Jury 2024

Born in Nazareth, Elia Suleiman is a renown palestinian film director. While living in New York from 1981 to 1993, he directed his first two short films: Introduction to the End of an Argument and Homage by Assassination, winning numerous awards. In 1994, he settled down in Jerusalem, where the European Commission had entrusted him with the mission of creating a Film and Media Department at Birzeit University. His first feature film, Chronicle of a Disappearance, won the Best First Film Prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. After a career full of success, fast forward to his last feature film titled It Must Be Heaven which won the Jury Special Mention in Cannes in 2019, and the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize of the Cannes Film Festival. Elia Suleiman received The European Achievement in World Cinema in 2022; an Honorary Doctorate from UcLouvain Belgium in February 2023, and is currently serving as artistic advisor for the Doha Film Institute.

Guslagie MALANDA debuted in the cinema in 2014, in the film “My friend Victoria” by Jean Paul CIVEYRAC, in which she played the main role of Victoria, alongside Pascal GREGGORY. The story is an adaptation of a short story “Victoria and the Staveneys” by British author Doris LESSING .
In 2021, she works under the direction of Alice DIOP, in her film “Saint Omer”, where she plays the role of Laurence Coly, accused of having killed her fifteen-month-old daughter by abandoning her on a beach in the north of France. For this role, she was nominated for the 2023 César in the Best Actress category and the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards in the 2023 Best Supporting Actress category.
In February 2023, she received the Best Actress award at the 20th International Cinephile Society Awards.
She will be starring in Bertrand BONELO’s next film, La Bête, alongside Léa SEYDOUX.

Simone Bitton is a Franco-Moroccan author and director of documentary films. She has directed several feature-length documentaries. ZIYARA (2020), MUR (2004), and RACHEL (2009). She has also directed numerous historical films and series for television such as Ben Barka, The Moroccan Equation; Mahmoud Darwich, The Earth Like The Language; Waited For Him; Palestine, History Of A Land; The Great Voices Of Arabic Song…. In different styles, ranging from archive editing to cinematic meditation through intimate investigation, essay, road movie, writer or musician portrait, these films demonstrate a human and professional commitment to a better understanding of current events, history and cultures of North Africa and the Middle East. His commitment is also that of formal rigor and an assumed personal perspective.

SILVIA SCOLA is an Italian Author and screenwriter. Daughter of the Italian director Ettore Scola, she was also his screenwriting student in his screenwriting course at the «Centro Studi Comunicazione» in Rome, she made her debut in 1985 with a short film directed by Francesca Archibugi “Il vestito più bello”. Since then she has written many radio dramas, theatrical comedies, TV movies, screenplays for cinema and narrative documentaries. Some of her works in scriptwriting are CHE STRANO CHIAMARSI FEDERICO by Ettore Scola (2013), SK by Nicola Ragone (2014), and Ritratto di un regista all’italiana by Paola and Silvia Scola (2015). She received many awards for her work such as Nastro d’argento «Best Documentary» to RIDENDO E SCHERZANDO Ritratto di un regista all’italiana di Paola and Silvia Scola (2016) and Nastri d’argento «Special Mention» to the docufilm IL SEGRETO DI OTELLO by Francesco Ranieri Martinotti (2016).

Born in Romania, Radu Mihaileanu fled his country in 1980 during the Ceausescu dictatorship to take refuge in France. In Paris, he studied cinema at IDHEC, then worked as an assistant director. In 1993, he released Trahir, his first feature film as a director and screenwriter. The film won several awards. Train de vie, his second feature film, was an international success. After meeting Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, he directed, co-wrote, and co-produced Va, vis et deviens in 2005, winning the César for best original screenplay the following year. Fast forward to 2016, L’Histoire de l’Amour was released on the screens, which he directed, co-wrote, and co-produced, based on the novel by Nicole Kraus. Radu Mihaileanu was made a knight, an officer in the Order of Arts and Letters in 2007 and 2014, and a knight of the Legion of Honor on July 14, 2011. From 2009 to 2011, he was President of the ARP and again re-elected from 2017 to 2019.

Chadia Khadir is a producer and TV presenter with over 26 years of experience in audiovisual media, including news, production, and presenting cultural and cinema programs.
Former director of the second national channel and currently responsible for the cultural programs of the first and second national channels of Tunisia.
She holds a master’s degree in cultural business administration from Dauphin University and a research master’s degree in media and communication sciences from the Institute of Journalism and News Sciences. She is also a member of the Tunisian Press Council.
She participated in many specialized forums in Tunisia and abroad and also published many writings.

Dr. Rachid Naim is a Moroccan film critic, and journalism professor at Cadi Ayyad University, Safi. He is the founder and artistic director of “Les Journées Cinématographiques de Safi” He is also a member of the Moroccan Association of Film Critics (AMCC), the African Federation of Film Critics (AFFC), and the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).
Dr. Naim publishes periodically articles and books about topics linked to cinema, representation, and art. He also frequently participates as a lecturer in festivals and seminars around the world.