Jihane Chouaib
Jihane Chouaib is a French filmmaker from Lebanese descent. Born in Beirut during the civil war, she grew up in Mexico, surrounded by ghosts, devils and saints. In France, she studied philosophy and began making short films (»Otto«, »From Under My Bed«, »Raw«). The characters she focuses on are women refusing to conform to reality »as it is«. Rebels and free spirits. She explores the fantastic genre as well as the documentary approach (»Dream Country«). Her last film, »Go Home«, starring Golshifteh Farahani, is a feature length set in the ruins of a family home in post-war Lebanon. Jihane's cinema wants to pitch poetry and fiction as salvation, defence and countertack against the violence our world.

Roger Alan Koza
Based in Argentina and a member of FIPRESCI, Roger Alan Koza works as a film critic for the Córdoba newspaper »La Voz del Interior«. He regularly publishes pieces on films in the »Quid« and »Ñ« magazines and keeps his own site »Con los ojos abiertos«. He currently hosts and directs the television show »El cinematógrafo« and is one of the hosts of Filmoteca at Argentinian National Public Television. He published »Con los ojos abiertos: crítica de cine de algunas películas recientes« (2004) and the essay »El inconsciente de las películas« in the collective book »Arte y Psicoanálisis« (2005). He edited the books »Cine y pensamiento: las charlas de Mar del Plata« (2006) and »Cine del mañana« (2007). Since 2006 he has been in charge of programming the Vitrina section at the Hamburg International Film Festival and since 2018 he has been a programmer for the Viennale. He is also the artistic director for the Cosquín International Film Festival (Córdoba) and Doc Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Samir Karahoda
Samir Karahoda (b. 1977 in Prizren, Kosovo) began working as a photographer in 1992. In 2003 he completed his photography studies at the Academy of Fine Arts at Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul, where he is currently pursuing a master's degree. His works have been published in many international media, galleries and festivals and he had four personal Photography exhibitions. In addition to his work as a photographer, he is also a cinematographer, tutor and curator of the short film program at the DokuFest International Documentary Film Festival in Prizren. He has also curated several programs for different film festivals focusing on shorts from the Balkans. His documentary short film »In Between« is his directorial debut. It had its world premiere at the Berlinale as the first Kosovar film to compete at this festival and is furthermore a candidate for the European Film Academy Award in 2020. 

Irene von Alberti
Irene von Alberti studied at the HFF Munich from 1988 to 1992 and she has been working as a director, producer and writer since 1992. With her production company Filmgalerie 451 she produced arthouse f ilms such as »Der Hauptmann« (directed by Robert Schwentke) or »Schlingensief – In das Schweigen hineinschreien« (directed by Bettina Böhler). Her own films are often described as experimental cinema f ilms (»Der lange Sommer der Theorie«, »Tangerine« and »Stadt als Beute«). Alongside her work as a lecturer, in juries or on the board of the German Film Academy, she still has a special place in her heart for the short film and all forms of innovative and cinematic endeavours that attempt courageous formal and dramaturgic experiments.

Romeo Grünfelder
The filmmaker and artist Romeo Grünfelder (b. 1968) studied Music, Philosophy, Media and Visual Communication in Hamburg. He was a fellow of Villa Aurora in Los Angeles in 2005 and received an art grant from the city of Hamburg in 2008. He has been teaching dramaturgy and philosophy at the College of Fine Arts Hamburg and lives and works in Hamburg. Grünfelder’s work was shown in exhibition contexts and at international film and media festivals. His awarded shortfilms are experimental documentaries in the closest sense, oscillating between documentary and fine art. His main focus is on paranormal topics. He is currently working on his feature film debut. Grünfelder’s work is represented by Arsenal Distribution Berlin and Short Film Agency Hamburg.

Sabine Küchler
Sabine Küchler (born 1965) is a writer and editor at the Deutschlandfunk, where she heads the radio play department. She won several awards for her prose, lyrics and audio plays. She is a PEN member and lives in Cologne.

Laurence Rilly
Laurence Rilly was born in Angers, France and studied linguistics and translations in Strasbourg and Graz. In 1997, she joined ARTE’s newly founded Internet branch. There, she worked on the internet presence of magazines such as »Tracks« and »Metropolis« as well as selective theme nights on video art, underground and new technologies. In 2001, she developed »Kultur digital«, an online journal on net culture, art and science. In 2011, she worked on the online platform ARTE Creative with Alain Bieber. She has been the programme officer for short films since 2016 and is responsible for the »Kurzschluss« magazine.

Dr. Catherine Colas
Catherine Colas studied literature and theatre at the Sorbonne in Paris. During her studies, she also trained as an actress and subsequently ran a theatre group. She has been working for ARTE since 1995. Initially she worked in Paris, among other things for the department for narrative films and the magazine »Metropolis« and as an executive producer in the f ield of documentary films. She was a cultural advisor for the Institut Français in Germany from 2001 to 2006. She has been working as an editor for short and medium films for ZDF/ARTE and is responsible for the ARTE magazine »Kurzschluss«.