Jury

Carmel Competition - Jury

Karin Rivkind Segal
Curator and artistic director with extensive international experience working with cultural institutions, archives, and film festivals. She currently heads the film program at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and serves as a consultant to film funds and cultural institutions. From 2017 to 2024, she was the Artistic Director of Docaviv Film Festival.

Previously, she worked, among other places, at the Harvard Film Archive and the Boston Jewish Film Festival, and served as editor of the Israeli film magazine Ma’arvon. Over the years, she has served as a jury member and panelist at film festivals around the world.

Eran Riklis
One of Israel's leading filmmakers, his award-winning, critically acclaimed films
include The Syrian Bride, Lemon Tree, The Human Resources Manager, Cup Final,
Dancing Arabs and most recently Reading Lolita in Tehran. He also directed
numerous hours of drama series, documenataries and shorts.

Yair Hochner
Yair Hochner is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and film critic. Since 2003, he has
served as the chief film critic and reviews editor for the Seret website, and since 2023, he
.has been a member of the European Film Academy
In 2006, he founded the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival (TLVFest) and served as
.its festival director until stepping down in February 2026
His acclaimed debut feature, "Good Boys" (2005), was screened at MoMA in New York,
presented at dozens of international festivals, and won several awards. His second feature,
"Antarctica" (2008), entered the Queer Lion competition at the Venice Film Festival, and his
production "Fucking Different Tel Aviv" (2009) was presented as part of the Panorama at the
.Berlin Film Festival

Lena Fraifeld
Israeli film, television, and theater actress

Golden Anchor Competition - Jury

Anja Dihrberg-Siebler
After studying Art History and working at renowned theatres, Anja Dihrberg-Siebler transitioned to the film industry. With her own casting company she handled the casting for over 300 productions so far, working with German directors such as Emily Atef, Maria Schrader, Christian Schwochow, Robert Schwentke, and internationally with Terrence Malick, Olivier Assayas, Cate Shortland, Marjane Satrapi. With over 30 years of experience, she is regarded as one of the most distinguished Casting Directors in Europe. She is a founding member of the German and the International Casting Association and a member of the German and European Film Academy and AMPAS. 

Maya Dreifus
Following the success of her two short films, Wax and Sick Visit, at the Cannes Film Festival, Dreifus completed her first feature film, The One Who Came Back Home (2014), which won the Best Debut Film Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival and the Ophir Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her second feature, The Straight Line (2024), an Israeli-French co-production, won the Grand Prize at the Reims Polar International Film Festival in France and was nominated for nine Ophir Awards from the Israeli Academy of Film and Television that year. The film was released theatrically in France and Israel.

Maya is a senior lecturer and heads the Producing and Directing Department at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University.

Anat Atzmon
Israeli actress and singer, and one of the best-known figures in Israeli cinema and culture. She rose to prominence with her role as Nili in the cult classic Lemon Popsicle (1978), and went on to appear in a long list of Israeli films, including Dizengoff 99, The Vulture, Dead End, Maktub, Stolen Love, Shell Shock, The Split Blade, Minotaur, Seven Days in Elul, Not in Tel Aviv, and Amor.

Alongside her film career, Atzmon has worked extensively in theatre and television and has released two music albums.

Erez Dvora
Lecturer at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem and at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University. Since 2007, he has been a film critic for Ynet.

Israeli Film - Jury

Shady Srour
Shady Srour is a filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and actor from Nazareth, working across
film, television and theatre. He holds a B.A. in Theatre Acting from Tel Aviv University and
an M.F.A. in Filmmaking from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Srour is also a
graduate of the Mandel Leadership Program and lecturer for cinema and theatre studies.
His feature film Holy Air premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, received the FIPRESCI Award
at the Jerusalem Film Festival, and was distributed theatrically in the United States by
Samuel Goldwyn Films. As an actor, he appeared in Ave Maria, the Academy Award-
nominated short film.
His most recent work, Fadia, which he co-wrote, directed, produced and stars in, received
three Golden Nymph Awards at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, including Best Film and
the Jury Prize.
Alongside his fiction work, Srour has created and directed documentary projects including
Grounded, an eight-part series exploring Palestinian cuisine and a disappearing generation
of women preserving rural culinary traditions, and Split, a three-part documentary series
examining Arab-Jewish life and relations in Israel’s mixed cities. He also served as Head of
Palestinian Directors on ARTE’s international documentary project 24 Hours Jerusalem,
which received the German Television Award for Best Documentary. Srour is currently
helping establish the Nazareth Cinematheque, where he is set to serve as Artistic Director
and shape its cinematic vision and programming.

Yael Shuv 
Yael Shuv has been the chief film critic at Time Out Tel Aviv since the publication's first issue in 2002. Having graduated from New York University with a master's degree in cinema studies, she teaches film courses at the Open University of Israel. She has served as an artistic advisor for the Israeli Film Fund and as a FIPRESCI juror at international film festivals such as Locarno, Venice, Karlovy Vary, Palm Springs and Rotterdam. Yael is also the author of two books for children and young adults: “The Ice Cream Princess” and “The Enchanted Carousel.”

