It is a huge pleasure to announce the juries who will oversee the Official Selection and First Feature competition programmes for this very special 25th birthday edition of PÖFF.
It is a true privilege to count among them celebrated international filmmakers and winners of a huge variety of awards at A-category film festival around the world, including several previous guests and winners from PÖFF.
Mike Downey, Head of the Jury, United Kingdom
Mike Downey, President of the European Film Academy, founded the independent production company Film and Music Entertainment in 2000, which has produced nearly 100 feature films to date. He joined the BAFTA Council in 2020 for a third term. In addition, Mike has run an international charity fund that supports filmmakers at risk around the world. In 2021, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Mike Downey an Order of the British Empire for his services to European film.
Francis Annan, United Kingdom
Francis wrote and directed the political thriller "Escape from Pretoria", starring Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber and Ian Hart. He began his career at the BBC, directing commercials and episodes of TV productions on BBC One. He has been nominated and won numerous awards for his short films. Francis was, together with Armando Iannucci, an inaugural recipient of the DDA Spotlight Award at PÖFF 24.
Nisan Dağ, Turkey
Nisan's debut film "Across the Sea" won awards at famous festivals around the world. In 2015, she directed the documentary “Rebel Music: Turkey” for MTV. Her second feature film "When I'm Done Dying" won her the Best Director Award at PÖFF and the Best International Film Award at Santa Barbara Film Festival. The film was distributed worldwide by Magnolia Pictures. Recently, Nisan directed the ambitious Netflix series "Midnight at the Pera Palace".
Eugen Tamberg, Estonia
Eugen Tamberg works as both a production and a costume designer in film and theatre. He has been the chief artist of Estonian Fashion Design and Estonian Television, but has also worked as a freelancer for the last 21 years. His best-known works include "Names Engraved in Marble", "The Eternal Road" (Jussi Award 2018, nomination for Best Costume Designer), "Helene", "Tove" (Jussi Award 2020, Best Costume Designer) and "On the Water" (EFTA 2021, Best Film Artist).
Ulrich Thomsen, Denmark
Ulrich's roles can be seen in international films such as "The World Is Not Enough", "The Weight of Water", "Max", "Killing Me Softly", "Kingdom of Heaven" and "The International". He made his debut as a screenwriter, director and producer with "In Embryo". His second feature film “American Sausage Standoff” premiered in the PÖFF Official Selection programme in 2019. Ulrich Thomsen won the Best Actor Award at the PÖFF in 2020 for his role in the film “Erna at War”.
Teoniki Rozynek, Poland
Teoniki Rozynek is a renowned Polish composer, whose work accompanies both film and theatre productions. His recent music for "Prime Time" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Best Film Music Award at the Gdynia Film Festival. His music for the films “Tower. A Bright Day.” and “Sole” have also received great recognition, the last of which premiered at the Venice Biennale and won a European Film Academy Award.
Piret Tibbo-Hudgins, Estonia
Piret Tibbo-Hudgins graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography with a degree in film and television economics and worked as a producer of feature and documentary films for 25 years. Since 2013, she has been working as the chief producer of the Estonian Film Institute and represents Estonia in the Council of Europe's co-production fund Eurimage.
Jayro Bustamante, Head of the Jury, Guatemala
Jayro Bustamante studied directing at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français in Paris (2002) and continued his studies in screenwriting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematography in Rome. His debut film "Ixcanul" won the Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival and has received more than 60 awards at other international festivals to date.
Elfar Adalsteins, Iceland
Elfar has helped to develop and produce several indie films and his dialogue-free short film “Sailcloth” was shortlisted for the 2012 Oscars and BAFTAs, winning numerous international awards. His debut feature “End of the Sentence” (2019) was also screened at PÖFF. His next film project is "Summerlight... and Then Comes the Night".
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Bangladesh
Mostofa is considered one of the leading figures in Bangladeshi cinema. He reached wider international audiences when his film "Television" (2012) was chosen as the final film of the Busan Film Festival. His films have won awards at many film festivals around the world, and Bangladesh has nominated his films for the Oscars three times.
Paul Thiltges, Luxembourg
Paul Thiltges is a film producer, international sales representative and CEO of Paul Thiltges Distributions. Since 1986, he has set up a number of film institutions in Luxembourg and is currently the director of the Luxembourg Producers' Association. Paul has collaborated with internationally renowned directors such as Michael Glawogger, Ari Folman and Jaco Van Dormael.
Evelin Penttilä, Estonia
Evelin Penttilä is a producer in Stellar Film, based in Estonia. She started her career as a producer in 2011 and her filmography includes more than 10 feature films as a producer or co-producer. Among them youth film ZERO POINT(Shanghai 2015, picked up by Netflix), local box office hits CLASS REUNION 1 & 2, short film BAD HAIR (director Oskar Lehemaa), which has participated in Sundance, Fantastic Fest, Fantasia and more than 50 other festivals, HELENE (dir Antti J Jokinen), awarded with Silver Frog in Cameraimage 2020 and Scandinavian action thriller OMERTA 6/12 directed by Aku Louhimies. Currently in post production is next feature film by Jaak Kilmi THE SLEEPING BEAST and in production HIT BIG by JP Valkeapää. Company has a slate of projects in all stages of production and is actively looking for new international collaborations. Evelin is a member of European Film Academy and part of ACE Producers network.