Jury

During her two studies at Filmakademie Wien in screenwriting and directing she started working for ORF and did TV-Docs in Kenya and Iran. In 2016 Jasmin spent three months in NYC at Susan Batsons School of Acting. While developing her film projects she never stopped filming music videos. She won the Best Newcomer Award at Diagonale in 2016 for UNMENSCH and the Gedanken-Aufschluss-Award at the Dok Leipzig in 2020 for ROBINS HOOD.

Jola Wieczorek is an Austrian filmmaker of Polish origin and a graduate of the master's program DocNomads. Her recent film, Stories from the Sea, celebrated its world premiere at the Viennale, won the Max Ophüls Prize for Best Music and the Local Artist Award at the Crossing Europe.

Julian Stockinger (*1992) is co-founder of the film distributor KINEMA 21 and has been organizing the film series TIL MIDNIGHT MOVIES at Schikaneder in Vienna since 2019. At the SLASH Film Festival he works as a programme advisor. His main job is as a social worker in the criminal justice system.

Juana Jiménez is the first Colombian trans actress to make the leap into Italian cinema and the first to play a role in Rai productions. In total, she has appeared in over 40 film and television productions. Now she has ventured behind the camera herself with her first own production “Harmony”.

JANNIK RAKUSA, born in Wiesbaden, is responsible for the program of Top Kino and Schikaneder Kino in Vienna. Last year he was part of the jury for the Europa Cinemas Label Award at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes.

WEINA ZHAO is an Austrian-Chinese director, writer and producer with a background in East-Asian studies. She co-founded the production company Electric Shadows Films, the Asian diaspora zine Perilla and Gewächshaus, an initiative to support BIPOCs in the German language film industry.

During her studies at the University of Vienna Anna Wagnleitner started working for film festivals. In 2022 she became the director of the Shortynale Filmfestival. She is currently operating as the marketing manager and controller for the documentary STAMS (Panama Film) and supports the Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion in accounting.

Elisa Fink is an author, curator, and co-organizer of the queer feminist short film festival Visibilities in Vienna. Her work’s focus is on sociopolitical concerns at the intersection of activism and film.

Elisabeth Hajek worked as an independent curator and cultural manager for art galleries and festivals. Since 2015 she is the head of Q21’ international Artist-in-Residence Program at the MQ and in 2012 additionally was appointed Artistic Director of the frei_raum Q21 exhibition space.

Clara Schermer has finished her film studies with a master's degree in Media and Cultural Analysis and has been working in the field of cultural production for ten years. From film programming (Vienna Shorts), festival and exhibition work to book publishing, she picks her projects.

Rojin Bagheri studied sociology with a focus on sociology of migration and education. Her research interests cover the reproduction of social inequality, critical social theories as well as emancipative social science. Her voluntary work includes the creation of socio-cultural spaces.

Sîdal Keskin studied political science and right now is studying middle eastern studies at the University of Vienna. Sidal is a performance artist and DJ. They've been approaching the sociopsychological and political aspects of movies and media in a detailed and critical way.

Tarek Lehner is 15 years old and a student of the 10th grade. His hobbies include theater and acting and meeting friends :). Since you don't know what it's like to award a film until you've done it, he decided to join the youth jury.

Kasper Langeder hopes for a future where all people have equal rights and the same possibilities and chances for a good life, a future beyond discrimination, fascism and misogyny, a future where we can all be brothers and sisters (and everything in between).

Zita Gaier is currently a student at Die Graphische in Vienna and a member of this year’s youth jury. Telling and being told stories is what she loves, whether on or off screen.