Festival Jury

Helena Bendová graduated in film science and currently works at FAMU as a lecturer and researcher, focusing on the history and theory of film and computer games. For several years, she was the editor-in-chief of the bimonthly film magazine Cinepur and editor of the Illuminace journal for film theory, history, and aesthetics. She also worked for several years as Vice-Dean for Science and Research at FAMU and Chair of the Council of The Czech Film Fund. She is the author of two scholarly books on the medium of computer games and co-editor of two anthologies on Jean-Luc Godard and theoretical thinking in relation to audiovisual.

“Presenter and manager in the field of culture and media. He hosts the critical-reflective cultural programmes ArtZóna on ČTart and Akcent on ČRo Vltava. He works for the HBO television station and SVOD platform MAX as an acquisition manager and cooperates with the Karlovy Vary IFF. He moderates conferences and gala events of cultural events. Previously, he held the positions of Director of Radio 1 and Project Manager at the Ministry of Culture, focusing on digitalisation and innovation in the field of preservation and presentation of cultural heritage.”

Ian Nathan is an author, presenter and filmmaker based in London. He makes his debut as writer-director with Aliens Expanded, the definitive documentary on the perfect sequel. He has written over twenty books, including Alien Vault, Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-Earth, Stephen King At the Movies, Ridley Scott: A Retrospective, Wes Anderson: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work, James Cameron: A Retrospective, and The Legend of Mad Max. His next book, Steven Spielberg: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work, will be published in October 2024. He is the former editor and executive editor of Empire, still one of the world’s biggest movie magazines. He has also contributed to The Times, Times Radio, The Independent, The Radio Times, and Cahiers Du Cinema. And is the writer-presenter of the Classic Movies series on the UK’s Sky Arts channel.