Zhang Yimou, born in 1950 in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, is a Chinese director, cinematographer, actor, one of the representatives of the fifth generation of Chinese directors, honorary doctor at Boston University and Yale University, and distinguished professor at Beijing Film Academy.

He was enrolled in the Department of Cinematography at Beijing Film Academy in 1978. Zhang debuted as a cinematographer in the One and Eight (1984) and won the title of Outstanding Chinese Cinematographer.  He debuted as a leading actor in the Old Well (1986) and won the 11th People’s Hundred Flowers Awards for Best Actor, Best Actor at the 2nd Tokyo International Film Festival and the 8th Golden Rooster Awards for Best Actor. His directorial debut Red Sorghum (1987) won the Golden Bear Award at the 38th Berlin International Film Festival. His directorial works, namely the Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, The Story of Qiu Ju, Not One Less and The Road Home, between 1987 and 1999 won multiple awards at home and abroad, including three nominations for the Academy Awards and five nominations for the Golden Globes. Zhang started directing commercial films since 2002, such as the Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower and The Flowers of War, which set new gross box office record in China twice and earned the highest annual gross box office of Chinese films four times. In 2021, he was named the 34th Golden Rooster Awards for Best Director for the Cliff Walkers, and the Best Director at the 15th Asian Film Awards for the One Second. He directed the Snipers in 2022. The film Full River Red (2023) directed by Zhang earned a gross box office of RMB 4.5 billion, ranking sixth in the gross box office of Chinese films.

He also served as the Creative Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Summer Games Beijing 2008, Director of the G20 Summit Evening Gala held in Hangzhou in 2016, and Creative Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.  As such, Zhang Yimou became the world’s first Creative Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at both the Olympic Summer Games and Olympic Winter Games.

Moreover, Zhang Yimou once worked as a member of the International Jury of the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival, Jury President of the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival and Jury President of the 64th Venice International Film Festival.

Fernando E. Juan Lima, born in 1968 in Buenos Aires, serves as the President of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the only ‘Category A’ film festival in Latin America. He is also a lawyer, journalist and film critic.

He also has rich experience in press, radio and TV. He founded the La Autopista del Sur, a radio program dedicated to filmmaking, in 2011.

Stanley Kwan, born in 1957 in Hong Kong, China, is a film director and producer from Hong Kong, China.

Kwan debuted as a director of the Women in 1985. He won the Best Director at the 8th Hong Kong Film Awards for the romance Rouge in 1988. He won the Best Director at the 28th Chicago International Film Festival for the biopic Center Stage in 1991. The feature film Hold You Tight directed by Kwan was shortlisted for the Competition Section of the 48th Berlin International Film Festival in 1997.

The feature film The Island Tales directed by Kwan was shortlisted for the Competition Section of the 50th Berlin International Film Festival in 2000. He was included in the Top Ten Directors at the 4th China TV Art Double Top Tens Awards  for the TV series Painting Soul in 2003. The feature film Everlasting Regret directed by Kwan was shortlisted for the Competition Section of the 62nd Venice International Film Festival in 2005. In 2020, he gave a lecture at the Workshop & Masterclass of the 10th BJIFF with the topic of “Hong Kong Film: Inheritance of Tradition and Development for Surpassing”.

Kwan was appointed as the Jury of the Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film of the 67th Venice International Film Festival in 2010. And he served as a member of the International Competition Jury of the 31st Tokyo International Film Festival in 2018.

Nadav Lapid, born in 1975 in Israel, is a prestigious Israeli director and screenwriter.

His first feature film Policeman was shortlisted for the Competition Section of the 64th Locarno Film Festival in 2011 and won the Special Jury Prize. The short film Why? produced by Lapid was shortlisted for the Best Short Film of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in 2015. His directorial feature film Synonyms was shortlisted for the Competition Section of the 69th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Golden Bear Award for Best Film and the FIPRESCI Prize in the International Competition in 2019. Lapid won the Jury Prize at the 74th Cannes Film Festival  for his directorial film Ahed’s Knee in 2021. He attended the Masterclass with Chinese director Lu Chuan at the HiShorts! Film Festival in 2022. 

Lapid was appointed the Jury of the International Critics’ Week Section of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, Jury of the 71st Berlin International Film Festival, and Jury President of the 53rd Indian International Film Festival.

Pimpaka Towira, born in 1967 in Thailand, is a Thai director, screenwriter and producer.

In 2003, her first directorial feature film One Night Husband was premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, and she was nominated for the New Currents Award at the 8th Busan International Film Festival for the film.  Her feature film The Island Funeral won the Asian Future Best Film Award  at the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival in 2015. Her directorial short film My Father  won the Special Jury Award at the International Film Festival of Asian-Pacific countries in 2010. Her Prelude to the General won the Jury Prize of the Short Film Competition at the 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2016.

She worked as the Programme Director of the Bangkok International Film Festival held in 2001, 2008 and 2009, and was appointed the Programme Director of the Bangkok ASEAN Film Festival since 2015. She also served as the Programme Director of the Singapore International Film Festival in 2017 and 2018.

Zhang Songwen, born in 1976 in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, is a Chinese actor and acting coach who graduated from Beijing Film Academy.

Zhang starred in the comedy Fake Fiction in 2012. He starred in the suspense The Shadow Play in 2016. The feature film End of Summer he starred in 2017 was shortlisted for the New Currents Award of the 22nd Busan International Film Festival and won the KNN Award. He starred in the spy film Saturday Fiction in 2018. And he appeared in the crime film Dust To Dust in 2019. Zhang played the leading role in the crime action film Break Through the Darkness. And he won the Media Choice Award for Best Actor  at the Media Honors Ceremony of China Movie Channel in 2022 for the film The Pioneer. 

Zhou Dongyu, born in 1992 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, is an actress from Chinese mainland that graduated from the Beijing Film Academy.

She rose to stardom for the leading role in the Under the Hawthorn Tree directed by Zhang Yimou in 2010, and won the Outstanding New Actress at the 14th Huabiao Film Awards. She was named the Favorite Actress at the 15th Chinese Film Media Awards for the film My Old Classmate in 2014. Zhou starred in the SoulMate, and won the Best Actress at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards and 2nd BRICS Film Festival among other awards in 2016. She was named the Best Actress at the 8th Macau International Movie Festival for the romance Never Said Goodbye in the same year. She won the Best Actress at the 9th China Film Directors’ Guild for the film This Is Not What I Expected in 2017. She was nominated for the Best Actress at the 32nd Golden Rooster Awards for the film Us and Them in 2018. She played a leading role in the Better Days, and won the Best Actress at the 33rd Golden Rooster Awards, 39th Hong Kong Film Awards, 35th People’s Hundred Flowers Awards and 11th China Film Directors’ Guild among other awards in 2019.

She was appointed a jury member of the Golden Goblet Awards — the Main Competition Section at the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2021