2026 Juries and Awards

Zed Nelson

is a British award-winning documentary photographer and filmmaker. Renowned for his long-term photographic projects, he explores contemporary society through works such as Gun Nation (America’s gun culture), Love Me (global beauty obsession), A Portrait of Hackney (his childhood neighborhood), and The Anthropocene Illusion (environmental change and humanity’s connection to the living world). His photography has earned numerous awards, including First Prize at World Press Photo and 2025 Sony World Photographer of the Year. Zed Nelson also directs films, including The Street (2019), a four-year portrait of gentrification in London.

Sarah Schulman is a US writer, playwright, screenwriter, and historian, born in New York in 1958. She is the author of around twenty works— novels, essays, and plays—that combine literature and political engagement. Her novels include The Cosmopolitans, Rat Bohemia, and Maggie Terry. Her essays and analyses cover The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination, Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair, and Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York 1987–1993. In 1986, she co-founded the experimental queer festival MIX New York and co-directed an oral history project on ACT UP, the New York-based AIDS activism group. A longtime LGBTQIA+ rights activist, she has documented the impact of the AIDS epidemic, gentrification, systems of oppression, and the evolution of queer identities. She teaches creative writing and non-fiction literature, and continues to be a significant voice in queer feminism, LGBTQIA+ memory, and social activism.

Dieudo Hamadi is a Congolese documentary filmmaker, born in Kisangani in 1984. After initially studying medicine, he discovered his passion for cinema and began directing short documentaries. He gained recognition with Ladies in Waiting (2009) and Zero Tolerance (2010), which were screened at numerous festivals around the world. He has since directed a series of acclaimed feature documentaries exploring social, political, and human rights issues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including Atalaku (2013), National Diploma (2014), Mama Colonel (2017), Kinshasa Makambo (2018), and Downstream to Kinshasa (2020). In 2015, he founded his production company, Kiripifilms. His films, internationally awarded, are praised for their courage and commitment to depicting the everyday realities and struggles of Congolese people. Hamadi is regarded as one of the leading voices of contemporary African documentary cinema.

Sandhya Suri is a British filmmaker of Indian origin, born and raised in Darlington, UK. She initially studied mathematics and worked as a teacher in Japan before turning to cinema, training in documentary filmmaking at the National Film and Television School. Her first documentary, I for India (2005), explores her father’s migration from India to the UK through Super 8 footage and audio recordings, earning a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2006. In 2018, her short fiction The Field, shot in India, won Best International Short Film at Toronto International Film Festival and was BAFTA-nominated. In 2024, she directed her debut feature, Santosh, selected for Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and the UK’s official Oscar submission for Best International Feature. The film also won the FIFDH Fiction Grand Award at FIFDH 2025.

Adania Shibli (Palestine, 1974) is a novels, plays, short stories and narrative essays writer. She has twice been awarded the Qattan Young Writer’s Award-Palestine in 2001 and in 2003. Her novel Tafsil Thanawi (Al-Adab, 2017, translated as Minor Detail, Fitzcarraldo Edition/UK, and New Directions/USA, 2020), was shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2020, and was nominated for the International Booker Prize in 2021. Her latest work is Tamwih (Delusion, al-Adab, 2025), a newly released novel. Shibli is also engaged in academic research and teaching in different universities across Europe, as well as at Birzeit University, Palestine (2012-2018). From 2022-2025  she acted as a co-curator of the Bergen Assembly 2025, Bergen, Norway.

Jenny Billeter is co-programming director of the independent cinema Kino Xenix in Zurich, a cinema known for its broad range of curated programs. She gained her professional experience working as a festival programmer for Visions du Réel, Solothurn Film Festival and Locarno Festival. She was a board member of the Human Rights Film Festival Zurich for many years and regularly serves on juries. After having worked in journalism and played in several bands, she went to the University of Zurich and holds a Master of Arts in cinema studies and cultural anthropology.

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 2026 edition.

Judith Fiss works at Amnesty International, where she coordinates youth activism in French‑speaking Switzerland and supports groups mobilising for human rights. Before joining Amnesty, she spent several years in humanitarian aid, working with communities and specialising in child protection with Swiss humanitarian aid organisations, UN agencies and NGOs across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Elise Golay joined the Campaign and Mobilisation team at the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) in 2022. She co-leads efforts to expand the reach and impact of ISHR’s advocacy through participatory campaigns and by building and mobilising communities of support. Prior to joining ISHR, she worked in Haiti, supporting local organisations and human rights defenders with advocacy and communications.

Spring Gombe is a global health expert and a staunch advocate for rights and equality. She has spent over two decades advancing global health through policy advocacy and programme leadership. She is the founder and chief strategist of policy/strategy advisory GmbH, serves on the Board of Directors of Helvetas, and is a Senior Fellow for Health at the Africa-Europe Foundation, among other appointments.

Kibrom Mehari is a policy advisor at HEKS/EPER on the right to food, land and seeds, with a focus on Swiss public policies and investments affecting communities in Africa. He has worked across development, human rights and peace in Africa, including roles at the Eritrean Ministry of National Development, the Salvation Army Switzerland, and the Africa Progress Panel, chaired by Mr. Kofi Annan.

Sharon Oseku-Frainier has 18 years of international experience supporting mission-driven organisations advancing environmental conservation and sustainable development. She specializes in resource mobilisation and strategic engagement, and has extensive experience leading global awareness campaigns thatto educate, inspire and amplify environmental and social issues.