JURY

First Fiction Opera "Jimmy Sierra"

Jimmy JEAN LOUIS

With a dedication and passion spanning decades, JIMMY JEAN-LOUIS has become the face of Pan-African cinema. His career bridges continents and cultures to encompass a truly global expression of African art and excellence. Jimmy grew up in the suburbs of Petition-Ville, Haiti until he was 12 and has since become an award-winning actor, producer and philanthropist, as well as a global cultural ambassador for Haiti, while continuing to build a unique career in the world stage.
 

Laura Amelia Guzman

Dominican Republic, 1980. He has co-created seven feature films over the last 17 years with his partner, the Mexican filmmaker Israel Cárdenas, jointly producing, writing and directing documentaries and fictions that present an attentive look at the social contexts that surround them. His works are presented at festivals such as the Berlinale, Toronto, Venice or Rotterdam, among others. At IFFR 2023 she premieres Croma Kid as producer, and La hembrita, her first feature film as sole director.

Andrés FARÍAS

Director and Assistant Director graduated from the International School of Film and Television of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. He has a bachelor's degree in Advertising from APEC University and a Master's degree in Film, Television and Interactive Media from Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid.

Enrique IZNAOLA GOMEZ

Spanish cultural manager and film critic, member of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences and winner of several awards, including the González-Sinde Award in 2012 and the ASECAN Award in 2019, he has had an outstanding career in the promotion and diffusion of cinema, especially in Andalusia. Since his first publications in Diario Jaén at the age of 16, he has directed and coordinated multiple events and film festivals, such as the Unpublished Spanish Film Festival in Jaén and the Almería International Film Festival. He has been president of the Association of Audiovisual Festivals of Andalusia and vice president of the Andalusian Film Academy. In addition, he is the author of several books on cinema and has directed documentaries, including “Miguel Picazo, an extramural filmmaker.”

Steven VARGAS

Steven Vargas is an arts reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Before joining the staff, he was an Entertainment and Arts intern. His areas of interest include theater, dance and social change. He previously worked for outlets like E! News, USA Today, L.A. Sentinel and BuzzFeed News. While at USC, he co-founded the Equity Board with Annenberg Media through a Poynter Media Project and wrote the newsroom's “Guide to Equity Reporting Strategies and Writing Style.” His short documentary, “Dancing at Home,” won first place in the Los Angeles Press Club's Life in the Time of the Coronavirus contest in May 2020, and he was awarded the PPAGLA Student videographer of the year. In 2021, he participated in the second cohort of the José Solís BIPOC Critics Lab with the Kennedy Center. When he's not dancing, or writing about dance, he's scrolling through TikTok and obsessing over the latest internet trends.

Documentary First Feature "Fernando Baez"

Abbey WHITE

Abbey White is a digital editor and reporter at The Hollywood Reporter, where she covers news, film, television, awards, theater, animation, kids and families, Hollywood inclusion, and more. An alumnus of the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY, he has been recognized as a Curve 2022 Emerging Journalist, an ASME Awards finalist, an A&E National Journalism Awards winner, and a GLAAD Media Award nominee, among other honors. Previous signings include The Philadelphia Inquirer, Business Insider, Vox, Food & Wine, Entertainment Weekly, Paste Magazine, USA Today Network and more.

Luis ROMERO

Director, producer and screenwriter is dedicated to the independent filming and production of documentaries and films through his production company Bolero Films. His work ranges from the world of social and human rights; historical projects to rescue the nationality; as well as the cultural world of poetry, folklore and music, through portraits of Panamanian artists.
Their documentaries have been officially selected to participate in International Festivals in Germany, Cuba, Slovakia, Spain, the United States, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Switzerland, Finland and England, among others, where they have received several awards and distinctions.

Lester RIVE

Born and raised in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, he served in the United States Army in the Navy branch for 8 years, where he worked as a firefighter and military police during the attacks of September 11, 2001. Director for the past 14 years of the Puerto Rico Film Festival the most important film festival in Puerto Rico where in 2021 more than 65 countries participated with more than 1,000 projects submitted. He has a master's degree in digital marketing with more than 15 years of experience as a video editor and social media manager. Founder of La Greca Media Group, a company specialized in social media management in Puerto Rico for a wide variety of industries.

Victoria Linares

Dominican director. He made his feature film debut with the documentary “Lo que se hereda,” which was screened at several film festivals, including the True/False Film Fest, BFI Flare, and the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, and earned him the of the Youth Jury for Best New Director at the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival. The film also won Best Documentary Feature at the Outshine Film Festival. Her second film, “Ramona,” premiered in the Generation section of the Berlinale.

Roger Guenveur Smith

Roger Guenveur Smith (USA) is an award-winning theater and film artist and educator. His prolific body of work includes JOHN AND JOHN, inspired by the remarkable friendship of baseball greats Juan Marichal and John Roseboro, and presented in acclaimed runs in New York City, Los Angeles and Santo Domingo, where Mr. Smith also directed his History of Interpretation Workshop. His solo performances of A HUEY P. NEWTON STORY and RODNEY KING were directed for the screen by Mr. Smith's former colleague Spike Lee and are currently streaming on Hulu and Netflix, respectively. Mr. Smith and Mr. Lee were honored at the Cannes Film Festival for their three decades of collaboration. Roger currently stars in Chinonye Chukwu's acclaimed Orion feature TILL and appears as the voice of Willie Mays in Nelson George's HBO documentary SAY HEY, WILLIE MAYS!

global short

Celine ROUSTAN

Céline Roustan is a dedicated curator and advocate of short films, with almost a decade of experience. She has made significant contributions as a programmer and writer for the popular website Short of the Week, promoting directors and their films. She is currently a programmer at SXSW, where she also programs feature films, and at the Palm Springs ShortFest, Céline has programmed for the San Francisco, Palm Springs and Dublin International Film Festivals, and has also been part of the selection committee for the International Film Festival of Toronto Cinema for several years. In addition to programming, Céline has been a jury member and industry speaker at several international film festivals and markets, providing invaluable guidance to aspiring filmmakers on their path to success.
 

