Carlo CHATRIAN 
Director, National Cinema Museum (Turin, Italy) 

Carlo Chatrian studied literature and philosophy, earning a degree in film with a thesis on Jacques Rivette. He has been director of the National Cinema Museum in Turin (Italy) since October 2024. 

Chatrian served as artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival (2013–2018) and the Berlinale (2019–2024). He was programmer for the Alba Film Festival, Festival dei Popoli, and Visions du Réel. He is also a journalist and author of essays on directors such as Nanni Moretti, Errol Morris, Johan van der Keuken, and Frederick Wiseman. He has curated retrospectives on Ernst Lubitsch, Vincente Minnelli, and Otto Preminger. 

He was member of prominent international juries, including Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, Cinéma du Réel, as well as Jeonju, Morelia, Sarajevo, Sundance, and Toronto international film festivals. He chaired the jury of the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2025 and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ellen Y. D. KIM 金英德
Director, Asian Contents & Film Market of Busan International Film Festival

Ellen Y. D. Kim is a leading expert in Asian cinema with decades of experience across production, distribution, and international film festivals. She began her career in the late 1990s at the Busan International Film Festival, holding key roles as Program Team Manager and Planning Manager, and was instrumental in launching the Asian Film Market (now Asian Contents & Film Market, ACFM) in 2006.

She earned early acclaim co-producing Cry Woman (2002), featured at Cannes, and went on to produce notable arthouse titles including Night and Day (2008), Hanaan (2011), and Sewing Sisters (2020). At Zamie Pictures (2011 - 2013), she led the acquisition and distribution of foreign films such as My Back Page (2011) and Tyrannosaur (2011). Her 12-year tenure as Program Director at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (2001- 2004; 2016 - March 2024) further deepened her network and market expertise. She now leads ACFM as Director, championing Asian cinema on the global stage.

Chris YAO 姚騏 
VFX Supervisor | Director

Chris Yao has been in the film industry for over 20 years with extensive experiences in visual effects in China and Hollywood. He has led the visual effects department for nearly 30 feature films and TV series, including The Three-Body Problem (2024), Deep Sea (2023), The Martian (2015), Transformers 3 (2011), and Iron Man 2 (2010). His self-written and directed short films, such as Reboot (2023), have won multiple international film festival awards and nominations. His AI-powered short videos, including Oasis (2026) and The Way Home (2025), have also been recognised at global festivals. Previously worked at ILM, MPC, and other top VFX studios, he now serves as a guest lecturer at several art academies. 

Midi Z 趙德胤 
Director  |  Screenwriter  |  Producer 

Born in Myanmar, with his ancestral home in Nanjing, Midi Z moved to Taiwan at the age of 16 and studied Visual Communication Design. He made his feature debut with the Homecoming Trilogy, manifesting his talents through economical means - working with minimal budgets and crews without screenplays. He won his first acclaims and has been travelling to major international since the first part of the Trilogy, Return to Burma (2011), his films have premiered at major international festivals, including IDFA, Rotterdam, Berlin, Venice, Cannes, and Tokyo.

In 2024, The Unseen Sister premiered in the Main Competition of the Tokyo International Film Festival and became a major commercial success in mainland China, grossing over US$25 million in its opening week. 

His latest feature, The Exiles, is his first English-language film. Across both fiction and documentary, Midi Z's work consistently explores themes of identity and displacement.