International Jury

The international jury will award one Grand Prix prize and two Special Jury Mentions. (You’ll find the detailed statute here)

Keiko Takahashi, Producer, Co-founder Short Shorts Film Festival, Japan

Keiko Takahashi (1969, Tokyo) graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in art history. She started making films while studying at the university. In 1998, she produced her first feature film, “Miss Monday”. The same year, she founded the Short Shorts Film Festival in Tokyo with the Japanese actor, Tetsuya Bessho. In 2000, she produced a feature documentary project , “Black Picket Fence”. The film received special jury mention from “MTV News & Docs” at the Full Frame Film Festival and “HBO Documentary” at the Urbanworld Film Festival. She is currently working on a TV program / feature film, “Tokyo Sisters”, about the life of single women in Tokyo.

Jitka Rudolfová, Film Director, Czech Republic

Jitka Rudolfová (1979) studied at the Independent Film College in Písek. In 2009 completed her masters in scripted film directing at the Prague Film Academy (FAMU) with “Dreamers”. Her student films have won many awards – “Marta and Berta 26” (Famufest 2006 – Jakub Mejdřicky Award for best film, Áčko 2007 – special mention for creative contribution), “Svatyně” ( Freshfilmfest 2005 - Magnesia Award in V4 category, Famufest 2005 – special mention in scripted film category), and “Lucie už je v posteli” (Famufest 2005 – Dagmar Táborska Award for best documentary film).

Scott Sanders, Film Director and Screenwriter, USA

Scott Sanders is an American writer and director. He made his feature debut, the HBO-produced “Thick As Thieves” in 1999 with Alec Baldwin, Michael Jai White and Andre Braugher. His 2008 film, “Black Dynamite”, homage to black exploitation films, is now coming to Czech movie theaters. He is also one of the most popular DJs in Los Angeles and performs under the name “Suckapunch”.

Tómas Lemarquis, Actor, Island

Tómas Lemarquis (1977, Iceland) has graduated from the Icelandic School of Fine Arts. He is a popular European actor and has been cast in many Icelandic, French and German films. He speaks fluent Icelandic, English, German, French and Danish. He received the Undine Award for best young actor from the Northern Countries in Austria, the Edda Award for best actor of the year in Iceland and was nominated for the audience award for best actor at the European Film Awards for his role in “Noi the Albino”.

Tomáš Baldýnský, Film Publicist, Czech Republic

Tomáš Baldýnský aka Baldachýn is a Czech film publicist, journalist and actor. He works as a film critic for Reflex magazine, columnist for Lidove Noviny and writes for Novinky.cz. He is also one of the three authors of the popular comic “Green Raoul”, published by Reflex. From December 2006 to March 2008 he served as the chairman of the Czech Fund for the Development and Support of Czech Cinematography. He is a member of the scriptwriting team of the TV sitcom “Comeback”.