Jury

Lisa Loven Kongsli (Oslo, 1979) is a Norwegian actress who trained at the Westerdals School of Communication in Oslo and the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles. She received the Swedish Guldbagge Film Award nomination for Best Actress for her starring role in Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure (2014), which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Among her other notable roles are those in Janicke Askevold’s Solomamma (ZFF 2025) and Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord (2026), which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year and screens Out of Competition in the Main Program at this year’s ZFF.

Bojan Vuletić (Belgrade, 1977) is a Serbian director. He graduated in Film and Television Directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. His debut feature, A Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying (2011), had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and won several awards, including the critics’ FEDEORA Award at the Pula Film Festival. His second feature, Requiem for Mrs. J. (2017), was Serbia’s official Oscar submission. He is the creator of the popular television series The Family (2021) and The Fall (2023). He is a member of the Serbian Film Directors’ Guild and the European Film Academy, and works as an associate professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade.

Rúnar Rúnarsson (Reykjavík, 1977) is an Icelandic screenwriter and director. He graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2009. His short film The Last Farm (2004) was nominated for an Academy Award, while 2 Birds (2008) was nominated for a European Film Award and the Palme d’Or at Cannes. His debut feature Volcano (ZFF 2012) had its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where it was nominated for the Caméra d’Or, and went on to win 17 international awards. His second feature Sparrows (ZFF 2015) won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. He has also presented Echo (ZFF 2019) and When the Light Breaks (ZFF 2024) to Zagreb audiences – the latter of which screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival.

Jozo Schmuch (Dubrovnik, 1993) is a Croatian filmmaker. He has directed the documentaries Svaki dan se rodi novi mustang (2018), Hotel Mama (2021), and Field Trip (2025), which won the Oktavijan Award for Best Short Documentary in 2026. His fiction shorts have screened at numerous film festivals, including the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and ZFF, where he won the Golden Pram in the Checkers program for Shallow Ground in 2025. He works as a documentary television series director for the national television and as a casting director on various film and television projects. He is currently developing his debut feature film.

Mathieu Janssen serves as the artistic director of the Go Short International Short Film Festival Nijmegen in the Netherlands. After earning a postgraduate degree in sociology, he worked as a freelance journalist and organised public debates on social issues at a local arts venue. Since 2018, he has been a key member of Go Short’s programming team, responsible for the festival’s artistic direction and the selection and programming of competition and non-competition titles. He is the co-initiator of the international platform This Is Short, launched in collaboration with Go Short.

Diomedes Koufteros is an actor, theatre director, and artistic director of the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus. He won the Best Upcoming Actor award at the Athens International Film Festival For his role in Elias Demetriou’s Fish n’ Chips. Alongside directing acclaimed theatre productions – including My _ _ _ing Body, Toula, and Loulles – he has served as an expert evaluator for the Creative Europe program, as coordinator of the artistic program of the Lemesos 2030 initiative, and as a visiting drama lecturer at Bowdoin College in the United States. He is the founder and artistic director of the organisation Campos Culture and Arts.

Vanja Jambrović (Zagreb, 1980) is a multi-award-winning Croatian producer. She holds degrees in Comparative Literature and Philosophy from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and in Production from the Academy of Dramatic Art at the University of Zagreb. Since 2009, she has worked as a producer at Restart, an association specialising in documentary film. The films that she produced have won more than 150 awards, including the European Film Award for Best Documentary Film (Fiume o Morte!, 2025). Since 2020, she has taught at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, and has participated as a mentor and guest lecturer at numerous international workshops for film producers and documentary filmmakers.

Tin Ostrošić is a Croatian director of photography and cinematographer. He graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art at the University of Zagreb and has worked on a wide range of fiction and documentary films. He was the director of photography on award-winning titles such as David Gašo’s Short Cut Grass (2023) and It’s Not Cold for Mosquitoes (2022) by Josip Lukić and Klara Šovagović, both of which have won the Golden Pram in the ZFF Checkers program. In 2024, he also received a cinematography award at the Croatian Film Days for Short Cut Grass. His more recent projects include short films Rasuti teret by Šimun Šitum and Bottlecap by Andrija Tomić, and feature titles Eva After the Fall by Lana Barić and David Gašo’s History of Illness.

Sonja Tarokić (Zagreb, 1988) is a Croatian director and screenwriter. She holds an MA in Film Directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art and a BA in Comparative Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb. Before her debut feature The Staffroom (2022) – which had its world premiere in the main competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and went on to win five Golden Arenas at the Pula Film Festival – she directed several award-winning fiction shorts (On Shaky Ground, Golden Pram in the Checkers program at the 12th Zagreb Film Festival). Her medium-length film Wind Beneath the Wings (2025) premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier in 2026. She teaches at the Academy of Dramatic Art.

Helena Šarić is a first-year student at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb, where she studies English. Film and music have been a part of her life since childhood, and she has further developed her interest in the arts through volunteering at the Documentary Rock Film Festival in Vinkovci and being a member of the Cinema Club Karlovac. Following her first jury experience at the Four River Film Festival, she joins the 24th ZFF as a member of the PLUS program Young Jury.

Renato Horvat completed his studies at the School of Graphic Design and Media Production in Zagreb and is currently studying Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Since 2019, he has been a member of the Blank_ Film Incubator, where he has written and directed four short films. His short The Gospel According to my Grandma won the Best Fiction Film Award and a Special Mention at the Four River Film Festival. He participated as a member of the children’s jury at the 15th Filem’On International Film Festival for Young Audiences in Brussels.

Mia Maria Majerić is a final-year student at the School of Hotel Management and Tourism. She is a member of the Zaprešić Photo-Cinema-Video Club and her school’s journalism group. She spends her free time with friends watching films and series, and enjoys writing screenplays. In the future, she would like to work in film directing or production.

Ivan Dorotić is a fourth-year student at the School of Graphic Design and Media Production in Zagreb. His interests include graphic design and media production, and in his free time he pursues drawing and film. He is particularly drawn to the creative processes behind the making of visual and film content.

Corina Kovačić has been involved in film since the age of eight. She attended the Čakovec School of Animated Film and is currently a final-year student at the Electromechanical School in Varaždin. She has participated in numerous film workshops and festivals. Her film Postal Hero (2025) won the Best Documentary Award at the Four River Film Festival and Best Film at the Tbilisi Sunrise Film Festival. She has served on the youth jury at the Giffoni Film Festival and participated in programs of the Children’s Rights Festival.