ESFUF announces its 2025 jury

The European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films is proud to announce the nomination of its 2025 jury, composed of a seven full members, already part of the 2024 jury, and two alternate members.

This group of professionals of the film industry have already demonstrated their skill and expertise: in the winter of 2024-2025, they were part of the first selection committee for production grants, following the fund’s shift towards production support.

The 19 contributors of the European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films have decided to renew their term and entrust them with the evaluation of the production support applications once again.

They are currently reviewing the applications received through the 2025 call for projects, which closed on June 30th. In November, they will meet in Paris for the selection committee to discuss which projects will benefit from the fund’s 1.5 M€ budget. The results of their deliberations will be announced shortly after.

Discover the complete list of our jury members below.

The 2025 European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films jury members are:

• Simone Baumann, producer, Germany,
• Javier Estrada, film critic, Spain,
• Georges Goldenstern, artistic director, France,
• Anna Gawlita, producer, Poland,
• Anita Juka, producer, Croatia,
• Teona Mitevska, director, North Macedonia,
• Anthelme Vidaud, film studies academic, France

The two alternate members are:

• Timon Koulmasis, director, Greece
• Nino Kirtadze, director and scriptwriter, Georgia/France

Simone Baumann

 Simone Baumann is a German producer and an expert on international co-productions. She started her career as a producer in the 1990s. From 1997, as a managing partner at LE Vision Film- und Fernsehproduktion, Simone Baumann was responsible for all documentary productions, which received prestigious awards. In 2003, she was appointed a member on the boards of AG DOK and MFFV (Mitteldeutscher Film- und Fernsehproduzentenverband) and became German Films’ representative for Eastern Europe in 2005. Since 2019, she is the Managing director of German Films.

Javier Estrada

Javier Estrada is a Spanish film critic. He is the head of programming of SEMINCI. Valladolid International Film Festival, FILMADRID (which he co-founded), and member of the selection committee for DocumentaMadrid. A member of the editorial board of the film magazine Caimán. Cuadernos de cine, Javier has contributed to many books and teaches in Madrid universities.

Anna Gawlita

Anna Gawlita is a Polish producer and PhD student at the Lodz Film School. With her production company Kijora, she has notably prodced the films 1970 (Special Jury Award at Visions du Réel 2021), In Ukraine (Berlinale and Visions du Réel 2023) and An ordinary country (Visions du Réel 2020). A member of the European Film Academy, she is an alumna of of Berlinale Talents, ACE Mentoring, Eurodoc, Jihlava Emerging Producers, EKRAN+ Wajda School. She received awards for her work as a producer at Era New Horizons IFF and at Krakow IFF.

She stepped in in 2024 to replace Liga Gaisa as a member of the 2025 jury.

Georges Goldenstern

Georges Goldenstern was the creator and general director of Arte France Cinema for more than 20 years, during which he co-produced over 250 films. Until 2022, he was the executive manager of Cinéfondation, created by Cannes film festival in 1998 to support the new generations of filmmakers. He also used to work as the artistic director of Meditalent.

Anita Juka

Anita Juka is a Croatian producer and ex board member of the European Film Academy. The films she produced were presented at Sundance, Cannes and Berlinale. She has been co-producing with many European countries and Canada and her films have been distributed in 190 countries. In 2021, she co-produced the Ukrainian film Butterfly Vision, by Maksym Nakonechnyi which was premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2022.

Teona Mitevska

Teona Strugar Mitevska is a Macedonian-born film director living between Skopje and Brussels. She began her career as a film director in 2001. Her 2017 film, God exists, her name is Petrunya, was awarded the 2019 LUX Prize by the European Parliament. Her 2022 film, The Happiest Man in the World, received several international awards. She is also the founder of a production company, SISTERS AND BROTHER MITEVSKI. Teona’s latest film, Mother, opened the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival in 2025.

Anthelme Vidaud

Anthelme Vidaud has worked as an audiovisual attaché at the French Institute in Kyiv from 2011 to 2013 and then went on to join Odesa International Film Festival as Head of programming from 2015 to 2020. In 2023, he published Ciné-Ukraine, histoire(s) d’indépendance, a book providing a comprehensive analysis of Ukrainian Cinema since the Maidan Revolution of Dignity.

Timon Koulmasis

Timon Koulmasis is a Greek director. He was born in Germany and moved to Paris in 1983. He studied History and Philosophy. His films, both fiction and documentary, have been shown at numerous festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, etc.) and have won various awards.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Greek National Film Centre (2016-2017) and Greece’s National Representative to Eurimages (2017-2022). He also teaches cinema in France and Greece, regularly appearing at the Fémis, the École Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière and other universities.

Nino Kirtadze

Born in Georgia, Nino Kirtadze chose to work and live in France since 1997 and has since built a filmography both intimate and political. Her film The Pipeline Next Door received the European Film Academy award and the Grand Prix from Visions du Réel; with Durakovo: Village of Fools, she was awarded Best Director at Sundance IFF. In addition to thse documentaries, she ventured into fiction with her dark comedy Don’t Breathe. From 2019 to 2023, she was a membe rof Eurimages’ Board of Management. Nino regularly steps in as a tutor or consultant for several training programs, and has worked with several emerging directors on their films, including Radiograph of a Family, No Other Land, Hollywoodgate, or Yalla Parcour.