Jury
International Competition
Bouchra Bouhia
Bouchra Bouhia has been a committee member of Cineffable — Parisian Lesbian Feminist Film Festival — since 2018, combining her love of cinema with her commitment to feminist and LGBTQIA+ activism.
She supports diversity, inclusion, and the richness of multiculturalism through volunteer work, not only at Cineffable, but also as an active member of Pride des Banlieues, and as a volunteer for the Chéries Chéris LGBT Film Festival.
She believes in the power of representation and community.
With an open mind and a passion for equality, she strives to create spaces that uplift and empower others.
Daniela Colamartini
Specializing in Contemporary Art History, she obtained her master's degree in Cultural Events Organization at IED Florence in 2015. She is in charge of programming in film festivals and works for independent distribution for documentary cinema. Since 2015, she has been in charge of programming for Festival dei Popoli, an international documentary film festival. She has collaborated with various Italian and European film festivals and projects (including Middle East Festival and Tënk). In 2020, she is one of the three founders of CinematograFica, an international project promoting awareness of gender issues and combating gender-based violence through cinema.
Helena Falabino
Helena Falabino is an Italian Argentinian artist working with photography, video, movement and music. They work for Some Prefer Cake Film Festival as a curator for the short films and the Lesbian Pleasure program. After earning a MA in Semiotics they have translated and curated the Italian edition of the essay Atrincheradas en la carne, about post-pornography, by chilean author Lucia Egaña Rojas.
Helena’s last short film, On Photography, has been screened in various film festivals across Europe.
Pedro Magano
Pedro Magano, 1981. He holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication Technologies (1999-2002). From 2003 to 2014, he worked as a director of photography for documentaries in television and cinema. In 2015, he directed his first feature documentary, Irmãos, which won the Caminhos do Cinema Português Festival (2015) and the Lince de Ouro at the Fest Espinho International Film Festival (2016). In 2018, he directed the short film Luana, which was featured in both national and international festivals (International Film Festival of Gijón; Cartagena Film Festival; Capital City Film Festival (USA), etc.). In 2024, he produced his first feature film titled As Aves with financial support from ICA. To date, Pedro Magano has directed and produced 15 projects that have been showcased at festivals such as É Tudo Verdade (BR), Gijón Film Festival (ES), Brasília Festival (BR), Cartagena IFF (CO), DOCS MX (MX), FEST - New Directors, New Films (PT), and others, with most of his projects being supported by ICA.
Ursula Pürrer
Ursula Pürrer (*1962, Vienna, A) is an experimental film and video artist and a video editor for documentaries and various art house projects living in Berlin. From 1984–89 she studied visual media design at the University of Applied Arts and from 1986–89 electroacoustics and composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 1989 she received a master's degree with honours with her video “The Drift of Juicy”. She collaborated with Ashley Hans Scheirl on several experimental Super-8 shorts and early 1980s video works. 1990/91 she realized with Scheirl and Dietmar Schipek “Flaming Ears”. She edited among others Cari Compagni by Pia Marais (2018), Hitler’s Hollywood by Rüdiger Suchsland (2017) and Naked–A Story by Inga Turzcyn (2023).
Vanesa Toca
Vanesa Toca holds a Master’s degree in Contemporary Film and Audiovisual Studies from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona. With over a decade of experience in film journalism, she later shifted her focus to festival distribution—a field she has been active in since 2014. She began her work in distribution at the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE) and, for the past seven years, has served as the international coordinator at Agencia Freak, a company specializing in the distribution of short films and feature documentaries at festivals since its founding in 2000.
National Competition
Hilda de Paulo
Hilda de Paulo is an artist, researcher, writer, and independent curator. She is the author of the Gis Archive project, programmer of Queer Lisboa and Queer Porto, and a founding member of Cia. Excessos and eRevista Performatus. She has participated in national and international collective exhibitions, with some of her works being permanently included in the collections of institutions such as the Serralves Foundation. She is the creator of the lecture-performance-workshop “O Que Vem Depois da Esperança?” (2022). She conducted the lecture “Mover-se na Casa do Colonizador” at the event “MASP Professores: Sociabilidade e Pertencimento” (2024) and was the associate curator for the exhibitions “Ana Mendieta: Silhueta em Fogo” and “terra abrecaminhos” (2023) at Sesc Pompeia, as well as for the coordination, conceptualization of the parallel program, and editorial organization of “terra abrecaminhos”. She is currently a PhD candidate in Literary, Cultural, and Interartistic Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto. She lives and works in Vila Nova de Gaia.
Jade Howey
Jade is a Senior Programmer at Women X Film Festival, a dynamic fresh film festival focused on women and non-binary creatives which takes part annually in an underrepresented area of the UK. She joined the team in 2020, having previously held roles at a streaming service aimed at queer women, and the Fringe! Queer Film Festival.
