Jury of the ON THE EDGE Competition

Meet the Jury of the ON THE EDGE Competition!

LAURA PAWELA (Poland)

A visual artist, sculptor, and film editor. The author of numerous exhibitions both in Poland and abroad. A lecturer at the Łódź Film School, where she teaches Multimedia. A member of the Polish and European Film Academies. Nominated for the Polish Film Awards – Orły – for editing Kuba Mikurda’s film “Escape to the Silver Globe”. Together with Kuba Mikurda and Marcin Lenarczyk, she co-created the film “Solaris Mon Amour”. She is also a renowned trailer editor, collaborating with TVP Kultura, the Munk Studio, WFDiF, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia. Her interactive documentary “New Spirit” was recently showcased in Venice.

MARINA ZIGNELLI (Greece)

Marina Zigneli is a third-year PhD candidate in film studies and a film critic. Her current research focuses on the work of Maria Plyta, the first female Greek director. She holds a Master’s in Film and Television Studies from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and in 2023, she was appointed as a Visiting Researcher at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece. Earlier this year, she participated in the 3rd European Workshop for Film Criticism and the Young Critics Workshop at Film Fest Gent. Her writings, in both Greek and English, have been featured in various online and print publications.

NASTIA NAUMENKO (Ukraine)

A Ukrainian filmmaker and visual artist currently based in Vienna. In her works, Nastia investigates the process of identity formation and its fluctuation through both the personal and collective lens by navigating between real and speculative environments, interspecies relationships and various cosmologies. Combining documentary filmmaking with found footage, animation, and performance, allows her to reflect on the ways in which power and political structures are embedded in various narratives: from tales and magic rituals to family cookbooks and public archives. Her works have been shown at 20+ festivals including London AFF, Warsaw FF, Kaboom AFF and FilmFest Dresden. She’s currently working on her next short film – ”The Firebird”.