The Jury of the VOICES Festival: “The president of our jury is a FIGHTER”

Today there took place the first press-conference of the Second Festival VOICES. And this time it was devoted to the jury. So let's look through the list of judges again:

1) Hugh Hudson, an Academy Award-winning film director (for the film “Chariots of Fire”) and President of the jury

2) Goran Paskaljevic, a Serbian film director

3) The winner of the Grand Prix of the last year's VOICES Festival, Sergey Loznitsa 

4) Kseniya Rappoport, a theater and cinema actress, in whose arsenal there are prizes of such festivals as “Kinotavr” and “La Biennale” 

5) Stephan Kitanov, the founder and President of the International Film Festival in Sofia

6) Katherina Murino, an Italian actress

Besides the judges themselves, a program director of the Festival, Igor Guskov, participated in the press-conference as well.

“This year we have a very experienced and professional jury”, - Guskov started. But such challenge as choosing the best film at the competition of young, debut cinema was set for some judges for the first time. Hugh Hudson admitted, though, that no “discounts for the beginners” will take place. “Criteria will be demanding, we will be fighting for the quality. It's harder for a young director but, as a rule, the first film turns out to be the best one”.

Stephan Kitanov added that giving awards to young directors is very important and it encourages a serious approach, because it gives a film a brilliant opportunity to be seen and understood.

And isn't that the main purpose of the Festival?