2025 Juries and Awards

Luvia Lazo is a Zapotec photographer based in Oaxaca, Mexico. The posters for this edition of the FIFDH come from her photo series Kanitlow – Faces Fade away – in Zapotec. Her work captures the transformation of her community with a gentle, poetic touch. Through portraits concealed behind botanical elements such as plants or flowers, Luvia examines notions of identity, mourning, and collective memory. Her photographs also pay tribute to her roots in a literal sense, featuring regional and seasonal plant life. Recipient of the 2020 Jóvenes Creadores fellowship from FONCA (Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts), she additionally won the 2021 Indigenous Photography Grant supported by Leica and Photoville.

Mohamed Jabaly is a Palestinian filmmaker and artist from Gaza, who has lived and worked in Norway since 2014. He has directed multiple documentaries, short films, and music videos, and has taken part in various film festivals, exhibitions, and conferences across Europe, the United States, and the Arab world. His first feature-length documentary, Ambulance, was screened at major festivals including IDFA, Sheffield, and CPH:DOX, and won several prestigious awards—among them the 2017 One World Media Award for Best Feature Documentary, as well as recognition from BAFTA in London. His second feature film, Life is beautiful, received the Gilda Vieira De Mello Prize at the 22nd edition of the FIFDH in March 2024.

Nathan Law is a democracy activist from Hong Kong, currently living in exile in London. In 2014, during the Umbrella Movement, he led the student protests and, in that capacity, was among the five representatives who entered into dialogue with the government on political reform. Shortly afterwards, he became the youngest legislative councillor in Hong Kong’s history. In 2017, China’s crackdown stripped him of his seat and led to his imprisonment for his involvement in the movement. The following year, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize alongside two fellow student activists. In 2020, TIME named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Two years later, Nathan received an honorary doctorate from Washington & Jefferson College for his role in advancing political discourse in a democratic context.

Baloji is a filmmaker, rapper, singer-songwriter, poet, performer, and stylist. Born in Lubumbashi (DRC), he now lives in Belgium. A multidisciplinary artist, his imaginative universe sits between dreamlike states and magical realism, exploring symbolism, colour associations, and masks. His first feature film, Augure, is composed of four parts, each seen through a different character’s eyes; he also staged an exhibition of the film’s costumes and photographs. Augure was selected at Cannes in 2023, where it won the New Voice Prize in the “Un Certain Regard” category, and was a major public success. It was the closing film of the last edition of the FIFDH.

Azra Deniz Okyay is a Turkish filmmaker and photographer, born in 1983 in Istanbul. She began taking photographs at the age of 12 and made her first short film at 16. As an adult, she studied film and social sciences in Paris while simultaneously working at Michel Gondry’s production company. In 2020, her debut feature film, Ghosts, won the Grand Prize at the International Critics’ Week during the Venice Film Festival. Celebrated and awarded at numerous festivals, it became the first woman-directed film to secure both Best Film and Best Director at the Antalya Festival. She subsequently served on the jury at that festival and at Locarno. In 2024, she was selected for the Oscars’ Golden Fellowship Award for women directors.

Elisa Fernanda Pirir was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. She moved to Northern Norway in 2007 and there she started participating in film productions.  Elisa has been working with several acclaimed international directors such as Thomas Arslan, Ciro Guerra, Cristina Gallego, Nabil Ayouch, César Díaz, Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Laura Mora, Carlos Reygadas, in addition to some of Norway’s most acclaimed directors. In 2023 she founded her own company STÆR in Tromsø, in Northern Norway.  She is a Berlinale Talents, Guadalajara Talents, EAVE, Rotterdam Lab and EWA alumni. In 2023, she was  selected as the Norwegian Producer on the Move in Cannes.

Alongside a professional career as founder/editor-in-chief of several media outlets and host of radio and TV programmes, Thierry Oppikofer also founded and presided over the Swiss-Vietnam Committee for Freedom and Democracy (Cosunam) for 25 years, championing human rights in Vietnam. A member of the Hélène and Victor Barbour Foundation’s board since 2019, he represents the foundation in its various cultural activities. His longstanding interest in cinema naturally extends to his participation on the Jury for the FIFDH Fiction Grand Award —sponsored by the Hélène and Victor Barbour Foundation—for the Festival’s 2025 edition.

A graduate in political science from the University of Geneva, Fabrice Boulé has worked as a journalist in Switzerland and abroad for over 20 years. In particular, he led a network of French-speaking journalists working in Africa, Asia, Europe and Canada. Since 2016, he has been working for the communications department of Caritas Switzerland.

Laurence Hoenig has 19 years of experience in audiovisual production. Combining creative expertise and humanitarian commitment, she is currently head of the Creative Unit at Médecins Sans Frontières in Geneva. Following a series of humanitarian missions and film shoots in nearly 26 countries, she has specialised in leading creative teams to develop innovative and inspiring visual projects.

Michael Ineichen is Head of Advocacy at the Swiss Section of Amnesty International, where he coordinates political advocacy, relations with parliament and various ministries. In particular, he leads the section’s activities on China and the Middle East. He previously worked at the International Service for Human Rights, where he supported human rights defenders in their engagement with international mechanisms.

Olivier Peter is a lawyer specialising in international criminal law and human rights. A member of the Committee of the World Organisation Against Torture and co-founder of the law firm Peter & Moreau in Geneva and Paris, he devotes his practice to the defence of fundamental rights. His work has contributed to the development of Swiss and international jurisprudence, in particular with regard to the protection of human rights defenders, victims of torture and human trafficking, and people prosecuted for their sexual orientation.

Marion Petrocchi has been working for Helvetas, the Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid organisation, for eight years. She is responsible for communication and event organisation in French-speaking Switzerland. Prior to her work in international cooperation, Marion Petrocchi worked for ten years as a radio journalist for various radio stations in French-speaking Switzerland.