April 12 – 20, 2024

International Jury

EDUARDO GUILOT | INTERNATIONAL JURY PRESIDENT

Eduardo Guillot (València, Spain, 1967) is the Artistic Director of Mostra de València-Cinema del Mediterrani film festival since 2018. He has worked as a cultural journalist for thirty years in various specialized Spanish magazines. He has collaborated on books dedicated to Emir Kusturica, noir cinema, Stephen King or the relationship between cinema and videogames or popular music. He has been a member of the programming team at València Cinematheque for the past five years, as well as a tutor at Talents Guadalajara (Mexico) since 2016. Moreover, he has been an international programming advisor for more than ten years at Abycine (Albacete) and Cinema Jove film festivals. Eduardo has served as a jury member and Fipresci jury member of various international festivals such as Moscow IFF, Rotterdam IFF, Palestine Cinema Days and Cairo IFF, among others.

Irmena Chichikova

Irmena Chichikova is a Bulgarian actress, born in Plovdiv. She graduated from the National Academy for Theatre and Film under the tutelage of professors Mladenova and Dobchev, leading drama directors in Sofia. She quickly established herself as one of the most promising young theatre actresses, winning the prestigious ASKEER award for best female actor, in her first year after graduating. Followed by numerous other prestigious nominations, she kickstarted her theatre career with more than 15 plays in the span of 4 years. In 2012 Irmena was selected to play the lead role in I Am You, the epic of veteran film director Peter Popzlatev, picking up a joint best female award at the Bulgarian Film Academy Awards. In 2013, Maya Vitkova selected Irmena to play the part of Boryana in her successful film Viktoria, becoming the first Bulgarian film that participated in the World Dramatic selection at Sundance 2014 and garnering recognition in more than 40 elite film festivals. In the next few years, Irmena continued shooting in numerous short and feature films, as well as TV productions: Omnipresent by Iliyan Djevelekov, 8’19” omnibus based on Georgi Gospodinov’s short stories and directed by Oscar nominee Theodore Ushev, and the 68th Berlinale hit film Touch Me Not by Adina Pintilie winning both Best First Feature and Golden Bear. Her most recent film projects include: The Bra by Veit Helmer, A Dose of Happiness by Yana Titova and a lead role in Letters from Antarctica by Stanislav Donchev, as well in the upcoming Phi 1.618 by Theodore Ushev.

MINOS NIKOLAKAKIS

Minos Nikolakakis was born in Athens in 1980. His films have participated in international festivals (including LA Shorts, Cinemed Montpellier, Uppsala and Flickers Fest), had a theatrical release and received awards. His short The attic screened in Egbert Baqué Contemporary Art Gallery Berlin: David Bowie Exhibition. He is a member of the Hellenic and European Film Academies. He has produced features and documentaries. He is a graduate civil engineer of the University of Patras and worked as one to support his passion for filmmaking. He is a Sarajevo Talents, Berlinale Talents and ZFF Academy alumni. His first feature Entwined premiered at the 44th TIFF 2019 and he is currently in development of his second feature.

KIKA GEORGIOU

Kika Georgiou studied Music in Chicago and Theatre in Athens. In 2020 she took part in the HBO series The New Pope directed by Paolo Sorentino. For her role in Yiorgos Gikapeppas’s films Silent and The City of Children, she received several awards from the South East European Film Festival in Berlin, the Greek Film Academy and Athens International Film Festival – Nychtes Premieras. She also took part in several Cypriot feature film productions, such as Boy on the Bridge by Petros Charalambous and Sunrise in Kimmeria by Simon Farmakas. In theatre, she has collaborated with the National Theatre of Greece, as well as with other theatre institutions in New York, Seoul, Rome, Athens and Cyprus, with directors Peter Stein, Fernando Rubio, Fotis Nicolaou, Aliki Danezi-Knutsen, Yiannis Houvardas, Yiannis Kalavrianos, Martha Fritzila, Baumstrasse et al.

GEORGE KALLIS

George Kallis is a film composer born in Cyprus. Recipient of the Jerry Goldsmith Award and the International Film Music Critics Award, his scores span the globe. He has worked on more than 30 studio and independent productions including The Last Warrior trilogy (Walt Disney Pictures CIS), Highlander the Source (Lionsgate), Cliffs of Freedom (Aegean Entertainment), Gagarin First in Space (Kremlin Films) and Albion the Enchanted Stallion (Sweet Tomato Films). George has also written TV music for Emmy and Bafta award-winning programmes, such as the opening titles music for BBC Horizon, for its 40th anniversary celebration, and My Life on CBBC. His TV commercial work includes music for brands such as McDonalds, Mitsubishi, Lexus, Toshiba and others. His musical works on the island include the popularized song To Porizin, winner of the Pancyprian Folk Songwriting Contest, and the Eurovision song entry for Cyprus in 1999 Thane Erotas.