Grand Jury
Ron Yerxa, President
American film producer. In 1993 he and Albert Berger founded Bona Fide Productions. He worked with Steven Soderbergh on King of the Hill and with Alexander Payne on Election, a movie very popular with audiences at KVIFF 2005. He produced Anthony Minghella’s drama Cold Mountain (starring Jude Law) and the crime comedy from Harold Ramis, The Ice Harvest (starring John Cusack). The most successful entries in his filmography as a producer include the drama Little Children and the comedy Little Miss Sunshine, which took two Oscars and another forty awards. In 2003 the Karlovy Vary festival screened the music documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, which Yerxa coproduced.
Mirjana Karanović
Serbian film and theater actress. She debuted in film in 1980 with a starring role in Srdjan Karanović’s Petria’s Wreath. She gained further international acclaim portraying the role of the mother in Emir Kusturica’s When Father Was Away on Business. She has worked with a number of top directors from the former Yugoslavia, including Goran Marković, Lordan Zafranović, and Goran Paskaljević. In Jasmila Žbanić’s drama Grbavica, she played the role of Esma, for which she was nominated for an EFA award. In 2008 she won the Winning Freedom Award (Osvajanje slobode), conferred on women whose work promotes the principles of human rights, rule of law, democracy and tolerance in society. In 2009 she was appointed Dean of Belgrade’s Academy of Arts. This year, KVIFF will present Žbanić’s On the Path, in which Karanović appears.
Lee Chang-dong
South Korean film director. The filmmaker, whose pictures are regularly presented at KVIFF, began his movie career as a writer and assistant to director Park Kwang-su on To the Starry Island. He himself debuted as a director with the gangster film Green Fish (1997), and Peppermint Candy (1999) competed at Karlovy Vary. His third movie, Oasis, took Best Director at the 2002 Venice IFF. In 2002–2004 he was Minister of Culture. He subsequently founded Pinehouse Films, for which he shot his next movie Secret Sunshine, screened in competition at Cannes. That same festival awarded Best Screenplay to his latest work, Poetry, which will be shown in the Open Eyes section at Karlovy Vary this year.
Lola Mayo
Spanish scriptwriter and producer. In 2009 she produced and co-wrote with director Javier Rebollo the script for Woman Without Piano. The movie, which will be screened this year in the Horizons section, won a Silver Seashell at last year’s San Sebastian IFF, among many other awards. She and Rebollo have worked together writing scripts since 1996, including his 2006 debut feature, Lola, presented at KVIFF 2007. Through her production company, Lolita Films, she currently writes and produces movies by other directors. In addition, she directs feature documentaries for the Spanish television station TVE and teaches screenwriting.
Alexej Popogrebskij
Russian film director. After studying psychology at Moscow State University, he and friend Boris Khlebnikov shot two short films. Several years later they debuted with Koktebel (2003), awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Moscow festival and the Philip Morris Award at KVIFF 2003 (East of the West competition). Three years later he put out his independent debut, Simple Things, screened in the main competition at Karlovy Vary, where it garnered prizes from the ecumenical jury and FIPRESCI, as well as Best Actor. The same award was conferred upon the central acting duo at the recent Berlinale for their portrayal in his latest film How I Ended This Summer, which is being presented in the Horizons section at this year’s KVIFF.
Bohdan Sláma
One of the most highly-regarded Czech directors working today. He graduated in direction from Prague’s Film Academy in 1997. His feature debut Wild Bees (2001) took multiple festival awards, including a Tiger for Best Film from Rotterdam. He gained international recognition with the intimate drama Something Like Happiness (2005), which won the San Sebastian IFF. His most recent film, The Country Teacher (2008), is once again a personally motivated writer-director statement that screened at Venice. Last year, Variety magazine chose him to participate in the 2009 Sundance festival as one of its 10 Directors to Watch.
David Stratton
Noted British film critic. He emigrated to Australia in the early sixties where he served as director of the Sydney IFF from 1965 to 1983. In the eighties he began working in television where, as a programmer and presenter, he introduced local audiences to numerous films from around the world. For almost a quarter century, he and fellow movie critic Margaret Pomeranz have been hosting “At the Movies” (formerly “The Movie Show”). Since 1988 he has written for The Australian, the continent’s only national daily newspaper, and for 20 years he worked as a reviewer for Variety magazine. He is the author of two books on Australian film: The Last New Wave (1980) and The Avocado Plantation (1990). He teaches a course in the history of world cinema at the University of Sydney.
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