Official Submission: Brazil

Panelists

Walter Salles

Director

Selton Mello

Actor

Fernanda Torres

Actor

 “The beauty of this is the fact that the cinemas are completely full with people from different generations: kids of 15, 18, 20, and then the parents of those kids and the grandparents of those kids.”

Official Submission: Ireland

Panelist

Rich Peppiatt

Writer/Director

“…Once you started learning all of that and learning the language, you realize that Kneecap were just the latest in a canon of storytellers stretching back thousands and thousands of years and they were reinventing the way they told these stories.”

Official Submission: Sweden

Panelists

Filip Hammar

Co-Writer/

Co-Director/
Subject

Fredrik Wikingsson

Co-Writer/

Co-Director/
Subject

Lars Beckung

Producer

“I’ve come to realize that life consists of many, many different chapters. Some of them are very bright and happy and some of them are darker, but there’s a silver lining to every chapter.”

Official Submission: Turkey

Panelists

Zeki Demirkubuz

Writer/Director

Burak Dakak

Actor

“At the forefront of everything, I look for a face — that can represent everything that I’m trying to tell in the story. I am very open. I go everywhere. I talk to everyone.”

Official Submission: Greece

Panelists

Eva Nathena

Director/
Costume Designer/
Art Director

Dionyssis Samiotis

Producer

“The subject matter touches very sensitive threads of your soul. You’re born and raised in a society with specific behaviors that are standard, but this movie comes and asks you to…go deeper and ask why.”

Official Submission: Taiwan

Panelist

Hsiao Ya-Chuan

Writer/Director

“The inspiration actually came from the questions that my kids asked me…about whether there is fairness and justice in this world, and I couldn’t answer those questions easily. So I kept on asking myself, ‘Is there?’ ”

Official Submission: Switzerland

Panelists

Klaudia Reynicke

Writer/Director

Gonzalo Molina

Actor

Luana Vega

Actor

“I didn’t think it in a conscious way, but I had a need of going back to Peru and shooting something in Spanish.”

Official Submission: Spain

Panelists

Isaki Lacuesta

Writer/Director

Cristóbal García

Producer

“It’s a drama, but it’s also a comedy. It’s a love story, it’s a film about teamwork, it’s a Star Wars film, it’s a vampire film …”

Official Submission: Tunisia

Panelists

Nada Mezni Hafaiedh

Writer/Director

Ziad Hamzeh

Co-Producer

“Since I started making films, I’ve always found myself drawn to telling stories about marginalized people; it’s my way of advocating for human rights and standing up for justice as a filmmaker.”

Official Submission: Romania

Panelists

Emanuel Pârvu

Writer/Director

Miruna Berescu

Co-writer/
Producer

“I know a film can’t change the world — I wasn’t born yesterday — but I think a film can raise questions.”

Official Submission: Hong Kong

Panelist

Soi Cheang

Director

“I demand of myself that the style of each of my action films be different and according to the nature of the script. Every film has its own style.”

Official Submission: Poland

Panelists

Damian Kocur

Co-Writer/
Director

Mikołaj Lizut

Producer

Agnieszka Jastrzębska

Producer

“I think the very important thing is the way Damian decided to show the war without showing the war, with no bombs, and with no army. I think it’s a very interesting point of view…”

Official Submission: Czech Republic

Panelists

Jiří Mádl

Writer/Director

Vojtěch Vodochodský

Actor

Tatiana Pauhofová

Actor

“In the center of the story, there’s the dilemma that people have … about whether you choose to go for something that is beneficial to you or whether you go for something that brings you objective disadvantage but you consider to be a good step to take. And this is something that really attracted me.”