JCC 2017 du 4 au 11 novembre 2017

CNCI

Feature and Short Narrative Films Competition Jury

Michel Khleifi: President

Born in 1950 in Nazareth, Michel Khleifi moved to Brussels in the 70s, where he attended theater and film courses. His cinema is both poetic and political, mixing reality with memory. In 1980, he released his first feature film «Fertile Memory». In addition, he co-directed with Eyal Sivan “Route 181” which was awarded at the International Independent Film Festival of Buenos Aires and the InternationalDocumentary Film Festival from Yamagata. His film “Song of the Stones” received in 1991 the same prize in Yamagata. Michel Khleifi has won several prizes at prestigious international festivals for his film «Noces en Galilée» (1987) the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.


 

Félicité Wouassi

Born in Cameroon and raised in Paris, Félicité Wouassi first passion is theatre. It’s when she played in «Je Soussigné Cardiaque», the Sony Labou Tansi’s play, that the director Thomas Gillou asked her to play ‘Anisette’ in his classical «Black micmac» in 1986. She then met François Dupeyron, Idrissa Ouédraogo, Roman Polanski, Sheik Omar Cissoko and many others. She is also a director and screenwriter.


 

Rabiaa Ben Abdallah

Rabia Ben Abdallah is a Tunisan actress and professor of Dramatic Arts. She played various characters in many movies: Ferid Boughdir’s «Halfaouine», Raja Amari’s «Printemps Tunisien», Moufida Tlatli’s « La Saison des Hommes » and not forgetting Salma Baccar’s « Fleur d’Oubli ». She won several awards for her roles at various international festivals.


 

Pablo César

Pablo César is an Argentinian filmmaker and producer. He started making cinema when he was 13 years old working in Super 8mm short films. In 1987 he started to make 35mm and up to the moment he directed 12 long feature films. Pablo César is an international pioneer in developping co-productions between his home country, multiple African countries and India. Pablo César is a professor, teaching in the University of Cinema in Buenos Aires since 1992.


 

Mama Keïta

Mama Keita is a french scriptwriter, director and producer of Guinean origins. He is born in Dakar, Senegal in 1956. Among his movies we name: «Ragazzi» (1990), «Le 11ème commandement» (1997), «Le Fleuve» (2002), «Le sourire du serpent» (2007) et «L’absence» (2009) which was awarded with Best Script Prize at the 21th Fespaco.


 

Hassan Ben Jelloun

Hassan Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan scripwriter, director and producer. He is graduated of the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français. Hassan Ben Jelloun has directed nine feature films and TV movies. Working on various subjects such as women rights, the years of lead, the exodus of Moroccan Jews, he won multiple prizes and awards.


 

Kamela Abou Zekry

Kemla Abu Zekry is an Egyptian director graduated from the Higher Institute of Cinema. She began her career as second assistant director on Nadir Jalal’s film “131 Ashghal” in 1993. She is considered as one of the most important filmmakers of her generation. She has directed many films, including “Sana Oula Nasb” in 2004,” Malek wa Ketaba” in 2006, “An El Ashq Wel Hawa” in 2006, “Wahed Sefr” in 2009 and “18 Days” in 2011. She participated in several international film festivals, including Cairo International Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival, and represented Egypt at the 66th edition of Venice International Film Festival with “Wahed Sefr”, which won more than 45 international and local awards.


 

Jury Feature and Short Documentary Competition

Thierry Michel: President

Director, journalist and photographer, from coal mines to prisons, from Brazil and the Maghreb to black Africa, Thierry Michel has always denounced peoples’ distress and shared their revolts, sometimes in a mixture of fiction and reality. He directed two feature-length fiction films and many documentaries which have received international recognition and awards and have been shown around the world. Thierry Michel also taught cinema du reel for 20 years at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion in Belgium and now at the University of Liège. He leads many documentary film writing and directing seminars around the world. Thierry Michel is the author of 2 books about Africa.


 

Jihane El Tahri

Jihan El Tahri is an Egyptian director who has been awarded in many festivals. She is also producer, screenwriter and visual artist. In 1990, she started directing and producing documentaries for the BBC, PBS and ARTE. Her most recent documentary «Nasser» was premiered in the official selection at Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. Jihan is also engaged in various associations and institutions working with African cinema, especially.


 

Baba Diop

Journalist and film critic, Diop Baba currently teaches journalism at the ISSIC in Dakar and at the Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis. He is the president of the Senegalese Association of Critics of Cinema (ASCC) and in 2008 he was elected president of the African Federation of Cinematographic Critics (FACC) in Dakar.


 

Tarek Ben Abdallah

Born in Tunis, Tarek Ben Abdallah has worked on a large number of Italian films and with several Italian and Tunisian directors. From « Poupée d’Argile » to « La Légende de Kaspar », « Passion », « Bedwin Hacker » and « Ripero », he is known as director of photography in Tunisia and Italy.


 

Gerald Peary

Gerald Peary has been a much-published North American film critic for more than 25 years. His cinema articles have appeared in many newspapers. He is the author of nine books on the cinema and a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, the National Society of Film Critics, and FIPRESCI (the International Film Critics Association). He has served on critics’ juries at film festivals around the world, including at Locarno, Stockholm, Thessoliniki, and Berlin. He has been president of critics’ juries at many festivals, including Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam, Turin, Bangkok, Mara Del Plata, and Vienna.


 

Debut Film Competition « Taher Cheriaa Award »

Hakim Ben Hamouda: President

Tunisian economist, Hakim Ben Hamouda has a PhD in economics from the University of Grenoble. In 2007, he received the Alan Powell Award in Indianapolis (USA) for his contribution to reflection on trade and global economy. In 2014 he was elected Minister of Economy and Finance. Hakim Ben Hamouda is passionate about cinema since his young age. In the early 1980’s, he was Vice-president of “La Fédération Tunisenne des Cinéastes Amateurs” (FTCA). He was also the deputy director of the “Kelibia International Amateur Film Festival” (FIFAK). He wrote and directed several short films in the FTCA. While pursuing his career as an economist in international institutions, he has written film and artistic criticisms in various magazines.


 

Rokhaya Niang

Rokhaya Niang is a Senegalese actress. She is one of the greatest Senegalese actresses of her generation. She has performed in many Senegalese films, including "The Pardon Prize", directed by Mansour Sora Wade in 2002, and "Madame Brouette's Extraordinary Fate", directed by Moussa Sène Absa in 2004. In 2007, she played the role of Rokhaya in the feature film "Teranga Blues" by Moussa Sene Absa.


 

Hela Lotfi

Egyptian director, screenwriter and producer, Hela Lotfi is a graduate of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Cairo and the Cairo Film Institute. Started in 2007 but released in 2012, "Coming Forth By Day" is her first narrative feature film which won several awards including the Bronze Tanit at the JCC.