PRESIDENT
CHRISTINA VOROS
Christina Voros is a Brooklyn-based director and cinematographer. She earned a graduate degree in English and American literature from Harvard University in 2000 and a master’s in cinematography and directing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2010. Her first documentary The Ladies (2008) received grand jury prizes at Slamdance and the Chicago International Film Festival and was invited to over 60 festivals. In 2010 she completed 127 Hours: An Extraordinary View, the documentary portrait of Danny Boyle’s Oscar-nominated picture. Her most recent documentary Kink (2013) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. As a cinematographer Voros’s recent narrative work includes As I Lay Dying (2013), Child of God (2013) and Sal (2011) for director James Franco. Her documentary cinematography includes Saturday Night (2010) and Let Freedom Sing (2009).
JURORS
DAOUD AOULAD-SYAD
Daoud Aoulad-sayed Was born in Marrakech in 1953, and earned a PhD in physics before attending a summer course at the prestigious film school La Fémis in Paris, which led to his career in cinema. He began as a photographer before going on to make shorts and documentaries. His debut film Bye-Bye Souirty (1998) was followed by The Wind Horse (2002), which won several awards. He received greater recognition after his next film Tarfaya(2004) was chosen in competition at San Sebastian. Waiting for Pasolini(2007) won the Best Arab Film at the Cairo Festival, while his latest movie The Mosk (2010) won a bronze Tanit at Carthage. He is now working on a project titled The Birds of the Mountains, for which he has received the support of ADFF’s SANAD.
ELYES BACCAR
Elyes Baccar Studied film directing at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français, Paris, and served an internship at La Fémis. He has made TV serials, documentaries and shorts and directed plays before his debut feature She and He (2007). His acclaimed documentary Rouge Parole (2011) about freedom of expression is an emotionally told story about the Tunisian revolution. Pakistan 7.6 (2006) and Music Says . . . (2007) were both winners at the Al Jazeera Documentary Festival. His other works include his short film L’impasse du temps perdu (1996) and Wailing Wall (2009), winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival, New Delhi. Baccar heads the Cultulral Association for Integration and Training and is the founder and executive director of the Human Rights International Film Festival in Tunisia.
SHERIEF ELKATSHA
Sherief Elkatsha filmmaker, cinematographer and editor, was born in the United States, raised in Cairo, and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Butts Out (2006), his first feature-length film received the Best Documentary Award at the New England Film and Video Festival. A year later, he shot and codirected with Jehane Noujaim Egypt: We Are Watching You about politics in Egypt, which was aired on 42 networks worldwide. Elkatsha returned to Egypt in 2009 as cinematographer for Mikala Krogh’s Cairo Garbage. His much acclaimed Cairo Drive (2013), an insightful and humorous look at traffic in Cairo, had its world premiere at ADFF 2013 and won the Best Film from the Arab World in the documentary competition. Elkatsha is currently preparing to shoot a theme-driven exploration of female music composers in the Arab world.
AMAR KANWAR
Internationally acclaimed installation artist, documentary filmmaker and activist Amar Kanwar is known for the ways in which he pushes the boundaries of traditional documentary film. Recipient of the first Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art in Norway, his films have been shown at prestigious film festivals around the world. He has received a Golden Gate Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Golden Conch, Mumbai International Film Festival. His recent exhibitions have been at the Art Institute of Chicago, Edinburgh Arts Festival 2014, Gwangju Biennale 2014 in Korea, 56th Carnegie International in the US, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as in Documenta (2002, 2007, 2012) in Kassel, Germany. He is also the recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change, USA (2014).