Nepatogus kinas 2024 – COMPETITIONS

This year, the main prize goes to… the three best films in the festival’s competition programmes, chosen by an international jury. It is made up of film industry professionals and members of the cinema community, cultural figures and experts in their fields.

Each of the jury members brings a unique perspective and range of experience. Each year, it is up to the festival programmers and the festival director to nominate specific jury members for that year.

New for the 18th edition of the festival are three competitions, created to discover the work of young, first or second-time filmmakers with innovative visual expressions, to reflect on issues of pollution and sustainability and to uncover hidden truths and dive deeper than the surface towards change.

The Emerging Filmmakers Competition programme is dedicated exclusively to aspiring filmmakers who made their first or second feature documentary. Films were selected based on their artistic value, filmmaking skills and revelation of human rights issues. These films showcase a strong belief in cinema as a means of reflecting and reacting to the numerous global issues.

Sergi Cameron

A producer, director, screenwriter and professor of creative documentary at UPF, ESCAC, and ECAM in Spain. For two years, he led the Entertainment Department at PlayGround as editorial director and producer, combining the most irreverent viral content with high-impact social and political campaigns. He is the co-director of Nanouk Films, where he made his directorial debut with ‘Bugarach’ (Fipresci Award 2014). As a producer, his recent documentaries include ‘Fauna,’ which premiered at Visions du Réel and Hotdocs, winning Best Direction at the Guadalajara Festival, Best Documentary at Cinespaña Toulouse, a special jury mention at the Ulsan Korean Festival, the In Vivo Award at the Imagine Science Film Festival in the USA, and two awards at the Outdocs International Festival of China. Another notable work is ‘Hágase tu voluntad,’ which premiered in Thessaloniki and won the Jury Prize at DocsBarcelona.

Giedrė Žickytė

A European Film Award-nominated producer and director, and the recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts (2022). She founded the Vilnius-based production company Moonmakers in 2014 to explore unique human stories through the compelling power of cinema. She has directed and produced internationally award-winning documentaries such as Master and Tatyana, I’m Not From Here (co-directed with M. Alberdi), and The Jump, which was selected as Lithuania’s official entry for the Academy Awards. In addition, Giedrė produced Iryna Tsilyk’s documentary The Earth is Blue as an Orange, which picked up the World Documentary Competition’s Best Directing Award at Sundance in 2020. In 2021, Giedrė received the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas from the President of Lithuania for her contributions to the art of cinema.

Farahnaz Sharifi

An award-winning Iranian filmmaker and film editor. She graduated from Tehran Soureh University in Cinema studies. Her films are mostly based on archives, and she uses archive images and film to tell her stories. Farahnaz is also a well-known film-editor. Farahnaz has received many awards inside and outside of Iran. In addition, she was a jury member at many leading film festivals. Beside her career as a filmmaker and editor, she is also a writer, and her book of short stories “Breathing in Open Air” has been published in Iran. Her Last film “My Stolen Planet” has been premierde at Berlinale Panorama 2024, and it is recieving many Awards from the festivals around the world.

As the planet changes, so must people. Adaptation will affect what we eat, how we spend our free time and what we consider nature. The world is becoming harder and harder for civilisation to control. And it is increasingly fierce in its efforts to remake the Earth in its own image. The Green selection focuses more than ever on our relationship with our rapidly changing environment. From the new genetics of oranges to the last humans on the planet.

Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė

A curator of media works, film journalist and long-time festival programmer, who is currently the head of programme and acquisitions at Vilnius International Film Festival KINO PAVASARIS, the biggest and most prestigious film event in Lithuania. Dovilė has also been a programmer at our festival before for several years.

Berta Tilmantaitė

A photographer, multimedia journalist, her works have been published by major international media outlets (including National Geographic, Al Jazeera, GEO, WIRED, Der Spiegel and others). Berta is also the founder of NARA collective, an award-winning multimedia agency.

Gitte Hansen

An international film consultant with focus on documentary project development, production, financing and distribution. She is assigned mentor for the development and mentorship program Close-Up and the Finnish Talent Development Lab Kähittämö and is the leading tutor of the annual North Pitch – Below Zero. Gitte serves in addition as tutor, consultant, moderator at various programs such as IDFA Project Space, Ex Oriente, Nordisk Panorama and Documentary Campus, and she serve as consultant for production companies and individual filmmakers. Her experience includes executive producing more than 20 documentaries for First Hand Films, where she was deputy director and headed sales for many years. Gitte holds a Master of Film & Rhetoric from the University of CPH.

The Impact Competition is dedicated to documentaries that explore crucial political issues through compelling films. They invite us to go beyond the surface, uncover hidden realities, and highlight critical topics that are uncomfortable but ignite the change through revelations.

Šarūnas Černiauskas

One of the leading investigative journalists in Lithuania, who has contributed to numerous cross-border investigations, including ICIJ's Panama Papers and OCCRP's Laundromat, among many others. Šarūnas is currently heading SIENA independent investigative journalism collective and is also part of Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

Tatsiana Hatsura-Yavorskaya

Belarusian human rights activist (former political prisoner), who has been living and working in Ukraine since 2022. Director of the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival WATCH DOCS Belarus, which was closed by the Belarusian authorities. Founder of the Belarusian-Ukrainian Documentary Film Festival–1084.On the border. Founder of the LANKA rehabilitation center for veterans and active military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Heidi Gronauer

A director of ZeLIG school for documentary, television and new media, Bolzano since 1990, which welcomes students and trainer from all over the world. Since 2004 she is Head of Project of ESoDoc – European Social Documentary and she has also been responsible for the Media-Mundus/International projects ZeLIG realized in India and Africa (LINCT; ESoDoc INDIA; ESoDoc International). She is co-founder of the Italian documentary association doc-it, she has been on many filmjuries, works as a mentor, is part of the commission of experts of the South Tyrolean Filmfund IDM. She collaborates with the Italian Doc Screenings, the Trento Filmfestival, and many others. She is a member of EFA (European Film Academy). Is a member of the selection committee of the Trento Filmfestival, has been part of the board of directors of the Italian Doc Screenings IDS/IDS Academy.

COMPETITIONS

AWARDS OF INTERNATIONAL JURY

Emerging Filmmakers Competition