THE WORLD CINEMA JURY
In the 9th edition’s World Cinema Jury, the Jury President is no one less than one of Duhok’s international sources of pride, Soleen Yusef.
Soleen Yusef was born in Duhok/KRG but fled with her family to Germany when she was a child. In 2008 Yusef started studying feature film directing at the Baden-Wurttemberg Film Academy and during her studies, her film TRATTORIA premiered at the Berlinale in 2012. Her debut feature film HOUSE WITHOUT ROOF was produced in 2015 and received great international recognition.
Soleen Yusef has since been working as a director for several international production houses such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+. Currently, Soleen Yusef is writing her first children’s film with the work title WINNERS to be produced by DCM Pictures.
Soleen will be joined by the dedicated team as found below.
Magnus Bärtås is a Swedish novelist and artist based in Stockholm. Since 2008 he has served as a professor of Fine Arts at Stockholm Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts, and Design.
The Oberhausen International Film Festival awarded Bärtås the main prize for his video essay MADAME & THE LITTLE BOY. Together with Fredrik Ekman, he has written three essay books. The most recent book, ALLA MONSTER MÅSTE DÖ, was nominated for the Swedish National Work Prize.
Screenwriter and director Mahdi Omed from Kerkuk (KRG) has worked in both theatre and film.
He earned his Master’s and doctorate at the Moscow-based VGIK Film Academy. His first Kurdish feature film ANFAL (1988) concerned the Iraqi Baath Regime’s genocide of the Kurdish people. In 2000 Omed established the Department of Cinema in the KRG’s Ministry of Culture supported by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.
Elaheh Nobakht serves as the CEO of ELI Image and is one of the female pioneers in Iranian cinema. She has produced six feature films and two short films, including THE APPLE DAY which was selected for the 72nd Berlinale. Her feature documentaries SILENT HOUSE and HOLY BREAD appeared both in competition at IDFA. Nobakht’s film BELOVED was selected for ZagrebDox, IDFA, Berlinale, HotDocs, and more than 65 other international film festivals. Nobakht participates actively in the Iranian Producers Association (IPA) and the Iranian Documentary Producer Association (AOIDP).
Shahram Alidi is a film producer, screenwriter, and director born in Sanandaj, Eastern Kurdistan (Iran). Before delving into cinema, Alidi was devoted to painting which he pursued into his late teens. Before beginning his studies in Painting at Tehran University’s Faculty Of Fine Arts, he won numerous awards in National Arts competitions. Alidi is part of the Iranian New Wave generation of filmmakers. The directors of the Iranian New Wave make use of poetic dialogue and symbolic storytelling as appeared in Aldi’s film WHISPER WITH THE WIND from 2009.
