our JUDGES
Kenneth Kokin
Kokin, a seasoned executive, consultant, producer, writer, and director, has enjoyed a thriving career spanning over 30 years in the entertainment industry. His diverse expertise encompasses feature films, TV, and animation, resulting in notable accomplishments, including winning over 80 awards. Notably, he directed the extensive second unit for the double Oscar-winning film "The Usual Suspects," which he also produced. Two films he produced garnered The Grand Jury Prize and Best International Drama at the Sundance Film Festival.
Molly Conners
Molly is an Emmy-nominated producer and member of the Producers Guild of America, BAFTA, and the Television Academy. Over the past 15 years, she has produced or executive produced 35 films that have earned 4 Academy Awards and 11 nominations. Notable credits include "Birdman," "Frozen River", "Killer Joe", "The Immigrant", "Joe", and "Rules Don't Apply".
Kristina Rivera
Kristina Rivera is best known for her collaborations with Clint Eastwood. She began her career at Malpaso Productions as his assistant on "Invictus" and worked on "Hereafter", "J.Edgar", "Trouble with the Curve" and "Jersey Boys" before her promotion to associate producer on "American Sniper". Rivera subsequently brought the screenplay "Sully" to Eastwood and was co-producer on the film. She then developed the "The 15:17 to Paris" screenplay with first time writer Dorothy Blyskal, and garnered the title Producer. She also produced "The Mule" and was a co-executive producer on Aaron Sorkin's film "The Trial of the Chicago 7".
Alex Mill
Alex Mill has her background in photography and editing, she spent years in a drama group during high school and she's been directing short films since the age of 15. Currently she is working in London, United Kingdom, as an assistant director and producer, having also been involved in projects such as "Justice League", "Transformers: The Last Knight" or "Tomb Raider". As a recurring theme, Alex often brings the troubles of obsessed minds to the screen, much like in her first feature, "The Immovables".
Jack Hannon
A BAFTA nominee, Jack is a producer and writer currently working at creative agency Mother London. His produced work has been BAFTA-nominated and screened at Sundance, TIFF, Berlinale, and LFF. As a writer, he has written for BBC3 and regularly creates short films and music videos.
Ruya Koman
Ruya Koman made her directorial debut with a short film that she wrote and in 2016 she produced and line produced several short films for director Slick Solvan Naim (The Get Down, Snowfall, The Blacklist, Blindspot, and Power). Ruya also appeared on "Gotham" as the D.C. Comics character "Mother" and has acted in numerous independent films. She recently co-directed, produced and starred in a short film which was selected out of more than 3,400 short films as one of the 15 semi-finalists at the 2018 NBC Universal Short Film Festival. Other screenings include the Harlem IFF and Chelsea Film Festival.
Benjamin Rider
Benjamin Rider was born in Harare, Zimbabwe. At the age of three, he moved to South Africa for a year, and then onto Israel for most of his childhood before moving to London (UK). He now resides in Hampshire (UK), and has recently become the new Festival Director of the nearly 20-year-old Maverick Movie Awards. His recent feature film releases include "Our Little Haven" (distributed by Bayview Entertainment) and "People in Landscape" featuring Gina Gershon and Oscar-nominee Eric Roberts (distributed by Summer Hill Films).
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Sherice Griffiths
Sherice Griffiths is a Surrey-based comedy writer-director and blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. She graduated from Westminster Film School with a BA in Film Production and won the BAFTA Rocliffe new writing competition for her script "The Big Three O". Sherice has also directed several short films and sketches shown at festivals such as the Toronto Sketch Festival, Derby Film Festival, and London Film Festival. Additionally, she has experience creating commercials for well-known brands like Krispy Kreme and Sign Health.
Ivan Zhurko
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Ivan Zhurko has more than 15 years of Entertainment Industry background. He was writing & directing commercials, staging shows & performances, acting in television projects, organizing festivals. He was a nominee and winner of several event & marketing awards. In spare time Ivan builds custom motorcycles. Innovations and new technologies in content creation & multimedia sphere – one of his main passions. He was hosting the event about new technologies in filmmaking at Berlinale 2022. Now he is the head of product at Filmustage where they are developing innovative tools for filmmakers based on artificial intelligence.
James McCarthy
James McCarthy is an actor with dozens of credits for stage and screen. Film highlights include G.I. Jesús, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the CineVegas International Film Festival, and The Ride Along, selected for the official program at the Cannes Film Festival. Stage highlights include The Comedy of Errors for Southwest Shakespeare Company (Phoenix, AZ) and Uncle Vanya for Lit Moon Theatre (Santa Barbara, CA). James previously worked in several capacities for the International Screenwriters' Association (Los Angeles, CA) and is a self-taught screenwriter with seven completed screenplays.