JURIES

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Alice Leroy

Researcher and lecturer, and a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Alongside her academic work, she is a film critic, serving on the editorial board of Cahiers du cinéma and appearing regularly on Mediapart’s programme L’Esprit critique. She is also an associate programmer for Cinéma du Réel at the Centre Pompidou and the Franska Filmfestivalen in Stockholm.

Cláudia Varejão

Cláudia Varejão was born in Porto and studied filmmaking at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in partnership with the DFFB, and photography at AR.CO. Her work moves between documentary and fiction, bringing a political and poetic perspective to intimacy, community and identity. Films including “Ama-San”, “Amor Fati” and “Wolf and Dog” have screened and won awards at festivals including Venice, Locarno and Rotterdam. She also works as a photographer.

Jesse Cumming

Curator, writer, producer and researcher. He is Associate Curator of Wavelengths at the Toronto International Film Festival and co-curated MoMA’s 2026 Doc Fortnight. He has also consulted for the Berlinale Forum and Open City Documentary Festival, and presented programmes at institutions including Anthology Film Archives, ICA London and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

CINEMA FALADO COMPETITION

Bárbara Wagner

Bárbara Wagner lives and works in Recife. With Benjamin de Burca, she develops a practice spanning film, visual arts and performance through collaborative processes with artists and communities. Their films and installations have been shown at festivals including the Berlinale, Locarno and Curtas Vila do Conde, and are held in collections including MoMA, Museo Reina Sofía, MASP and Pinacoteca de São Paulo.

Catarina Alves Costa

Filmmaker, anthropologist and researcher at CRIA, where she serves as president and is part of the Culture Practices and Policies research group. An Associate Professor at NOVA FCSH, she has directed films including “Orlando Pantera”, “Margot” and “Pedra e Cal”, which have won awards at festivals including IndieLisboa, Porto/Post/Doc and Tokyo Documentary Film Festival. She also published “Cinema e Povo” (2022).

Nepheli Gambade

Film curator, programmer and critic. She serves on the selection committee of Cinéma du Réel and is a programmer for the Greek Film Archive and the Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival. She has curated retrospectives dedicated to filmmakers including Radu Jude, Miguel Gomes and Angela Schanelec. She is also a consultant for the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. Her writing has appeared in publications including Cahiers du cinéma and Critikat.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIUM-LENGTH AND SHORT FILM COMPETITION

Anne Gaschütz

Director and programmer of FILMFEST DRESDEN, where she has worked since 2013 and became director in 2024. Since 2021, she has been a member of the Pardi di domani selection committee at Locarno Film Festival. With a background in short film production, she is also a co-founder of Talking Shorts, a platform dedicated to film criticism, and a member of the European Film Academy.

João Laia

Artistic Director of the Contemporary Art Department of Porto City Council. From 2019 to 2024, he was Chief Curator at Kiasma in Helsinki. He curated the 2023 Gothenburg Biennial and co-curated the 2021 Baltic Triennial and the Lithuanian Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. With a background in social sciences, film theory and contemporary art, he also undertakes editorial work and contributes to publications including frieze and Mousse.

Né Barros

Choreographer, researcher at the University of Porto’s Institute of Philosophy and lecturer at ESAP. She co-founded Balleteatro and the Family Film Project. She holds a PhD in Dance from the University of Lisbon and also studied at Smith College and the Laban Centre in London. Her research and writing bring together dance, philosophy, performance and image, fields in which she has published several books.

CINEMA NOVO COMPETITION

Bruno Baldaia

Bruno Baldaia was born in Coimbra in 1971 and qualified as an architect at FAUP in 1997. He pursued master’s and doctoral studies at ETSAB-UPC in Barcelona and taught at university between 2009 and 2015. An architecture critic, he has published in Portugal, France and Mexico, curated exhibitions and edited books on architecture. He also publishes fiction.

Minês Castanheira

Poet, author and founder of the cultural co-operative Bairro dos Livros, nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2025. She created the “Mapas dos Livros” collection and has published works including “Cartografia” and “Um Abraço de Mar”. She contributes to anthologies in Portugal and Spain and is curator of MALHA.Porto, a programme dedicated to the city’s memory and heritage.

Sam Baron

Designer and creative consultant, trained in Saint-Étienne and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. His work spans design, art and interiors, reinterpreting traditional techniques and materials. He has collaborated with brands including Dior Maison, Diptyque and De La Espada, and exhibited at institutions including the Centre Pompidou and the Triennale di Milano. He lives between Portugal and France.

HUMAN RIGHTS IN MOTION

Ana Relvas França

Journalist at Expresso, covering migration, conflict, populism and the Middle East. A former London correspondent, she has reported from countries including Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Israel and Colombia. She is the author of “Ali Está o Taras Shevchenko com um Tiro na Cabeça” and “Lampedusa: Ir e não Chegar”. Her podcast “Diários Migrantes” was a finalist for the GABO Award.

