MISMFF 2022, 04: Announcing the Jury for the 2022 film festival

With the Mestia International Short & Mountain Film Festival a fortnight away, we present the esteemed Jury that will officiate this year, and pick the winners.

HERVÉ SCHNEID, ACE. Award-winning editor, Hervé Schneid is one of the most respected editors working in films today. He has collaborated with a number of directors, including Sally Potter, Lars Von Trier, Mike Figgis, Regis Wargnier, Bille August, Jean-François Richet, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Volker Schloendorff. From his earlier work on Lars von Trier’s Cannes prize-winning Europa, which established his international reputation and earned him his first award, the Danish Robert for best editing, his varied career has spanned Hollywood blockbusters such as Alien: Resurrection to French art-house classics like Delicatessen, for which he won the César for best editing, in 1992. This was the beginning of a long-term collaboration with world-renowned film-maker Jean-Pierre Jeunet, that has seen him work on some of the biggest French breakout hits of the past twenty years.

STANISLAV SEMERDJIEV is the Executive Director of the World Association of Film, TV and Media Schools (CILECT), since 2011. Founder of the Screenwriting Programme at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA), Sofia, Bulgaria (1991) and Rector of NATFA (2003-2011, 2015-present). He is the creator of the first Bulgarian long-running TV serial Hotel Bulgaria (2004). Mr. Semerdjiev is the producer/writer of the widely acclaimed and awarded hybrid film, The Hamlet Adventure (2008), and the folk dance play Bulgarian Mystery (2019). Overall, he has been the script editor, screenwriter and/or producer for 80+ film projects. He is also the President of the Bulgarian Association of Film, TV and Radio Scriptwriters (BAFTRS, 2006-present) and a Board Member of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE, 2007-2015).

VICTORIA YAKUBOVA SCHNEID is a Paris-based film-maker and writer who was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, when it was a part of the former Soviet Union.  At the age of 13, due to the events there, she immigrated with her family to Israel. Later, she left Israel to realise her Biggest Dream: carry out her film studies in Paris, France. She directed several short feature films, worked for many years in production (What Happened Here, by Rob Nilson, etc.). She wrote and directed a stage play Barbara and Brassens, in Israel. In 2014, she returned to her homeland, by chance, which led to a short movie, called Treasure (13’). In 2016, Victoria to Kazkahstan to shoot her first feature film Olma Djon. During 2021, Victoria was preparing her next feature film, Cinecittà. Living between many countries, she often quotes Jodorowsky – “My homeland is in my shoes.”

LILI KHURITI, a refugee from Abkhazia, is a Georgian-language actress of Ossetian descent, and a member of the troupe of Constantine Gamsakhurdia State Drama Theater, of Sokhumi. She graduated from Shota Rustaveli State Institute of Theater, majoring in drama, theater, and film acting. Since 1982, Lili Khuriti has been part of over 100 films, theater productions, and radio plays. She has garnered numerous ‘best female role’ accolades.

BARBARA GASSER: Educated at Shota Rustave, Ms. Barbara Gasser is a multiple award-winning journalist, a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association since 2011, and jury member of the Golden Globe Awards, from 2012 to 2016. Ms. Gasser served on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Press Club. Ms. Gasser holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Vienna, Austria, where she studied Media Science, Communications and Political Science. Prior to her career as journalist Ms. Gasser was an employee of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for eight years. Along with her journalistic profession Ms. Gasser teaches as a guest lecturer at the University of Applied Science, Joanneum, in Graz. li Theater and Film Georgian State University.