Jury

Sopawan Boonnimitra is an independent filmmaker with over 15 years in the field of film and arts, both internationally and nationally. She started her career in film as an assistant director for a feature film and continued to be involved in cinema. In the last ten years, she has been involved in visual arts as both a curator and an artist. She was a research curator for Guangzhou Triennial 2012 and artist in residence at BAK in Utrecht. She is currently head at Department of Motion Pictures and Still Photography at Chulalongkorn University and has a Ph.D. in Visual Arts from Lunds University. Her first feature film, "The Isthmus" (2013), was selected for the New Currents Section at the Busan International Film Festival. The film has been screened at various international film festivals. She is currently working on her second film, a feature-length documentary, focusing on first years of education. It recently has been selected for Docs by the Sea, an international documentary forum for creative documentary projects.

Chris Berry is Professor of Film Studies at King's College London. In the 1980s, he worked for China Film Import and Export Corporation in Beijing as a translator. His curating work includes the 2011 Cultural Revolution in Cinema season in Vienna (with Katja Wiederspahn) and the 2017 Taiwan's Lost Commercial Cinema: Recovered and Restored project on taiyupian (with Ming-Yeh Rawnsley). Film Festival jury service has included Hawaii, Pusan, Singapore, and, in 2017, the Golden Horse in Taipei. Primary publications include: (with Mary Farquhar) "Cinema and the National: China on Screen" (Columbia University Press and Hong Kong University Press, 2006); "Postsocialist Cinema in Post-Mao China: the Cultural Revolution after the Cultural Revolution" (New York: Routledge, 2004); (co-edited with Luke Robinson) "Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); and (co-edited with Koichi Iwabuchi and Eva Tsai) "Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture" (Routledge, 2016).

Prof. Roger S. Christiansen is a well-known Hollywood sitcom director, member of the American Directors Guild, and the world's top director. He has more than 20 years of experience in Hollywood shooting and has participated in the production of hundreds of sitcoms. He is an experienced film and television wizard who takes care of directors, photography and editing. His directorial style is gentle, whether it is a big star or a newcomer, actors of any age and nationality can communicate well with Director Roger S. Christiansen. The sensational "Friends" series not only earned him the highest honor in American TV - the Emmy Award, but also made the Chinese audience know him. Since then, he has directed "Hannah Montana", "iCarly", "Girlfriend" and many other world-renowned TV dramas. In the past 30 years, as a director, Prof. Roger S. Christiansen has also taught at many famous universities around the world, including Columbia University, the University of Southern California School of Film Arts, American National Drama, and Beijing Film Academy.

Prof Elizabeth M Daley is Dean of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of South California, one of the most prestigious and influential film schools in the world. She has been holding the Deanship for twenty-nine years, the longest tenure of a Dean at USC. She is the inaugural holder of the Steven J Ross/Time Warner Dean's Chair, founding Executive Director of the USC Annenberg Center for Communication (from 1994 to 2005), and is now concurrently serving as Executive Director of the USC Institute for Multimedia Literacy. In 2015, Professor Daley was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa. As a child, Prof Daley was mesmerized by the stories her mother read or created for her, and her earliest memories that she deeply treasures are of her mother's stories. Her favourite one was about a magical rabbit that lived in a hat. The enduring love of stories that her mother instilled in her has led to her tireless commitment today to ensure her students and faculty have the resources they need to tell exciting stories.

Max Howard created and ran animation studios for The Walt Disney Company in London, Paris, Orlando and Los Angeles, working on some of Disney’s most memorable films including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. As President of Warner Bros Feature Animation, he oversaw such hit movies as The Iron Giant and Space Jam. At DreamWorks, he was co-executive producer for Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron. Max served as an executive producer on the recently completed animated feature film and TV series, 100% Wolf, being produced in Australia by Flying Bark Animation Productions. In addition, Max was an executive producer on the Christmas movie, Saving Santa, and a slate of animated feature films for Exodus Film Group: Igor, The Hero of Color City, and Bunyan and Babe. Throughout his illustrious animation career, Max Howard has worked with UNICEF to bring health and social messages to developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and South America through the use of animation, underscoring the important role this medium can bring to overcome ethnic and social prejudices. Max is a sought-after animation consultant; and a feature animation guest speaker/lecturer/panelist - both in person and on-line - at art schools, universities, festivals and industry events worldwide, as well as acting in an advisory capacity developing the animation curriculum with numerous schools. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Max is the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Teesside University in the United Kingdom in recognition of his services to the animation industry. Max is a DeTao Master providing lectures at universities throughout China on the development, production and distribution of animated films. Max has also been working with local producers, adapting classic Chinese stories as animated features targeting international distribution. Max is a Associate Professor at Communications University of China, Nanjing as well. Last year, Max joined the Academy of Film, School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University as part of their Fellowship Programme. His company, Max Howard Consulting Group, has offices in Los Angeles and London.

