Juries

The award-winning Iranian-German director, video artist, and editor was born in Tehran in 1984, studied film directing in Iran and at the HFF Munich, and lives and works in Germany. Narges Kalhor's works span documentary film, experimental art, and fiction, and often explore themes such as exile, identity, feminist perspectives and political resistance.
Her films "Shoot Me" (2013), "In the Name of Scheherazade" or "The First Beer Garden in Tehran" (2019) and "Sensitive Content "(2023) have been screened internationally and have received numerous awards. Her feature film debut "Shahid" (2024), with which she competed at the Neisse Film Festival in 2024, received the Caligari Film Prize and the CICAE Arthouse Cinema Award at the 2024 Berlinale, as well as the Hessian Film Prize for Best Feature Film.
She is currently developing her feature film "The Inverted Well," which has been selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market 2025.

Soňa Morgenthalová is a film professional with a background in film theory and cultural management. She began her career in international production and casting, working with Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer and collaborating on numerous films and series.

In 2017, she joined the MIDPOINT Institute, where she shapes and runs training program. She supports the development of both feature and short film projects and helps authors and producers build craft, confidence, and industry-relevant skills. She also initiated Focus Queer, which supports LGBTQ+ storytelling and expanding their representation across the industry.

Beyond MIDPOINT, Soňa is regularly involved as an expert for various institutions and initiatives, including the Czech Film Center, the Kosovo Cinematography Center or PITCH_IT. Across these roles, she is motivated by a consistent focus: discovering bold, original filmmakers, supporting unique and diverse cinematic voices, and helping new talent find momentum within the international film landscape.

Maria Zbąska is a graduate of the Łódź Film School and later the Wajda School. She works as a photographer and filmmaker; her photographic work has appeared in publications such as National Geographic, Gazeta Wyborcza, M Magazin, and NRC Handelsblad, and has been featured in solo and group exhibitions. As a director, she has created music videos, commercials, and short films, including the multi-award-winning “Psubrat” (2013). Together with her brother Kazimierz Zbąski, she developed the cult social campaign “Mafia dla psa” (“Mafia for Dogs”). Her feature film debut “To nie mój film” (This Is Not My Film) has won numerous awards, including at the FPFF in Gdynia (Golden Claw), PNF Orły 2025 (Discovery of the Year and nominations for Best Film and Best Director), TIFF Thessaloniki (Grand Prix / Smart7), the European Film Festival “CinEast” in Luxembourg – Young Talents Award 2024, 3KINO Prague (Grand Prix), as well as awards for Best Screenplay (NFF, Script Fiesta) and Best Cinematography at the “Młodzi i Film” (Youth and Film) Festival in Koszalin.

Vítězslav Chovanec currently works for the Czech Audiovisual Fund, the most important public funding institution in the Czech Republic. He is also responsible at the Czech Film Center for the international promotion and marketing of Czech documentary films and the local film industry. He collaborates with international festivals and co-production platforms and fosters creative exchange between Czech filmmakers and international partners. Furthermore, he collaborates with the programming team of the One World Human Rights Film Festival in Prague and is responsible for the production of the film magazine Cinepur, which offers critical reflections on contemporary audiovisual culture.

Heleen Gerritsen has been Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kinemathek since June 2025. This role means she is also responsible for the Retrospective and Berlinale Classics sections of the Berlin International Film Festival. Gerritsen was born in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in 1978. She studied Slavonic Languages, Eastern European History and Economics in Amsterdam and Russian Philology in Saint Petersburg. While still a student, she worked for international festivals and production companies, including Lenfilm and the international literature festival berlin.
After posts in film and television production, including at ARTE, SWR, RBB and SAT.1, she moved on to leading curatorial roles. 2014 to 2016 she headed the dokumentART – European Documentary Film Festival in Neubrandenburg and, 2017 to 2025, the goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film in Wiesbaden. As a writer, her most recent publications include “Decolonising the (Post)Soviet Screen” (2023/24) and in 2024, she also collaborated on the screenplay for Radu Jude’s “Heia, Heia, Safari!”.

Maria Krauss, born in 1981, is a documentary film producer, cultural project manager, social activist, and co-founder of the production company Plesnar & Krauss FILMS in Warsaw. She has produced and co-produced documentary films that have been screened and awarded at national and international festivals such as the Krakow Film Festival, Millennium Docs Against Gravity, IDFA, Visions du Réel, the Cairo IFF, and the Busan IFF. She is also an independent consultant for documentary film production and a member of the Polish Producers Association (KIPA), the Polish Film Academy, and the European Film Academy. Among the most recent titles she has been involved in are “In The Rearview” (Oscar-nominated), “Faces of Agata,” and “The Guest” (Best Cinematography Award at the IDFA Festival). All of these works were nominated for the Polish Eagles Film Awards in the “Best Documentary” category.

