DIFF 20, 2022, 06: Meet the Juries officiating at the Dhaka International Film Festival, January 15-23
Asian Film Competition Section
Gyda Velvin Myklebust
Gyda Velvin Myklebust has a university degree in Cultural Science and a Master of Fine Arts in Film from the National Film School in Norway. She is the Director of New Nordic Films, the film market of the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, Norway, she has had the position since 2003. New Nordic Films is a Nordic film market and an international co-production and film financing market for feature films taking place annually in Haugesund every August. As a producer Gyda has made two feature films, As I Fall (Når jeg faller, Dir. Magnus Meyer Arnesen 2018) and The Comet (Kometen, Dir. Bård Røssevold 2017). As I Fall was screened at numerous international film festivals and won several awards and was nominated to four Amanda awards (the national film award in Norway).
Meral Melika Duran
Meral Melika Duran is a political-sociologist, women rights advocate, and a very engaged strategist, producer, cinema critic, and consultant in the entertainment sector. She has more than 20 years of experience, including being in charge of Eurimages at the Cabinet of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Dedicated board member of several international organizations on issues related to women empowerment, as well as prominent international film festivals; Ms. Duran is a speaker, advocate, and an organizer of initiatives in the field of cultural diplomacy, gender issues, international affairs, culture, media, arts, and entertainment.
Pierre Filmon
French screenwriter, director & producer Pierre Filmon made four short films which screened in more than 50 Film Festivals before his 80mn-documentary CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH VILMOS ZSIGMOND (with John Travolta, Isabelle Huppert, Peter Fonda, John Boorman...). Chosen for the Official Selection at Cannes in 2016, it was shown in 17 international Film Festivals before its theatrical release in France & Hungary, now available on DVD & on Amazon Prime US, UK, DE & JP. His new feature LONG TIME NO SEE (74mn – Five Awards in 17 countries in 35 International Film Festivals, among which Moscow IFF, Shanghaï IFF, Morelia IFF in Mexico, FAJR IFF in Iran, IFFI Goa & Rajasthan IFF in India…) with Pierre Rochefort (Going Away) and Laëtitia Eïdo (Fauda), was theatrically released in France in November 2021 with great press reviews. During the pandemic, he directed his latest short film as director, called "Masque à Maman", and wrote "Dear mother", one of the first franco-emirati co-productions, a short animation film.
Roman Dorofeev
Roman Dorofeev is an expert in the sphere of cinema history and theatrical distribution. Since 2005 he has been working in the film industry. He organized several festivals retrospectives and did the programming for the first art-house cinema theater in Moscow. Then he started to work for the Russian Report distribution company focusing on distribution of independent festival films and art-mainstream. As a director of theatrical distribution, he arranges screenings of new films in the CIS and the Baltic region. He cooperates with international film festivals and participates in panel discussions, conferences on the issues of European and independent cinema, and several film markets. From 2014-2017 he was a program director of the VOICES International Festival of Young European Film in Vologda.Women Filmmakers
Oya Dogan
Oya Dogan graduated from İstanbul Bilgi University Political Science department, Oya Doğan started her broadcasting career on Mehmet Ali Birand’s 32. Gün program. At the age of 24, she was chosen as Turkey's youngest and most successful journalist and represented Turkey at the Festival of Politics in Scotland. She worked as a political communication consultant for a while. She worked as a script consultant for many television series and feature films. Oya Doğan is also the author of the novels Boşan da Gel and Hadi Ben Kaçtım. A screenwriter, Doğan is currently writing her third novel, "I Am Here". She studies and gives seminars on the effects of television and cinema on society. She is studying sociology at her second university. She is the founder of the culture and art website www.dizidoktoru.com
Yana Lekarska
Yana Lekarska, is a Bulgarian filmmaker. She has graduated with an MFA in Film Directing from Chung-Ang University, Seoul with the award-winning short film The Bridge. She has interned at the production company PineHouse Film in Seoul as well as Chuchkov Borthers in Sofia (Western by Valeska Grisebach, Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard 2017). She is an alumni from Berlinale Talents 2020, Sarajevo Talents 2018, Tokyo Talents 2017 as well as a participant at the Film Production Residency Program organized by the Busan Independent Film Association in 2017. Yana Lekarska is an associate producer of the Myanmar-South Korea feature coproduction Mama (2019) as well as executive producer of the Bulgarian feature film Ashes over Sun (2020). In 2018 She was a jury member at the Canton Short Film Festival, China, 2019.
Elaheh Nobakht
Elaheh Nobakht is a festival programmer, distributor and producer of Iranian Cinema. She is the Managing Director of ELI Image International Production & Distribution film Company. She is also an active member of the Iranian Producers Association (IPA) and a member of the Iranian documentary producer Association (AOIDP). Her last documentary BELOVED has been screened in 69th Berlin International Film Festival-2019, IDFA 2019, and more than 30 International Film Festivals. She was a lecturer in Shanghai International Film Festival, as a successful international film producer and distributor.
Mehzad Ghalib
Ms. Mehzad Ghalib is an independent film activist, documentary filmmaker and editor. She has completed her diploma in filmmaking and Masters in Media and Communication (Major in Film). She has been involved in the film society movement for the last twenty years. Her first documentary was ‘A Day in the Armenian Church’. It was shown in a few prestigious film festivals in Europe, Russia and South Asia. She is currently working on a documentary project named “Bindu theke britto-Ekjon Bokuler Akhyan” funded by the Information and Broadcast Ministry. It is based on the life of the first woman filmmaker in Bangladesh, Rebecca.To be concluded.