Juries 2020

Jiří Konečný / Czech Republic
A Czech producer of feature and documentary films
internationally awarded and screened at many prestigious festivals (e.g. Cannes, Berlinale). The 6 films he produced were national Oscar nominees. He is the holder of the Czech Lion, two Czech Film Critics Awards, the Crystal Bear from the Berlinale and was also awarded at the Zlín Film Festival. He teaches at FAMU and sits on the APA Board of Directors and the CFTA Presidium.

Louise Højgaard Johansen / Denmark
A Danish festival dramaturg
working in Prague. She is a programme director at the Athens International Children‘s Film Festival. She also works with the Febiofest festival. She studied film studies at the University of Copenhagen. She’s independently produced successful short films and documentaries. She helped start the Danish film festival CPH PIX, working in various positions for 10 years.

Judit Bárdos / Slovakia
A Slovak actress,
she graduated from conservatory and VŠMU in Bratislava. She’s received awards for many TV and film roles, e.g. Blue Angel, Sun in the Net, Igric (the oldest Slovak film award), and an award for best acting performance at the Social World Film Festival in Vico Equense. She acts in Slovak, Czech and Hungarian. She also works in theater.

Alexandre Dupont-Geisselmann / Germany
A film producer
originally from the French city of Nancy, he currently leads the German production and distribution company Farbfilm, which focuses on children‘s films, debuts and documentaries, and is this year celebrating 15 years of successful existence in the international film field.

Felix Vanginderhuysen / Belgium
He is the Secretary General of the European Children‘s Film Association (ECFA),
founded in 1988. He studied social sciences at the University of Leuven. He started out in the organization Jekino, focused on the distribution of children‘s films. He founded the European Youth Film Festival in Antwerp and co-founded a film project for schools called Lessons in the Dark. In 2007, all three entities formed JEF, a Flemish institution dedicated to children‘s film.

Martin Vandas / Czech Republic
A Czech producer
of animated and live-acted films, documentaries and TV magazines, he studied at FAMU and Charles University. He is a member of the European Film Academy, the board of directors of the Association of Audiovisual Producers and a founding member of the ASAF Animated Film Association. He is an expert at the Czech Cinematography Fund and teacher at the Department of Animation at FAMU.

Katariina Lillqvist / Finland
A filmmaker originally from Finland,
she lives and works in Prague, Stockholm, and Helsinki dealing in animated works and implementing international exhibitions of animated projects. She works with TV and radio and is a curator at the Helsinki Museum of Romani Culture. Her short films include The Country Doctor (Maalaislääkäri, 1996) and Xenia of St. Petersburg (Ksenia Pietarilainen, 1999).

Noro Držiak / Slovakia
A Slovak artist, animator and director,
a graduate of the Zlín Film School and FAMU. He is the author of short animated films, jingles, video clips, and commercials. He founded the animation and post-production studio Tobogang, which created the first Czech feature rotoscopic film Alois Nebel (2011). His recent feature debut is the trick docudrama The Impossible Voyage (2019).

Petra Hůlová / Czech Republic
She is one of the most translated of contemporary Czech writers;
she is also the author of plays. In 2014, she founded the Association of Writers, a professional association of Czech novelists and poets. As part of the American SIT program, she works in Prague as a creative writing teacher.

Tristan Priimägi / Estonia
An Estonian film critic
writing for SIRP Cultural Week, in which he holds a leading position in the film section. He is the founder of the film festivals DocPoint in Tallinn and Wilkom Comedy in Viljandi.

Ivan Ostrochovský / Slovakia
Screenwriter, director and producer from Slovakia.
He graduated from VŠMU in Bratislava. He first made a name for himself with documentaries, e.g. Velvet Terrorists (2013), which he co-directed, and Garda (2015). He made his feature film debut with the internationally acclaimed drama Goat (2015). His latest work is the film Servants (2020), made in international co-production.

Marta Jodko / Poland
A festival professional and organizer from Poland.
She studied art history at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. At the Poznań Children’s Art Center, she organizes the International Film Festival for Young Audiences Ale Kino!, the Bienále of Art for Children, and the short film program for children at the Animators Festival. As an educator, she worked with the Film Academy and the National Museum in Poznan.

Martin Kotík / Czech Republic
A Czech director, producer and screenwriter.
He graduated in production at FAMU and film studies at Charles University. He’s made TV series, feature comedies and animated films, e.g. Best Wishes! (2006), Harvie on the Scene (2010), and Harvie and the Magic Museum (2017). He founded the ASAF Animated Film Association and the international co-production forum Visegrad Animation Forum (today CEE Animation).

Angelos Kovotsos / Greece
A Greek screenwriter and director
born in Athens, where he studied economics and film. His rich documentary portfolio includes, e.g. the musical films Encardia, the Dancing Stone (Encardia, i petra pou horevei, 2012) and StringLess (2017). He works with the Greek Film Center and the Documentary Film Festival in Thessaloniki, is the vice-president of the Greek Documentary Association, and teaches.

Elisabeth Lichtkoppler / Austria
From Vienna, for almost 30 years she has been leading a cinema project
for the curated Cinemagic film program for children and young people, which is part of Wienextra, organizing innovative activities for children and young people in close cooperation with the City of Vienna. She is also a member of the organizing team of the Vienna International Children’s Film Festival.

