Jurors for the 2023 Dumbo Film Festival

Gulistan Mirzaei is a director and producer from Afghanistan. After spending years living as a refugee, Gulistan returned to Afghanistan to work as assistant to the Editor-in-Chief at Kabul Weekly, the first independent newspaper.

Gulistan was the first Afghan director to be nominated for an Academy Award® with his film Three Songs From Benazir, which also won over a dozen jury awards, a Grierson Award and a Cinema Eye Honors Award. He  co-directed the award-winning feature Laila at the Bridge that screened at Locarno and CPH:DOX. Previously, Gulistan worked as a field producer with Voice of America in Afghanistan, and co-led filmmaking workshops for high school students in Kabul.  He produced the feature documentary Natalia, which premiered at True/False and is currently in festivals.

Anastasia Veber is a director, writer, and poet. The Winner of the Golden Bear for best short film at the Berlin International Film Festival (2022) with her short film “Trap”, and double winner at the 65th International Film Festival at Oberhausen (Special Mention and 2nd Award at NRW Competition for the short film “Syndrome IO”). Both shorts screened at over 40 festivals worldwide. Anastasia will take part in Locarno Film Academy (2023).

Anastasia lives in Berlin and works on her first feature project. She graduated from Saint Petersburg School of New Cinema (Directing) in 2018 and from Saint Petersburg University of Cinema and Television (Screenwriting) in 2016. Anastasia explores her practice topics of youth and holiness and combines cinematic tools with performances. She works as a curator of directing classes at the Saint Petersburg School of New Cinema. Anastasia produces her own innovative online course CINEMASTORIES where she teaches how to develop the nature of the cinematic image and how to film experimental video essays for Instagram.

Aleksandra Odić is a Berlin based filmmaker. 
Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as a child she moved to Germany due to the war.
Her work as an actress was followed by studies of Film Direction at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB).

She directed the short films Draško, My Father (2009), Sanja Dreams (2011), Before The Dance (2014) and New Snow (2014).  Great Wall of China (mid-length, 2017) premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival 2017 and at the Berlinale 2018. The next short The Boy With The Chequered Shirt (2019) premiered at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis 2019 and was part of the German talent showcase Next Generation Short Tiger 2019.  Her new short film  Frida (2021) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2021 in the section Cinéfondation and won the Queer Palm Award for short movie 2021 and the LIGHTS ON WOMEN AWARD.
She serves as a juror at international festivals. Her first feature film Vanja is currently in development. 

John Carluccio is an acclaimed filmmaker with a passion for shedding light on under-recognized facets of urban society. Renowned for his captivating documentaries, John has earned multiple Emmy nominations for his exceptional work in the field.

One of his notable directorial achievements is the 2019 film “Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back,” which garnered critical acclaim and was exclusively broadcasted on STARZ. The film has received recognition with a nomination for the 2023 GLAAD Media Award and has been a winner at DOC NYC (2019) and the American Black Film Festival (2020). Additionally, it triumphed as the recipient of the Grand Bridge Award for Best Film of the Festival at the 2021 Dumbo Film Festival.

In collaboration with his wife and production partner, Tracy E. Hopkins, John Carluccio runs CINQUA, a branded content agency located in the Dumbo neighborhood. The agency is dedicated to creating inspiring and educational docu-style content, while further amplifying and exploring diverse narratives.

Vincent Liota is an award-winning documentary director, producer, editor and animator. His filmmaking has led him to diverse locations, from the South Pacific for Discovery‘s “Amelia Earhart Found?” and the Arctic for PBS‘s “Making Things Colder.”

Vincent graduated from New York University’s Film School and launched his career as a news cameraman before becoming a staff editor at ABC News, working on programs like “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings” and “20/20.” He later expanded his horizons to include animation and design. His work as a senior series producer on PBS’s NOVA scienceNOW focused on science and technology, and in 2011 he was honored with the Knight Science Journalism fellowship at MIT.

Recently, Vincent has shifted the focus of his work away from science. His latest feature ‘Objects,’ which premiered at the 2021 DOC NYC film festival, explores how emotional connections to objects help people navigate their lives and stave off the passage of time.