Atelier de Tétouan – Jury of 2025

Mohamed Noureddine Affaye

Jury member

Writer

MOROCCO

Mohamed Noureddine Affaye

Mohammed Nour Eddine Afaya is a professor of contemporary philosophy and aesthetics at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Mohammed V University, Rabat. His recent works include: • The Image and Meaning: Cinema and Writing in Action, Cultural Center for Books, Beirut – Casablanca, 2019. • The Suspended Renaissance, Cultural Center for Books, Beirut – Casablanca, 2020. • Knowing the Image: In Visual Thought, the Imaginary, and Cinema, Cultural Center for Books, Beirut – Casablanca, 2021. • Images of Existence: In Cinema and Philosophy, Cultural Center for Books, Beirut – Casablanca, 2022. • The Elusive Time: Is the Future Still Desirable?, Cultural Center for Books, Beirut – Casablanca, 2024. translate to french

Layali Badr

Jury member

Film Director

Palestine

Layali Badr

She began her career as a writer specializing in children’s literature before moving into film directing and screenwriting. She studied film directing in Germany and screenwriting in New York.

Her films include The Road to Palestine, The Key of Stories, We Want a Planet – The Enigma, and Zaza and Jarhir. Her works have received numerous awards at Arab and international film festivals.

She served as Director of the ART Children’s Channel and founded Arteens, the first television channel dedicated to teenagers in the Arab world.

She is also the author of several children’s books, including Lubana and the Moon, The River, the Tree and Asfriko’s Birds, as well as the novel To the Right of the Heart.

She has held executive leadership positions within major media networks in the region and has worked as a film producer and distributor.

She currently works as an author and screenwriting consultant and has served as artistic director for several Arab films and television series. Her film From Zero Distance (Min al-masafa sifr) was shortlisted for the 2025 Academy Awards.

Ignacio vuelta

Jury member

Producer and director

Spain

Ignacio vuelta

Ignacio is a Spanish director, screenwriter and producer. He graduated in film directing at ECAM (Madrid Film School) and is a member of EAVE (the European Association of Audiovisual Producers). With his production company Playa Chica Films, he produces his own projects and those of fellow filmmakers, with a special interest in art-house cinema with an international vocation; courageous films that are committed to our reality, combining quality and audience. As a director, he has made two short films that have been selected at festivals such as Malaga, Rio de Janeiro, Zurich or Curtocircuito experimental film festival, among others. He is currently preparing his debut feature, Afrikana, which he’s been developing in Residencies of the Spanish Film Academy over the course of a year. As a screenwriter, he has also co-written the fiction feature film The anatomy of the horses (by Daniel Vidal, in post-production), which received support from the Berlinale’s WFC Europe, ICAA and Ibermedia, among others. As a producer, after several short films that have travelled to festivals all over the world, Ignacio premiered his first fiction feature film, As silence passes by (by Sandra Romero) in New Directors at San Sebastian Film Festival 2024 (with the support of Canal Sur, Junta de Andalucía, ICAA, TVE, participant in Berlinale Talents 2022). He has also just finished the post-production of The anatomy of the horses (by Daniel Vidal, fiction feature film in co-production with Peru, France and Colombia. Participant in EAVE Puentes and the SSIFF Co-production Forum. With the support of ICAA, WCF Europe of Berlinale, Ibermedia or DAFO).WCF Europe of Berlinale, Ibermedia or DAFO).

Christoph Thoke

Jury member

Producer

Germany

Christoph Thoke

Christoph Thoke, a German producer and film impresario, transitioned from corporate management in a German film and TV studio to independent production in the early 2000s. As a producer, he has contributed to national and international movie productions, earning over 950 festival selections and 200 awards. Working with acclaimed directors like Rachid Bouchareb and Bruno Dumont, his films have competed in Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, and garnered nominations for major awards. With 36 titles produced across 44 countries, his work includes Cannes prizewinners like Lorna’s Silence and Tropical Malady, hailed by critics and listed among BBC’s «new classics» and Sight and Sound’s «100 Greatest Films of All Time.» Apart from producing, Thoke serves as an expert and consultant for international programs and evaluates for European media institutions. He’s also a regular jury member for FBW and an honorary professor at IAFM in Dhaka since 2022.