Juries and Guests
International Jury
STEFAN CREPON
Stefan Crepon is a French actor. At the age of 18, he began taking acting classes in the evening while working in an audiovisual production company during the day. In 2017, at the age of 20, he joined the National Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first role was in The Prayer by Cédric Kahn, playing a young drug addict. He was then chosen to play César in Seasons 4 and 5 of The Bureau. Armed with this noteworthy performance, he played in The Salt of Tears, Promises and the series Lupin with Omar Sy. In 2022, his performance in Peter von Kant directed by François Ozon was nominated for a César Award in the category Most Promising Actor.
SEPIDEH FARSI
Born in Iran, in 1984 Sepideh Farsi was forced to leave her country and move to France in order to study mathematics, forbidden in Iran. She went on to work in film, directing short fiction before making her first documentary in 1998, Donya khaneh-ye man ast, about the Iranian diaspora. She continued to make a dozen documentaries and feature films. Banned from entering Iran since 2009, she worked on developing the story behind her first animated film, The Siren. Selected at Berlin and Annecy, amongst other film festivals, the film looks back on the war between Iran and Iraq.
OLIVIER LORELLE
After studying for a PhD in Aesthetics, writing several plays, series and a few TV films, Olivier Lorelle wrote and co-wrote numerous feature films including Still Waters Run Deep directed by Jacques Deschamps, Days of Glory by Rachid Bouchareb (for which he won the César Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2007) and Gare du Nord directed by Claire Simon. He also directed a few films (including L’âge de l’amour and Red Sky), acquiring over the years a know-how that he enjoys passing on and that, for him, is all about uniting two polarities: the expression of a unique relationship and the art of being appealing.
DARIA ONYSHCHENKO
Daria Onyshchenko is a Ukrainian-German film director and screenwriter. Co-founder of the Ukrainian production company 435FILMS, she is a member of the German talent agency Above the Line, the European Film Academy and the Ukrainian Film Academy. Her last feature films are devoted to the Russian war against Ukraine, including The Forgotten which was selected in competition at WoS in 2020. Daria was shooting her latest feature film, biopic Malevych, in 2022/2023 in Ukraine during the full-scale Russian invasion. She dedicates her free time to political activities, organizes pro-Ukrainian demonstrations in Germany.
BIRGITTE SIGMUNDSTAD
Birgitte Sigmundstad is a Norwegian visual artist and documentary filmmaker. Her essay films focus on art and art history. In recent years, she has worked on several films about the mediation of the Second World War in Norway, including What We Talk About When We Talk About War (2020) and Norway at War (2021). She is currently working on a film about the new National Museum in Oslo, and is part of the programming team at the Norwegian film festival Movies on War.
