Jury members SRFF 2019
Narrative Features
Emilie Caillon
French bilingual actress, writer, director, producer (Edgar Pow Wow Productions) and coach, Emilie G Caillon develops creative, inspiring and engaged international content from stop motion animation, to live action, documentary, VR/AR. Trained in Paris, London, New York, Québec. 29 years of passion for visual and narrative storytelling.
Victoria Harwood Butler-Sloss
Victoria Harwood Butler-Sloss is Anglo Armenian, brought up on the island of Cyprus. Her first film Cyprus Summer 1974 premiered at the SRFF in 2015. A Flock of Birds had it’s East Coast premier at SRFF in 2018; it is a chapter from Victoria’s recently published and highly acclaimed novel, The Seamstress of Ourfa. She is delighted to be judging for the festival this year.
Sebastien Sisak
Sebastien Sisak is a multilingual actor (English, French, Russian and Armenian) with an unusual career-path. Formerly a criminal investigator and legal practitioner, he recently discovered himself as an actor and in a matter of few years became a leading actor in Russia. Known worldwide as a lead actor of "Guardians" (2017), You can see him also in European productions as for exemple in "Drift" , best drama at Portobello Film Festival of London, where he performed the lead role...
Documentary Features
Christopher Wheatley
Christopher Wheatley is a former executive in international banking, whose career spanned in New York, Europe and the Middle East. His first passion was in film and theater. He is a graduate of Brandeis University, where he initially trained in directing, gaining an early experience acting/directing Off-Off Broadway in association with the playwright Israel Horovitz, and working as an assistant producer to Otto Preminger in New York. In later years, he collaborated with theater companies as well as Jack Garfein and the late John Berry on various studio and production projects in Paris.
Elda Khanamirian Awad
Elda Khanamirian Awad is an award winning Producer with twenty years experience working in advertising and television content for broadcasters and production companies trained in London and worked in Europe and the Middle East. A graduate in Film, she is passionate about making Media a force of good. She is currently living and working in Dubai, UAE.
Naela Refaat
Born and raised in Egypt to Egyptian parents and lived in New York for 5 years during the 80’s. Currently, teaching Community Psychology at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Naela’s whole career developed around social and community development in Egypt, strengthened by her background in Social Psychology and a deep understanding of cultural and social issues advancing civic and citizen engagement. Well-versed in both the Northern and Southern cultures, her insights and inherent artistic passion drive her outlook on current global transformation.
Sonia Herman Doltz
Documentary filmdirector Sonia Herman Dolz (Madrid 1962) has been living in The Netherlands since 1965. In 1993 her first feature length documentary 'Romance de Valentía', about the art of bullfighting, received several awards at international film festivals. ‘Lágrimas Negras’, (1997) about the senior Cuban musical band ‘La Vieja Trova Santiaguera’ touring through Europe, became an internationally acclaimed hit.Since then Sonia directs a new documentary every two years, mostly about Arts and Culture. Sonia has been a jurymember at many International Film festivals. Retrospectives: 2005 at the International Film Festival of Seville, 2007 at Documenta Madrid, 2008 at l’ Alternativa, Independent Film Festival Barcelona.
Narrative Shorts
Charles Ancelle
Charles Ancelle produced Sisters, starring Alex Essoe, which has earned a best cinematography and best actor nomination at the Hoboken International Film Festival and Kew Gardens Film
Festival respectively, and Sophie, a science fiction short film which is set to premiere
at the Chinese Theater in March 2019 for the Golden State Film Festival.
Documentary Shorts
Marta Houske
Marta Houske is a twice nominated Emmy winner for her documentaries. She directed, produced and wrote "Crows of the Desert - A Hero's Journey through the Armenian Genocide" which has been an "Official Selection" of twenty two film festivals to date, and has won many awards. Marta has directed, written and produced hundreds of TV commercials and other video genres during her decades long career.