Jury Mexico

Jury

Mexico

Holly M. Kaplan

Holly M. Kaplan is a Chinese-American filmmaker born and raised in New York City. In 2022, Holly was selected for NALIP and Netflix's “Latino Lens: Narrative Short Film Incubator for Women of Color,” where she wrote, directed, and produced SUNFLOWER GIRL. The film premiered at the Uppsala International Short Film Festival and currently holds over 40 selections worldwide. It received a nomination from the Woodstock Film Festival and won the "Prix du Public" at Ciné Junior, France's largest youth film festival. Holly has served as a Co-Executive Producer/Director's Assistant on PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: ORIGINAL SIN (HBO/Max) and was a former apprentice to the late Independent Producer/Director Ben Barenholtz. She received her BA in Film & Media Arts from American University and completed a filmmaking program at (FAMU) Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Holly works in film exhibition and directs short films and music videos that reflect her commitment to authentic storytelling and representation. She is currently developing the feature-length script of SUNFLOWER GIRL with Stowe Story Labs.

Alex Lora

Director - Screenwriter and Editor I Spain, United States

Alex Lora is a disabled director, screenwriter, and editor from Barcelona, currently based in New York, where he studied film on a Fulbright Grant. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has won seven New York Emmys, two Gaudí Awards, and has been nominated for both the Goya Awards and the Student Academy Awards. Lora’s work has been screened at Sundance in the official competition three times, with his short film The Masterpiecewinning the Grand Jury Prize in 2024. His filmography includes Enterrados (2009), Us (2011), Odysseus' Gambit (2012), Only Solomon Lee (2013), Godka Cirka (2014), Thy Father's Chair (2015), Ways (2016), The Fourth Kingdom (2019), Savage Land (2020) – where he served as screenwriter and editor, We Are Living Things (2021) – also as screenwriter and editor, Unicorns (2023), and The Masterpiece (2024). His work has received over 100 awards at film festivals worldwide.

Jérémi Roy

Filmmaker & Producer I Canada

Jérémi Roy is a Québécois filmmaker and producer based in Montreal. At the age of 21, his debut independent short film premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival, confirming his deep attraction to D.I.Y. and resolutely independent cinema. He has since continued to explore this approach to film through five additional short films marked by quiet realism and poetic sensitivity. His work has screened internationally at festivals including Slamdance, BFI FLARE, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles and the Vancouver International Film Festival. In 2020, he co-founded Les Productions Beau travail with longtime collaborators Camille Demers-Lambert and Dominick Rustam. The collective produces intimate and formally bold D.I.Y. short films. In 2023, he participated in the Creators Lab: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a creative residency shaped by the Thai filmmaker’s contemplative and dreamlike cinematic approach. The Lab's minimalistic approach to film and storytelling had a lasting influence on Jérémi’s own evolving work. His current projects include a poetic short film shot on 16mm and his debut feature film.

Additionally, Jérémi has served as a film programmer for the Slamdance Film Festival’s narrative and documentary short film competitions and he currently teaches editing at the Université de Montréal.

Antonios Vallindras

Director I Greece

Antonios Vallindras was born in Athens and raised in various cities both in Greece and abroad. He studied economics in Athens and has worked as an Account Executive for Ogilvy Greece. In 2014, he decided to change careers and focus on filmmaking. He holds an MA in Directing Film and Television from Bournemouth University and has directed four short films. His film The Life of a Sober Man (2016) was nominated in the UK for the RTS Student Television Award. He has worked on numerous projects as a director and producer and as assistant director and co-producer in the film Amerika Square (dir. Yannis Sakaridis). He took part in the START – Create Cultural Change program of the Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and is a co-founding member of the Ladies’ Fingers directing duo. His latest film, White Christmas 1948 (2022), received funding from the Greek Film Center and the Microfilm program ran by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. He has been awarded the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by Artworks (2022). Currently he is working on his new short film, Kiatochella.