Maria Gil
Born in Porto in 72, Maria Gil is an actress, director, human rights activist and lecturer. It was through forum and community theater that she developed her activist practice, especially aimed at the inclusion of the Roma people. She has appeared in films as an interpreter and co-guest in Leonor Teles' “Cães que Ladram aos Pássaros” (Dogs Barking at Birds). As well as in other short films that have won awards at various international film festivals. Highlights include “Azul” by Ágata de Pinho and “As Gaivotas Cortam o Céu” by Mariana Bartolo and Guillermo Garcia Lopez. On television she plays Carmen in the series “Braga” directed by Joaquim Leitão/Pedro Ribeiro and directed by Tino Navarro. In 2023/24 she directed the play “Homo Sacer” as part of TNDM's Odisseia. In 2021 he received the award at the “Lefestt _Lisbon & Sintra Film Festival” as a Portuguese and Romanian personality who contributes to and disseminates Romanian culture. Participation and mention in various publications related to anti-racist movements.
Student Competition + XX Element Competition
Anabela Oliveira
Assistant Professor at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro and researcher at iA* Research in Arts. Holding a PhD in Comparative Literature, she directs her scientific research in the fields of interart studies and also in the cinematography of Manoel de Oliveira, Federico Fellini, and Jacques Tati. She has presented papers at multiple colloquia, given invited conferences at European universities, and published in national and international journals. She has participated in numerous juries and workshops at film festivals and school showcases, as well as in national juries for the ICA. She is the author of the books Entre Vozes e Imagens – a presença das imagens cinematográficas nas múltiplas vozes do romance português (anos 70-90) (Between Voices and Images – the Presence of Cinematic Images in the Multiple Voices of Portuguese Novels (1970s-90s), Porto, Edições Pena Perfeita, 2007) and Federico Fellini – a inevitabilidade da arte (Federico Fellini – The Inevitability of Art, DebatEvolution Publishing, 2020).
Ana Almeida
Ana is a film and television producer. She worked as a videographer for Público Online and Porto Editora, where she was in charge of producing filming and editing journalistic and educational vídeos. In 2011 she founded Anexo 82 with José Pedro Lopes, producing short films, commercial and commissioned work and also servicing for international production companies. In 2017, Anexo 82 released its first feature film “The Forest of Lost Souls” directed by José Pedro Lopes, which was distributed internationally. Ana was the editor and producer.
In 2018 she built a full post-production team working from Porto and is now investing in finding international partners for coproduction. In 2019, Anexo 82 released the short film “Abeba”, directed by Zelalem Woldemariam, in coproduction with Sweden and Ethiopia. Ana was the editor and post-production coordinator of the film.
In 2021, Ana edited and produced the documentary feature film “What Words Can Do”, directed by Luísa Sequeira and Luísa Marinho, which premiered at DocLisboa 2022, where it won the Audience Award for Best Portuguese Film. The film was released in cinemas nationwide and is the course of international distribution. The film was nominated for the 2024 Sophia Award for Best Documentary.
In 2024, Ana edited and produced the short film “Goodbye”, directed by Rúben Sevivas, which premiered at FEST – New Directors New Films.
Vanessa Fernandes
Vanessa Fernandes was born in Guinea-Bissau in 1978, and has lived in Paris, Macau, Porto, Germany, before returning to Porto in 2012. She holds a Master's degree in Film and Television Directing from ESAP. With her video art work, she exhibited with the visual artist Xin Song in Tales of Two Cities III: “Invented Sea: Porto and New York” at Espaço Rampa Porto, curated by Michelle Loh - New York. She participated in the exhibition Íntimo a Político: um avatar coletivo with the InterStruct Collective at Espaço Mira-Porto; presented Stand here, a video installation at the 8th Triangle Network at Hangar – Center for Artistic Research in Lisbon. She was the Director of Photography for Mudança (2021) by Welket Bungué, and participated in the film Resonance Spiral (2024) by Filipa César and Mario Pina, shown at MoMA – USA, both selected for Berlinale in Germany. She has directed short films such as Tradição e Imaginação, Mikambaru, Si Destinu, Fiji, Cura, MadMudPool, and the series for RTPLab Matemática Salteada.
