Speakers & Juries

Martin Horyna

Martin Horyna is a Prague-based story consultant and festival curator. Since 2011, he has been affiliated with the Karlovy Vary IFF, initially as a programmer and currently as a consultant focusing on Asian cinema and experimental works. His other festival collaborations include the Alternativa Film Festival, Pragueshorts, Focus Asia in Udine, and When East Meets West in Trieste, among others. Since 2022, Martin has worked as a script consultant, rough-cut reviewer, and festival strategist.

His recent credits include Action Item (KVIFF + FIDMarseille 2025), Bardo (FIDMarseille 2025), Queens of Joy (Thessaloniki 2025), Caravan (Cannes 2025), Better Go Mad in the Wild (KVIFF 2025), and I Am Not Everything I Want to Be (Berlinale 2024). He regularly collaborates with international workshops such as EAVE Ties That Bind, First Cut Lab, Ex Oriente, and DOK.Incubator.

Martin is the acting president of the Czech national section of FIPRESCI. In 2019, he was named one of Screen International’s “Future Leaders” in film programming and curation.

Danijel Hočevar

Film producer and CEO of Vertigo, a Ljubljana (Slovenia)-based production company with a distinctive track record and extensive working experience on international co-productions. Feature films (selection): Pero by Damjan Kozole (doc, 2023; IFF Rotterdam), The Happiest Man in the World by Teona Mitevska (2022; Venice FF – Orizzonti), Wake Me by Marko Šantić (2022; Black Nights FF - Critic’s Pick), Small Body by Laura Samani (2021; Cannes FF Critic’s Week 2021; European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI), Reconciliation by Marija Zidar (doc, 2021; CPH:DOX, IDFA), Otac – Father by Srdan Golubović (2020; Berlinale Panorama), An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker by Danis Tanović (2013, Silver Bear: Grand Jury Prize at Berlinale), Alexandrians by Metod Pevec (doc, 2011; Best Documentary at Trieste FF), Bread and Milk by Jan Cvitković (2001; Lion of the Future at Venice FF), and Nightlife (2016; Best Director Award at Karlovy Vary IFF), Slovenian Girl (2009; Toronto IFF), and Spare Parts (2003, Berlinale Competition) all by Damjan Kozole.

Danijel has been selected among Variety’s Ten Producers to Watch in 2001. He is a voting member of the European Film Academy and was the president of the Association of Slovenian Film Producers. Since 2005, he is actively involved as a tutor with several European training initiatives such as MIDPOINT, EAVE, Nipkow Program, and Maia Workshops (2015-2018). He is also a member of the selection team of the When East Meets West co-production project market in Trieste.

Egle Vertelyte

Egle Vertelyte is a Lithuanian screenwriter and director with an MA in Screenwriting from the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the UK.

Her feature debut Miracle premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, was selected by over 50 festivals—including six A-class—and sold to 24 territories. It received four Silver Crane awards—Lithuania’s national film awards—for Best Film, Director, Screenwriter, and Actress. Her second feature, Tasty, premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and Film Festival Cottbus, and earned eight Silver Crane nominations, including Best Director and Best Screenplay (co-written with Irena Kuneviciute).

Egle also collaborates with other filmmakers as a screenwriter and script consultant. She wrote 9th Step (2022, dir. Irma Puzauskaite), acquired by HBO and awarded at several festivals. Her latest work, Southern Chronicles (2024, dir. Ignas Miskinis), based on a novel, became the highest-grossing film in Lithuanian history and won Best Baltic Film at Tallinn. She teaches screenwriting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, mentors emerging talent, and is a PhD candidate in film.