presentation and communication of German film.
Professional Jury Feature Film National of DEFA-Foundation
Mirko Wiermann
DEFA Foundation, Berlin, Germany
Mirko Wiermann worked after his Medical Studies from 1999 to 2004, first as an assistant doctor at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. After studying Theatre and Film at the FU Berlin, he worked as a research assistant in the Zeughauskino of the Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin and in the inventory database project of the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen. Then he had an active role from 2013 to 2016 in the Retrospective of the Berlin International Film Festival. He has been a member of the DEFA Foundation team since March 2016 and is responsible for the DEFA film distribution within the Deutsche Kinemathek.
Professional Jury Short and Animated Film
Anne Koch
Dresden, Germany
As a studied Politics and Communication scientist, Anne Koch deals intensively with the topics of political and cultural participation, demogracy and civil society. 2018–2020 she accompanied urban development processes as a district coordinator in Berlin. Since 2001, she has been coordinating the programme „film.land.sachsen“ of the Saxony Film Association, which aims to strengthen film culture for young and old in the rural regions of Saxony.
Ines Wolter
Chemnitz, Germany
Ines Wolter has been working at the Chemnitzer Filmwerkstatt for more than 20 years and has contributed to making it to one of the most important establishments when it comes to media pedagogical institutions in Saxony. The Filmwerkstatt could realize many short film productions and received the German short film award together with Olaf Held in 2013.
Ebele Okoye
Berlin, Germany
Ebele Okoye (a.k.a. Omenka Ulonka) migrated to Germany from Nigeria in the year 2000 mainly to learn animation. Ebele has taught Animation at the Bauhaus University in Weimar as well as led German-Bulgarian and German-US-Nigerian co-productions. She is the co-founder of “A Story of Heroes”, a multilingual children’s project, on diversity, tolerance, and inclusion. Her new studio “Spunky Toonz”, is Nigeria’s first branded animation and audio-visual business to be focusing solely on climate and social awareness content for children.
Johannes Wolters
Cologne, Germany
Johannes Wolters is a Cologne, Germany based freelance journalist who specializes in Animation and VFX. He has established a platform called INDAC.org for all people in German animation, VFX and games; plus ‘INDAC-Meetings’ where animators and VFX artists can meet international guests from the industry. Through this he also supports the work of DIAF.
Cosima Stracke-Nawka
Bautzen, Germany
The drama expert Cosima Stracke-Nawka was dramaturge and director at the Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater (German-Sorbian Popular Theatre) until 1991. Between 1992 and June 2020, she was a consultant for youth media protection and film funding at the Saxon State Agency of Private Broadcasting and New Media (SLM). She is a member of the allocation committee of the MDM and FSK assessor. Since 2015, she has been spokesperson of the Sorbian-German Filmmaker’s Network Łužycafilm
Jury of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI)
Marc Hairapetian
Berlin, Germany
Marc Hairapetian is active as a journalist, among other things in the field of children’s and youth film, and writes for various Austrian, German, and Swiss newspapers and magazines. Already at the age of 16, he founded the Culture Magazine “Spirit – Ein Lächeln im Sturm”. He is a board member of the Kinomuseum Berlin e.V. since 2011 and screens movie classics with introduction in original 70mm and 35mm prints and serves as a juror for the VDFK and FIPRESCI at international film festivals. Marc Hairapetian has also been working as an actor for film and cinema since 1996.
Hamed Soleimanzadeh
Berlin, Germany
Hamed Soleimanzadeh is an international film critic, researcher, filmmaker, actor, author, translator, and university teacher. He is the official member of the “House of Cinema” (The Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds), the Institute of Documentary Film (IDF), der FIPRESCI and the Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA). He is holding a Ph.D. degree in Art Research (Film Studies) and he is currently working with the UdK University in Berlin (funded by Einstein Stiftung) as a researcher in the field of Film and Philosophy.
Sebastiaan Floris Khouw
Almere, Netherlands
The Dutch film critic and journalist Sebastiaan Khouw writes with an intense passion and belief that (cinematic) images can make life better. He has written for several Dutch and International websites. In 2017 he started his own website called SebKijk. On this website he seeks to inform, amuse and challenge his readers with his views and opinions.
Jury of the European Children’s Film Association (ECFA)
Egmont Elschner
Chemnitz, Germany
Egmont Elschner is a media psychologist and specialist for Media Didactics. He worked in different functions at several German theatres, amongst them as assistant director, director, actor, dramatic adviser and theatre manager. 1999–2010, he was Head of the Studio of the Saxon Broadcast Channel for Education in Chemnitz (SAEK). He also worked as a guest lecturer for several educational institutions.
Noy Levin
Tel Aviv, Israel
Noy Levin is the Artistic Director of the Tel Aviv International Children’s Film Festival (TAICFF) in Israel. She studied Film at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television in Tel Aviv University and is a director of short films and children’s plays. In addition, Noy curates cultural events and is a lecturer of film and animation.
Teresa Margarida Resende de Lima Fernandes
Lisbon, Portugal
Teresa Lima is initially educated as a teacher and post-graduated in Contemporary Art History at the FCSH – Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She is co-founder, programmer and director of the PLAY – International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Lisbon and is active in this position since 2014.
Ecumenical Jury
Gergely Hajnal
Budapest, Hungary
Gergely Hajnal graduated in Aesthetics, Pedagogy, Communication and Media Studies. He made his own short fiction films as well as documentaries. He worked ten years for the Hungarian Province of the Society of Jesus, organizing media workshops, filmclubs and international film festivals. He participated in establishing István Szőts Film Workshop, where he produced and directed several films. He writes film critics and chairs filmclubs. Currently, he works for the Hungarian public television as senior program manager of the film department.
Matthias Kuhl
Bern, Switzerland
Matthias Kuhl works in the fields of Didactics of Religion and Media. He studied Theology and Physics in Göttingen as well as in Bern and was pastor with focus on children/youth/religious education in Bern from 1999–12. Since 2012, he has been head of the department media consulting religion/ethics/life skills at PH Bern and since 2015 initiator of the website "kurzundgut.ch – Kurzfilme für die Schule. In 2019, he started to work as a high school teacher for religious studies in Bern and is head of studies MA Religious Studies at the University of Lucerne since 2020.
Alexandra Palkowitsch
Vienna, Austria
Alexandra Palkowitsch studied Religious Education in Vienna and Gothenburg. After finishing her studies she started working in the field of Social Ethics at the University of Vienna in 2019. Her ongoing doctoral thesis deals with the digital revolution and democracy. She has been engaged in parish services for children and youth for many years now and has organized film screenings in this context.