News

News

Media Contact:
Alejandro Gonzalez
alejandro@aladerri.com

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - August 1, 2022

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The Jury of the

Aladerri International Film Festival

2022 edition and its President unveiled

Anand Varadaraj Founder and Artistic Director of the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival, the only Academy Award® Qualifying Festival in India will be the President of the Jury of the Aladerri International Film Festival 2022 Edition. Together with twelve jury members, will select the winner of the Aladerri Award along with the winners of each Category of the 50 films in competition.

The Jury

Anand Varadaraj - President
Director, actor, producer
India

Jovanny Evans – Vice President
Film critic

United States

Matthew Postlethwaite
Actor, producer, screenwriter, songwriter
United Kingdom

Mouhssine Ennaimi
Emmy nominee director-producer
Turkey

Laura Alemán
Actress
Puerto Rico

Elham Wagdi
Actress 
Egypt

Rubén Garcerá
Film director
Spain

Yohann Gloaguen
Film director
France

Mohamed Kheidr
Film director 
Egypt

Isaias Perez
Actor, producer, screenwriter
United States

Alexis Jeannot
Film director
France
 
Eric Liberacki
Director, cinematographer
United States

Patricia Vazquez
Writer
Mexico

Founder and Artistic Director of the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival, the only Academy Award® Qualifying Festival in India.

Actor, producer and ex-President of Suchitra Film Society - 50 year old organization. He is now the Director of Suchitra Cine Academy, where works are underway to start a first of its kind Cinema School.  Anand is also the Trustee of the Centre for Film and Drama.

Additionally, Anand collaborates and mentors many independent filmmakers and producers for their new ventures.

His experience with cinema is global with several International cultural Forums in his repertoire, including curating of Film Festivals and also as Jury for organizations across the globe.

The members of the Jury

Jovanny Evans – Vice President
Film critic

United States

Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Jovanny Evans has called Chicago home since 2015. He received a degree in Media Art and Animation from the Art Institute of Portland and had previously studied Design at ITESO in Guadalajara. He is extremely passionate about film, TV and animation, and he’s very interested in the future of media and entertainment.

Currently he works for Univision Chicago as a Producer. His passion for film drove him to introduce movie segments to several of Univision's programming and has since become the film critic for the station and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

His impressive style and unique ideas have landed him opportunities to promote major productions from studios like Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, and Universal Pictures. On his segment Jovanny interviews A-list celebrities every week such as Halle Berry, Tom Cruise, and Anthony Hopkins, as well as Latino stars like Eugenio Derbez and Mauricio Ochmann. Jovanny is also invited to cover major local and national film industry events such as Sundance, SXSW, Cinema Con, San Diego Comic-Con, CLFF, and CIFF.

Jovanny produces weekly content that reaches thousands of film fanatics through TV, digital, and social media. With his unique style, charm, and personality, Jovanny is connecting Hollywood with the Hispanic audience. His segment ‘Movies con Jovanny’ air on Despierta Chicago and can also be seen in 18 Spanish-speaking countries on the morning newscast La Voz de la Mañana.

Matthew Postlethwaite
Actor, producer, screenwriter, songwriter
United Kingdom

Matthew Postlethwaite, Is an award winning Actor originally from England. He has spent the majority of his adult life In America. Matthew began acting from an early age training briefly at LAMDA, Yale, and eventually studying in the Master Class at Beverly Hills Playhouse for five years. He has also won awards for Acting, Producing, Screen Writing and Song Writing. He was named by BAFTA as The Actor to watch in the next coming years.

Recognized by the United Nations for The Great Artist. Matthew was the first person in his category to win a Hollywood Music In Media Award (2021) for Song writing: "Brave" from the Great Artist.

Mouhssine Ennaimi
Emmy nominee director-producer
Turkey

Mouhssine Ennaimi is an Emmy nominee director-producer based in Istanbul, Turkey. He is Executive Producer and the co-founder of the multi award-winning documentary series Off The Grid. Previously he was an investigative journalist, a field producer and a war correspondent. Originally from Paris, France, he lived in the Middle East and in South Asia for almost 15 years. He has spent more than a decade in hostile environments and war zones.

Mouhssine Ennaimi is also the author of “Slumboy”, a portrait of a Slumdog Millionaire type of hero living in Mumbai, and “The Strength to Say No”, a character-driven book about forced child-marriages in India.

Off The Grid is a character-driven documentary series covering global stories through personal journeys.

Laura Alemán
Actress
Puerto Rico

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and raised around the island, Laura Alemán began her artistic career at a very early age. Working with her family in theater plays, tv & music recording studios, she fell in love with acting, singing and dancing. She trained in numerous specialized schools and submerged fully in her craft.

Laura received a BFA in dramatic arts at Hunter College in New York, and a BA in Film

Production at the Sacred Heart University of Puerto Rico. She was also awarded a scholarship to further develop her craft at Fundación José Ortega y Gasset in Toledo, Spain.

