FEATURE NARRATIVE FILMS COMPETITION JURY

Najwa Najjar is a Palestinian writer and filmmaker. After studying political
science and economics, she earned a master’s degree in film production in the
United States. She has directed both documentaries and feature films. Her debut
feature, Pomegranates and Myrrh, was followed by Eyes of a Thief, Palestine’s
official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards,
and Between Heaven and Earth, which won the Naguib Mahfouz Award for Best
Screenplay at the Cairo International Film Festival.

Lotfi Achour is a Tunisian director, playwright, and theatre artist. He has directed several award-winning short films, including La Laine sur le dos, selected at Cannes 2016. His debut feature Burning Hope (2017) was screened at over fifty festivals. His second feature, Red Path, premiered at Locarno 2024, went on to win thirty-five awards worldwide, including the Bayard d’Or at FIFF Namur and the Golden Tanit at JCC 2024.

Kantarama Gahigiri is a Swiss-Rwandan screenwriter and director who studied in the United States. Her work includes feature films, music videos, and television series.
Her first feature film, The Red Carpet, won several awards, She collaborated with Rwandan filmmaker Kivu Ruhorahoza on the film Tanzanite, and her documentary Terra Matter premiered at the 2023 Berlinale.

Lotfi Bouchouchi is an Algerian director and producer who graduated from the École Supérieure de Cinéma in Paris. He began his career as an assistant director, working with Merzak Allouache and Mohamed Chouikh. His film The Well (2015) represented Algeria in the Oscar race and earned numerous awards throughout his career.

Jean-Michel Frodon is a French film critic, journalist, photographer, and cinema historian with a master’s degree in history. He formerly served as editor-in-chief of Cahiers du Cinéma and has authored over thirty books on cinema, including L’Âge moderne du cinéma français.