Kristýna is the director of QFF Mezipatra, where she has been part of the program team since 2018. She is also the head of program at EKOFILM festival and an organizer of One World Echoes in Oslo. Until 2023, she was a programmer at One World IHRFF, where she also participated in the creation and development of its VOD platform. At One World, she started in 2018 as a production manager and a coordinator of its community distribution project. She has collaborated in various positions at many other festivals (Art*VR, Verzió MFDFLP in Budapest, Noir Film Festival, Ji.hlava IDFF) or distribution platforms (e.g. My Street Films, Secret Cinema) or coordinated KineDok, an alternative distribution project of the Institute of Documentary Film (2015-2018). Kristýna has a master's degree in Sociology from Charles University, where she also studied at the Department of Film Studies.

Jan Eilhardt studied Film and Performance at the HFBK Hamburg (including classes with Marina Abramović). Their films and experimental projects have screened in international film festivals, cinemas, and museums. The feature debut Scherbengericht premiered in 2013 at the Slamdance Film Festival. "Fremdenverführerin" (2022), a queer-activist Super 8 short film, was shown in international festivals and won many awards. It is being followed in 2025 by the autobiographically inspired feature "Janine zieht aufs Land," supported by mediatalents (nordmedia) which was premiered last year at the Berlinale Forum and is being distributed in German cinemas by Salzgeber.

Daniel Le Hai is a cinematographer and director of short films. He graduated from the Film Cinematography program at the Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School in Katowice and from the Wajda School. Le Hai is a member of the Association of Polish Filmmakers (SFP), the Academic Club of Film Directors (AKRF FOSA), and the Bydgoszcz Film Chronicle (BKF). For his work, he received the Art Scholarship from the Marshal of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, as well as several awards, including the Best Documentary Film Award at the “Młodzi i Film” Festival, the Best Cinematography Award at the Polish Feature Film Festival, and the Jan Machulski Award under the patronage of the Polish Society of Cinematographers (PSC). At the 32nd International Festival of Film Cinematographers EnergaCAMERIMAGE, he was awarded the Silver Tadpole (“Srebrna Kijanka”). He also leads film workshops for adults and young people.

Philipp Demankowski oversees the film.land.sachsen program at the Saxon Film Association, bringing film culture to rural areas. He holds a degree in communication studies and works part-time as a journalist. He is also active in public relations, including for cultural events such as CYNETART and the Media Festival. At the Dresden Environmental Center, he also helps bring various projects into the media spotlight, such as EUROPE DIRECT Dresden. In addition, Philipp is a co-founder of the music label Uncanny Valley and an integral part of Dresden’s club culture. At DAVE, the festival for club culture, he curates the music film program “Music in Motion.” He has also been doing radio for years—not professionally, but with passion.

Magdalena Kościańska is a resident of Bogatynia and a journalist with over 20 years of experience, including stints at TVN, Radio Wrocław, Gazeta Wrocławska, and TV Bogatynia, of which she is the owner. Together with the TV Bogatynia team, she has received numerous awards, including in the “Es geht uns an” competition organized by the Polish Chamber of Electronic Communication and the Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. She is committed to local and international border issues and serves as a cultural promoter, organizing concerts, festivals, and meetings with artists. She also participates in the Polish-Czech-German dialogue in the border region by producing the trilingual magazine “Trójstyk” (Tripoint Magazine/Zpravodaj Trojzemí) and co-designing the international portal www.3mag.eu.

Martin Musílek was born in the Czech border town of Varnsdorf. After graduating from hotel management school, he traveled throughout Europe and Asia. He then studied cultural studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague, specializing in cultural anthropology, particularly the study of minorities and migration. Since 2006, he has organized concerts, theater performances, and film screenings in Varnsdorf. In 2011, he accepted the position of director of the Varnsdorf City Theater, a role he continues to hold today. For several years, he has been a member of the Cultural Commission of the City of Varnsdorf. Martin Musílek is the organizer of the theater festival Vítr z hor (“The Wind from the Mountains”), the multi-genre Festival pro radost (“Festival of Joy”), and the international music festival Mandau Jazz. Aside from music and theater, he loves the sea, the sun, Italian wine—and, of course, the art of film.

As part of the 23rd NFF, a youth jury will award two Neiße-Fische prizes: one for a short film and one for a feature film. Once again, films from the festival program that specifically appeal to young people will be nominated for these awards. The Youth Jury Award was initiated and curated by students from Schkola Oberland, who, in collaboration with the Ebersbach Film Theater and Cultural Association, are also organizing the festival’s media education program, among other things. A jury of German, Polish, and Czech teenagers will select the winners during the festival.

The films selected for the Youth Jury Award will be presented online and in our festival app.

The award is sponsored by the German-Polish Youth Office and TANDEM – Coordination Center for German-Czech Youth Exchange.