Documentary Jury

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Godfrey Reggio

Born in New Orleans in 1940 and raised in southwest Louisiana, Reggio entered the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic pontifical order, at age 14. He spent 14 years of his adolescence and early adulthood in fasting, silence, and prayer. Based in New Mexico during the sixties, Reggio taught grade school, secondary school, and college. In 1963, he co-founded Young Citizens for Action, a community organization project that aided juvenile street gangs. Following this, Reggio co-founded La Clinica de la Gente, a facility that provided medical care to 12,000 community members in Santa Fe, and La Gente, a community-organizing project in Northern New Mexico's barrios. In 1972, he co-founded the Institute for Regional Education in Santa Fe, a non-profit foundation focused on media development, the arts, community organization, and research. In 1974 and 1975, with funding from the American Civil Liberties Union, Reggio co-organized a multi-media public interest campaign on the invasion of privacy and the use of technology to control behavior. Koyaanisqatsi (1983), Reggio's debut as a film director and producer, is the first film of the QATSI trilogy. Powaqqatsi (1988), Reggio's second film, conveys a humanist philosophy about the earth, the encroachment of technology on nature and ancient cultures, and the splendor that disappears as a result. In 1991 Reggio directed Anima Mundi (1992), a film commissioned by Bulgari, the Italian jewelry company, for the World Wide Fund for Nature, which used the film for its Biological Diversity Program. In 1993, Reggio was invited to develop a new school of exploration and production in the arts, technology, and mass media being founded by the Benetton company. Called Abrica - Future, Presente, it opened in May 1995, in Treviso, Italy, just outside Venice. While serving as the initial director of the school through 1995, Reggio co-authored the 7-minute film Evidence (1995) that provides another point of view to observe the subtle but profound effects of modern living on children. In 2002, Godfrey Reggio completed Naqoyqatsi (2002), the final film of the QATSI trilogy, again with music by Philip Glass. Currently, Reggio is in the initial stages of production on a new film, working with a narrative structure for the first time that will explore the negative impact that consumerism and fundamentalism has had on the world. He resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is a frequent lecturer on philosophy, technology, and film.

Ron Holloway

(PhD, University of Hamburg) has worked in Berlin for Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and Moving Pictures. He has written articles on film, theatre, and cultural affairs for Financial Times and Herald Tribune. He is the author of six books on cinema and film history. An expert on East European Cinema, he has originated a databank on film directors from the republics of the ex-USSR. Together with his actress wife, Dorothea Moritz, he publishes the journal KINO German Film and International Reports and directed four documentaries. He co-founded the Chicago Center for film Study and the Cleveland Cinematheque. Among his journalist awards are a Rockefeller Fellowship, Bundesverdienstkreuz (German Cross of Merit), Polish Rings, Gold Medaille Cannes, and American Cinema Foundation Award.

Erika de Hadeln

Born Erika von dem Hagen, in Pomerania (Germany) in 1941. Her family emigrated to Western Germany in 1945. After studies in Freiburg, Paris and Berlin, she graduated in 1967 at Berlin’s "Freie Universität" as M.A. in History and French language and literature. In 1969, Erika, together with her husband Moritz, founded the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival in Switzerland. Erika was the director of the festival from 1980 to 1994. She is co-author of such landmark retrospectives as Documentary films of the Baltic Soviet Republics (1987/88), Documentary Films of the Armenian Soviet Republic (1989/90) and Romania: the documentary films 1898-1990 (1990/91).
From 1972 to 1977, de Hadeln coordinated and directed the Swiss Society of International Film Festivals headquartered in Nyon, which was set up by the de Hadelns while Moritz was directing the Locarno International Film Festival. She then joined her husband in Berlin from 1979, when he was appointed director of the Berlin International Film Festival (1979-2001). She was head of protocol service, actively involved in the practical organisation of the event and in the selection of films for the Official Program (Competition and Panorama programs), specializing particularly in American, British, Italian, French and Chinese cinema. Among other she was, in the early '80s, the first to introduce, on a large scale, computer technology for the organization of an international festival. Many of her organization ideas have been since adopted by film festivals world wide.
Together with her husband Moritz in May 2001, she founded in Berlin “de Hadeln & Partners”, a company specializing in film consulting and event management. After Venice, she was also associated with her husband in his new Montreal adventure in 2005.
Erika de Hadeln has been a member of several International Juries, among other in Taormina, Moscow and Amsterdam. She is Knight in the Order of Arts et Letters of the French Ministry of Culture (1990).

Ara Mnatsakanian

Born 17.03.1953 in Yerevan. In 1975 graduated from Yerevan State University, the Department of Physics, majoring in molecular physics and biophysics. In 1984 graduated from the VGIK, the Department of Directors. He authored over 20 documentaries and over 30 video documentaries and TV programs. The films have been shown at Paris, Nion, Alma-Ata, St. Petersburg, Palanga, Augsburg and London festivals. He founded ARMNA FILM studio; he is the producer and chief director at SHANT TV Channel.

Mohamad Hashem
Started his career as a graphic designer and animator by heading the creative department at an Arab TV station. He directed several short documentaries broadcasted on Lebanese and Arab channels. Winner of the TeleFood prize by FAO/UN. In 1999 he founded DocuDays: Beirut International Documentary Festival (now 8th edition). The festival continues to internationally promote Arab documentaries by cooperating with other festivals and by organizing the travelling Lebanese-Palestinian Documentary Film week. He served as jury member at a number of international festivals (Ecocinema, Liepzieg, Tampere..). He gave several courses on the Art & Science of documentary production for young filmmakers in addition to several lectures on Arab documentary. In 2005 he launched “Beirut Documentary Encounter & Forum”, two events running parallel to DocuDays and dedicated to the industry of the non-fiction genre. He is also the director of the “Arab Documentary Network”, a newly established organization, which aims at serving the Arab documentary community by creating an online network for films, filmmakers and film professionals. Hashem currently is involved in the production of several documentary projects in and about the Arab world.