International Competition’s Jury – Cairo International Film Festival

International Competition's Jury

Emir Kusturica

JURY PRESIDENT

Serbian film director, musician, actor, producer and writer born in Sarajevo in 1954. He received a degree in film directing at FAMU in Prague in 1978. His first feature “Do You Remember Dolly Bell?” (1981), won a Best First Work Award in Venice. “When Father Was Away on Business” (1985) won a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. “Time of the Gypsies” (1988) brought Kusturica the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, while “Arizona Dream” brought him a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1993. Kusturica’s “Underground” (1995) won a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and he got a Silver Lion for his “Black Cat, White Cat” (1998) at the Venice Film Festival. His documentary “Super 8 Stories” (2000) won the Best Film award at the St. Petersburg Documentary Festival in 2001. He returned to Venice in 2016, when his “On the Milky Road” was shown and then two years later with his latest film “El Pepe, A Life Supreme”.

Emir Kusturica is founder and director of Kustendorf International Film and Music Festival.

Chaitanya Tamhane

Chaitanya Tamhane's BIO

Director – India

An independent filmmaker based in Mumbai. His debut feature film ”Court” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2014, where it was awarded the Best Film (Orizzonti) and the Lion of the Future award. It has since gone on to win over 30 awards at film festivals worldwide. It also won the National Award for Best Feature Film and was India’s official entry for the 2016 Oscars.

In 2016, he was invited to serve on the jury at the 73rd Venice Film Festival. In the same year, he was selected to be mentored by Alfonso Cuarón as part of the Rolex Mentor-Protégé Arts Initiative. His new film, “The Disciple”, was awarded the Sundance Institute Open Borders Fellowship presented by Netflix. The film had its World Premiere at the 77th Venice Film Festival in competition, where it was awarded the Golden Osella for Best Screenplay by the jury and the International Critics’ Prize by FIPRESCI. The film also won the Amplify Voices award at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Best Screenplay award at the Asian Film Awards.

Khaled Mouzanar

Khaled Mouzanar's BIO

Composer, Song Writer, Writer, Producer – Lebanon

Lebanese composer, song writer, writer and film producer. He has composed several music scores for films, including “Caramel” (UCMF Award- Best Music at Cannes Film Festival 2008), and ”Where Do We Go Now?” (Best Music award- Stockholm Film International Festival 2011).

In 2014, Mouzanar co-wrote the script and composed the score of one of the segments of the “Cities of Love” anthology film ‘Rio, I Love You’.

In 2017, Mouzanar composed the music, co-wrote, and produced Nadine Labaki’s film ”Capernaum” (Jury Prize Winner at Cannes Film Festival 2018, Best Foreign Film nomination at Academy Awards, BAFTA and Golden Globes).

In 2019, he won for the Soundtrack of “Capernaum” a Crystal Pine Award for Best Original Score at the International Sound & Film Music Festival (ISFMF) and was nominated for the Public Choice Award at the World Soundtrack Awards (WSA).

In 2020, co-directed with his wife Nadine Labaki one of the episodes of the Netflix series ”Homemade”. That same year he was invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be among its distinguished members in the music branch.

Marisa Berenson

Naian Gonzalez Norvind's BIO

Actress, Writer – Mexico

A multi-award- winning Film/TV/Theatre actress and writer. She starred as Ariela in “Leona”, co-written by herself and Director Isaac Chermin, which was an Official Selection of the 2018 Cine de Morelia International Film Festival where she won the coveted Best Actress and additionally won Best Actress for her Daring Performance as Maria in “Todo el mundo tiene a alguien menos yo” at Guanajuato Film Festival. Upcoming Projects include Co-starring in the Sequel of Sexo, “Pudor Y Lagrimas 20 años después”. Other Film projects include “South Mountain”, SXSW Film Festival in Dramatic Competition and “Cubby”. Known in TV for her star turn on the Once TV Series “Cronica de Castas” she also recurred on the American Television Series “Gotham” as Alice Tetch. She graced the stages of New York City’s Lincoln Center and The Public Theater in world premiere new plays by Richard Nelson, Greg Pierce and Sarah Ruhl. She will next star on stage opposite Pamela Reed in Sarah Ruhl’s World Premiere at Lincoln Center in 2021. González Norvind stars as Marian, the ill-fated young bride in “New Order” a dystopian drama thriller, an official selection (out of competition) of the CIFF 42, from Award-Winning filmmaker Michel Franco.

Nelly Karim

Nelly Karim's BIO

Actress – Egypt

An Egyptian actress, fashion model and ballerina. Born in Alexandria to an Egyptian father and a Russian mother. Studied ballet in the Ballet institute of the Art’s Academy, her major was Choreography. She started her career as a ballerina before shifting to acting in 2000.

In 2004 She won Best Actress award at Cairo International Film Festival for her role in “My soulmate”, and a Special Award at the Cairo National Festival for Egyptian Cinema in 2010 for her role in “One-Zero”. A year later, she won the Jury Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for her role in “678”. She received Faten Hamama Excellence Award at the Cairo International Film Festival 2015, Best Actress Award for her role in “The Blue Elephant” at the Cairo National Festival for Egyptian Cinema in 2014. Recently, she was honored for her artistic career at Carthage Film Festival 2021

Nelly served as jury member in Cairo International Film Festival, Abu Dhabi Film Festival and El Gouna Film Festival.

Most recently, she starred in “Clash” that premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and has been selected to represent Egypt at the 2017 Academy Awards.

Nora Arnezeder

Nora Arnezeder's BIO

Actress – France

A French actress appeared in various films, both French and American, including ”Faubourg 36” by Christophe Barratier, ”The Words” by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal with Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons, and “Safe House” by Daniel Espinosa, with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington.

She got one of the main roles in Alexandre Arcady’s film, ”Ce que le jour doit à la nuit”. She also played in the horror film “Maniac” by Franck Khalfoun in 2012, and in an adventure film “Angélique” where she had the leading role.

Lately, she shot a series called ”The offer” based on the movie “The Godfather” directed by Dexter Fletcher. “Army of The Dead” by Zack Snyder was released this year on Netflix and was a great success. She also had the lead role in ”The colony” which screened at the Berlin International Film Festival this year.

Currently, she is filming the first Kechiouche Salim film where she has the lead female role.

Roberto Minervini

Roberto Minervini's BIO

Director – Italy

An Italian film director, who lives and works in the USA. His latest film, the award-winning “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”, premiered in competition at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, and has garnered worldwide appreciation. After completing a Master’s Degree in Media Studies at the New School in New York City in 2004, he moved to the Philippines to teach documentary filmmaking at the university level. In 2007, he moved to Texas, where he directed three feature films, “The Passage”, “Low Tide” and “Stop the Pounding Heart”, a Texas Trilogy that played at renowned film festivals including Cannes, Venice, Toronto and Rotterdam, among others. In 2014, “Stop the Pounding Heart” won the David di Donatello Award (Italian Academy Award) for Best Documentary. “The Other Side” (aka Louisiana), his fourth film, premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, competing in the Un Certain Regard Section.