The Jury Members of the International Competition

Gabrielle Kelly

Screenwriter/Producer Gabrielle Kelly is on the Faculty of the American Film Institute Conservatory in LA. With expertise and a passion for global storytelling, particularly in in Asia, she has mentored labs and screenwriting masterclasses around the world, programmed, judged and created film festivals from Guam to Azerbaijan and is an expert on Media Labs and international story development for screens and pages.

She worked with New York director Sidney Lumet and in Hollywood with numerous directors, writers and producers. As well as running producer Robert Evan’s company at Paramount for several years, she has also worked at HBO, CBS Films, Eddie Murphy Productions and Warner Bros.

Among her recent producing credits are the 2019 Chinese sci-fi drama “The LastSunrise,” European feature co-production, “Beautiful in the Morning,”  Myanmar feature “Mudras Calling,” and music-driven indie film All Ages Night as well as writing work on China’s blockbuster 2010“Empire of Silver,” Russia’s 2010 Oscar nominee “The Edge”  and many other screenplays.

The author of, Celluloid Ceiling; Women FilmDirectors Breaking Through,” the ground-breaking study of women directors from around the world, she has taught at major film schools worldwide, mentored at the first Middle East Sundance Lab, and is currently developing and producing stories from the world, for the world through her company, Rebel Media Inc.

Rachael Rakes

Rachael Rakes is a curator, arts writer, editor, film programmer, and educator. She is currently the Editor at Large for Verso Books, and a Programmer at Large for the Film Society of Lincoln Center—where she co-curates the annual festival Art of the Real. Until 2019, she was the Head Curator and Manager of the Curatorial Programme at De Appel in Amsterdam. From 2011-2017, she was the Film co-editor for the Brooklyn Rail. From 2010-2013 she was the Assistant Curator for the Museum of the Moving Image. Rakes has recently contributed criticism and essays to Art-Agenda, Artforum, and Ocula, among other publications and catalogues. She has independently organized exhibitions and programmes for Frame Contemporary (Helsinki), Tabakerlara (San Sebastian), SAIC (Chicago), A.I.R. (NYC), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Oolite Arts (Miami), International Studio and Curatorial Program (NYC), Malmö Konsthall. Rakes is currently researching tools of ethnographic refusal in filmmaking and sonic practices, and forms of radical abstraction and coding in art and everyday life.

Marc Lamothe

Marc Lamothe joined the Fantasia International Film Festival Montreal in 2002 after having been active for more than 15 years in the field of marketing and advertising consultation. With a master's degree in marketing from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales, he carried out more than 500 marketing strategy mandates. In the late ’90s, he also ran a record label and a management agency for alternative and metal artists. Initially Director of Marketing and Communications, Lamothe is now Co-Director of the Fantasia festival since 2007, and a programmer since 2004. Since 2001, he has created about 60 audio-visual projects under the pseudonym DJ XL5.

Anna Stoeva

Born in Moscow, Anna Stoeva started her career as development producer for AGITPROP, top Bulgarian creative documentary production company. High profile co-productions she worked on include The Last Black Sea Pirates (HotDocs 2013, FIPRESCI Award Krakow 2013), Dad Made Dirty Movies (premiere at Visions du Reel 2011) and Paradise Hotel (HBO Bulgaria Original Programming). In the summer of 2011, after a 4-months distribution traineeship at Magnolia Pictures, New York, Anna co-founded tanuki (lms. Since then Anna has been the recipient of the Nipkow Emerging Producers Grant, and produced and line produced projects in Moscow, Berlin and Sofia. Anna has line produced Frustrated, a series for the third biggest Russian network TNT starring Maria Shalaeva and Yuri Kolokolnikov, and coordinated the Bulgarian production of major international series Crossing Lines II (Germany/USA), starring Donald Sutherland and Carrie-Ann Moss.

RED LIGHT (fiction, 22’, 2016) - Producer, Dir. Toma Waszarow. Produced by Revo Films, in co-production with Eclectica d.o.o. (Zagreb). Selected awards: Best Short, Jameson Short Film Prize – Sofia IFF 2016, Sundance TV Award - Brest FF 2016, Best Short Film - On The Road FF Rome 2016, Audience Award - Encounters Short FF 2016.

GETTING FAT IN A HEALTHY WAY (fiction, 20’, 2015) - Producer, Dir. Kevork Aslanyan. Produced by Revo Films, co-produced with Zak Film (Berlin). 17 intl awards, over 60 festivals worldwide. Youth Jury Award – Huesca 2015, Euroshort Award – Sedicicorto FF 2015, Short of the year Award - Promofest 2015, Bigas Luna Award for Best Story – FEC Film Festival 2016

THE LAST BLACK SEA PIRATES (creative documentary, 90’, 2013) – Development Producer, Dir. Svetoslav Stoyanov, written by Vanya Rainova. Produced by AGITPROP. Hot Docs 2013 – Competition; Yerevan IFF 2013–Golden Apricot Best Documentary; Krakow FF 2013–FIPRESCI award.

PARADISE HOTEL (creative documentary, 54’, 2010) – Development Producer, Directed by Sophia Tzavella. Produced by AGITPROP. Pilot project of HBO Bulgaria Original Programming. Sarajevo FF 2010; TRT Documentary Awards 2011; Magnolia award - Shanghai TV Festival 2011; Special Jury Award - PriMed 2011. FIPRESCI Award - Thessaloniki Documentary FF, 2011