Dimitris Koutsiabasakos
Born in 1967 in Greece, Dimitris Koutsiabasakos became an actor for the theatrical Group of Volos from 1984-1986. In 1989, he was accepted at the Pan-Russian Institute of Cinematography (V.G.I.K) in the Film Direction Section and his journey there ended with graduating with honors in 1994 (degree of Cinema and TV direction and a Master of Fine Arts).

Member of the Greek Directors Guild (F.E.R.A, M.E.I), Koutsiabasakos teaches film acting in several Drama Schools. His films have been awarded in several national and international film festivals such as Hercules, The River Achelous, and My Grandmother which won the Main-Post Journalist’s Award of Würzburg International Filmweekend in 1999. His films The Grocer and Becoming an Actor won the Audience Award of the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Hala Lotfy
Hala Lotfy is an Egyptian Filmmaker born in 1973. Although she graduated in Economics and Political Science in 1995, she pursued a cinematic career studying filmmaking in Cairo Film Institute where she graduated with an honor degree. From 2001 to 2004, Lotfy directed 3 documentaries, in addition to a series of 7 documentaries, called Arabs of Latin America for Aljazeera Documentary TV network. In 2007, she started working on her feature debut Coming Forth by Day. The film also landed in the 94th place on the Dubai International Film Festival's list of the 100 Most Important Arab Films, making it the most recent film included on the list.

As the founder of Hassala Films, Lotfy aims to support young artists to make their independent projects. In 2011, she received the prestigious Katrin Cartlidge Foundation Award.

Marianne Lere
For nearly 20 years, Marianne Lere has been working in the filmmaking industry, split evenly between England and France. After studying Film Production at FEMIS, Marianne moved to London in 1994 she worked for the European Script Fund, the British Film Institute and independent production company Arrowhead Productions.

Lere made a return to Paris where she notably produced several award-winning documentary films including; the renowned multi-awarded hit Inferno (2009) by Henri-Georges Clouzot, which premiered in Cannes Film Festival; Weapon of Choice (2011), which explores how filmmakers take action in the long and difficult process of revolutionary transformation; and the 26-minute documentary Id Wahda which sheds light on the Coptic community in Cairo and the Maspero massacre that took place in October 2011.

Mohamed Malas

Jury President

Born in 1945, Mohamed Malas is a prominent Syrian Filmmaker who studied filmmaking at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. He is an internationally renowned director thanks to his shorts, documentaries, and feature films that garnered local and international recognition.

In 1983, he received his first prizes at Valencia and Carthage film festivals for his first film Ahlam al-Madina. He then won numerous international awards for feature films; including Al-lail (1992) and Bab el makam (2005). Ladder to Damascus (2013) is his most recent hit, which completes the trilogy of Ahlam al-Madina and Al-lail.

Wael Omar
Wael Omar is a native Cairene with an inherent passion for all things artistic and eccentric. He graduated from Emerson College in the US, before settling for a career behind the camera. Since 2001 he has worked up and down the production line doing every possible thing on a movie set that can be done, from credits on Hollywood features to shooting conflict zone documentaries in Central Africa. In 2005 he produced and directed Democracy 76 -a treatise on Egypt's first presidential election, and the events that precipitated it. Upon returning to the Middle East in 2007, with a focus on culturally-minded stories, he co-founded Middlewest Films which is whole-heartedly dedicated to the indie film scene in the Euro-Med region.

One of the company’s most prominent films is In Search of Oil and Sand which is co-directed by Wael Omar and Philippe L. Dib. Both directors won Best Director Award at the Documentary Competition within the 6th Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2012. Middlewest has entered into the field of long feature films by co-producing Ayten Amin’s Villa 69.

Mike Lerner
In 1988, Mike Lerner started his filmmaking career. He founded the award-winning film production company Roast Beef, producing various acclaimed documentaries including; Afghan Star, The Story of the Pink Panthers, The Square, The Do Gooders, Hell and Back Again for which he was nominated to the Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature 2012, and many others.

Lerner also garnered numerous remarkable awards for the documentaries he produced including; 6 Sundance Awards, an Emmy Award, 2 Grierson Awards, Prix ItaliaBest Documentary Moscow Film Festival and aBIFA 2013 Best Documentary.

Besides being the producer, Lerner made his directorial debut in Pussy Riot: A punk Prayer which received the Audience Award at Sundance 2013.

Hauvick Habechian
Hauvick Habechian is a Lebanese Film Critic. He is currently working for the leading Arab newspaper “Annahar”. Hauvick started his career as a freelance Journalist collaborating with local and regional newspapers.

He switched to filmmaking and for several Arab television channels he directed and produced social programs and documentaries about filmmaking industry including Al Adassa Al Arabia (The Arabic Lens) for Al Jazeera TV.

In Support to Palestinian and Lebanese young students, he participated in many audiovisual workshops. Since 2005, Hauvick has been attending numerous regional and international film festivals, as a Film Critic and a jury member.

Marianne Khoury
Despite an educational background in Economics, Marianne Khoury sought the cinema world soon after her graduation. For more than three decades, Marianne has been a close collaborator of the late iconic Filmmaker Youssef Chahine. Her passion is to produce independent films that go against the grain of Egyptian cinematic themes.

Marianne’s first documentary is The Times of Laura, in 1999 which was followed by Women Who Loved Cinema in 2002. Her last project Zelal was an official entry in the Venice Film Festival 2010 and won the FIPRESCI at the Dubai International Film Festival of the same year.

Egyptian Film Critics Association Prize Jury

Ahmed Hasuna (Jury President)
Osama Abdelfatah
Hossam Hafez

Egyptian Animation Society Prize Jury

Rachida El Shafai (Jury President)
Sameh El Sharkawy
Khaled Gamal

ACT Association Prize Jury ($1000 for best Women's Film)

Karima Kamal (Jury President)
Maggie Morgan
Omar El Kady

Garaad Jury (Production prize of $3000 for the Best Director of a short film from Egypt)

Moustafa Zakria