President of the Jury
About:
- Hamid Farrokhnejad (born 17 April 1969) is an Iranian actor, writer and director. He has received various accolades, including four Crystal Simorgh (two for acting), two Hafez Awards, three Iran Cinema Celebration Awards and an Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Award.
- He started his career in student theatre and making some short films. After acting in Khosrow Sinai's Dar Kooche-haye Eshgh he had the chance to play a role in another movie by Sinai, Aroos-e Atash aka Bride of fire which brought him many awards in Fajr Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and Khane-ye Cinema award. He had roles in three films by Sinai and had worked with notable Iranian directors such as Ebrahim Hatamikia, Asghar Farhadi and Bahram Beyzayi.
- He also gained TV popularity after acting in the role of a ghost named "Hasan Golab" in a TV series directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia.
Jury Member
About:
- Filmmaker with over 30 years of experience as director, director of photography and VFX suppervisor
- Executive producer and cinematographer of the Hollywood film "Loteria" by director Ali Atshani
- Director of the TV Film "La Mano En La Reja" for the Michoacán government and Director/Producer of the documentary film "Memories/Recuerdos" (now in postproduction) about the USA rock band Human Drama
- Working in CGI since 1990, he has been pioneer in 3D animation, motion capture, forensic reconstruction, photogrametry and stereoscopy in Mexico
- Winner of several internationa awards, like third place in the Primer Concurso Internacional de Trailers Cinematográficos de la Ciudad de México and first place in the MOCAP contest by Autodesk and 3D World Magazine in UK
- Winner of the award quetzal by the short animated film "un mundo infeliz" in the 4° Festival Internacional de cine Quetzal
- Director y Co-founder of the 3d animation school and VFX house FilmSFX
- Winner of the award Melies granted by the civil asociation Los realizadores 360 for best editing in the short film Iluminati; also in this film the photograpy was by Miguel Salinas
- Director of photography of the feature film Mujer Bestia by Noe Nolasco, staring Ofelia Medina
- Director of photography of the feature film El Rock esta muerto, by Allan Marquez
- Second unit director of the feature film "Las batallas de Juarez" also VFX and colorist for the same film by director Miguel Rico
- Director, photography and producer of the medium length film "unete a la revolución" winner at Best Shorts Competition en La Jolla California of merit award for, Best Latin short Hispanic and best protest short film
- This same project had 52 laurels for official selection, (including honorific mentions)
- Has imparted lectures and workshops in the Universidad Politécnica de Tapachula (Now as member of the consultive council at the same university in the VFX and cinematography degrees), also in FAD from the UNAM, FES Acatlán, University of Morelia and Durango University
Jury Member
About:
- Edwin Avaness received his Master of Arts Degree from Northwestern University's Radio-TV-Film Program, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film and Digital Media productions at University of California, Santa Cruz. He joined the executive board of Arpa Foundation for Film, Music & Art in 1999 and directed the 3rd Annual Arpa International Film Festival in 2000. The annual humanitarian honor, in conjunction with the International Film Festival at Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, is co-created by Mr. Avaness, where filmmakers are awarded for their work that has contributed to the fight for social conscience and human rights issues. Among the past recipients of this award are documentary films Screamers (2006), Darfur Now (2007), Children of War (2009), and Aghet - Ein Völkermord (2010). Mr. Avaness also serves as a board member of Armin T. Wegner Society of USA, where the society revives the legacy of this 20th Century humanist through his work.
- After co-producing his first feature film, My Dark Days (2001), at Bearsmouth Entertainment, Mr. Avaness joined J F Productions where he oversaw all aspects of productions for the company. During his time at J F Productions Mr. Avaness produced and directed the feature film The Journey (2002). This feature was shot internationally with a full international cast and crew. The Journey was awarded the Audience Award at the Milan International Film Festival in 2002. Mr. Avaness also worked at Arbor Vitae Entertainment as a producer of Tabriz: Images from the Forgotten World (2006), an international docudrama, which has gone on to popular reception and awards during its tour of over ten film festivals. Mr. Avaness participated in different film markets as well, including MIFED in Milan, Italy, Bangkok Int'l Film Market, Guangzhou International Documentary Film Market - China, and American Film Market in Los Angeles.
- Mr. Avaness later joined EOS Entertainment as the head of development and productions where he optioned Edward Minasian's book Musa Dagh to produce the documentary Epic Denied: Depriving the Forty Days of Musa Dagh (2022) which covers the trials and tribulations of Hollywood's multiple attempts to produce an epic movie based on Franz Werfel's bestseller novel.
- Mr. Avaness has several projects in development stages with different entertainment companies.
Jury Member
About:
- Mahmoud Atshani is a director of photography who was born in 1984 in Isfahan. He’s made his career since 2001 and his most important projects are “Reversed Seven”, “Katyusha”, “Wishbone”, “Selfie with Democracy”, “Shark”, and etc.
- Mahmoud Atshani started his career from cinema and in 2016, when he was 31 years old, he served as the director of photography of “Wishbone” directed by Ali Atshani.
- In 2018, Mahmoud Atshani spent a different career year in cinema and he participated in an important project called “Katyusha” directed by Ali Atshani.
- “Katyusha” may be the most important part of Mahmoud Atshani’s career. In 2018, when he was 33 years old, he served as the director of photography of “Katyusha”. This project focused a lot of attention on him. He could provide a successful professional experience for himself by taking part in this project.
- Although Mahmoud Atshani is known for being a director of photography but he has been active in other fields. He also served as a photographer in cinema and TV. “Paradise” is the most important project of him as a photographer.
- Mahmoud Atshani has earned different international awards as a “director of photography”. Two of most important awards are “Best Director of Photography” in “Wishbone” from WIND International Film Festival and “Best Director of Photography” in “Katyusha” from LOVE International Film Festival.
