15th IFFK -Julie Dash Jury Chairperson

Julie Dash, Afro-American Director – and a faculty at Universities of Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Princeton heads the jury for the international competition section in the 15th edition International Film Festival of Kerala. The Library of Congress has placed Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” in the National Film Registry, her feature film joins a select group of American films preserved as National Treasures. Her critically acclaimed short film “Illusions”, a drama set in Hollywood 1942, won the 1989 Jury Prize for Best Film of the Decade, awarded by the Black Filmmakers Foundation.

The second member Ermek Shinarbaev from Kazakhistan is a new wave film maker . His short film The Beauty in Mourning received several awards in short film festivals in the Soviet Union. His feature film My Sister Liusia received the Jury Special prize at the Amiens International Film Festival in 1987. His third film, The Revenge, was screened at numerous international festivals, including Cannes (Un certain regard), Montreal, Cairo and Rotterdam. It received the Etienne Jules Marey and the C.I.D.A.L.C. (the International Committee for the Diffusion of Arts and Letters through Cinema) prize at the Henry Langlois International Film Festival in Tours, France, in 1992. His film My Place on the Tricorne was screened at about 20 international film festivals all over the world, and won the Golden Leopard and the FIPRESCI Award at the Locarno film Festival in 1993.

The third member Maria Novaro, is the most successful woman director of Mexican cinema , studied Sociology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Film Production at the University Center of Film Studies (CUEC) in Mexico City. Novaro has been considered an expressionist Director because of the importance of colors in her films. Her work has been praised in Europe, especially in Spain, France and the United Kingdom. In Mexico she's considered a pioneer in an industry mostly dominated by men. Danzon was an instant hit in Mexico and was well received overseas.

The fourth member Apichatpong Weerasethakul is this year's 63 rd Cannes Film festival Palme d'Or winner for his film “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” .He won awards in many major festivals including Buenos Aires ,Rotterdam,Sao Paulo, Thessoloniki ,Vancouver ,Venice etc and Sooni Taraporevala , the fifth member is a screen writer and photographer, is best known as the screenwriter of Mississipi Masala ,The Name Sake and Salam Bombay all directed by Mira Nair.