Belfast Film Festival has announced the jury members for its burgeoning international competition. The jury will be led by the trailblazing filmmaker Radu Jude, alongside film curator and writer Dorota Lech and Irish filmmaker Dean Kavanagh.
Jessica Kiang, International Programmer for Belfast Film Festival said:
‘We’re giddy and delighted to have lured Golden Bear winner Radu Jude director of my favourite film of last year (Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World) onto our jury alongside leading-light Toronto Film Festival programmer Dorota Lech and Dean Kavanagh, one of the most exciting emerging Irish filmmakers. This is a jury they will write songs about in future years.’
Romanian director, Radu Jude, who has excited audiences with his nonconformist and unconventional style, won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2021 for his feature film Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn. His most recent experimental film (alongside philosopher Christian Ferencz-Flatz), Eight Postcards from Utopia, a found footage
documentary of post socialist Romanian advertisements is currently on the festival circuit. Other notable feature films include the highly lauded Aferim!, Scarred Hearts and Uppercase Print. Jude is currently shooting two feature films: Dracula and Continental ’25.
Dorota Lech has worked for Toronto International Film Festival for over ten years and currently leads the Discovery Programme (which highlights the first and second features of directors from around the globe) and selects films from Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, Turkey and Iran. Lech has curated programmes for Museo Reina Sofia,
Filmoteca Española, Museum of the Moving Image in New York, and DokuFest in Kosovo. As a writer, Lech has contributed to Vanity Fair, MUBI Notebook, and Film Quarterly and is a guest lecturer in Harvard’s Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies and the University of Toronto. Lech was named a Future Leader in Film Programming Curation by Screen International in 2024.
Dean Kavanagh is an award-winning experimental Irish filmmaker whose first narrative feature, Hole in the Head, received acclaim at international festivals and was named one of the best films of 2022 by The Irish Times. A cinematographer, editor, and film archivist, Kavanagh’s work utilises both contemporary and retrograde motion picture technologies. Kavanagh is a recipient of the Next Generation Artists Award, a member of the European Film Academy, and Berlinale Talent alumnus.
This is the third year of the International Competition with previous jury members including – Andrea Arnold, Stephen Rea, Catherine Bray, Aoife McArdle, Lizzie Franke and Simran Hans. The awards, presented in partnership with Yellowmoon Post Production Ltd, are – Best Film; Breakout Performance; and Outstanding Craft Contribution.
Last year’s winners included Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia, Eka Chavleishvili
in Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry and Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell directed by Pham Thien An.
Belfast Film Festival takes place 31st October until 9th November 2024 and opens with the Irish premiere of Irish language horror Fréwaka, written and directed by Aislinn Clarke. The full programme of films and events will be announced on Thursday 3rd October.