2020 Jury Members
Gulbara Tolomushova was born in Kyrgyzstan and graduated from the Russian State University of Cinematography. She is a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Kyrgyzstan, Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique, and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, as well as being the programmer of the Forum “Umut” (Hope) for Young Cinema of CIS countries.
Gulbara is a specialist at the Bishkek Cinema House of the Department of Cinematography of the Ministry of Culture's Department of Information and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic. She is also editor and contributor to the Cinematography Development Fund (kyrgyzcinema.com), columnist of Vechernii Bishkek newspaper, and contributor to Forum and Kinokultura.com magazines.
GULBARA TOLOMUSHOVA – JURY PRESIDENT
Chairman of the Malaysia International Film Festival & Producer, Malaysia.
In her twenty-plus years in the entertainment industry, Joanne has managed over a hundred concerts and showcases. In recent years, she has taken up new challenges in the film industry, working on many local and international films as a Producer or Executive Producer. Her production Nina Wu, directed by Midi Z, was an official selection of UN CERTAIN REGARD at the Cannes Film Festival 2019. As the founder and chairperson of the Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) and the Malaysian Golden Global Awards (MGGA), Joanne led the festival to become a platform to facilitate artistic and cultural exchange both locally and internationally. Her first biography, Fast Forward with Joanne Goh, narrating her entrepreneurial journey, was published in 2020.
JOANNE GOH
Producer/Actress/STAR TV Presenter, China
Lan Huang was born on August 27th 1979 in Hangzhou, China and is a prestigious Chinese television producer with a Bachelor degree in Russian Language from Shanghai International Studies University and a Masters degree in Economics from Lomonosov Moscow State University. Huang has been active in the film and television industry for over a decade. With a rich understanding of the local market and a unique perspective, she has developed and produced multiple mega-hits in China, including If Life Cheats You, Hot Mom!, Big Husband, Small Husband, Family Dinner, Tiger Mom, The Imperial Doctress, Rookie Agent Rouge, First Half of My Life, The Revolution Of Our Love and Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace.
LAN HUANG
Producer & Founder and President of the Russian-British Sochi International Film Festival & Awards, Russia/UK
Luba Balagova is Founder and President of the Russian-British Sochi International Film Festival and Awards (SIFFA & SIFFA UK IRIDA), SIFFA YouTube Channel and the film company Sindika Film Productions with her partner Mohy Kandour. She is also a filmmaker, screenwriter, producer of 5 multi-award-winning films, poet and author of 11 books and over 100 scholarly articles. Luba was born in Russia, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic and graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Lomonosov Moscow State University with a degree in Literary Edition and Journalism. She also studied Cinema at the Institute of Culture in Moscow from 1991 to 1993 and in 2010 received a PhD in Literature from the A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature.
LUBA (LUBOV) BALAGOVA KANDOUR
Kirill Karo is a Russian - Estonian actor, born in Tallinn, Estonia.
In 1992 he began a five year, acting course at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute in Moscow and after graduation continued to work at the theatre. He returned to Tallinn in 1999, acting at the Russian Theatre for 5 years before going back to Moscow to the Praktika Theatre in 2004. Kirill's film and television career began in 2008. He is best known for playing the lead character in 32 episodes of The Sniffer (2013 - 2017) for which he won the Association of Film and TV Producers Award in the 'Best Actor' category. He also appeared as George Safronov in 16 episodes of the Netflix robot sci-fi Better than Us (2019), and as Sergey in the zombie television series To the Lake (2020).
KIRILL KARO
TV Presenter/Actress, Lebanon
Ghida Majzoub has been a TV Anchor and Producer for more than 25 years and started an online platform under her name for the Arab Diaspora with more than 50K Followers. She is a member of the Oscar Committee in Lebanon, has been a judge at numerous festivals and has had cameos in a number of Lebanese films, including Capernaum, Good Morning and C-Section. She is a film critic and covers major Cinematic Events. She has interviewed the international tenor Luciano Pavarotti, as well as many directors, actors and producers, including Youssef Chahine, Nadine Labaki, Ziad Doueiry, Adel Imam, Mona Zaki, Youssra, Malcolm McDowell, Cuba Gooding Jr, Mario Kassar, Malek Moustapha Akkad, Elie Samaha, Rob Zombie and Danny Trejo.
GHIDA MAJZOUB
NICOLAS TRAUBE
Award Winning Film & TV Producer, France
Nicolas Traube is a film and television producer of numerous award-winning productions. Born in Switzerland, he was brought up in France and studied in London and Geneva before beginning his career in the United States in 1972, where he produced fifteen documentaries with German or American Broadcasters, most memorably, a documentary about the Foreign Legion, made for the celebrated news program Sixty Minutes (CBS). From 1983 to 1996 Nicolas was Manager/Managing Director of Hamster Productions, one of the top production companies in Europe. Under his leadership the company produced 350 movies, many of which were co-productions of wide-ranging international importance.
Director/Producer/Actress, Indonesia
Livi Zheng made her directing debut in 2014 with Brush with Danger, which was released theatrically in the US and distributed internationally. The film garnered international acclaim and was prestigiously recognized by the Los Angeles Times. Since then, Livi has directed Bali: Beats of Paradise, which premiered at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills and was distributed theatrically in the US and internationally. Her most recent feature film, Insight, is slated to release this March 12 in the US. In between projects, Livi travels as a guest speaker on topics spanning film, culture and international business. To date, she has spoken at over 30 universities worldwide, including Yale University, University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, University of California-Los Angeles, New York Film Academy, and Communication University of China.
LIVI ZHENG