Juries
Features Jury
Spike Lee
Academy Award® Winner SPIKE LEE’s iconic body of storytelling has made an indelible mark on filmmaking and television. Lee is a five-time Oscar nominee (Do The Right Thing for Original Screenplay, 4 Little Girls for Documentary Feature, BlacKkKlansman for Picture, Director and Best Adapted Screenplay-Winner) and was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 2015 for his lifetime achievement and contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences.
In 2018, the visionary filmmaker co-wrote and directed the Academy Award®-nominated and critically acclaimed hit feature BlacKkKlansman, which won the Oscar® for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Lee’s career spans over 30 years and includes: She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Crooklyn, Clockers, Girl 6, Get on the Bus, He Got Game, Summer of Sam, Bamboozled, 25th Hour, She Hate Me, Inside Man, Miracle at St. Anna, Red Hook Summer, Old Boy, and Chi-Raq.
Lee’s outstanding feature documentary work includes the double Emmy® Award-winning If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise, a follow up to his HBO documentary film When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts and the Peabody Award-winning A Huey P Newton Story. In August 2021, he directed and produced the four-part documentary essay NYC EPICENTERS 9/11➔2021½ released by HBO and streamed on HBO Max. His directed version of David Byrne’s American Utopia (2021) was also released by HBO.
Lee is also known for his legendary Air JordanTV commercials and marketing campaigns with Michael Jordan for Nike. In 1997, he launched the advertising agency Spike DDB, a fully integrated agency with a focus on trendsetter, cross-cultural, and millennial audiences. In 2021, Lee directed new additions to the Capital One “Road Trip” national campaign featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Charles Barkley.
In addition to his films, TV series, and commercials, Lee has directed a number of music videos and shorts for artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, Public Enemy, Branford Marsalis, Bruce Hornsby, Miles Davis, and Anita Baker.
In recent years, Lee has cultivated a successful creative partnership with Netflix, directing and producing narrative features under a multi-year deal with the streamer. His collaborations with Netflix include: Da 5 Bloods (which he directed and co-wrote), the series She’s Gotta Have It(which he created, wrote and directed), the film version of Rodney King (which he directed) and the Stefon Bristol sci-fi film See You Yesterday(which he produced).
Lee’s upcoming film is a reimagining of the Akira Kurosawa classic film High and Low. The film stars Denzel Washington and will be released in 2025 by A24 and Apple.
Lee is a graduate of Morehouse College and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he is a tenured Professor of Film and Artistic Director. Lee’s Production Company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks is based in Da Republic of Brooklyn, NY.
Most recently Mr.Lee Received The National Medal Of Arts And Humanities From President Joe Biden. Spike was Also inducted into The Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame As A SuperFan alongside Jack Nicholson And Billy Crystal.
Abu Bakr Shawky
Abu Bakr Shawky is an Egyptian-Austrian writer and director. His short documentary The Colony has been awarded at festivals around the world. It was followed by his debut feature Yomeddine, about two recovered lepers trying to track down their families, which was shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Francois Chalais Award. Hajan is his second feature
Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver first gained recognition in 1995 for her acclaimed performance in Circle of Friends, followed by an Oscar and SAG nomination for Good Will Hunting in 1997. She was named ShoWest’s Female Star of Tomorrow in 1998.
Most recently, Driver starred in The Assessment, a psychological thriller selected for TIFF, alongside Elizabeth Olsen and Alicia Vikander. She also appeared in Uproar, another TIFF selection, and Millers in Marriage, which premiered at TIFF in September.
Driver is the host of the popular iHeart podcast Minnie Questions with Minnie Driver, currently in its third season. The podcast, named one of the best of 2024 by Esquire, has featured guests like Chelsea Clinton, Alan Cumming, Viola Davis, and Dave Grohl.
On television, Driver starred as Elizabeth I in The Serpent Queen on Starz, which received critical praise. She also appeared in the 2022 films Chevalier, based on the life of Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and Rosaline, a comedic retelling of Romeo and Juliet. That same year, she starred in the second season of Modern Love and the musical Cinderella.
Earlier, Driver captivated audiences in three seasons of Speechless and earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her role in The Riches. She also appeared as Lorraine Finster on Will & Grace.
In 2022, Driver released her memoir Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays, which explores themes of failure, success, motherhood, and grief. A passionate activist for environmental and animal causes, Driver divides her time between LA and London. She is represented by CAA, Untitled Entertainment, and several other agencies.
Tûba Büyüküstün
Tûba Büyüküstün was born on July 5th in Istanbul.
She studied Scene and Costume Design at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University.
She graduated in 2004 and started her acting career the same year. The following year, in 2005 Tuba Büyüküstün received the ‘Best Actress Award’ at the Serbia and Montenegro International TV Festival for her leading performance for ‘Gülizar’ Tûba Büyüküstün has been honored with many awards throughout her career.
In 2014 she was nominated for the ‘Best Actress’ award at the 42nd International Emmy Awards for her performance in the TV series ’20 Dakika’, making her the first Turkish actor to be nominated for the Emmys.
Aside from her career as an actor, Büyüküstün has been involved with many humanitarian organizations.
Since 2014 she has been actively advocating for children’s rights as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Tûba Büyüküstün has reached a wide audience around the world with the unforgettable characters she portrays. She continues to produce actively in different disciplines of art, especially visual arts and painting.
