We have the honor to present you the members of the jury of this year’s FEST competition program "Europe out of Europe”.

The competition program includes 8 films and the winner shall be decided upon by the following jury:

Alissa Simon, film critic of the Variety Magazine and member of the jury of many international festivals (including Pusan, Montreal, Karlovy Vary);

Labina Mitevska, actress (films - Before the Rain, Welcome to Sarajevo, Want me) and producer (film - I am from Titov Veles);

Dubravka Lakic, film critic of the Politika daily.

Alissa Simon

Currently a programmer for the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Alissa Simon has been a film curator for more than 25 years.
She was named a 1999 "Chicagoan of the Year" for her innovative work as Associate Director/Programming at the Film Center of the School of the Art Institute. Alissa began her programming career at the Film Department of Walker Art Center and the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. She has served on international film festival juries in Karlovy Vary, Ljubljana, San Francisco, Sarajevo, Sotchi, Cluj, Turin, Montreal and Vancouver. She also writes about films and film festivals for VARIETY. B.A. from Yale University. In addition to having a M.A in Film History and Criticism, Alissa Simon also has a M.A. in Art Administration from the Graduate School of Business, Wisconsin University, Madison.

Labina Mitevska

Labina Mitevska started her acting career with the role of Zamira in 1993, in Milco Mancevski "Before the Rain”, which won the Venice Film Festival in 1994. She then continued her studies and in 1996 she began a successful cooperation with Michael Winterbottom with “Goodbye Sarajevo” and “I want you”. As a result of these performances, she became one of the Shooting Stars at the Berlinale in 1998. She has work with David Ondrichek, Michael Baumann, Christian Wagner, Janja Glogovac and others. In 2001, with her sister Teona and brother Vuk, she established a production company Sisters and Brother Mitevski Production. The film produced by her company “I am from Titov Veles” has been distributed in 14 countries including the United States and Canada. In 1998 she became a member of the European Film Academy. In the following years she was member of the jury on the festivals in Kotbus, Edinburgh, Karlovy Vary and many others. As a programmer she is also active on the Brothers Manaki international film festival.

Dubravka Lakic

Dubravka Lakic, film critic of the Politika daily, was born in Belgrade. She has a B.A. in Journalism on the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade. She started her journalist career in 1982 on Radio Belgrade, Program 2002 and she has been in Politika since 1989. She has authored specialized television programs about film "In Media Res" and "Kino klub". She has done many interviews with international film celebrities. Mrs. Lakic is the author of the book “Uvecanje - majstori moderne rezije” - and the co-author of several books about film, as well as the recipient of several awards. She is the author of the concept of European Film of the Palic Festival and the founder of the Tolerance Award; programmer of the international program Cinema City in Novi Sad; member of the international organization FIPRESCI and of the Managing Board of the Film Center of Serbia. In her career, Dubravka Lakic was member of the jury of many international festivals.