Jury 2026
We are thrilled to unveil the esteemed jurors for this year’s DISFMF competitions!
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS JURY
Skye Fitzgerald, DIRECTOR
Skye Fitzgerald founded SPIN FILM to bear witness to unfolding crises with the intent to deepen empathy and understanding.
Fitzgerald is best known for a trilogy of films focused on the global refugee crisis: 50 FEET FROM SYRIA was voted onto the Oscar® shortlist, LIFEBOAT was nominated for an Academy Award® and national Emmy® and HUNGER WARD was nominated for an Academy Award®. His latest film, CHASING ROO, was shortlisted for an Oscar®.
Fitzgerald is a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, regularly serves on festival juries, rides his bicycle to ruin, and most importantly – hugs three dogs on a daily basis.
Eirik Tveiten, DIRECTOR
Eirik Tveiten (1967) graduated from the University of Oslo and studied acting in Bergen. He has been an actor, writer and director for theater and film for about 25 years – and has directed and written a long series of successful audience-winning short films. NIGHT RIDE was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 and won the award for Best Short Narrative at the Tribeca Film Festival 2022. CAMPING IN PARADISE was in the competition program at Tribeca and Palm Springs film festival in 2024. His work includes various genres and ranges from realism to stylized comedy.
Mo O’Connell, DIRECTOR
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Maureen O’Connell has very recently wrapped as lead producer on the feature film “DIATRIBE” through her own production company, 3 Hot Whiskeys. It stars Moe Dunford of ‘The Dry’ & Charlie Reid of ‘Joyride’ fame. She co-produced three times IFTA nominated indie hit feature “HORSESHOE” with Wavewalker Films and 3 Hot Whiskeys Prods. The film stars Carolyn Bracken, John Connors, Lalor Roddy & Mary Murray. It had its World Premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2025 and won Best Debut Irish Feature. It got 5 star reviews from The Irish Times and RTE from its Irish cinema run before Christmas and recently opened in the USA through Juno film for its theatrical run. She is the founder & head of both 3 Hot Whiskeys Films and the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival.
Big Ioan, Festival DIRECTOR
Director of Dracula Film Festival from Brasov (Romania) since 2019, IOAN BIG, journalist and pop culture analyst, is the publisher of the Romanian magazines Cinemap, Zile şi Nopţi and Sunete, having hundreds of articles and interviews published in various cultural outlets since his debut in the 80s. During the past decades, Ioan produced and collaborated on various radio and television projects, as well as film launches and musical live happenings and festivals. Besides his position of observer of the contemporary cultural scene, in the last 25 years, Ioan developed continously his expertise in event design, management and consultancy. He founded in the 2000s his own books collection ”Subjective Mythologies”, being the author of several published volumes about music, cinema and performing arts, such as “Eric Clapton” (2001), “Era Punk” (2003), “Blue, Black & White. Story of Rolling Stones” (2006), “Sex, the cross of Ken Russell” (2016), “Zombies in XXI” (2020), “The Multiverse of a Scenographer: Adrian Damian” (2025).
Eugen Neagu, Actor and Director
Eugen Neagu is a Romanian-born actor, director, screenwriter, and film production professional, active primarily in Romania and Italy. His relationship with cinema began in the 1980s; in 1983, he appeared in a small, uncredited role in Sergiu Nicolaescu’s productions Ziua Z and Oglinda, an experience that marked his first contact with a film set. In Italian cinema, he played Ilie—known as “La belva rumena” (The Romanian Beast)—in Rabbia Furiosa – Er Canaro (2018), directed by Sergio Stivaletti, thereby entering the realm of Italian genre cinema. In subsequent years, he expanded his professional scope by working in production and assistant directing roles, with credits on Daydark – Il buio del giorno (2022), Sacra Victima (2023), and Una via fredda per l’inferno (2024). In 2023, he also played the “Hooded Man” in the project Mater Suspirorum. In 2024, he joined the cast of the feature film La storia del Frank e della Nina, directed by Paola Randi, in the role of the “Old Gipsy Man.” That same year marked a turning point in his career as an auteur: Neagu wrote, directed, and produced the short film Braccato, in which he also played the character Stefanescu.
Metin Kuru, Producer and Director
Metin Kuru, born in 1987, began his career in cinema as a film editor and has since continued his work as a producer and director. He completed his first feature film in 2019. Since then, Kuru has produced six films, directed seven, worked as a cinematographer on five projects, and written the screenplays for five films.
In addition to his work in cinema, he is also the author of the novels ‘Cennette Buluşuruz’ (Meeting in Heaven), ‘Mutluluk İçgüdüsü’ (Happiness Instinct), ‘Cennetin Çiçekleri’ (Flowers of the Heaven), and ‘Erkeklerin Bittiği Gün’ (The Day Men Came to an End). Metin Kuru is also the director and organizer of the International Golden Rod Film Festival held in Istanbul.
Kuru is also the founder and owner of Mutluluk Fabrikası, a company based in Istanbul that provides camera, lighting, and sound equipment rentals for film and television productions shot in Türkiye.