Hilla Medalia
Hilla Medalia is an Academy Award®-nominated and Peabody Award-winning documentary director and producer. She has received six Emmy nominations for her films, and her projects have screened internationally in theaters and on major platforms, including HBO, MTV, PBS, BBC, ARTE, and Netflix.

Hilla serves as a lector and judge at festivals and forums worldwide. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, and holds an M.A. in Film and Television from Southern Illinois University.

Her range of titles includes: Find Me, Okay? (Best Debut Film award at the Jerusalem Film Festival, 2026) Out of Options (CBC, 2026), Children no More: “Were and are Gone" (2025, Academy Award Nominated® for Best Documentary Short), "Adaptation to Darkness" (Docaviv, Palm Sptings 2025), "ADA - My Mother, the Architect" (JFF, 2024), "Tropicana" (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival, 2024) "Wanted: Roni Kalderon"  (DocAviv, 2024), "Mourning in Lod" (MTV Documentaries, DocAviv, 2023) "Innocence" (Venice International Film Festival, 2022), "H2: The Occupation Lab" (Hotdocs, Fipa, 2022), "Love & Stuff" (HotDocs, DOCNYC, 2020), "Leftover Women" (Tribeca, ARTE, 2019), "The Oslo Diaries" (Sundance, HBO, ARTE, 2018), "Muhi" (IDFA, HotDocs, 2017),  "Censored Voices," (Sundance, Berlinale, 2015), "The Go Go Boys" (Cannes, 2014), "Web Junkie" (Sundance, POV, BBC, 2014), "Dancing in Jaffa" (Tribeca, IFC, 2013). 

Sarig Peker
A London based producer for theatre and film. Among his recent productions:
The award winning documentary “1341 Frames of Love and War” directed by Ran
Tal (2022)
“The Wanderers” by Anna Ziegler directed by Igor Golyak - The Marylebone Theatre
London (2025)
“Rose” by Martin Sherman - Ambassadors Theatre London (2024)
Sarig has over 30 years experience in Int’l film distribution, having served most
recently as Senior Vice President European Film Distribution at Warner Bros
International.

George Ovashvili
George Ovashvili is an acclaimed Georgian film director, writer, and producer. He
graduated from the Film Department of the Georgian State University of Cinema and
Theatre in 1996, and later from the Filmmaking Program at the New York Film
Academy at Universal Studios in Hollywood in 2006.
He made his directorial debut with two short films: Wagonnet (1997) and Eye Level
(2005). His first feature film, The Other Bank (2009), premiered in the Generation
section of the Berlin International Film Festival and went on to win over 50
international awards. It was also nominated for the European Film Awards in the
“European Discovery” category.
His second feature, Corn Island (2014), received the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary
International Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign
Language Film in 2015.
In 2017, Ovashvili completed his trilogy of feature films exploring Georgia’s recent
history with Khibula, which premiered in the main competition at Karlovy Vary.
His fourth feature, Beautiful Helen (2023), premiered at the Trieste Film
Festival. Most recently, he completed The Moon is a Father of Mine (2025), which had
its world premiere in the main competition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in
November 2025.
In 2026, Ovashvili directed the Turkish mini-series No Way Home, produced by TRT
Tabii.
In 2018, George founded Wagonnet Films, a production company based in Tbilisi,
Georgia. The company focuses on producing works by emerging and established
directors, with a strong emphasis on international co-productions.

Israeli Short Films - Jury

Omer Tobi
Writer and director (Tropicana, The Heiress). His work has screened and won
awards at numerous festivals, including Sundance, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Haifa,
Jerusalem, Palm Springs, AFI, and BFI. In its Locarno festival wrap-up, IndieWire named
him one of the World's Most Exciting New Filmmakers. Tobi founded Arisa, the subversive
Mizrahi queer party line that sparked a cultural revolution in queer-Mizrahi cultural space.
Through Arisa, he created a distinctive aesthetic and musical language that has garnered
hundreds of millions of views online and sparked extensive academic discussion. Haaretz
described it as "one of the most positive and optimistic changes to have occurred in local
culture in general." Tobi has directed dozens of music videos for leading artists in Israel and
abroad. His new film, Garden of Eden, is currently in production.

Smadar Zamir
Smadar Zamir is a film director, entrepreneur, and activist.
Her films explore women's experiences in a male-dominated world, bringing silenced
voices of pioneering women into public discourse.
Zamir teaches courses on women and cinema. She developed a unique curriculum for
the Ministry of Education - "Making Films: Women In Front of and Behind the
Camera".Co-founder of the "Forum of Women Filmmakers and Television Creators in
Israel", working to promote women in the local film and TV industry.

Yoni Goodman
winner of the Gross award (2008) and Landau award
(2022).
Director of animation for Ari Folman’s acclaimed "Waltz
with Bashir” (2008), "The Congress” (2013), and "Where
is Anne Frank” (2021).
Works as a freelance animator and director, mostly on
short films for human rights and health NGOs, as well as
commercials , music videos and several short and feature
length films.