Jury for the FIPRESCI Award

Hrvoje Pukšec lives and works in Zagreb. He studied law and journalism, and since 2000 has been working as a film critic and journalist specializing in cinema. Over the years, he has written for numerous renowned Croatian cultural magazines and online portals, and has also worked as a journalist, screenwriter, and host of cultural shows for Croatian radio and television. From 2014 to 2017, he was President of the Artistic Board of the Pula Film Festival. He has been a member of the Croatian Society of Film Critics since 2004, serving as its president for two terms, from 2019 to 2023. Hrvoje currently works as the Executive Director of ZagrebDox International Documentary Film Festival and the Head of Public Relations at the Factum association.

Loeke de Waal is a Dutch journalist/documentarian and Los Angeles-based culture correspondent. She reports for NRC Handelsblad and Radio1 NOS Journaal, and has produced stories for a variety of Dutch media including NPO3 Film & Serie, FD Persoonlijk, BNR, Brandpunt+ and VERS Magazine. She covers major international film festivals including Sundance, TIFF, NYFF, CinemaCon and SXSW, and regularly interviews A-list filmmakers, actors and industry professionals about their work and career. Before becoming a culture correspondent on the west coast, she worked as a reporter and director in documentary and television production for over a decade. She directed two award-winning documentary films with national broadcasting deals and partners including UNICEF Nederland. De Waal is also the vice chairwoman of Vrouw&media, the Dutch networking association for women in media connecting people in the field and elevating careers and (news) products through solidarity.

Paola Casella is a journalist for the Rizzoli Corriere della Sera Group (La Lettura, iO Donna) and a film critic for MYmovies.it. She is Vice President and Italian National Delegate of FIPRESCI, the International Association of Film Critics, and supervises for FIPRESCI the selection committees of the European Discovery Awards. She was a member of the selection committee for the Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week. She is Artistic Director of the Italian Cultural Association Rete degli Spettatori and of the Movie to Music Award. She has been a member of many FIPRESCI juries, including Cannes, Venice, Istanbul, and Munich.