Professor, Doctoral supervisor, School of Media, Shanghai Jiaotong University; Vice-Chairman of Society of Film and Television of Chinese Universities; Board Chairman of International Communication Council of Film and Television. His works include "Movies in All Sides", "Research on the Evaluation System of Chinese Movies", "The First Heart of Movies"; he is also the Chief Editor of "Course of Movie and Television Art", "Animation Screenwriter", "Hollywood in Focus (Vol. 1-5)" etc. He serves as jury member of the National University Student Microfilm Competition, International University Student Microfilm Festival (Beijing), Cross-strait Youth Short Film Competition and Shanghai Civil Microfilm Festival.

Dr Piyush Roy is an Indian National Film Award winning critic-columnist, and an international author, curator, filmmaker and educator. He has worked at senior reporting positions in leading Indian dailies (The Indian Express, Hindustan Times) and has been published in The Times of India’s Crest Edition, The Speaking Tree, The New Indian Express, The Asian Age, Society magazine and authored an eight-year-long column in Orissa Post, called ‘Sunday Talkies’. He was editor of StarWeek and Stardust. Teaching cinema and culture at UK universities and Indian management and media institutions, his doctorate was on ‘The Aesthetics of Emotional Acting’ (University of Edinburgh, 2017). Author of two fiction works – Never Say Never Again (2007) and Alexander – An Epic Love Story (2007); he made his non-fiction and feature film debut in 2019 with Bollywood FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Greatest Film Story Never Told (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, USA), and acclaimed documentary, Pleasures Prejudice & Pride: An Indian Way of Filmmaking. It was the focus of an exclusive multi-city global seminar screening tour, across seven universities in the United Kingdom in September-October 2019. Honoured with “Special Mention” for Best Critic at the 60th Indian National Film Awards (2013) by the President of India, he’s a recipient of UK’s Sir William Darling Memorial Prize (2014). He’s a jury member of Power Brands-Bollywood Film Journalist’s Awards, is an advisory board member to the Global University Film Awards (Hong Kong), and was the Founder-Festival Director of Edinburgh Festival of Indian Films & Documentaries (2016-17). Currently, he is Chief Learning Consultant at DALHAM Learning, Bengaluru, India, and is directing an experimental feature film shot across Asia and Europe, inspired by the ideas, insights and learner-teacher interactions on life and existence, discussed in the ancient Hindu philosophical-religious texts of The Upanishads.

Nan Sun Shi was pivotal in the success of Cinema City Studios and Film Workshop Co. Ltd., which she founded with internationally-acclaimed producer and director TSUI Hark. Nansun was a member of the International Jury at the Berlin International Film Festival 2007 and at the Cannes Film Festival 2011. In October 2013, the French Government honored Nansun with the title of Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Nansun received the Best Independent Producer Award – Premio Raimondo Rezzonico at the Locarno International Film Festival 2014, the Golden Mulberry Life Achievement Award at the Udine Far East Film Festival 2015, the Special Achievement Award at the BIFF with Marie Claire Asia Star Awards 2015, and the Berlinale Camera Award (Producer) at the Berlin International Film Festival 2017. Nansun is Vice Chairman of the End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation.

Johnnie To is one of the leading figures of the film industry of Hong Kong. With his caliber, versatility and energy, he has played an instrumental role in promoting the development of the Hong Kong film industry. Besides the achievements in film production and film directing, Johnnie has devoted tremendous efforts to grooming local talents. In 2004, he became a member of the Hong Kong arts Development Council and soon after started chairing the Film and Media Arts Group of the Council. In 2005, he initiated the Fresh Wave Short Film Competition which evolved in 2010 into an international short film festival, further fostering cultural exchange among international filmmakers. In 2014, Hong Kong Baptist University conferred Dr To the honorary doctoral degree for his outstanding professional achievements as well as his remarkable contributions to the film industry.

As a world-renowned visual artist, art director for stage and film and fashion designer, Tim Yip continues to explore and communicate his aesthetic concept “New Orientalism”, which is his interpretation of ancient culture as a means to inspire the future. He works widely in contemporary art, clothing, theatre, film, literature and other creative fields. For “Crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon”, Yip won the Oscar for “Best Art Direction”, becoming the first Chinese to be awarded by the Academy, and the British Film and Television Academy award for “Best Costume Design”, in 2001.