Laura has been the lead in films that transmitted in 225 cities around the world and has participated in more than 48 film productions. Her most recent projects include: The

System (Post Production), Casa Grande (Post Production), The Perfect Host (Post

Production), Extraterrestres (Amazon), Sol De Medianoche (HBO), Cleaners (Crackle) and Amor en 266 Millas (film premiered June, 2022 at Oscar Qualifying Festival Dances

With Films). She has won multiple awards for her work, including: Best Actress for her leading role in the short film "El Gran Elefante" at Cinefiesta International Film Festival, LUSCA Fantastic Film Fest and the Rincon International Film Festival.

Laura also formed part of the writer's room for the Series Santurce (pre-production) and is currently working on her first music album.

Elham Wagdi
Actress 
Egypt

Graduated from fine art college award winning actress, known for Tuk-tuk (2021) and Miss Universe Pageant (2009). Ex TV presenter at the most well-known Arab channel MBC, Owner and founder of Elham Wagdi Academy.

Rubén Garcerá
Film director
Spain

Born in the eighties, Rubén studied Fine Arts at the University of San Carlos (Valencia).

He has been professionally dedicated to stop motion animation as animator/modelmaker for 6 years.

2021 - Release of Re-Animal (stop motion short film). He made 99 % of this short film by himself. 13 minutes long.

2018 - CURRENT - Workshop manager (modelmaker) at Inspiranimation Studio (Valencia) working for Ubisoft, Hasbro, Heliocare, etc.

2016-2017 – Children’s series for Happy Surprises YouTube channel.

2014-2015 - Advertising pieces for various clients (video game studio, digital platforms).

Yohann Gloaguen
Film director
France

Yohann Gloaguen is a french director. After graduating from university in Canada, he revealed his talent as an author and director in his first multi-awarded short film "It's in the air". He then wrote and directed four other short films, including «Parade» in 2020, which has also been selected and released in many festivals around the world. He also contributed to the writing of the film «Bloody oranges» by Jean-Christophe Meurisse, in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021. He is currently preparing his first feature film.

Mohamed kheidr
Film director 
Egypt

At the young age of 14, Kheidr kick started his career as a story board artist and carved his way into graphic design. In 2007, Kheidr decided to shift gears and delved into studying film making at the New York film academy. He dedicated his career to shifting the industry's perspective on limited budget productions by creating top notch quality artwork and designs.

He established his own production house overlooking, executing and creating a vast number of projects which involved film directing, cinematography, script writing, executive production, photography and music composing.

Isaias Perez
Actor, producer, screenwriter
United States

Isaias Perez is an award winning filmmaker born in Texas and raised in Puerto Rico but now living in Chicago. He graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a Bachelor degree in Theater Communication and Media. Isaias discovered his passion for film when he was six years old. He used to save every penny given to him from his parents to go to the movies. He wrote his first play when he was twenty two years old for his local church which led him to write professional theater, film and radio series. His works include Caos (Trébol Productions) Joan of Arc (The Sigman Brothers Theater Co.), Happiness and Tears (Gorilla Tango Theater Co.), Not For Sale (Urban Theater Co.). !Que Gente mi Gente! (Family Bridges), The Secrets of Santa Monica (Family Bridges) and the award winning short film The Audition (Mobula and Aladerri Enterprises).

Alexis Jeannot
Film director
France

Alexis Jeannot was born in France in 1987. After studying environmental chemistry, he has worked for 4 years in the French Guyana on air pollution. He then studied videography at École Agnès Varda in Brussels, while also working as a videographer. On the mean time he realized 3 shorts movies:

Our Ghost Rivers / short documentary / 15 minutes / 2019

Roule Bécane / short fiction film / 20 minutes / 2021

Story of a Narse / short documentary / 30 minutes / 2022

Eric Liberacki
Director, cinematographer
United States

Eric Liberacki found his start in Detroit, Michigan. During the day he would shoot movies on MiniDV tape, and at night he would make experimental 16mm films in the basement of the Detroit Film Center. After studying Cinematography, Eric began working freelance as Camera Operator and Assistant Camera while shooting projects. He shot the feature films Your Holy Eyes, Redemption Way, The Pale Man, A Chance in the World, and Rucker along with numerous short films. The projects he has lensed have played at Chicago International, Cleveland International, New Directors Showcase at the Directors Guild of America, and many others.

In 2015, Eric directed his first short film: “ANTI-BODY.” The film played numerous festivals, starting in Eric’s hometown before moving to Chicago, and across the rest of the country. Eric's feature film debut The Lurker had its world premiere at Cinepocalypse. Shot in Chicago, the film centers on a group of high school students stalked by a maniacal killer. It stars Scout Taylor-Compton (Rob Zombie's Halloween I & II, The Runaways) and Naomi Grossman (American Horror Story). The Lurker was release by Indican Pictures last month and is available on demand and dvd via Walmart, Family Video, Redbox, on other streaming platforms.

Patricia Vazquez
Writer
Mexico

Patricia Vázquez studied a degree in Hispanic Literature at the Universidad

Autónoma de Aguascalientes and Master English as a Second Language in

Interactive College of Technology in Morrow, GA. Her work has been published in state and national anthologies and has participated in festivals and poetry readings in Mexico, Spain and Cuba. She obtained the PECDA in Aguascalientes 2015-2016, has published two poetry books; Diario de una poeta recién casada, (LunaMía Ediciones, 2017) y La novela de las mujeres murciélago, (Espina Dorsal, 2022).

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Alejandro Gonzalez

Festival Director