VENETO JURY
Born in 1989 in Feltri, in the Belluno Dolomites, after graduating in English and German Literature, he was admitted to the DFFB – German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. During his studies, he shot Altri cannibali (Other Cannibals), which had its world premiere at the Tallinn Black Night Festival, where it was awarded Best Debut Film and enthusiastically greeted by international critics. This was followed by the short film Il compleanno di Enrico (Henry’s Birthday), selected at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes in Cannes.
LAVINIA XAUSA
Lavinia Xausa (1992) is an artist who has studied in several cities, including Bologna, Berlin and Rotterdam. In 2015 she received her Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from DAMS and in 2017 she received her Master’s degree in Photography from the academy in Breda, the Netherlands. She currently lives in Rotterdam, where she combines her interest in semiotics and sacred art with participatory documentary practices in her artwork. Lavinia engages people to reflect on their own identity and historical representation, inviting them to contribute to her projects. Over the years, she and her works have participated in various residencies, exhibitions and festivals, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Rotterdam 2022, NL), TENT (Rotterdam 2020, NL), Noorderlicht International Photography Festival (Groningen 2020, NL), Organ Vida (Zagreb 2017, HR) and EYE (Amsterdam 2016, NL).
MERCEDES SADER
Producer and filmmaker Mercedes Sader’s career is closely connected to the arts. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 she co-directed Rompan Límites! (Break the limits!) International Experimental Film Festival. As a film producer with Coral Cine, she produced several documentary feature films, all exhibited internationally. Twice winner of the Pro-Cultura Award, she produced more than 20 experimental short films in 16 mm that were screened at Madrid Experimental Film Festival. Her most recent film, the documentary The Children of the Mountain is starting its international tour.
At the same time, Sader is a contemporary art curator and critic and since 2014 she directs Black Gallery, an art gallery committed to preserving the legacy of Uruguayan historical figures and encouraging the practice of emerging and established artists both locally and internationally. As of 2018, she is an art advisor for the Ministry of Design portal, in which she regularly writes articles about art. In the past two years, she is the director of ARCA International Festival of Films on Arts, a festival which explores and promotes the relationship between cinema and art.