Jury

Jan Komasa is one of the best Polish film directors, screenwriters, and younger-generation producers. His film Corpus Christi (Boże Ciało) was nominated for an Oscar in 2019. He is also known for films like The Hater (2020), Suicide Room (2009), and Warsaw 44 (2014), among others.

Currently, Jan Komasa is making his debut in Hollywood with a thriller entitled Anniversary, with an all-star cast: Diane Lane (Man of Steel), Kyle Chandler (The Wolf of Wall Street), Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale), Zoey Deutch (Before I Go), Phoebe Dynevor (The Bridgertons), Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Legacy) and Daryl McCormack (Good Luck Leo Grande).

Jan Komasa has garnered numerous awards and accolades for his contributions to the world of film. His achievements include recognition at prestigious film festivals and competitions, as well as critical acclaim for his directorial work. His success in the film industry has solidified his position as a prominent figure in contemporary cinema, earning him a reputation for his talent and creativity behind the camera.

Jan Komasa is a lecturer at the National Film School in Łódź and an expert at the Polish Film Institute. He frequently participates in academic events such as panels and symposiums at notable universities, including USC, NYU, Columbia, Cambridge, Oxford, Warsaw, and Toronto. He has been a jury member at many festivals, including Geneva, Barcelona, Warsaw, Kraków, and recently at the Berlinale Shooting Stars 2023.

Photo credit: Zuza Krajewska

Slawomir Grünberg is an Emmy Award-winning documentary producer, director, and cameraman. Born in Poland, he graduated from the Polish Film School in Lodz before emigrating to the United States in 1981. He has since directed and produced over 50 documentary films spanning a broad range of topics and issues. They include: "How About We Stop by Tomaszow For the Day?", "Still Life in Lodz," "Karski and the Lords of Humanity," "Castaways," "The Peretzniks," "Portraits of Emotion," "Coming Out in Poland," "The Legacy of Jedwabne" and "Saved By Deportation." The New York Times review of "Still Life in Lodz" in March 2021 said, "The individual stories are powerful, as are the visual comparisons between present-day and historical locations. A few animated sequences effectively evoke the evanescence of memory."

Grünberg's acclaimed documentary "School Prayer: A Community At War" aired on PBS stations and garnered an Emmy Award. Among his awards, Grunberg has received the Guggenheim Fellowship, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and the Soros Justice Media Fellowship. His credits as director of photography include: "Legacy," an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature in 2001, and "Sister Rose's Passion," which won Best Short Doc at Tribeca Film Festival in 2004 and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short in 2005.

In 2019, Slawomir Grünberg celebrated 40 years of filmmaking, culminating in a major gala event at the renowned Polish Theater in Warsaw. This event was preceded by a screening of a documentary about him entitled "Movie Stories by Slawek Grünberg" by Krzysztof Tusiewicz. An English edition of the Polish-language book "Slawomir Grunberg: A Man With A Camera" by Barbara Grunberg was published in April of 2021. Slawomir is one of the most recognized film directors and cinematographers in Poland and, in June of 2023, was honored with the 94th star on The Alley of Stars of the Łódź Walk of Fame (the idea borrowed from the Hollywood Walk of Fame).

Liliana Komorowska, a graduate of the Theatre Academy in Warsaw with a Master's degree in Fine Arts, is an actress and director of documentaries. She worked with Masters of Polish Cinema, Kawalerowicz, Majewski, and Zanussi, and starred in American blockbusters "The Assignment" and "The Art of War," sharing the screen with esteemed actors including Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Wesley Snipes.

Driven by her passion for filmmaking, she debuted with the documentary "Beauty and the Breast." People's Choice Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Montreal International Film Festival. Committed to preserving her Polish cultural heritage, she established the Liliana Komorowska for the Arts Foundation and was honored with the Silver Medal of Merit.

A member of the Canadian Film and Television Academy and the Polish Filmmakers Association, Liliana currently works on the documentary "WAJDA." Through her dedication to cultural advocacy, she is a board member of EKRAN TPFF.

