ΔIΕΘΝΕΙΣ ΚΡΙΤΙΚΕΣ ΕΠΙΤΡΟΠΕΣ 2023

Philipp Aubel

Philipp Aubel is the project manager for the Young Film Scene at the Bunderverband Jugend und Film (BJF), takes care of the information network and prepares the 59th "Werkstatt der Jungen Filmszene". He teaches Latin and Ηistory, is very interested in film and, during his studies, helped organise the short film festival OpenEyes in Marburg. On a voluntary basis, he is co-organiser of the "QUEER Filmfest Weiterstadt".

Anis Lassoued

Anis Lassoued obtained his director’s diploma from the IMC –Institut Maghrébin de Cinéma- Tunis and the University of Tor Vergata -Rome. He also did training courses in the Femis-Paris and GSARA-Lièges and INSAV -Brussels. He shot several documentary films for TV channels (NHK, TV5, Al Jazeera children). In 2006, he made his first short fiction Saba Flouss [Magic crop], (Oberhausen, Cinémas du Monde-Cannes, Muhr Award in DIFF-UAE, Gold Cairo in Cairo International Film Festival for Children). In 2012, he shot Sabbat El Aïd [My Shoes] (Poulain d’Or & Best African film-FESPACO, TIFF Kids, Taiwan International Children's Film Festival, Lucas International Children's Film Festival). In 2021, he directed two documentaries, Je suis ma république and Notre semence. His first feature A second life (2022) is in distribution in 2023. It has been selected in many international film festivals and has won many important prizes. In 2023, he has just finished a new short fiction, Loading, and also a feature documentary, Limits of God. He has just been appointed as the Artistic Director of the 14th Edition FIFEJ - International Film Festival

Felix Vanginderhuysen

President of the International Jury

Born in 1954 and has a master’s degree in Social Sciences from the Louvain University in 1976. Started in 1978 at Jekino, a non-profit-organization for the promotion of quality films for children. In 40 years, Jekino became the leading association for both distribution and film education. In 1989, he founded the European Youth Film Festival in Antwerp and in 2000 he co-founded “Lessons in the Dark”, a school film project in Flanders. In 2017, all these organizations (Jekino-Festival-Lessons in the Dark) merged into JEF, a Flemish Institute for children’s film. In 1988, he was among the charter members of the European Children’ Film Association (ECFA) and since then, he has been the General Secretary of this association. In 2007 Felix Vanginderhuysen received the Flemish Cultural Award from the Ministry of Culture.

Lucas Paleocrassas

He was born and raised in Greece. He studied Communication at the American College of Greece. His first documentary Citizen Xenos, premiered in 2018 at the International Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, was nominated for the Amnesty International Award and received the first prize at the GDG "Moments of Truth" Documentary Festival. In 2022, Final Year opened in competition at the Thessaloniki documentary festival and received the award for Best Feature Documentary Award at the Olympia International Film Festival. He is currently completing a documentary which records the social impact of the Active citizens fund Greece, one of the largest funding programs in Greece, for the Bodossaki Foundation. He has been awarded by ARTWORKS (2022) and is a Fellow of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artists Support Program.

 Eva Stefani

Film director and visual artist. She has directed 36 short experimental films and observational documentaries, such as The Box, What time is it, Acropolis, Athene, Days and Nights with Demetra K. Her films have been screened and awarded in international festivals (Cinema du Reel, Oberhausen, Idfa, Europe autour de l’ Europe etc) and she has participated in international exhibitions, such as Documenta14 and the Venice Biennale 2019. She is a professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the School of Communication and Media at the University of Athens. She has published two books on documentary 10 Texts for Documentary, Documentary, The Game of Observation) and a book of poetic prose, Finn's Hair. She studied Political Science in Athens and film in Paris (Ateliers Varan), New York (New York University) and London (National Film School). Her Ph.D. dissertation is on ethnographic cinema. Her latest film is Days and nights with Demetra K. (2021)

Mike Tait

Mike Tait works for the Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), an art centre in Dundee, Scotland. His role at DCA is to promote the very best in international cinema for young audiences aged between 3 and 19, and to increase audiences for these films. He produces the annual Discovery Film Festival, develops year-round family-friendly screening programmes and supports schools and teachers in the development of film as a valuable resource across the curriculum. He coordinates the Discovery Young Ambassadors (DYAs), a team of young film programmers (aged 15-19) who are a key part of the festival creative team, and regularly hosts The A Team, a focus group of local teachers who provide solid gold advice and support for all schools-related activity.

Arba Hatashi

Arba Hatashi was born and raised in Peja, Kosovo. She started volunteering at a very young age in different non-government organizations, with a focus on culture development. For the last ten years, she has been working actively with Anibar on organizing the only animation festival in Kosovo, managing and working on the transformation of the only active cinema in the city of Peja, Cinema Jusuf Gërvalla, into a multifunctional, social and cultural space. She started as a volunteer in 2014 working with the festival to continue coordinating the program of the festival for three years prior to being appointed in 2019 the Festival Director of Anibar International Animation Festival. Since 2018, she has also been managing the Anibar Animation Academy and its educational projects working towards the improvement and development of education in the field of animation in Kosovo. 

Hrvoje Seleca

Hrvoje Selec (1984, Varaždin, Croatia) graduated from the Secondary School of Electromechanical Engineering in Varaždin, then he finished undergraduate studies in Multimedia, design and application, and graduate studies in Packaging and Environmental Protection at the University North and earned an MA in graphic technologies. His work experience in the audiovisual industry began at the Creative Film Studio VANIMA in Varaždin, where he produced more than two hundred films made by children and youth. With his colleagues, in 2010 he launched VAFI – International Festival of Animated Film for Children and Youth (since 2018 VAFI & RAFI Festival), where he has held the position of director since its founding. In 2021, he was appointed as the General Secretary of the Croatian Film Association, and in the same year he joined the Croatian Film Days Council and became producer of the festival. He was a member of the jury and selection committees of numerous festivals and has held over 80 animated film workshops in Croatia and around the world . He has been a member of the ASIFA Croatia since 2008, and in 2019 he became Vice President of the ASIFA’s Animation Workshop Group.