The Jury of the Festival

STANIMIR TRIFONOV, was born in 1958 in the former capital of Bulgaria Veliko Tarnovo. He studied in the school of foreign languages and later on graduated in Bulgarian language and literature at the University of Veliko Tarnovo. During his years at the University he participated in a film club with director Vladimir Iliev. This fact plays a very important role in his life and his future career as a filmmaker. A few years later he was already a student at the National Academy of Theatre and Cinema in Sofia. Mr. TRIFONOV studied under the direction of Professor Dimitar Pounev and made his first documentary at a professional level. The public, the critics and other filmmakers were impressed by his first works. His series “The hunting of wolves” released in 2000, made a boom in the country. He is director of the series “At the border,” finished in 2014/16 episodes / dedicated to the 100 the anniversary of the start of the First World War. The latest series of Trifonov received the Award of the Academy of the Bulgarian cinema for Best Series of 2014, and the Best Screenplay and costumes. He was director of the agency “VREME” for more than ten years and currently he is the head of his own film agency “Tristan movie” Ltd., with headquarters in Sofia. As director and producer he has directed more than 60 documentaries and feature films. Along with his career as a film director, as visiting professor TRIFONOV transmits his experience to students. Since 2004 he is a senior professor of cinema and television direction in the Southwest University in Blagoevgrad and New Bulgarian University in Sofia.  

NEDZAD BEGOVIC
Bosnian-Herzegovinian filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist
Nedžad Begović is a Sarajevo-based artist whose diverse body of work bridges film, television, comics, design, music, contemporary art, and creative innovation. With a career spanning several decades, he has directed numerous documentaries, feature films, shorts, animations, and TV series.
His films have been showcased and archived in esteemed institutions such as the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, the Oberhausen film archive, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Begović has received major accolades including the Heart of Sarajevo (Sarajevo Film Festival), the Big Stamp Award (ZagrebDox), the Golden Apple (BHFF Tribeca festival, New York), and THE BEST WORLD DOC. He was also Bosnia and Herzegovina’s official Oscar submission.
Beyond cinema, Begović is an active visual artist with over 30 solo and group exhibitions held in cities including Paris, Tokyo, London, Venice, and Rome. His drawings, comics, video pieces, and installations reflect a poetic engagement with everyday life, personal experience, and contemporary society—expressed through a minimalist yet emotionally resonant visual language.

DRAZEN ZARKOVIC
Film director and screenwriter, Croatia

Dražen Žarković was born in 1970 in Zagreb, Croatia, where he grew up and completed his primary and secondary education. After training as a mechanical technician, he worked at the renowned Zagreb Film animation studio from 1989 to 1992, contributing to a number of animated film projects. In 1992, he enrolled in Film and TV Directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, where he later graduated. Since 1993, Žarković has been active as an independent filmmaker. He has written and directed numerous fiction and documentary projects, and directed over 200 episodes of various television series. He is a member of the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild and the Croatian Freelance Artists Association. Žarković has also worked as an assistant director on feature films and directed six feature-length films: Go Yellow!, Tressette, The Mysterious Boy, Alka, My Grandpa Is an Alien, and Salsa.

SILVIO MUMELAS
Actor, Croatia

Silvio Mumelaš is a Croatian actor born in Zadar in 1991. He graduated in acting from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb and is currently based in the city, where he works at the Trešnja Theatre. In addition to his work at Trešnja, Mumelaš has performed in major public theatres such as the Croatian National Theatre (HNK) and &TD Theatre, as well as on the independent scene, including Exit Theatre, Boom!, Radioteatar Bajsić, and Punctum. He has appeared in numerous radio dramas on Croatian National Radio (HRT) and acted in various television series and films. His most notable film role to date is in The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Nebojša Slijepčević.

 

ZVONIMIR KARAKATIC, a computer programmer born in Požega in 1976. His first encounter with non-professional filmmaking was when he acted in a film produced by Film Club „Gimnazija“, Požega at the age of five. He began taking photos as an elementary schoolboy and showed interest in filmmaking when he was in secondary school. He’s been the member of the Film Club (nowadays known as GFR FILM-VIDEO and is its president ) for over 30 years and is himself the author of several non-professional films of which „Saturday Night Fever“ was awarded the gold medal at the 31st Croatian Film Festival. He was a co-producer, co-director and a co-editor of the film „May I Help You?“ which was selected in the official programme of „Dani hrvatskog filma“ in 2004. He finished his documentary „Kino moje malo“ in 2008. He has actively participated in organizing almost all the one-minute film festivals in Požega.