Jury 2026

Mansur Sarsembayev is a screenwriter and film director from Kazakhstan. He is the recipient of numerous international awards for screenwriting, including Kazakhstan’s prestigious Altyn Kalam Award (2020) for Best Screenplay and Dramaturgy of the Year. His work includes the television series Knockoffs (2023) and the short films Late Session (2019) and Where Does the Heart Call (2018). Mansur has served as a jury member at several international film festivals across the United Kingdom, Austria, India, Russia, and New Zealand. He is also a member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and the League of Cinematographers of Kazakhstan.