Daniel Dae Kim
Daniel Dae Kim is an actor, director, producer, and social advocate widely known for his work in ABC’s “Lost,” CBS’s “Hawaii Five-O,” Netflix’s “Stowaway”, and Disney’s “Raya And The Last Dragon.”
Kim most recently starred as the villainous Fire Lord Ozai in the live-action adaptation of “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” for Netflix which reached #1 on their TV charts.
Daniel recently shot a new spy series that he and his company, 3AD, are producing for Amazon Studios titled “Butterfly.”
Kim can be seen on streaming platforms in BJ Novak’s FX series, “The Premise,” Nat Geo’s “The Hot Zone: Anthrax,” and Apple TV+’s “Roar.” As a producer, Kim and 3AD executive produce the series “The Good Doctor,” which currently is airing its seventh and final season on ABC, as well as 2023’s multi-award-winning IFC documentary feature film, “Bad Axe.”
His recent theater credits include the production of “Peter Pan Goes Wrong” at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, “My Favorite Things: The Rodgers and Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert,” and the King of Siam in Lincoln Center’s 2017 production of “The King and I.” He just recently wrapped the leading role in David Henry Hwang’s Broadway play “Yellow Face.”
Kim’s advocacy for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is longstanding. His testimony in front of Congress helped lead to the passage of the “Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act,” and he currently serves on the White House’s Commission for Asian American, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. He also serves on the Board of Gold House, with whom he partners, along with the Asian American Foundation, on the Sunrise Collective, the first ever official AAPI centered House at the Sundance Film Festival.
Shorts Jury
Ke-Xi Wu
Ke-Xi Wu is an actress and screenwriter from Taiwan.
In 2014, she was named Best Actress at the second Canada International Film and Television Festival and received a Best Actress nomination at the 15th Chinese Film Media Awards for her performance in the critically acclaimed ICE POISON, which premiered at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival.
The film was Taiwan’s selection for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 2016, Ke-Xi was nominated for Best Actress at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards for her role in THE ROAD TO MANDALAY, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and awarded the Fedeora Award for Best Film.
In 2017, she starred in THE BOLD, THE CORRUPT, AND THE BEAUTIFUL. The film was named Best Feature Film and won the Audience Choice Award at the 54th Golden Horse Awards. In 2019, Ke-Xi originally wrote and starred in Midi Z’s film NINA WU, a psychological thriller inspired by the #MeToo movement.
It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, awarded Excellent Screenplay Awards Taiwan, Youth Film Handbook China, and nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 56th Golden Horse Awards. In 2020, Ke-Xi was selected for Variety’s 2020 International Women’s Impact Report, and served as jury in Malaysia International Film Festival.
In 2023, Ke-Xi served as jury in Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France. In 2024, Ke-Xi starred in French-African film BLACK TEA directed by Abderrahmane Sissako. The film premiered in main competition at the Berlin International Film Festival. Recently, her first American starring film Blue Sun Palace which co-starred with Lee Kang-Sheng premiered in Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week and won The French Touch Jury Prize.
Ramata-Toulaye Sy
After completing a Master’s degree in Performing Arts with a specialization in Cinema at the Université Paris Nanterre, Ramata-Toulaye Sy entered La Fémis in 2011, in the screenwriting department, and graduated in 2015.
She made her debut as a screenwriter on the film Sibel by Çagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti (Locarno Film Festival, TIFF), and went on to write Notre-Dame du Nil by Atiq Rahimi (Crystal Bear Award at Berlinale, selected at TIFF).
In 2021, she decided to move into directing with her first short film, Astel, selected and awarded at numerous festivals, including TIFF and New Directors/New Films at MoMa in New York. The film was also shortlisted for the 2023 César Awards and won two prizes at the 2022 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival.
Two years later, the director returned with her first feature, Banel & Adama. Shot in the Fulani language, this Senegalese tale earned the director a place in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2023.
Hamzah Jamjoom
Hamzah Jamjoom is a Saudi Arabian-born, American-trained filmmaker and creator of thought-provoking films with international appeal.
He is the most watched Saudi Arabian filmmaker with over 1.2 Billion views. With over 18 years of professional experience, Hamzah’s work centers around bridging cultural gaps through entertainment. His meticulous directing style, compelling narratives, striking imagery, and genre-bending plot twists combined with his cultural background make him a much-needed voice in the film industry.
He is the co-owner and creative director of Emmy award-winning production house Digital Hydra and boutique film studio Plot Point One, where he worked with brands including MGM Studios, HBO, 20th Century Fox, McDonald’s, Facebook, and CBS. Hamzah’s projects star Hollywood talent like Helen Mirren, Billy Zane, Ron Perlman, Common, Waleed Zuwaiter, and Dermot Mulroney. His work screened in theaters worldwide, streamed on Amazon Prime, and dominated YouTube charts. Most recently, Hamzah received the Audience Award for Best Saudi Film at the Red Sea International Film Festival two years in a row for his films Rupture (2021) and How I Got There (2022). He is currently in production on his next film Running Dry (eco-thriller).
Earlier this year, Hamzah was invited to speak on the main stage at Cannes Film Festival regarding his filming experience in emerging markets. He is also a member of the Jury for this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival competition.
