Speakers & Juries

Juraj Lerotić

Juraj Lerotić graduated in Film Directing from the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, Croatia. His first feature film, Safe Place (2022), which he wrote, directed, and acted in, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival (winning three awards) and was showcased at festivals worldwide, from Rotterdam IFF and Shanghai IFF to New York's MoMA. The film was also nominated in the European Discovery category of the European Film Awards as one of the five best debut features in 2023.

Juraj currently works in Zagreb, where he lectures at the Academy of Dramatic Arts and serves as an artistic consultant for the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

Karol Marczak

Born in 1995, Karol is Warsaw based writer, specializing in auteur cinema. He graduated in Screenwriting at the National Film School in Łódź in 2022, and in Liberal Arts at the Warsaw University in 2017. He previously worked as a journalist at the Newsweek Poland magazine.

His short film A Beautiful Wildflower Meadow (dir. & co-written by Emi Buchwald) was screened at various festivals worldwide, including Palm Springs Int’l Shortfest, Warsaw FF (Best Live Action Short Award), Gdynia FF (Special Jury Award). His debut feature film No Ghosts on Good Street (dir. & co-written by Emi Buchwald) is currently in post-production. For his script for the feature film Anxiety of the Heart (dir. by Michał Edelman), he received the Script Wars Award in 2022. The project has also participated in the MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2024 (Marché du Film Producers Network Award), the New Horizons Studio+ 2023 (Special Mention Award), as well as the Les Arcs Industry Village 2024, and is currently in the financing stage.

Karol enjoys working with strong-minded directors and creative producers, seeing the fun of moviemaking in colliding diverse ideas to carry out a common vision. He secretly wants to be an actor one day.

Lina Luzyte

Lina has completed her MA in Film Directing at the Lithuanian National Film School in 2012, where she currently continues teaching. She has directed three feature films Together For Ever (KVIFF 2016), The Castle (Galway Film Fleadh 2020), Johatsu (co-directed, Tallinn Black Nights FF 2024) and two documentaries – Igrushki (2012) and Blue/Red/Deport - Picknick in Moria (2022). Lina's work often focuses on humans battling unbearable or even grotesque circumstances, typically using awkward humour as her signature style. Lina has also directed short films on contemporary dance and architecture DANCE + CITY (2022-2024) commissioned and partly supported by ARTE, still active on the festival circuit.

An alumna of many script workshops, Lina has encountered a number of script editors throughout her professional path and was exposed to a variety of techniques. Lina herself has a rather analytical approach and always leads the filmmakers to the bottom of their true intentions so as to help them write a script they really aim for. She is looking into short and feature-length dramas dealing with human condition, coming-of-age stories and those that have a touch of humour.