Michał Oleszczyk, Ph.D, works as an assistant professor at "Artes Liberales' Department at University of Warsaw in Poland. His interests include Polish and international film history. He contributes to "Cineaste" magazine, as well to other outlets, including RogerEbert.com

He also works as a screenwriter, story editor and script consultant. He worked as story editor on a number of TV productions by Canal+ Poland. A feature film he co-wrote, All Our Fears (2022), won the Best Film Award at Polish Film Festival in Gdynia.

Marek Probosz is a Polish-American actor, director, screenwriter, author and producer, with over 60 film roles to his credit. He emigrated to the USA at the height of his career in Europe, invited by The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles in 1987 as the "Idol of his generation". Probosz possesses an MFA in acting from the National Film School in Łódź, and an MFA in film directing from the American Film Institute - AFI in Los Angeles. Since then, Probosz has worked in Hollywood with the elite of American filmmakers, Oscar nominees, and Oscar winners. His movies have won awards at festivals including: Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastian, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Los Angeles New York and Houston. Probosz’s film and television career has included roles in productions around the world. He has guest-starred in a number of popular series, such as Scorpion (CBS),

Scandal (ABC), Numbers (CBS), JAG (NBC), and MONK (USA). The New York Times, Hollywood Reporter and Variety applauded his portrayal of cinema legend Roman Polanski in the film Helter Skelter (Warner Bros. 2004). His feature directorial debut - Y.M.I. received the ABBOT AUDIENCE AWARD at The Other Venice Film Festival in 2004. In 2006, Probosz played the main role in the highly awarded film The Death of
Captain Pilecki, directed by Ryszard Bugajski. He recorded Pilecki's Report from Auschwitz as a 10-hour American audiobook by Audible.com. In 2018, the monodrama, The Auschwitz Volunteer: Captain Witold Pilecki, which Marek performed in and directed on Broadway, received the BEST DOCUMENTARY SHOW
Award at the world’s largest one actor theater festival, UNITED SOLO New York. In 2022, Probosz’s solo production Norwid’s Return, which he directed, produced and starred in, was the winner of the BEST NEW YORK PREMIERE Award at UNITED SOLO Festival.

Probosz has won numerous international awards for his work: GOLD MEDAL - The American Institute of Polish Culture, Miami (2025); OUTSTANDING POLE AWARD USA - Culture category, Los Angeles (2023); International POST SCRIPTUM Plebiscite - ARTIST OF THE YEAR, Second Place, Warsaw (2023); Helena Modrzejewska award - MODJESKA PRIZE, Los Angeles (2022); Pola Negri Award - POLITKA, Lipno (2022); Polish Diaspora Oscar - GOLDEN OWL - FILM category, Vienna (2018); MORTUI SUNT UT LIBERTI VIVAMUS medal, London (2011); WITOLD PILECKI GOLD MEDAL, Auschwitz (2011)

Since 2005, Probosz has taught film and theater acting as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of California - UCLA. He’s also taught at Williams College in Massachusels, Emerson College in Los Angeles, Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theater Academy in Warsaw and Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica. He has been a jury at many international film festivals. Probosz is the author of two books, two theater plays and many original and adapted screenplays.

Tutak is a Professor of Film at the City University of New York, graduate of the Lodz Film School of Poland, recipient of the Fulbright Foundation Grant in Film, and the founder-director of the Manhattan Film Academy. His film credits include several award-winning feature films and shorts, among them: “Ellis Island: The Making of a Master Race in America,” 2018; “Dubai: A City of Dreams,” 2010, and “Mecz/Match” 1988 (starring Joanna Szczepkowska). His work is distributed in over 20 countries on broadcast and cable television and VOD (Amazon Prime); it is available in academic libraries in the U.S. It screened at film festivals and venues, including at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, Pacific Film Archive, CA, and Le Fresnoy des Arts Conteporains, France.

In collaboration with the Dubai Government, Tutak ran a film production program in Dubai, UAE, 2005-2016, taught, among others, by Agnieszka Holland, Slawomir Idziak, Alan Starski, and Joe Pennella (“Monk”), featuring Michael Cimino.