Jury 2025
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BERFİ DİCLE ÖĞÜT
Feature Film Jury
After studying cinema in France and dramaturgy in Istanbul, Berfi worked as an assistant director at Plato Film (1997–2003). She published her first novel Bir Acayip Öfke (A Strange Fury) in 2008 and began filmmaking with a short in 2007, later producing, directing, and writing for one TV film and four feature documentaries.
With 15 years in television, she completed the Turkish–British co-production The Waters of Babylon in 2023, which has since won 18 awards at 16 festivals in 9 countries and is distributed internationally. A member of the European Film Academy and the Film Producers’ Network Turkey, she joined international festival juries in 2025.
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SANDRA MAREN SCHNEIDER
Feature Film Jury
Sandra is a German-American actress and writer based in Berlin and New York. She is a proud graduate of the renowned William Esper Studio in New York (William Esper) and has been working in film, TV and on stage, both in the US and in Germany. Her most notable credits include Tatort, Gossip Girl XOXO, The Chicken and Es brennt, which received an honourable mention at Raindance.
As a writer (Sandra Gordon-Schneider) she has been collaborating with writer & director Paul Ploberger; their first script Men’s Problems Are Optional was acquired by 2010 Entertainment, and their second project Proof of Soul has been selected for ScriptLAB Austria 2022.
She is also collaborating with writer & director Can Tanyol on his feature film project Neuland (AT) that is currently in development with Fünferfilm.
IG @sandramarenschneider
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EMMA FRANZ
Feature Film Jury
Emma Franz is an award-winning Australian filmmaker who has produced, directed, written and edited creative nonfiction feature films commissioned by NHK Japan, ABC Australia, Link TV USA, YLE Finland and licensed by Netflix, Amazon Prime, SKY Italia and TV Catalunya Spain.
Her films have screened in premier festivals and cinemas in the USA, Australia, UK, Japan, Korea, Italy, France, Finland, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Singapore, New Zealand and Macedonia. She is currently writing a drama series.
"Emma Franz is a visionary."- Louis Black, co-founder of SXSW, introducing the premiere of 'Bill Frisell, A Portrait' (Emma Franz, 2017).
www.BillFrisellFilm.com
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ODETA CUNAJ
Short Film & Music Video Jury
Odeta Cunaj is a Berlin-based filmmaker from Albania. Her short film Heaven Has Been Fooled was selected for the European Short Pitch and screened at several renowned festivals worldwide. Her film Signs received the Best Albanian Short Film Award at the Tirana International Film Festival.
She has extensive experience in multiple areas of the film industry, including work as a script supervisor, casting director, and script consultant. In addition, she is active as a producer on various short film projects.
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HSIEH I-HSUAN
Short Film & Music Video Jury
Hsieh I-Hsuan is a film curator, writer, and researcher based in Amsterdam and Taipei. She currently programs for Women Make Waves Film Festival Taiwan and the SGIFF. Since 2022, she has served on the selection committee for TIDF and Go Short (NL). Her independent curatorial projects have been presented at Barbican Centre, Eye Filmmuseum, WORM, and others. She also offers festival strategy consultancy for short films and documentaries, edits Taiwan Documentary E-Paper, and is a member of the Taiwan Film Critics Society. Her writing focuses on non-fiction and Asian cinema, with attention to underrepresented perspectives.
Alongside these, she also co-founded Limestone Books in Maastricht, a space that reflects her ongoing engagement with film, archives, and cultural discourse.
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SARAH JAYNE PORTELLI
Short Film & Music Video Jury
Sarah Jayne is an Australian film director and writer with fifteen years of experience working on film sets in various roles. She's the former assistant director of the Made In Melbourne Film Festival and the current co-director of the Shorts In Season Film Festival Berlin, while also a film review writer for The Sound View Independent Film Digest (US). SJ directs films across Europe and has directed two features shot in Berlin; the recent title, After The Act, will premiere in Berlin early in December.
Her 2022 feminist documentary, "No Woman is an Island," was selected to screen in the European Parliament as part of a discussion on EU abortion rights, and her feline documentary, "Cats of Malta," enjoyed a cinema run throughout Japan late last year. SJ's currently finalising drafts of two feature screenplays while seeking interest from investors and buyers.
https://medium.com/about-me-stories/about-me-sarah-jayne-portelli-efe5ad8d72d4
IG: @the_sarah.jayne
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MIRANDA RODRIGUZ
Short Film & Music Video Jury
Miranda Rodríguez - originally from Argentina - is a Berlin-based camera assistant and focus puller with experience across feature films, shorts, and music videos in Europe and Latin America.
A graduate of the University of Buenos Aires in Image and Sound Design, she has worked on international productions such as The Summoning of Baby Blue, What the Waters Left Behind: Scars, and The Red Book Ritual. Beyond her camera work, Miranda has contributed in lighting, DIT, and video assist, and has also taught lighting and camera at FADU in Buenos Aires. She is fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian, and currently splits her time between Berlin and Madrid.
https://www.crew-united.com/es/Miranda-Rodriguez_831687.html