THE JURYS 2007

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Isabel Arrate Fernandez
Born in 1970, Isabel Arrate Fernandez gained a Masters Degree in 1996 at the University of Amsterdam. She worked for the Latin American Film Festival for Film and Literature in Rotterdam. After her studies she started working for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). From 2000 to 2002 she was employed by Film Investors Netherlands. Since 2002 she has been in charge of the IDFA Jan Vrijman Fund, which was created to generate more attention for documentaries from developing countries. As its coordinator she has participated in several juries and as a consultant in panels and workshops in developing countries.

Carlo Chatrian
Born in 1971 in Turin, Italy. He studied Literature and Cinema at TurinUniversity. He works as a journalist and film critic for the reviews “Panoramiques”, “Duellanti” and “Cineforum”. He edited books on Wong Kar Wai, Johan van der Keuken, Nicolas Philibert, Errol Morris, Frederick Wiseman and Maurizio Nichetti. He is member of the selection board of the Locarno Film Festival. He is in charge of Infinity, the International Film Festival in Alba / Piemont as its Deputy Director. He has been Jury Member for film festivals such as Arsenals, Doclisboa or the Turin Film festival.

Ruth Diskin
Born in Israel, Ruth Diskin has a Degree in International Relations and English Literature from the HebrewUniversity. She began her film career as the Head of International Relations & Marketing Department of the SamSpiegelFilm & TVSchool in Jerusalem. Since 2001 she has been the Managing Director of Ruth Diskin Films Ltd., a Jerusalem based international marketing and distribution company for documentaries and TV dramas. She is the International Marketing Consultant for The Israel Film Fund and the SamSpiegelFilmSchool. Ruth Diskin Films Ltd. gives an annual award to the Best Documentary of the Jerusalem Film Festival and the DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival.

Tine Fischer
Tine Fischer holds a degree in Film & Media Studies from the University of Copenhagen. From 1996 to 2003 she worked as programmer at the Cinematheque of the Danish Film Institute covering contemporary art cinema, video art, experimental film and documentaries. In 2002 she founded CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Scandinavia’s largest documentary film event, which she now heads. From 2006 she has also been Head of the newly established distribution company DOX-ONWHEELS. During the last ten years she has organised a large number of professional documentary seminars, workshops and events.

Thomas Sessner
Born in 1964, Thomas Sessner graduated from the GermanJournalismSchool and studied Communication Sciences and American Studies with a focus on Film at MunichUniversity. He then became a freelance Film Critic for various magazines. Since 1995 he has worked for Bavarian Broadcasting and is now Chief Commissioning Editor for Kino aktuell, and is responsible among others for ’Kino Kino’, a film magazine programme for Bavarian Television. He is also Commissioning Editor of numerous documentary film productions for Bavarian Broadcasting and is Assistant Head of the Film and Teleclub Department. 

JURY HORIZONS AWARD

Dr. Christian Lüffe
Born in 1952, Dr. Christian Lüffe studied Literature, Philosophy and Media Studies. In 1981 he gained a PhD in American Studies. He has worked at the Goethe Institute since 1985 in various positions: between 2002 and 2005 he was Head of the Goethe Institute Amsterdam and is now the Film Consultant in Munich and, as such, responsible for the coordination of film programmes overseas.

Thomas Prieto Peral
Born in 1966 Thomas Prieto Peral is an evangelical theologian. He was a pastor until 2000. Since 2000 he has been an ecumenical consultant and holds responsibility for international matters at the Evangelical-LutheranChurch in Bavaria, dealing with human rights causes and leading project work and developmental cooperation with a focus on Near East and South-East Europe. He is head of the foundation “Wings of Hope” which works with war trauma victims in Iraq, in the Palestinian territories and Israel as well as in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  

Martin Miller
Born in 1975 he is a photographer and musician. He is a member of Raumwandler e.V., an open association of international film, music and performance artists who have set their sights on organising innovative non-commercial events including film screenings at chosen venues throughout Europe. He trained as a photographer between 1998 and 2000 and has been working as a freelancer since 2000. He is also a pianist and does sound work for several band projects, and on film soundtracks and performances.