The members of the Jury

Carla Simon (President of the Jury) was born in 1986 in a small Catalan village. She comes from a large extended family that serves as an endless well of stories. Observing and listening to these tales, she decided to make films that would explore the complexity of the human condition, and in particular the intricacies of family relationships. After graduating in Audiovisual Communication from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Simón was awarded a La Caixa Foundation scholarship, which enabled her to study at the London Film School in the United Kingdom. Estiu 1993 (Summer 1993, 2017) marked her autobiographical debut. It premiered at the 2017 Berlinale, where it won the Best First Feature Award as well as the Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus section. The film went on to receive more than 30 awards worldwide, earned her the Goya Award for Best New Director, and was selected to represent Spain at the Academy Awards. In 2018, Simón was also honoured with the Women in Motion Emerging Talent Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2022, Simón presented the short film Carta a mi madre para mi hijo (Letter to My Mother for My Son), part of the Miu Miu Women’s Tales series, at the Giornate degli Autori of the 79th Venice International Film Festival. Her second feature, Alcarràs (2022), won the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. The film was selected for over 90 international festivals and distributed in more than 50 territories. It was also chosen to represent Spain at the 2023 Academy Awards, received three nominations at the European Film Awards, and won six Gaudí Awards. In 2023, Simón was further recognised with Spain’s National Cinematography Award. Romería (2025), Carla Simón’s third feature film, had its world premiere in the Official Selection at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. It has been selected at more than 70 festivals and sold in over 55 territories. The film has received 13 nominations at the Gaudí Awards and 6 nominations at the Goya Awards.

Hania Mroué is a film programmer and distributor based in Beirut. She directs Metropolis Cinema, Lebanon’s only arthouse movie theatre that she founded in 2006. She started MC Distribution to sell and distribute Arab independent films in the MENA region. She is a founding member of Aflamuna, created in 1998 to promote and support independent Arab films. For 10 years she has been the managing director of its Arab film festival Beirut Cinema Days. She was appointed as chief Arab programmer at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (2010-2012), then a consultant for Arab film programming and industry events at the Marrakesh International Film Festival (2020-2023). She has been the program manager for the Beirut Locarno Industry Academy since 2018, and director of Talents Beirut (a branch of the Berlinale Talents) since 2014. She has served as jury member in several prestigious festivals such as Berlinale (first feature 2012), Cannes Critics week (2017), Cinema du Réel (2020).

Sara Fgaier directed the short films L’umile Italia (2014, Giornate degli Autori) and The Years (2018, Horizons), which won the EFA for Best European Short Film and the Silver Ribbon. Weightless (2024) is her first feature film, screened in competition at the Locarno Film Festival and the BFI in London. She has worked as an editor, archival researcher, and producer with directors such as Aleksandr Sokurov (Fairytale), Gianfranco Rosi (Sacro GRA), and Franco Maresco (Belluscone: A Sicilian Story). In 2023, she founded the independent production company Limen. She teaches film at the ECAL (Lausanne) and at the CSC – National Film School (Rome).