International Competition
Ghassan SALHAB
Born in Dakar, Senegal. In addition to making his own films, he collaborates on various scenarios and teaches film in Lebanon. He has directed 9 full-length films: Beyrouth Fantôme(2008), Terra Incognita(2002), The Last Man(1958), The Mountain(2010), The Valley(2014), An Open Rose/Warda(2019), The River(2021) and Night is Day(2024) … in addition to numerous “essays”, including (Posthumous)(2007), Chinese Ink (2016), Son Image(2016), and Le Voyage Immobile(2018) with Mohamed Soueid.… La Rochelle International Film Festival, JCC Carthage and La Cinémathèque du Québec made a tribute to his work. He has also published different texts and articles in various magazines, and two books: fragments du Livre du naufrage(2011) and à contre-jour(2021).
Barbara WURM
Barbara Wurm is a Slavonic scholar, has researched the Eastern European avant-garde and (post) Soviet cinema at the universities of Vienna, Basel and Berlin and has published books on subjects including Dziga Vertov and the history of Russian and Soviet film. Between 2012 and 2023, she was on the selection committee of goEast as well as working for almost 20 years as a presenter and programmer at DOK Leipzig. Also, she has designed film programmes for international festivals and film archives internationally. She has been invited to serve on the juries of numerous festivals including the 2022 Settimana Internationale della Critica in Venice and the 2023 Proxima competition in Karlovy Vary. From 2020-23, she was a member of the selection committee of the Berlin International Film Festival.
KIM Mirye
Kim Mirye has directed six feature-length documentary films, including her first feature, We Are Workers or Not(2003). Her documentaries have been screened not only at Korean film festivals but also at many international film festivals. We Are Workers or Not won the Documentary Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival in 2004, and Sanda(2013) won the Korean Documentary Award at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival in 2013.
Frontier Competition
Romuald KARMAKAR
Romuald Karmakar, born 1965, works in both feature films and documentaries. His films have been honored at Venice, Berlin, Locarno, and Toronto and showcased in retrospectives worldwide. In 2008, MoMA New York selected Das Himmler-Projekt (2000) as one of 250 important artworks acquired by the Museum since 1980. In 2013, he represented Germany at the Venice Art Biennale and participated in documenta 14 in 2017. Harvard Alumnus and member of the Academy of Arts Berlin.
Koen DE ROOIJ
Koen de Rooij is a film programmer and curator based in Rotterdam, specialized in East and South East Asian cinema. He holds MA degrees in both Asian Studies and Media Studies from Leiden University, where he used to programme monthly film screenings during his studies. He has been a part of the IFFR Short Film Selection committee since 2017, the IFFR Feature Selection Committee since 2022, and has been involved in the curation of several small scale art events and residencies in Rotterdam. In his spare time he loves to read, hike, cook, and discover new music.
KIM Dongryung
Since graduating from the Korean Academy of Film Arts, Kim Dongryung has been making films about U.S. military bases in South Korea. The debut film American Alley(2008), won the Ogawa Shinsuke Award at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. Also, The films Tour of Duty(2013) and The Pregnant Tree And The Goblin(2019) which co-directed with Director Park Gyeong-tae are the development of ongoing experiments with women they encountered at the military bases. These films have screened at multiple international festivals such as YIDFF, IFFR, MoMA, TIDF, and Image Forum Festival.
Korean Competition
Marc RAYMOND
Marc Raymond is a Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at Kwangwoon University in Seoul. He is the author of the book Hollywood’s New Yorker: The Making of Martin Scorsese(SUNY Press, 2013) and has published articles on the filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Hong Sang-soo, and Lee Chang-dong in the periodicals Canadian Journal of Film Studies, Film Criticism, Film History, Jump Cut, New Review of Film and Television Studies, Senses of Cinema, and Style. His most recent research has concentrated on Korean independent cinema and film festivals.
Chloé TRAYNER
Chloé TRAYNER is the Artistic Director of Ragtag Film Society working across True/False Film Festival and Ratag Cinema. True/False is an annual festival in Columbia, Missouri, USA which strives to celebrate the best of international creative non-fiction. Chloé previously worked in film and events programming in London with a focus on nonfiction and talent development.
July JUNG
Korean film director. July Jung debuted in 2014 with the feature film A Girl at My Door. She premiered Next Sohee in 2022, and released it in Korea in 2023.
Special Awards
JO Seyoung
Her first feature documentary was Variety Survival Talk Show(2009), a hilarious portrayal of the stories of sexual assault survivors. Her second feature documentary, Now It's Dance Time(2013), tells the story of a woman who had an abortion in a unique format that crosses the lines between drama and documentary. The film won the DMZ Docs International Competition Grand Prize 2013. Also, she won the Indie Documentary Festival Progress Award 2010 and the Female Filmmaker of the Year Award 2014.
BAEK Jaeho
Baek Jaeho began his career in the film industry with the role of a bodyguard warrior in the movie A Frozen Flower(2008). Afterward, he transitioned into acting in films, theater, and dramas, before venturing into film production with fellow actor friends. He directed We will Be Ok(2014), The Goose Goes South(2018), Citizen Roh(2019), and Though the Rose has Withered(2023), and produced films such as Santa Barbara(2014), Jane(2016), Snowball(2020), and Moments of Role(2022). Since 2024, he has been serving as the chairperson of The Assosiation of Korean Independent Film and Video.
SONG Sangho
Song Sangho is a Film Critic and a Journalist for the Gyeonggi Ilbo (Daily Newspaper). He received the Park In-hwan Award for Film Criticism in 2021 and The Korea Association of Film Critics Award for Excellent New Critic in 2023. Also, he participated in Le Monde Diplomatique “Cinema Critique” and the writing is publishing a series of articles.
FIPRESCI Prize
JUNG Jae-hyung
Jung Jae-hyung has made significant contributions to film criticism and research while holding various roles, including president of FIPRECI Korea, president of the Society of Film Critics in Korea, president of the Society of Cinema Studies in Korea and director of the Institute of Korean Film Studies in Korea. Additionally, Jae-Hyung has been actively involved in the film industry and cinema-related public activities. He has hosted Cinema Heaven on “EBS”, served as head programmer for the Gwangju International Film Festival, chairman of the organising committee for the Off and Free International Expanded Cinema and Art Festival, and lectured on Art cinema study at the Seoul Arts Centre. He also teaches experimental film for beginners at the Gwangju Independent Film Theatre.
Maja KORBECKA
Maja Korbecka is a freelance film critic and researcher focusing on Sinophone cinemas. Contributor to Senses of Cinema. Far East Film Festival Campus 2017, Berlinale Talents Press 2020, Locarno Critics Academy 2023 alumna. She is currently pursuing a PhD in the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin with the dissertation on China’s art cinema at film festivals.
Melis BEHLIL
Melis Behlil is an Associate Professor at the Radio, Television and Cinema Department at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition to teaching and other academic duties, she writes film reviews for various publications, co-hosts a weekly radio show, and is a member of the Turkish Film Critics Association and FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics).