2025 Festival Jury.

Meet the 2025 Film Festival Jury!

Meet The 2025 Jury.

Poulomi Pal

A Nehru Fulbright Post-Doctoral Gender Studies Research fellow affiliated with the Sexuality, Gender and Women’s Studies Centre, Amherst College, USA, Poulomi Pal has over seventeen years of experience in the development sector in India. Her work has been at the intersections of issues related to gender and gender-based violence, women and work, and formulation and critical analysis of policies.

Poulomi has worked with a diverse range of research institutions, non-profits, grantmaking organizations and the government in India. She has worked on a range of issues including women and work, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, technology facilitated online violence and violence faced by LBTs in forced marriages, among others. Currently, she is working as Program Specialist, Ending Violence Against Women at the India Country Office of UN Women. Previously, she has worked as Technical Specialist―Violence Rights and Inclusion at the Asia office of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).

Poulomi is passionate about films as a medium of expression and tool of politics, activism, poetics and aesthetics. It has been her longstanding dream to have her research, activism, programming world closer to the world of cinema and films. This jury work is in her individual capacity and not reflective of her organizational affiliation/s.

Sarah Gross

Sarah Gross is a politically engaged filmmaker, writer, and mother of three young adults. Her feature documentaries have been broadcast on public television internationally, and shown in festivals around the globe. Having grown up in a multi-racial family in the U.S., Sarah Gross has a deep personal connection to stories of racism, identity and belonging. She has dual nationality in the U.S. and Germany.

Maha El Boukhari

Maha El Boukhari is a Moroccan-Canadian actor known for her roles in Dark Hearts (Amazon Prime), No Man’s Land (Hulu), and Razzia. She also appeared in Deserts and played a lead role in the MBC studios series Asrar Al Nisaa for three seasons. Based in Vancouver, Maha is actively involved in the local film industry and works on both international and local productions. Fluent in several languages, she brings a broad cultural perspective to her work.

Nina Gielen

Nina Gielen is a producer-writer-director whose short films have been shown at numerous festivals in the U.S. and internationally. An independent filmmaker and nonprofit arts administrator, her professional interests also include festival programming and creative project development. 

She is a longtime screener for the Austin Film Festival and a judge for the NYC Midnight short screenwriting competition. She is eager to foster female-identifying and gender-nonconforming creators in the arts, contributing to on-screen and behind-the-scenes representation of women, as well as to elevate creators from all underrepresented groups.

Nina is Director of Operations of Filmshop, a nonprofit filmmaker collective based in New York, whose mission is to foster artists in developing new work through peer support and collaboration.

Laura Sivis

Courage Films founder, Laura Sivis has worked for, co-developed and/or coproduced with major film companies including Goldtream Capital, Future Films, and Tapestry Films. Laura was a Fox Studios Executive, producer liaison for: MOULIN ROUGE, FARSCAPE, STAR WARS II, RED PLANET, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE2, THE MATRIX.

Laura has over 30 producing credits including features OUR LIPS ARE SEALED (MK & Ashley Olsen, Warner Bros/Foxtel), ONE LAST LOOK, COLD & DARK (Luke Goss, Matt Lucas), I WISH I WERE STEPHANIE V (Screen Producers Australia Best Film nominee, IndieFest Winner, NYC IFF), S21 3D (Cannes, SMPTE’s 3D Award), Documentaries: INFERNO WITHOUT BORDERS (Best feature: Melbourne Documentary FF, Nature without Borders), MADHATTAN; Web Series: TRUMPED BY MUSIC; and awarding winning shorts: WRONG ANSWER (25+ FF), DESY (Tropfest). 

Former WIFT President, Mentor, Festival Judge. Passions include: new technologies, the environment, equality, justice, and tales of courage.
Guilds, Memberships & Committees: Australian Screen Industry Guilds’ board, Screen Producer Australia (SPA), SMPTE, Australia Screen Sound Guild (ASSG), Australian Cinema Pioneers, WIFT.

Pascale Appora-Gnekindy

Pascale Appora-Gnekindy

Pascale Appora-Gnekindy hails from Central African Republic (CAR). She is the owner of Kéa-Kwis Production, a video production company in Bangui, Central African Republic. She co-directed her first feature-length documentary, Eat Bitter, in March 2023 with Ning Yi Sun. The film received funding from Sundance, Hot Docs Blue Ice, FordFoundation, IDFA Bertha Fund, and Chicken & Egg Pictures. Eat Bitter has been shown around the world in over 30 festivals and won several awards.

In 2020 Pascale co-founded Lê Tî Beâfrica, a cultural association in Bangui in which she initiated the writing workshop Écrire à Bangui, to train young filmmakers in screenwriting. 
In 2019, she directed Two Sisters, the journey of two sisters who struggle to find the right balance between their studies, their home life and their femininity.
 
In 2017, Pascale directed Mes Yeux pour Entendre (My Eyes are for Hearing), a short documentary about a boy overcoming his disability in a country where people with disabilities are marginalized. Pascale came to film production informally, from the computer world. Today, she is working on a Master’s degree in production and financing at the Institut Supérieur d’Etudes des Arts (IESA Arts&Culture) in Paris, France.

Kendra Hodgson

Kendra Hodgson is the Managing Director at Women Make Movies. She is passionate about social justice, gender equity, and the power of stories and has been working in film distribution and promotion, as well as nonprofit strategy and management, for more than two decades.

Kendra is a member of the Gotham Expanding Communities Advisory Committee, has served as a mentor/industry expert in the Gotham Film and Firelight Documentary Labs, a nominating committee member for the Gotham TV Awards, and on various juries. She oversees Acquisitions at Women Make Movies and frequently sits on panels and consults with filmmakers and distributors about impact distribution and marketing strategy.

In addition, she is a Pro Bono Consultant for PennPac, which pairs alumni consultants from the University of Pennsylvania with nonprofit organizations. She lives in Springfield, MA with her feminist husband, teenage children, and two rescue dogs. 

Youth Documentary.

Eva Weitzman-Stangel

Eva Weitzman-Stangel

Eva Weitzman-Stangel is a high school student and filmmaker from Park Slope, Brooklyn. Her short films, The Alien and Sunday have been featured in more than a dozen festivals, and she has worked on TV shows including Gold Rush and the national daytime television show, Harry. 

She is a graduate of film programs at NYFA and UCLA, and is the founder of the Out of Hand Student Film Festival in Connecticut. She is also passionate about marine life conservation, and is president of the Oceanography club at her school and has worked at the Mystic Aquarium since 2022.

Rachel Robles

Rachel Robles

Filmmaker Rachel Robles, a proud Latinx student at California State University, Fullerton, is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Communications with an emphasis in Advertising and a minor in Film. She made her directorial debut with the short film Para Siempre, highlighting her commitment to storytelling as a writer, director, and executive producer focused on advocating for underrepresented communities and amplifying marginalized voices.

Rachel believes that storytelling is not just entertainment but a powerful tool for social change, capable of sparking empathy and dialogue among diverse audiences. Additionally, Rachel hosts a radio show at Titan Radio, engaging listeners with thought-provoking discussions on various topics and promoting diverse perspectives that reflect the richness of different cultures. Her previous internships at +, Angel City Football Club, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures have further refined her skills in media production and provided her with a well-rounded understanding of the industry.

Through her multifaceted background in film and media, Rachel is dedicated to crafting impactful narratives that resonate with audiences and inspire meaningful dialogue, all while passionately pursuing her love for storytelling.

Yasmin Eftekhar

Yasmin Eftekhar

From a young age I’ve been engrossed in the arts, and I believe them to be amazing mediums to express oneself. In particular, using them to express activism, awareness and provide a voice to those who are silenced. I’m very exited and honoured to be part of this jury, as it’s a wonderful opportunity to witness extraordinary films by female voices from across the globe. I’m currently partaking in a project called Rainbow Riots, aiming to bring awareness to the injustices faced by the LGBTQIA+ community in Uganda.

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