Joanna CHACON

Joanna is an experienced executive with a deep understanding of creative development + production, established + emerging intellectual property and client management. She is an expert in identifying original voices, project management, and negotiations to meet digital and traditional evolutions; Joanna is a forward-thinking strategic professional focused on analytical problem solving, partnerships, and high return on investment across national and international markets.

Julia Scrive-Loyer

Julia Scrive-Loyer was born in Bordeaux, France in 1993. Her father was a French linguist and her mother a Dominican filmmaker. Julia studied French Philology at the University of Alicante, until she was accepted to enter the International School of Film and Television for the specialty of Screenplay, from which she graduated in 2018. Apart from working as a screenwriter and co-screenwriter (more recently Melodrama by Andrés Farías), Julia also works as a freelance translator and has already translated a number of film scripts into both French and English. She has worked as an advisor/script doctor on both feature film scripts and thesis projects of students at the Chavón Film School, the School of Design. In 2012 she created a monographic and interdisciplinary magazine called Les Oranges Bleues, where she planned to reflect on what it means to create today. In 2018 she created Simulacro magazine, a film magazine. Since 2020 she has been one of the project development advisors at the DGCine laboratory and in 2021 she began to coordinate the Chavón Film degree, the School of Design, as well as the Advanced Screenwriting Studies Program of the same institution. .

First Feature Short Film "CLAUDIO CHEA"

ruth gabriel

Winner of the Goya, among other awards for her first film, DIAS CONTADOS, she has been in the world of audiovisuals since the age of 5. Currently she combines her role as an actress with that of a writer, director, producer and teacher of acting and oral communication techniques.

Victor PIÑEYRO

Víctor Piñeyro is an entertainment lawyer, film critic, film reporter, producer, writer and director based in the Dominican Republic. In 2016 he founded Seventh Art Studio, a platform for and for film lovers with a presence on all social networks. In 2017 he co-founded the film-related YouTube channel “Cineautas.” In 2019 he co-founded the film podcast “Entre Tomas”. Since 2018 he has been performing legal, administrative and management work for the growing Dominican Republic film industry, specifically in conjunction with the tax incentives provided through the Dominican film law. In 2020, Rotten Tomatoes named it a Tomatometer Approved Reviewer. Also in 2020, with the start of production on his first short film as writer/director, he founded Seventh Art Studio Productions, a production company committed to telling Dominican stories that shake us to our core.

Gabriela ORTEGA

Gabriela Ortega is an award-winning screenwriter, director and actress from the Dominican Republic. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California, the Sundance Institute Laboratories, and the American Film Academy fellowship program.

His short film Huella was an official selection of the 2022 Sundance Festival and is being turned into a feature film thanks to the support of the Sundance laboratories and the Cine Qua Non residency. Ortega is also developing Piratas, a feature film in Spanish that will be shot in the Dominican Republic after winning the FONPROCINE competition and receiving the Rainin 2023 award.

Gabriela was named one of Filmmaker magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema in 2022 and in 2023 one of the winners of the annual Young Guns competition. Her film, Beautiful, FL, produced through the Disney Launchpad program, is available on Disney+, and her first film, “PAPI,” is available on HBO.

Recently, Gabriela directed a Peacock and Sephora documentary series titled “The Foundation of Beauty,” now available on the platform. Her work seeks the intersection between fiction and poetry and maintains a very strong connection with the Caribbean.

Animated Short

Federico KALWILL

I am Federico Kalwill, co-founder and creative director of Bélier Arts. During
For seven years, I was the artistic coordinator at Sony Music Entertainment South America, fusing my love for music with visual creativity. I am proud to have received numerous international recognitions, including the prestigious RollingStone Awards with the “Video Clip of the Year” Award, for directing “ Just For Being
Indians, by JUANES & ANIMAL”. As well as the award obtained at the Guadalajara International Film Festival for our animated short “Pilgrim”. Beyond the recognition, I want you to know the essence of Bélier Arts. We are not
just one study; We are a team that shares the vision and passion for telling stories
captivating Our diverse approach explores a broad spectrum of expressions
artistic. Each project is a unique collaboration, where we seek to transmit
authenticity and emotional connection.

Larry LABOE

Larry Laboe is co-founder and CEO of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA), an organization committed to spotlighting and connecting emerging filmmakers and storytellers around the world. Larry is a member of the Producers Guild of America and has been a faculty member at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) and L Art University in Shanghai and Beijing. He is a board member of the BRIC Foundation and Film Festival Alliance (FFA), a committee member of SAGindie, and co-chair of the Entertainment, Arts, Media and Sports Committee of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Larry has produced scripted and unscripted series and commercials, directed by talent including Joseph Gordon Levitt, for some of the world's top brands, networks and studios, including Disney, NBC, VEVO, Dailymotion, MTV, DEFY Media, Comedy Central, Verizon go90, Amazon, Complex Media, Mountain Dew, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Verizon and Smuckers. Several of these productions have been official selections at major festivals, including South by Southwest (SXSW), and have won major awards, including a BANFF World Media Festival Rockie Award.

Raquel LAGUNA PARDO

Spanish journalist who lives and works in Hollywood since 2007. Entertainment news correspondent in the city of Los Angeles for the EUROPA PRESS news agency and CINEMANIA magazine. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Hollywood Creative Alliance.