Dr. Ezzedine Shalah, the founder and president of the Jerusalem International Film Festival which is held in cooperation with the Youth Vision Association, revealed the chairs and members of the juries of the sixth session of the festival, which will start from 29/11/2021 to 06/12/2021.
Dr. Shalah stated that the jury of the feature films includes the Palestinian director Mai Al-Masry, as the chair of the jury, while the members of the jury are the Egyptian artist “Bossi”, the Syrian artist “Qassem Melhou”, the Moroccan artist “Yousra Tarek” and the Palestinian director “Ashraf Al-Hawari”.
The jury of documentary films includes the German director “Monica Maurer” as the chair of the jury, while the members of the jury are the Algerian director “Yasmine Shouikh”, the Tunisian director “Mahmoud Al-Jimni”, the Palestinian director “Raed Dizdar” and the Palestinian director “Rima Mahmoud”. Besides, the jury of amateur films includes the director Fathi Omar, Dr. Khaled Al-Halabi and the director Maher Al-Afifi.
Dr. Shalah stated that the winning films in the festival will be announced on the closing day on 06/12/2021, including the Critics Committee Prize with the name of the late “Hatem Ali” and the long and short scenarios prizes for the Special Scenario Competition. The juries’ members were selected according to their long experience in the field of cinema from different countries. Hence, we will mention them as follows:
Mai Al-Masry -Palestine: Al-Masry is a documentary and feature filmmaker and is considered one of the pioneers of the Palestinian cinema. Her films have won more than 100 international prizes. Al-Masry has a cinematic experience that exceeded 35 years. Her films include “3000 Nights”, “Beirut’s Diaries”, “The Qandoul Rose”, “Hanging Dreams”, “Children of Shatila”, “Children of the Fire Mountain” and “A Woman in Time of Challenge”.
Bossi-Egypt: Bossi is a famous actress who has a long cinematic experience exceeding 50 years. The actress, Bossi, has a lot of films and television and theatrical series. During her artistic life, she won many Prizes. Her films include “Legs in the Mud”, “A First Year of Love”, “Uncle Zizou, My Lover”, “A Dead Execution”, “Always My Lover”, “The Time of Hatem Zahran” and “Bullies of Bolaq”.
Qassem Malhou- Syria: Malhou is a famous Syrian actor who has several works that have won prizes, and he was a jury member in many festivals. Malhou acted in a lot of works, such as “The Door of the Sun”, “Ameena”, “Khorfakkan”, “Omar”, “Antara”, “Waiting”, “Born from the Loin” and “Close the Bags”.
Yousra Tariq- Morocco: Yousra is a Moroccan actress, journalist and writer, who has appeared in the media through presenting news and television programs on the official Moroccan television station. She also participated in prestigious cinematic works, such as “Maghees”, “Goodbye Carmen”, “The Red Ribbon”, “Al-Sadaq”, “In One Day” and “The Beats of Destiny”.
Ashraf Al-Hawari- Palestine: Al-Hawari is the manager of the artistic department at Palestine TV. He directed several television works and films, such as “Hope Will Not Die”, which won the Bronze Prize at the Mediterranean Festival, and the film “They Are Like Children” which won the Best Director Prize at the Cairo Radio and Television Festival.
The committee of documentary films:
Monica Maurer- Germany: Maurer is a German film writer and director who has a long experience in the documentary film industry, and she was chosen to be a jury member in several festivals, including Santiago de Chile, Leipzig, Bilbao and Munich. Her films include “Palestine Burns”, “The Fifth War”, “Born of Death” and “Children of Palestine”.
Yasmine Shouikh- Algeria: Yasmine is Algerian writer and director. She wrote and directed the films “The Door” and “The Jinn”. Besides, Yasmine directed the series “Studio 27” series, which later transformed into the long feature film entitled “To the End of Time” and was nominated for Oscar in the 91st session. Yasmine participated in many festivals, including Algeria, Dubai, Luxor, Sale, Vespaco, Brussels and Paris.
Mahmoud Al-Jimni-Tunisia: Al-Jimni is a critic, director and the president of the International Festival of Arab Films in Gabes. He has many short films, as well as his most important cinematic works consisted of “Handal and Flower”, “Love of Life” and the long documentary film “No. Yes”. Al-Jimni was chosen to be a jury member in several festivals, including Dubai, Cairo, Locarno, Geneva and Jeddah.
Raed Dizdar-Palestine: Dizdar is a director and independent researcher who has several documentary films, including “Here is Jerusalem”, “Lama Brothers”, “The Samaritans in the Footsteps of Moses” and “Jaffa, the Mother of the Stranger”. Dizdar’s documentary films are considered living documents on the unknown history of the Palestinian people. Dizdar’s films have received many prizes and have been shown at several film festivals around the world.
Rima Mahmoud- Palestine: Rima is a filmmaker of documentary films specializing in women and youth issues. She worked in the field of direction and addressed the most sensitive and ambiguous issues in the Gazan society. Rima directed nearly 22 short documentary and feature films, which are: “Article 18”, “Remnants of a Soul”, “Stuck Souls”, “Dream Without Return”, “20 Days” and “Snooze”.
The Jury of Amateur Films:
The jury of amateur films includes the Palestinian director “Fathi Omar” who has many feature and documentary films, such as “We Have A Call”, “A little love”, “If He Lives”, “The Key” and “Diyar Omar”. Fathi’s films participated in various local and international festivals and won many prizes, as well as special screenings have organized for his films at the Egyptian Opera House.
Dr. Khaled Al-Halabi is a researcher and film academic in the field of documentaries filmmaking, a lecturer at Al-Aqsa University and many Palestinian universities in Gaza for teaching documentary filmmaking and television photography. Dr. Al-Halabi was a jury member at Jerusalem International Film Festival in a previous session.
Maher Al-Afifi is a director and editor. He is an academic lecturer at the University of Palestine and the Media Institute at Birzeit University for teaching many subjects related to media sciences and information technology. Al-Afifi directed a lot of documentary films and worked as a director and editing technician for several agencies and programs.
