Her award-winning slate, her co-production expertise, and her
role since 2014 as a board member of the European Film Academy earned her a place on The Hollywood Reporter’s 2023 list of the
40 Most Influential Women in International Film.

Her films have won top prizes at Berlin, Venice, Locarno, Karlovy Vary and beyond. She has produced 20 films with New Romanian Cinema director Radu Jude, worked with Franco Zeffirelli, and was executive producer of the popular film, Toni Erdmann, which premiered at Cannes and won five European Film Awards in 2016, including Best Film. Her latest film, I Matter, directed by Alina Șerban, won the audience award at the 2026 Venice Film Festival.

Ada also produces award-winning shorts, founded the nexT film festival, and is a partner in microFILM, a production house devoted to socially relevant films.

After getting her Ph.D. in architecture from University of Pennsylvania, she started teaching in Turkey. Surviving torture and almost four years in prison for her political ideas during the 1980 military coup, Feride turned her experience into fiction, writing the novel and its screenplay adaptation Don’t Let them Shoot the Kite, which became a critically acclaimed film. She went on to write a string of award-winning screenplays, including Journey of Hope, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 63rd Academy Awards.

Feride has also published and edited books, fiction and non-fiction, served as Secretary General of the Turkish Cinema Foundation, and, since 1999, been a popular lecturer at Istanbul’s Bilgi University. Keen-eyed Filminute fans will have spotted the Turkish films on our shortlists over the past decade. Most came from her class, where she uses Filminute to teach “storytelling in the short format of one-minute films.”

Her support has won her many fans in the Filminute community. We wish her a long-awaited, warm welcome to the jury! Hoş geldin Feride!

THE CRANE
THE DOOR
GOAT
SPACE ODDITY
FRAGMENTS
THE WAY OF MY LIFE 

A critic of international standing, Pamela has written extensively for publications around the world, worked with the Académie des Lumières, and served as Vice President of FIPRESCI, the international federation of film critics, which has nominated members to the Filminute jury since 2007.

Beyond writing, Pamela brings long experience collaborating with film funds, labs, residencies and industry events in France, Spain, Egypt and Qatar, and with big international festivals including Rotterdam and Berlin. Few people have seen cinema from so many angles: critic, consultant, selector. Since 2020, she has sat on the feature film selection committee at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival.

Pamela first served on the Filminute jury way back in 2009. Seventeen years on, we’re truly thrilled to have her back for the festival’s 18th edition! We can’t wait to hear her choices, and her candid impressions of how both one-minute films and the festival have evolved.

¡Bienvenida de nuevo, Pamela

Johnathan began as a drama director and assistant on the iconic British series EastEnders, before rising to become a producer on classic programmes such as The Bill and Casualty. From 2014 to 2023, he served as Executive Producer and VP of Original Production for Central Europe, overseeing regional hits including Wataha, Spy/Master and The Thaw. He went on to co-found May One Productions, through which he served as Executive Producer on the successful Netflix series Subteran.

Such a depth of experience in serialized storytelling is especially relevant now, as short-form series gather momentum and filmmakers look to branch out.

We look forward to Johnathan’s perspective on this year’s films, and to the insights he will bring to our jury deliberations.

Welcome Johnathan!

His follow-up, Hesitation Wound, premiered at Venice and won Best International Feature Film at the 2023 Zurich Film Festival.

In 2025, Selman wrote and directed the Netflix series Istanbul Encyclopedia. Rated 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, it has been praised as both a “love letter to Istanbul” and a “thought-provoking treasure.” He has since finished writing and directing a new Netflix series.

Selman studied law (2015) and film (2016) at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, then earned an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University in New York. His Bilgi film professor? acclaimed screenwriter and fellow 2026 Filminute juror Feride Çiçekoğlu! Selman credits Feride’s use of one-minute films in her film class with inspiring his love of filmmaking.

Given his soft spot for one-minute films, we can’t wait for Selman’s take on this year’s entries.

Hoş geldin, Selman!

The film impressed our jury as well as an astonishing 30 million views online. Across his short films, Kevin’s gift for intimate, emotional storytelling has drawn more than 40 million views, along with a Young Director Award at Cannes, Webby and Shot awards, and the 2024 Adobe Max Creativity Award for storytelling.

As a filmmaker, Kevin uses art to flip the script on the challenges facing his community and society at large. We can’t wait to watch his career grow, and to hear his take on this year’s films.

Welcome, Kevin!

He is a co-founder of Wealthie Works Daily, a fintech built around financial literacy and investment accounts for young families. Last but not least, Sabaa is Chief Innovation Officer of Arima, a pioneer in the field of synthetic data for marketing. 

With more than 25 years in the international film and marketing industries, John has spent the past 15 years building a worldwide community of indie filmmakers and creative producers. Together with this community he is expanding Filminute’s scope, reach as well as its support for independent film, series and the filmmakers who make them.