Nóra Lakos / Hungary
A Hungarian screenwriter, film director, and director of the Cinemira International Children’s Film Festival,
she studied directing in Budapest, London, and Brussels. She’s made TV series and many short films, e.g. Hungarian Mustache (Magyar bajusz, 2012). She has just finished her feature film debut Hab (2020). The founder of the Children’s Film Academy, she runs animation programs for kids.

Judita Soukupová / Czech Republic
Czech cultural manager and festival professional,
she’s long been interested in Czech pre-war and protectorate films, and her passion for organizing various cultural events led her to work in film festivals for children, Filmák and Juniorfest, which she cofounded and is its current director. She also deals with film dramaturgy and the organization of film-oriented exhibitions and other events.

Martin Horálek / Czech Republic
He graduated from the Cyril and Methodius Theological Faculty of Palacký University in Olomouc
and a study program at Moravian College in Bethlehem, USA. He served as a spokesman for the Czech Bishops‘ Conference and KDU-ČSL, where he was the presidential campaign manager. He works as the editor-inchief of Czech Television‘s religious broadcasting, is active in media, and has participated in a number of international conferences.

Marek Lis / Poland
A Polish Catholic priest from the diocese in Opole, where he also works at the local university.
He‘s written many articles. In his research, he analyzes the theological and religious dimensions of media and cinematography. He is the president of the Polish SIGNIS, manages the program of the Niepokalanów film festival in Wrocław, and works with, e.g. the Sacrofilm festival in Zamość. He has sat in ecumenical juries at several film festivals.

Theresia Merz / Austria
She is from Austria.
She studied Protestant theology at universities in Göttingen, Basel and Marburg. She has long been involved in religious education within upper secondary schools. She specializes in gestalt pedagogy and cultural education. Among other things, she completed teacher training courses for gifted children and pedagogy courses for projects focused on places of memory. She also lectures on film topics for teachers.

Francesca Mia Daniels / Czech Republic, Great Britain
She lives and studies in Prague. With a Czech mother and British father,
she’s bilingual. She’s closely connected to film because her parents work in film production. She has already tried acting in a short student film at FAMU and in foreign advertising. She is looking forward to sitting in the children’s jury not only because of the films, but also because of the new friends she’ll meet at the festival.

Harry Coyle / Czech Republic, Great Britain, Ireland
He lives with his parents and sister in the USA.
He loves nearly any sport, especially rugby, tennis, swimming, and diving. He is a yearround swimmer. His favorite subject at school is maths. He enjoys learning to play piano and violin. The funniest movies he has ever seen are Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.

Jasmína Magdalena Forejtová / Czech Republic
She lives in Prague, where she is in primary school.
She‘s from a film family. She enjoys American animated films and comedies, but despite her young age, she also watches feature films by directors such as Tim Burton, Wes Andersen and Federico Fellini. She often helps her parents while they lead film workshops. She likes to take pictures on analog film and loves music and dancing. She has been involved in a theater group for six years.

Sofie Zara Mintonová / Czech Republic, USA
She’s from Vsetín from a Czech-American family.
She goes to PORG grammar school with bilingual Czech-English lessons in Ostrava, where she lives. In her free time, she enjoys playing softball (Arrows!), playing the ukulele and watching movies. Her favorite films include Star Wars and Harry Potter. She likes listening to music, e.g. Billie Eilish.

Yasmine Coyle / Czech Republic, Great Britain, Ireland
She lives in the USA with her parents and brother.
Her favorite subjects at school are art and English. She loves movies about Percy Jackson. Since moving to America, she has been playing basketball and swimming competitively. She is an enthusiastic reader, and can read almost the entire book in the store. She has loved Czech cuisine since she was little.

Michaela Hnilicová / Slovakia
She is in the 8th year of primary school in Bratislava.
She reads a lot, likes going to the cinema and watching series on Netflix. She is focused on modern dance, and her hobbies include the theater club of the Bratislava theater school LUDUS. She is interested in interior design and fashion, and loves to cook and bake.

Milli Antonia Andrews / Czech Republic, USA
She is of Czech-American origin; she was born in Zlín.
She is an eighth grade student at the Eco-Station in Štípa near Zlín. She is interested in social justice and her future ambitions include attending law school. She is a passionate reader of English and Czech books, especially appreciating the classics. She has grown up watching movies from classic Disney to more modern works, both animated and feature.

Tereza Taliánová / Czech Republic
She was born in Prague. From the age of six, shehas danced in performances at the National Theater.
Ballet also led to her first time being in front of a camera and to shooting her first commercial. In 2016, she was cast in the lead roles in the series The Dwarf and the film Alice in the World of Miracles. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, traveling and watching movies.

Ester Josefína Vandasová/ Czech Republic
She lives in Nymburk, where she studies at the Bohumil Hrabal Grammar School.
She’s from a film family, but lately has spent most of her time in Prague “upside down”. Almost daily she devotes herself to “new circus”: acrobatics, aerial acrobatics and couples with the Losers Cirque Company and Studio Cirk La Putyka. She studies French, likes trekking and camping, reading, going to the theater and especially to the cinema.

Johanka Hičárová / Slovakia
She loves movies, theater and acting.
She goes to a minority film festival every year and also likes theater. She has been in a drama club for six years, which includes theater performances. Thanks to this, she has gained a lot of experience. She loves radio dramas and ice cream.