Jury for Feature and Short Feature Films

Martin Schweighofer, Managing Director Austrian Film Commission
Ludmila Cvikova, Program Director of the International Film Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Adrian Sitaru, Director and producer 

Martin Schweighofer  is born in Vienna. Studied journalism and drama at the University of Vienna. From 1980 to 1993 was film critic and arts editor for Austrian periodicals. He is a co-founder of the theatre company Theater im Kopf, Founder and director of the film festival Diagonale (1993-1996), initiator of a pan-European film promotion organization that subsequently developed into European Film Promotion (EFP), member of the European Film Academy and Board of Directors of the Austrian Film Institute and CEO of the Austrian Film Commission (AFC).

Ludmila Cvikova was born in Czechoslovakia. After her linguistic studies at Bratislava's Comenius University she had worked at the Polish Cultural Centre for a few years.  Having moved to the Netherlands in the beginning of the 90-ies, she had picked up her new studies at the University of Amsterdam and had worked at the famous student arthouse cinema Kriterion in Amsterdam. During her Kriterion work and studies she already started to work occassionally for IFFR (International Film Festival in Rotterdam) and since 1997 she has been one of the programmers here (Eastern Europe, post-Soviet territories, the Balkan region, Iran, Turkey, Greece and the Middle East). She is one of the members of the Hubert Bals Fund committee and scouts for new projects also for the CineMart market.

Adrian Sitaru is a Romanian director, producer and actor, born in 1971. in the Transylvanian town of Deva. He studied computer science at the Technical University of Timisoara and film directing at the Bucharest Media University. Lives and works in Romania. He is the author of several short films, of which 'Valuri' ('Waves', 2007), the most well-known, has received numerous prizes, The Heart of Sarajevo for the best short feature among many others. His first feature film 'Pescuit sportiv'
('Hooked', 2009.) is screend at many international festivals. He received the Special Jury Award at the 2008 Thessaloniki Film Festival. In 2010, his latest short film, 'Colivia' ('The Cage') won the DAAD Short Film Award at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. Now, Adrian Sitaru is preparing his second feature 'From Love with Best Intentions'.

Documentary film jury

Marina Andree Škop , Director
Sergej Kreso, Journalist and Director
Gaby Babić, Director of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Wiesbaden
 

Marina Andree Škop was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1973. She graduated editing from the Academy of Drama Art in Zagreb. With her colleague Darija Kulenović Gudan she founded a production company Studio dim. Marina has directed more than 30 music video clips, 50 TV commercials and numerous corporate films. She works as a director and producer. ‘Sevdah’, screened out of the competition at the last year's Zagreb Film Festival, is her first feature documentary.

Sergej Kreso was born in Sarajevo in 1963. After studying journalism at the Faculty of Political Science he worked as Sarajevo Radio Television reporter and youth program editor for Doboj radio station. Next to his journalistic work, Sergej played in a series of rock bands (La Banda, Scabia, Festival, Torpedos, Gino Banana, Elvis J. Kurtovic). In 2004 he filmed his documentary debut, 'The Symphony of a Street Player' ('Simfonija za uličnog svirača'), screened at various international festivals (Zagreb Film Festival, DokMa, BCI Berlin). 'Graffiti Street', screend at the documentary film competition of the 5th Zagreb Film Festival, is his second film. He shoot another documentary 'Jack, the Balkans & I' in 2008. Sergej still plays his music, today as member of Mala Vita band.

Gaby Babić was born in Germany in 1976. She obtained her Master's degree in Political Science and Theory of Theater, Film and Media. She studied in Frankfurt and Paris. She taught at German universities in Konstanz and Paderborn. As a film curator, she worked for various festivals and cultural institutions (including Goethe Institut Sarajevo, Oberhausen Short Film Festival and Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt). She is the director of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Wiesbaden.

Checkers jury

Uroš Živanović, director
Mirko Pivčević, director of photography
Hüseyin Tabak, director 

Uroš Živanović was born in Rijeka in 1981. He is a graduate of Anthropology and Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. He publishes film reviews in the Croatian Film Chronicles. His first film ‘Cold Front’ (2009), the winner of the Golden Pram for Best Croatian film at last year's ZFF Checkers Selection, is based on his own script, awarded on Palunko workshop.

Mirko Pivčević, born 1975 in Split, is an award-winning Croatian cinematographer. Pivčević's career began in the late 1990s, with a series of short documentary films and music videos. His first feature film was 'Alone' ('Sami', 2001), which won him his first Golden Arena for Best Cinematography award at the 2001 Pula Film Festival, the Croatian national film awards festival. His next feature film was 'A Wonderful Night in Split', a 2004 critically acclaimed black-and-white film directed by Arsen Anton Ostojić, which earned him his second Golden Arena and a nomination for the Golden Frog Award at the Camerimage cinematography film festival. Pivčević graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Drama Arts in 2007, submitting 'A Wonderful Night in Split' as his graduation work, and that same year he won his third Golden Arena for the World War II film 'The Living and the Dead' ('Živi i mrtvi'). His next project was Antonio Nuić's drama film 'Donkey' ('Kenjac') which earned him his fourth Golden Arena in 2009.

Hüseyin Tabak is born 1981 in Germany. His origin is Kurdish from Turkey. He started to work in the film industry in Hamburg, he was production volunteer on the film set. Studies Directing at the Filmacademy in Vienna. Filmography: 'Cheeese' (2008, fiction, winner of the Golden pram for the best short feature film at the 6th Zagreb Film Festival) 'Ausnahmezustand' (2007, documentary). 'Kick Off', in documentary competition of this yea's Zagreb Film Festival, is his first long feature documentary.