Juries

Born in France and raised in Ghent, Belgian-Caribbean artist Charlotte Adigéry has risen to the foreground of the international music scene, creating genre-blurring electropop – often in collaboration with Bolis Popul, with whom she released the album Topical Dancer (2022), a biting yet humorous exploration of racism, sexism and post-colonialism. Through indie dance group Soulwax, she got the opportunity early in her career to sing on the soundtrack of Felix Van Groeningen’s Belgica (2016).

With films like Close, Girl, Small Things Like These, Bullhead, Patrick and The Ardennes, editor Alain Dessauvage has left a defining mark
on a new generation of Belgian cinema. Directors such as Lukas Dhont, Tim Mielants and Michaël Roskam have found in him a creative partner who brings added nuance to their stories. Dessauvage’s sense of rhythm and his ability to capture intimate emotions on screen make him a driving force in the Belgian film industry.

Born in Lisbon to Cape Verdean parents and raised in Switzerland, filmmaker Denise Fernandes made her feature debut in 2024 with
Hanami, which won her the Best Emerging Director award at Locarno and a slot in FFG’s competition. With a gentle, poetic style already evident in her shorts, she has captivated audiences at international film festivals, marking her as a talent to watch.

Having grown up in the context of the Guianese diaspora in France, filmmaker Maxime Jean-Baptiste’s work delves into the complexity of Western colonial history by detecting the survival of past traumas in the present. His audiovisual and performance work
focuses on archives and forms of re-enactment as a perspective for conceiving a living, embodied memory. His feature debut Kouté vwa world-premiered at Locarno, winning two awards.

Theresa Russell was a magnetic screen presence throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, holding her own alongside Hollywood’s leading actresses. With standout roles in Black Widow (1987) and Whore (1991), she’s especially celebrated for her layered, vulnerable performances in six films by Nicolas Roeg. In the 2000s, Russell continued acting, mainly in TV series and independent films.

Swiss writer-director Ramon Zürcher makes films together with his twin brother Silvan. Their debut The Strange Little Cat (2013) became a festival hit, followed by The Girl and The Spider and The Sparrow in the Chimney, which earned them even more accolades. Zürcher’s cinema is rich with simmering tensions, meticulously orchestrated through a precise visual language.

From short films and documentaries to video installations and theatre, the work of Dutch visual artist Douwe Dijkstra, who graduated from ArtEZ University of the Arts, is a playful mixture of video, animation, and VFX that can be described as both humorous and socially engaged. In 2022, Dijkstra won the International Short Film Competition at FFG with Neighbour Abdi.

With his delicate films, Lithuanian director Vytautas Katkus has been building a fascinating, visually distinctive body of work centered on family and connection. At FFG2019 he won the Award for Best International Short with Community Gardens; three years later his short Cherries received a Special Mention. His feature debut The Visitor, screening in Official Selection, continues the understated power of his short films.

After getting her degree in Art History, Bruges born Anne Verbeure went on to study at the RITCS and KASK (Animation). Her graduation film Red Giant (2021) made a strong impression, winning the VAF Wildcard and screening at numerous international festivals. Verbeure’s first professional short, The Golden Donkey (2024), once again showcased how her distinctive drawing style lends itself to sensitive, imaginative animation.