International Jury of Forward Future Section丨President: Tony Rayns

He is a British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter, creator of the Dragons and Tigers Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival and one of the founders of Busan International Film Festival. Well versed in the film culture of East Asia, he once recommended several eminent directors from Asia, including Takeshi Kitano, Chang-dong Lee, Sang-soo Hong, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Chen Kaige, Wong Kar-Wai, Jia Zhangke, Stanley Kwan and Tsai Ming-liang. He once wrote or co-edited several works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Sun-Woo Jang as well as studies in Chinese, Japanese and Korean films, published Wong Kar-Wai’s work In the Mood for Love. He recorded or wrote the audio lead, commentary and instructions for several DVD distributors like the “Criterion Collection”. He was also a visiting lecturer to Beijing Film Academy and jury member to the FIRST International Film Festival, the West Lake International Documentary Festival and other film festivals.

International Jury of Forward Future Section丨Jury Member: Yannis Sakaridis

Greek director and screenwriter, he now serves as the Artistic Director of Drama International Short Film Festival.

 

Yannis at his early age made some TV videos, film trailers and experimental short films. His short film Truth was screened and awarded at several international film festivals. His debut film Wild Duck was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and nominated at the 18th Busan International Film Festival for Flash Forward Award in 2013. He serves as mentor and guest speaker at several film academies in Greece.

 

Amerika Square directed by him won the “Most Popular Film” at the Forward Future Section of the 7th BJIFF in 2017, and was listed of the submissions to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (now “Academy Award for Best International Feature Film”) in 2018.

International Jury of Forward Future Section丨Jury Member: Huang Lu

Chinese actress, director, screenwriter and producer, she has a number of popular works such as Suburban Birds, Home Away, Blind Massage, Blind Mountain, Between 2 Worlds and How to Describe a Cloud.

 

From Bai Xuemei in Blind Mountain to Xiaoman in Blind Massage and then the mother who is dying to find his son in Dog Days, Huang Lu dares to meet challenges in different roles in order to make further breakthroughs, hence the title “Queen of Literary Films”. With the unique style and outstanding skills, she has been widely recognized by the international film industry. She is one of the most favored Chinese actresses by directors around the world, and has participated in several international film festivals as jury member and producer.

 

Huang Lu is the only Chinese actress born in 1980s with starring films shortlisted in the Festival de Cannes, Berlin International Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival. She was nominated as the Best Actress at the 60th Festival de Cannes for Blind Mountain in 2007, the Best Actress at the 66th Venice International Film Festival for Between 2 Worlds in 2009 and the Best Actress at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival for Blind Massage in 2014. In 2014, How to Describe a Cloud won the Best Actress at the 8th FIRST International Film Festival. In 2019, she was listed as a nominee for the Best Supporting Actress at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards for G Affairs.

International Jury of Forward Future Section丨Jury Member: Shuang Xuetao

Chinese novelist, Shuang Xuetao has published the collections Fire on the Plain, The Aviator and Hunter and novels Silent Age, Tianwu’s Notes and CHIGUI. He won the first prize of the BenQ Award for Chinese Cinema Fiction, Young Writer at the 3rd One Way Street Book Award and the trophy at the BLANCPAIN – IMAGINIST LITERARY PRIZE 2020. His novels Fire on the Plain and A Writer's Odyssey were adapted into films.

International Jury of Forward Future Section丨Jury Member: Shen Yang

She is a Chinese producer and curator with plenty of well-known works, including The Wild Goose Lake, Black Coal, Thin Ice, Kaili Blues, The Moment of Pluto, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Nezha and North by Northeast.

 

In 2014, Diao Yi’nan’s film Black Coal, Thin Ice produced by her won the Golden Bear Award and Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2019, she produced another film directed by Diao Yi’nan -- The Wild Goose Lake, which was shortlisted in the Competition section at the 72nd Festival de Cannes. In 2015, Bi Gan’s debut film Kaili Blues produced by her was granted the Best Feature Film and Best New Director at the Locarno Film Festival, the Festival des 3 Continents, the Golden Horse Awards and other international film festivals. In 2018, she produced Bi Gan’s another film Long Day's Journey Into Night and Zhang Ming’s film The Moment of Pluto, both of which were shortlisted in the “Un Certain Regard” section and “Directors’ Fortnight” section at the Festival de Cannes. Other films produced by her are Li Xiaofeng’s debut film Nezha, which was shortlisted in a dozen of international film festivals such as the Busan International Film Festival for “New Currents Awards” and Zhang Bingjian’s film North by Northeast, which was shortlisted in five A list film festivals. Shen Yang served as artistic consultant in the film Fire on the Plain, which was shortlisted in the Official Selection of the San Sebastián International Film Festival. 

 

She was the founder of the “ASIAN NEW TALENT AWARD”, "SIFF PROJECT", “SHORT FILM” and other sections of the Shanghai International Film Festival.