The New Horizons International Competition is the Wrocław festival’s showcase section. It presents the latest uncompromising works from artists seeking original forms of expression.
The twelve competition titles include productions from Mexico, Peru, Georgia, and Argentina, among others. The festival's Grand Prix will be awarded by a jury consisting of: Marija Kavtaradze, Lucile Hadžihalilović, Damian Kocur, Yorgos Krassakopoulos, and Barbara Wurm. You'll find the profiles of this year's jury members below.
Marija Kavtaradze
Graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2014, Marija Kavtaradze made her feature debut with Summer Survivors in 2018, which premiered in Toronto IFF, followed by Slow (2023), which earned her Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival. Also, Marija works as a screenwriter on short and feature films, animation.
Lucile Hadžihalilović
Lucile Hadžihalilović is a writer and director. In the early 1990s she founded the production company Les Cinémas de la Zone with Gaspar Noé, with whom she collaborated on several films. In 1996, she produced, wrote, edited, and directed La Bouche de Jean-Pierre, which screened in Un Certain Regard. In 2004, her feature debut, Innocence, won the Best New Director Prize at San Sebastian. In 2015, Evolution won the Special Jury and Best Cinematography Prizes at San Sebastian. In 2022, Earwig won the Special Jury Prize at San Sebastian. Her fourth feature, The Ice Tower, won a Silver Bear at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival.
Damian Kocur
Director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. His debut feature, Bread and Salt, premiered in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival in 2022, where it won the Special Jury Prize. His most recent short film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. His second feature, Udner the Volcano celebrated its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024.
Yorgos Krassakopoulos
Yorgos Krassakopoulos is the Head of Programming for both the Thessaloniki Film Festival and the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, a position he has held since 2016. He joined the festival team full-time as a programmer in 2011, after years of collaboration through moderating masterclasses and contributing to published monographs. Previously, he began his career as a film critic and went on to become a founding member and head programmer of the Athens International Film Festival. He is also one of the founders of Flix.gr, the most popular and influential Greek movie website. Additionally, he served for several years as a member of the European Parliament’s LUX Prize selection panel.
Barbara Wurm
Dr. Barbara Wurm has led the Forum section since August 2023. She served on the Berlin International Film Festival selection committee (2020–23), the goEast Festival committee (2012–23), and worked for nearly 20 years at DOK Leipzig. She was also part of the Oberhausen Short Film Festival committee for a year. Wurm has curated programmes for festivals and archives in cities including Vienna, London, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Kyiv, and has served on juries at major festivals such as Venice (2022) and Karlovy Vary (2023).
fot. Erik Weiss