Fátima Vieira

Professor at the University of Porto, where she has taught since 1986. She served as Vice-Rector for Culture and Museums from 2018 to 2026 and created the Casa Comum project. She coordinates CETAPS and leads the Mapping Utopianisms programme and the Utopia500 project. A scholar of utopian studies, she served on the Family Film Project jury in 2025.

Joana Castro

Lawyer, human rights specialist and PhD candidate in Sociology of Law at the University of Coimbra. She has worked in social and community intervention in Portugal and abroad. She is President of ENCONTRAR+SE, a board member of COMPASSIO, and collaborates with the Catholic University of Porto on the social economy and the inclusion of people with disabilities.

WORKING CLASS HEROES

Jarmila Outratová

Jarmila Outratová is Head of Industry and Training at Ji.hlava IDFF, one of Europe’s leading documentary film festivals. Since 2013, she has developed the festival’s professional programme, including initiatives such as Emerging Producers and Ji.hlava New Visions Forum and Market, focused on training, collaboration and networking for new generations of filmmakers and producers.

Rada Sesic

Festival programmer, film critic, filmmaker and lecturer. She heads the Documentary Competition at Sarajevo Film Festival and co-runs Docu Rough Cut Boutique. In Italy, she is Artistic Director of Last Stop Trieste and a programmer at Trieste IFF. She teaches on the Master of Film programme in Amsterdam and specialises in South Asian cinema.

Tito Rodríguez

Head of Programming at Gijón International Film Festival. From 2019 to 2023, he was Deputy Director of Marketing at the ICAA, working on the international promotion of Spanish cinema. He has worked with festivals including Seville, IFFR and (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico, and was Artistic Director of the 2023 Seville European Film Festival.

ARCHÉ PORTO

Heidi Fleisher

American producer and consultant based in France, with over 20 years of experience in documentary film. She has worked at France Télévisions, ARTE Sales and in development in the United States. She is also a mentor, educator and consultant, focusing on documentaries with a distinctive artistic vision. Her production and co-production credits include “The Castle”, “Wake Up on Mars” and “Don’t Breathe”.

Jasmina Sijercic

Producer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, based in France. She studied film production in Prague and at the Sorbonne and joined Bocalupo Films in 2016. Her productions have screened at festivals including Cannes, Locarno and CPH:DOX, including films by Tamara Todorović, Ivan Markovic, Marta Popivoda and Daphné Hérétakis. She is an alumna of Eurodoc, Emerging Producers and Berlinale Talents.

Maria Colomer

Artistic Co-Director and Head of Programming at DocsBarcelona and founder of Glia Films, a production company focused on documentary and auteur cinema. She has worked at The Why Foundation and Nanouk Films and produced films presented at festivals including IDFA, Hot Docs and Thessaloniki. She also directed the short film “The Painter’s Room”, nominated for a Goya Award in 2026.

AWARDS

Competition Awards

Vicente Pinto Abreu Grand Prix For the best film in the International Competition. Value: €3,000 Human Rights in Motion Award For the film that best promotes the values of human rights, freedom and democracy. Value: €5,000 SPAutores – Cinema Falado Award For the best film in the Cinema Falado Competition. Value: €1,500 International Medium-Length and Short Film Competition Award For the best film in the International Medium-Length and Short Film Competition. Value: €1,000 Transmission Award For the best film in competition in the Transmission section, chosen by the audience. Value: €1,000 Cinema Novo Canal180 Award For the best film in the Cinema Novo Competition. Value: €500 MAD Sound Studios Award Presented to a filmmaker in the Cinema Novo Competition, offering a discount on sound editing and mixing services for their next film. Youth Jury Award For the best film selected from across the programme’s various sections by the Youth Jury, composed of students.

Porto Industry Days Awards

Industry Screenings MAD Sound Studios Award A discount on sound editing and mixing services. Sound Force Studio Award Music composition services or studio time for music production. Co-Production Meetings DAE – Documentary Association of Europe Award Consultancy to support the development of the winning project. School of Arts — UCP Award A cash prize of €1,500. FIDMarseille | FIDLab Award Participation for the winning producer at FIDLab 2027, with a tailored schedule of meetings with representatives of other projects and invited professionals, including accommodation. Jacob Burns Film Center Award A creative residency lasting two to four weeks, including accommodation, access to an editing suite and a weekly stipend. New Futures — Repensar Award Three tailored consultancy sessions. Sound Force Studio Award A discount on sound design and mixing services. Arché Porto Eurodoc Award Tailored consultancy for the winning project. MAD Sound Studios Award A discount on sound editing and mixing services. Sound Force Studio Award A discount on sound design and mixing services, awarded by the jury. Working Class Heroes Working Class Heroes Award A production grant of €75,000 for the winning project. Supported by Filmaporto — Porto Film Commission and the “la Caixa” Foundation, through CaixaForum+.