Jury 2025
Vasıf Kortun
Vasif Kortun (b. 1958) is a curator, writer, and educator specializing in contemporary art and exhibition practices. He was the founding director of institutions such as SALT, Platform Garanti, Proje4L, and the Museum at Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies. Known for his experimental approach, he received the 2006 Award for Curatorial Excellence. Kortun has published widely on contemporary art and visual culture in Turkey
Richard Philpott
Richard Philpott (born 1955, Cornwall, UK) is a filmmaker whose work has played a significant role in the development of British experimental cinema. Since the mid-1970s, Philpott has directed a wide range of politically engaged and formally experimental films. He established Zooid Pictures Ltd., the Archway Road Movie Group, and the LFMC Production Unit—platforms that supported independent and avant-garde film in the UK. In parallel, he has curated programs such as the Art of Film scheme and the invitation-only Ludwig II of Bavaria Film Festival, further championing experimental work globally. He has also worked with institutions like Oxford University Press and Harvard, and published widely on cinema, media, and cultural policy.
Zeyno Pekünlü
Zeyno Pekünlü (b. 1980, İzmir) is an artist whose artistic interventions mostly take the form of videos and installations. She previously ran the Istanbul Biennial’s Production and Research Programme and the Istanbul Cell of the Fellowship for Situated Practice organized by BAK, Utrecht. Currently, she works as an instructor in the Department of Media and Visual Arts at Koç University. Together with Köken Ergun, she is the co-founder of the KIRIK Initiative. She is on the editorial board of Red Thread Journal and is also a member of the Institute of Radical Imagination.
Rama Thiaw
Rama Thiaw (b. 1978, Nouakchott) is a Mauritanian-Senegalese filmmaker and producer based in Dakar. After studying economics, sociology, and cinema, she directed her debut documentary Boul Fallé: La voie de la lutte (2009) and founded Boul Fallé Images in 2010. Her second film, The Revolution Won’t Be Televised (2016), won the top prize at Berlinale’s Forum section. Thiaw also curates cultural events, including the Artistic Sabbars of Dakar (2019), and has mentored filmmakers through programs such as Generation Africa and the Ladima Foundation. She has taught at multiple U.S. colleges and served as a curator and programmer for the Berlinale Panorama Section from 2020 to 2022, as well as on juries for major film festivals including FIPADOC.
Ayris Alptekin
Ayris Alptekin (b. 1992) graduated from the Department of Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy at Istanbul University and completed her master’s degree in Film and Drama at Kadir Has University. She began her film career as the lead actress in Blue Wave (Mavi Dalga), and made her debut as a feature film editor with Snow (Kar), for which she received the Best Editing award at the 24th International Adana Golden Boll Film Festival. She later won Best Editing awards for the film Ghosts (Hayaletler) at both the 54th SIYAD (Turkish Film Critics Association) Awards and the 57th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. Her short films as a director, Kot Farkı and I'm Not Talking About That (Ondan Bahsetmiyorum), have received numerous awards at various festivals. While embracing a multidisciplinary approach to cinema, Alptekin has developed a deep connection with editing—one that transcends the boundaries of the post-production process.