Women's Struggles And Rights Award
Ana Catarina Pereira
Ana Catarina Pereira was born in Covilhã. She is a mother and an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Beira Interior, holding a PhD in Communication Sciences, with a focus on Cinema and Multimedia, from the same university. A researcher at the LabCom center, she is the director of the Master's program in Cinema at UBI and was the principal investigator of the project “Speculum: Filming and Seeing Oneself in the Mirror: The Use of Self-Writing by Portuguese-Speaking Documentary Filmmakers” (FCT). She holds a degree in Communication Sciences from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and a Master's in Human Rights from the University of Salamanca. She worked for several years as a journalist and collaborated with publications such as Notícias Sábado, Notícias Magazine (Diário de Notícias), Jornal I, and magazines Focus, Up, Saber Viver, and Happy Woman. She was a co-founder and director of the online magazine Magnética Magazine (2008/10); director of the Cultural Sciences course at UBI (2017/19), coordinator of the Film Studies GT of Sopcom (2017/22), and representative of FAL at the Equality Commission (2019/22). She is the author of the books "A Mulher-Cineasta: Da arte pela arte a uma estética da diferenciação" (The Woman Filmmaker: From Art for Art's Sake to an Aesthetic of Differentiation) and "Estudo do Tecido Operário Têxtil da Cova da Beira" (Study of the Textile Working-Class Fabric of Cova da Beira). She co-organized the works "Filmes (Ir)refletidos," "UBICinema 2007/2017," "Geração Invisível: Os novos cineastas portugueses" (Invisible Generation: The New Portuguese Filmmakers), and "Colectânea de Poesia - Poetas do Fundão" (Anthology of Poetry - Poets of Fundão), among others, and regularly publishes in national and international scientific journals.
Ana Sofia Pereira
Ana Sofia Pereira is a screenwriter, director and university lecturer in cinema and writing. She has a PhD in Communication Sciences from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, with a stay at the University of Reading, and has developed projects focused on feminisms, gender, cinema, communication and representation. She has a post-doctoral scholarship from the FEMglocal project, under which she co-directed the documentary “Feminismos: A liberdade de ser”. Co-writer of the series “Rio Grande”, winner of ICA's Support for Writing and Development (2022), she is also the screenwriter and director of the documentary “Virgínia”, distinguished at the Guiões festival (2022) and supported by ICA in 2020 (for writing and development) and 2023 (for production). She has also written feature films, shorts and award-winning series, such as “2' Minutos para Mudar de Vida”, shown in prime time on RTP1.
Carla Cerqueira
Carla Cerqueira holds a PhD in Communication Sciences – specializing in Communication Psychology from the University of Minho (2012) and completed postdoctoral research in the same field. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Universidade Lusófona, director of the PhD program in Communication and Activisms, an integrated researcher at CICANT – Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies, and a collaborator at CECS – Centre for Communication and Society Studies. Her research interests include gender, feminism, intersectionality, social movements, activism, digital citizenship, and media. She is involved in several national and international research projects and is the principal investigator of the project "FEMglocal – Glocal Feminist Movements: Interactions and Contradictions" (PTDC/COM-CSS/4049/2021). She is the coordinator of the Research and Policy Committee of GAMAG – Global Alliance on Media and Gender. She is also part of the board of APEM – Portuguese Association for Women's Studies, the Advisory Council of RTP, and is a member of the Ethics Committee of ECREA. She has been involved in multiple non-governmental organizations in the field of human rights, particularly women's rights.
Thematic Competition
As part of the Porto Femme educational project, we have established a partnership with the University of Beira Interior through the Philosophy of Cinema course unit, part of the Master’s degree in Cinema, taught for over ten years by Ana Catarina Pereira, a leading researcher in the study of cinema directed by women. With a philosophical and feminist approach, the course analyses cinema from the perspective of feminist film studies, discussing representation and human rights. In partnership with the Porto Femme International Film Festival, students act as judges, improving their evaluation and curation skills. The group of participants undertakes an aesthetic and narrative immersion, awarding films that stand out artistically and politically. The collaboration has been enriching for both parties and is expected to continue to grow.
Beatriz Matos
Beatriz Matos, originally from Mortágua, has a degree in Cinema from the University of Beira Interior, where she specialized in Editing. She is currently studying for a master's degree at the same institution.
Leonor Guise
Leonor Guise, 22, completed her degree in Cinema at the University of Beira Interior. During her three-year course, she became interested in Production. She is currently studying for a Master's Degree in Cinema at the same school.
Recently, the film Não Sei o que Fazer com as Mãos, in which she was the Production Director, won third place in the Sophia Student Awards, in the category for best fiction short film. Leonor has participated as a volunteer in film festivals such as DocLisboa and was one of the producers of the UBICINEMA festival.
Tomás Geraldo
Tomás Costa Geraldo (22, from Pinhal Novo) has a degree in Cinema from the University of Beira Interior, where he is currently studying for a master's degree in the same area. His work focuses mainly on sound and directing, which are his main interests.
Recently, he was Sound Director for the film Não Sei o que Fazer com as Mãos, which won third place in the Sophia Student Awards. In addition to his academic experience, he has worked as a volunteer at the DocLisboa festival and was part of Divergir, an exhibition dedicated to experimental cinema and video art.
