Meet the jurors

The Youth Perspective International Competition is one of the main sections of the Spektrum Film Festival, dedicated to short films by young filmmakers from around the world. It is here that diverse perspectives, cinematic languages, and sensibilities meet — and where the awards will be decided by representatives of the worlds of film, art, and education.

The Youth Perspective — Short Fiction  

Maciej Gil

Film historian, researcher of cinema history, and promoter of film culture; journalist, editor, lecturer, educator, festival selector, and juror (30+ festivals; returning to Świdnica after ten years). For over two decades, he has organized and served as a program consultant for numerous film events in Poland and abroad, including the author-driven Kinobus project dedicated to the history of cinemas and the Krakow Film Walks. He has received the Polish Film Institute Awards three times and the Association of Art House Cinemas Award once.
 

Magdalena Hort

Lover of blank spaces and silent moments. Mindful of what is unsaid or unsayable. Deputy-editor-in-chief of the Czech ELLE magazine long time ago. A declared feminist. Today a dramaturge and editor of foreign documentary acquisition for the Czech Television. Focused on art therapy and experience-based art education. Originally from Katowice, Poland, has spent all her working life in Prague, Czech Republic. Co-author of the Polish translation of Jana Černá´s memoirs, published under the title My mother Milena and Franz Kafka.

Nel Kaczmarek

Polish film and theatre actress, graduate of the Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków. Her work is marked by sensitivity and authenticity. She received a Jury Distinction at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival (2024) and Best Actress awards at the festivals in Koszalin and Macedonia (2025).

The Youth Perspective — Documentary  

Max Cegielski

A writer, journalist, and curator. He is the author of several novels and works of reportage, including Oko Świata. Od Konstantynopola do Stambułu, for which he received the Beata Pawlak Award. He also serves as a member of the Management Board of the Unia Literacka Association. As a curator, he has developed a number of art projects, including the exhibition Sklep Polsko-Indyjski/Prince Polonia, co-curated with Janek Simon and presented at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Clark House Initiative in Mumbai, and TRAFO Center for Contemporary Art in Szczecin (2017–2018). He is currently collaborating with Simon on the research project and exhibition One Man Does Not Rule a Nation, which explores Polish–Ghanaian relations in the 1960s and has been presented at the Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts, TRAFO Szczecin, FCA Ghana, Red Clay Studio in Tamale, and the Museum of African Art in Belgrade.

Lidia Duda

Director and screenwriter of documentary films. Recognized by Culture.pl as one of the most important Polish filmmakers. She consistently portrays Poland and its socio-political transformations through the lens of individual human stories. Her films are built on a distinctive cinematic language, aiming to capture the essence of social phenomena. A director of great social sensitivity and deep empathy for her protagonists. She made her festival debut with Herkules (2004), which won, among others, the Grand Prix Golden Lajkonik at the Krakow Film Festival and in 2005 received a Prix Europa nomination in Berlin. She is the author of acclaimed films such as Uwikłani, Pisklaki, Wszystko jest możliwe, and Las. Pisklaki received awards at the Locarno Film Festival, Prix Italia, Chicago, Pyrgos, and four prizes at Millennium Docs Against Gravity, while her latest film Las was awarded at the Thessaloniki, Sibiu, and Budapest international festivals, as well as five prizes at the 21st MDAG, including Best Polish Documentary.

Emilia Śniegoska

Director and linguist. She graduated from the University of Greifswald (Germany), where she studied German as a Foreign Language, Baltic, and Finnish Studies, and from the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź with a degree in Film Directing. She has collaborated with the Centre for Theatre Practices Gardzienice. Since 2014, she has worked as an assistant director on feature films and documentaries, as well as on television productions. She has directed several short films. In 2025, her feature-length documentary debut Double Trouble premiered at Visions du Réel. She is learning to play the drums and lives in Berlin.

The Youth Perspective — Animation  

Mateusz Jarmulski

A director and writer of animated films and an animator. He graduated from the Film School in Lodz with a degree in animation. He is also the author of music videos and concert visuals. His films have been broadcast on television and screened and awarded at festivals including Stuttgart, Seoul and Hiroshima. His previous short films The Hunt and The Visit went to more than 40 festivals around the world. He is interested in various forms of 2D animation and the possibilities of the language of this medium which he teaches at PJATK.

Lucia Kajánková

Originally from Slovakia, she is a screenwriter, dramaturg, director, and lecturer at FAMU in Prague. For Czech Television, she worked as a showrunner and director on the teen web series TBH (presented at Series Mania, winner of Serial Killer Brno, and awarded at Finále Plzeň and Marseille WebFest). She co-wrote the new crime series Mladá krev directed by Alice Nellis. As a dramaturg, she works on both live-action projects (Manželé Stodolovi, Úsvit) and animated ones (Zuza v zahradách, Kafka. In Love, I died in Irpin), which have been recognized at major international festivals. She lives in Prague, enjoys swimming and traveling to unusual places.

Jaroslava Kolibačová

Head of Edison Filmhub in Prague, where she has been working since 2020. Within the Film Europe media company, she contributes to the organization of film festivals and promotional campaigns for new releases. She graduated from Palacký University in Olomouc, majoring in Theory and History of Dramatic Arts. At Edison, she focuses primarily on the cinema’s operations and programming. Together with her team, she strives to give the screened films a broader context – which is why Edison regularly accompanies its screenings with discussions featuring filmmakers, experts, and audiences.

Amatours Competition The Youth Perspective  

Magdalena Klich-Kozłowska

Director of the Lower Silesian Film Centre – an institution that manages a network of cinemas across Lower Silesia, co-organizes festivals and film reviews, promotes the region’s film potential, supports film productions connected to the area, and runs its own educational program. Chair of the competition committee of the Lower Silesian Film Fund. A long-time cultural manager and executive producer of the Wrocław edition of Poland’s largest documentary film festival, Millennium Docs Against Gravity (she has also worked with other film festivals, including the Krakow Film Festival and Off Camera).

Renata Wereska

Originally from the Lublin Province she has made Warsaw her home in adulthood. She graduated in Polish philology from the University of Warsaw, where she specialized in media criticism. A contributor to Pełna Sala, a film-focused online portal. She fell in love with cinema thanks to Lech Majewski’s film Wojaczek and has never stopped seeking poetry and artistic freedom within it.

Kuba Żary

Curator, journalist, and communication specialist. An art curator focusing on urban themes, particularly on issues related to difficult architectural heritage. He has curated exhibitions at venues such as the Museum of Architecture in Wrocław, ZODIAK Warsaw Pavilion of Architecture, Rondo Sztuki in Katowice, Museum of Contemporary Art Wrocław, BWA Wrocław, and city museums in Wrocław and Tychy. Editor-in-chief of the Wrocławski Niezbędnik Kulturalny and a regular contributor to Contemporary Lynx magazine. He is the Head of Communication and Promotion at the Wrocław Institute of Culture and has served as a press officer for numerous cultural events. A member of the program board of the MIASTOmovie Festival of Films on Cities and Architecture and of the artistic council of the Wrocław Film Foundation. A long-time radio journalist.