Judging Team

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Maddalena Kingsley is an award-winning director, cinematographer, writer, and the founder of Random Magic Productions; an independent film production company specializing in narrative films, based on classics, myths, legends, history  and fairytales, including Prometheus Bound, Psyche and The Brothers Great.  Kingsley has worked with well-known actors and composers from across the industry. Her work has been featured in more than 30 prestigious film festivals.  

For more than thirty years, Johanne Chagnon has adopted a diversified artistic practice (installation, photography, video, writing, performance, community art, artivism) in addition to exploring various forms of distribution and various types of presentation venues, often unconventional. More recently, she has turned to art video in which she can bring together her past experiences. Her videos have won several nominations in various festivals around the world. She has been involved for over 15 years in the art magazine ESSE as coordinator and editor. From 2000 to 2017, she also developed Engrenage Noir, an organization which works to support community action art. Last year, she published the monograph «Naviguer malgré tout [Navigate anyway]» which traces her practice from 1986 to 2015.

Delphine Batier is an award winning filmmaker originating from France, and currently based in New York City.

She’s worked almost every job in the film industry for the past decade, on independent projects as well as prestigious TV shows. Her passion has taken her from London to Vancouver, until settling in the city that never sleeps.

She’s directed and produced several short films, web series, and a podcast, under her production company SunnyTales. Her gothic comedy Welcome To Oneg received around thirty official selections in festivals around the world, and won several Best Fantasy awards. She is currently working on the script of her first feature film.

Nikita Hattangady is a filmmaker and writer in the DFW metroplex in Texas, USA. 

Her film Falafel, an internationally award-winning Romantic Comedy set in London, has travelled to over 50 festivals across the globe. She is in pre-production of her next film, an inspirational drama set in Mumbai, India.

She is Head of Programming at Indica Pictures, a platform for independent filmmakers who showcase India’s heritage, and advance pluralism through their craft.

Her publication, “We Are American” is a children’s book on diversity in America and is used in various school districts as a teaching tool.  

Nikita’s greatest passions are storytelling, spending time with her family and learning new cultures and languages. Nikita has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration and Telecommunication Engineering.        

Francis Amat started his career as a musician, music producer, score-writer, and songwriter in Spain. Francis Amat has 30 years of experience in arts and entertainment. His professional career began at 17, with the formation (and Warner Bros. signing) of his band Pato de Goma (Rubber Duck.) In the ensuing years, his career as a songwriter and producer flourished through collaborations with some of Spain’s most recognized talents, including: Ana Torroja, Azucar Moreno, Estopa, Ana Belen, La Oreja de Van Gough, Guarana, etc. For over 20 years, he wrote and produced the scores of countless television shows, including the title score for Hospital Central—one of Spain’s longest running television dramas.  His work for Hospital Central was awarded the prestigious international Award Premio Ondas in Spain.  In 1998, his score for “Canal Cocina” (Spanish Cooking Channel) won the Bronze Medal for Original Score at the New York Festivals.  He has also written original musical scores for documentaries such as “De Campo y Sin Merienda” (“At Camp and Without a Snack”) (Telemadrid, 1992); “Fauna Callejera” (“Street Fauna’) (RTVE 1997-98); and “Vietnam: Vida Tras La Muerte” (“Vietnam: Life After Death”) (RTVE, 1997-98)— a Finalist at the New York Film Festivals as Best Documentary.  In 2009, he wrote the score for the full-length feature film 25 Kilates (“25 Carats,”) winner of the Silver Medal for Best Film at the 12th Film Festival of Malaga, Spain (2009) and the original score for the short “MUS.”  What began with music production has transitioned into filmmaking. In 2020 He produced, wrote and directed the feature documentary “Unraveling Athena”. A documentary about the journey of the female number one tennis champions of all time, featuring 20 number one players in the film. The film has been awarded with 13 awards from all over the world, as best sports documentary, best feature documentary and best edit, including the festival award at the Manchester film festival for best editing. The film was licensed by Amazon prime. He is working in some new projects.