2022 International Jury

Mohamed Hefzy is an Egyptian screenwriter and producer; with an evolving filmography of 30 feature films including worldwide acclaimed titles; Microphone (2010), Rags and Tatters (2013) and Clash (2016). He had served as a jury member in various international festivals including the 75th Venice International Film Festival. As of its 40th edition and for four consecutive years; Mohamed Hefzy is the appointed President of the Cairo International Film Festival. 

In 2005, He founded Film Clinic; the now pioneer production house in the MENA region with a variety of commercial blockbusters and arthouse films that have participated in major film festivals worldwide including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto, and Tribeca with more than 80 international awards under its belt. Later Hefzy founded Film Clinic Indie Distribution, with a mission to create opportunities for Arab independent films within and beyond festival circuits and he co- founded Meem Creative Circle which produced Netflix’s first Egyptian original series; Paranormal. 

Hefzy was cited among 30 future leaders in film production by Screen International, headed Variety’s list of Ten names you need to know in the Arab Film Industry and was among Variety’s 500 list of the most influential people in the media industry worldwide. He was granted the Arab Cinema Personality of the Year award by the Hollywood Reporter and Arab Cinema Center. Hefzy is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the producers’ branch. In recognition of his significant contribution to the Arab film scene, he was honoured as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres from France.

Guneet Monga is an Indian film producer, a BAFTA nominee and amongst the first producers from India to be invited in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Recent recipient of second highest civilian honour of France, the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, she is the founder of Sikhya Entertainment, a Mumbai based production house. She was part of the Global Media Makers fellowship by Film Independent and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. In 2019, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awarded her the prestigious Sloan Science and Film grant.

Under her able leadership, Sikhya Entertainment has carved an unprecedented space in Indian film industry by producing films that focused on heartland stories and also travelled globally. The Lunchbox, Masaan, Gangs of Wasseypur, Pagglait, What Will People Say, Soorarai Pottru, Haraamkhor, Monsoon Shootout, Zubaan, Peddlers and Oscar Winning Short Documentary – Period End Of Sentence are few of the many titles from her awe inspiring filmography. Guneet Monga is one of the most renowned filmmakers not just in India but also across the globe, evincing that resonance of good content knows no boundaries. She recently founded a cinema collective called Indian Women Rising aimed at discovering, amplifying and distributing the work of Indian women filmmakers across the globe.

Berlin-based Numan Acar is an award-winning writer and actor. He received critical acclaim for his acting performance in the US TV Show, Homeland. In Fatih Akin’s Golden Globe and Cannes award-winning film In The Fade, he was named by The Hollywood Reporter as ‘the break out talent’ of Cannes 2017. Acar has also years of experience as a director and producer.

Numan played remarkable characters in TV shows including: Homeland, Prison Break Jack Ryan and feature films like Asif Kapadia’s Ali And Nino, Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin, Jon Watts Spiderman – Far From Home, Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall. Numan will be seen in Terrance Malik’s The Way Of The Wind, alongside Matthias Schoenaerts.

Numan speaks 4 languages. Since 2006 he has been CEO of the film production Acar Entertainment in Berlin, Germany. He is a member of the SAG-Aftra, EFA (European Film Academy) and the German Film Academy.

Sophie Hyde is a founding member of film collective Closer Productions. She lives and works on the lands of the Kaurna people in South Australia and makes provocative and intimate films and television.

Her latest film, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, starring Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack, premiered at both Sundance Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival, and released worldwide in 2022 to rave reviews.

Her debut feature drama 52 Tuesdays (director/producer/co-writer) won the Directing Award at Sundance and the Crystal Bear at Berlin. She directed and produced feature comedy Animals, which premiered at Sundance 2019. She created, produced and directed episodic series F*!#ing Adelaide for ABC Australia, and the 4 x 1-hour series The Hunting for SBS. Sophie’s feature documentaries include Life in Movement (producer /co-director), Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure (producer), Sam Klemke’s Time Machine (producer) and In My Blood It Runs (producer). Most recently, she produced short documentary The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone which released worldwide on Netflix in September.

Vimukthi Jayasundara is the internationally acclaimed director of The Forsaken Land (2005), winner of the Caméra d’Or at Cannes Film Festival 2005; Between Two Worlds (2009), in competition at Venice International Film Festival 2009; Mushrooms (2011), shown at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2011; Dark In The White Light (2015), in competition at Locarno Festival 2015; and Her Him The Other (Asoka Handagama, Vimukthi Jayasundara, Prasanna Vithanage, 2017), which screened in the Open Doors at Locarno Festival 2018. He is an educator, was a directing mentor at Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Film Academy 2016, and was also head of Colombo Film & Television Academy in Sri Lanka. His next project, Turtle’s Gaze on Spying Stars, is produced by House on Fire in Paris.