Jury Lineup of the 3rd CAFF

Jury President | Liu Miaomiao

Chinese Director & Screenwriter

Born in Ningxia, China, Ms. Liu boasts over four decades of experience in film creation. She graduated from the Directing Department of the Beijing Film Academy in 1982 and independently directed her debut feature Ocean Anecdotes in 1985. In 1987, her drama Women Soilders in the Long March was selected for special screening at the 11th Torino Film Festival in Italy. Her 1992 feature An Innocent Babbler won the Golden Prize of the President of the Italian Parliament at the 50th Venice Film Festival. In 1993, she took office as Director of Ningxia Film Studio. In 1994, her feature Family Skeleton claimed the Best Feature Film Award at the 2nd Beijing College Student Film Festival. Her 2018 romance film Red Flowers and Green Leaves received the Best Small-Budget Feature Award at the 32nd China Golden Rooster Awards and the Audience Favorite Film in the Premiere Section of the 2nd Pingyao International Film Festival. Her 2022 work The Story of He Shuheng was selected as an outstanding domestic feature at the 29th Beijing International Film Festival · Beijing College Student Film Festival. The Flower's Time was shortlisted for the 7th Pingyao International Film Festival in 2023. In 2025, the same film won four awards at the 16th Paris Chinese Film Festival: Best Small-Budget Feature, Best Director, Best Young Actress and Best Child Performer.

GEORGIEV Atanas

Producer, North Macedonia

An award-winning filmmaker whose filmography includes Cash & Marry, In the Name of Love and Honeyland, all screened at major festivals worldwide. As producer and editor of Honeyland, he earned three awards at the Sundance Film Festival, followed by over 100 international accolades including two Academy Award nominations. His recent credits include The Happiest Man in the World (Special Jury Prize, Sundance 2023), Hollywood Gate (Venice Film Festival Official Selection), and Victor, produced by Sigrid Dyekjær and Darren Aronofsky.

He has served on juries for top-tier international festivals such as Shanghai International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and Moscow International Film Festival. Beyond filmmaking, Atanas Georgiev lectures at Shanghai Film Academy and is a partner of ARTeFACT Entertainment, with offices across Shanghai, Hong Kong and Europe.

Yang Chao

Chinese Director & Producer

Founder of the One Film Project. His short film Run Away won the Cinéfondation Award at Cannes Film Festival; his debut feature Passages competed in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and received a Special Mention for Best First Feature. His second feature River Road entered the Main Competition of Berlin International Film Festival and won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, earning him a nomination for Director of the Year from the China Film Directors Guild.

As a producer, he has backed numerous award-winning films selected by festivals at home and abroad, including Weed, Female Directors, Blossoms, Passenger, Seaweed, Hometown Stranger, Just an Alien, Yongle Palace, Go Photo Shooting and Forever Love. He has served as jury member and project mentor for Shanghai International Film Festival, Hainan Island International Film Festival, China Film Directors Guild Awards, Green Shoot Initiative, HAF Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, FIRST International Film Festival, Golden Rooster Venture Market, Chinese Youth Film Week, IM Cross-Strait Youth Film Festival, Blue Planet Sci-Fi Film Festival and Canada Magnolia International Film Festival.

Sovichea CHEAP

Deputy Director of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion Department of Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts of the Kingdom of Cambodia

Mr. Sovichea Cheap began his career as a camera assistant with the Film Department of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts of Cambodia in 1987. After receiving multiple technical training programs in France and Cambodia, he became an editor for national film production projects.

He has participated in dozens of domestic and international productions shot in Cambodia, taking on roles across set design, production management and on-location catering. Since 2002, he has worked as production manager and later line producer for major foreign films lensed in Cambodia, including Bertrand Tavernier's Holy Lola, Rithy Panh's The Sea Wall, Régis Wargnier's The Gate of the Golden Sun, Angelina Jolie's First They Killed My Father, and Rod Lurie's The Outfit.

Jatla SIDDARTHA

Indian Director & Screenwriter

A graduate of the Cinematography Department at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Siddartha Jatla is an acclaimed filmmaker whose works delve into profound social and humanistic themes. His debut feature Love and Shukla, inspired by the invisible privacy struggles of India's urban lower-middle class, took home the NETPAC Award and opened the Black Nights Film Festival in Switzerland. His second feature In the Belly of a Tiger, adapted from a chilling true crime story in 2017, garnered multiple honors: Best Director and Best Humanitarian Film at the Antalya International Film Festival, Audience Choice Award at Yalta International Film Festival, Best Director at Orenburg “East-West” International Film Festival, and Best Feature at Adelaide Film Festival.

In 2024, he sat on the juries of Kazan International Film Festival and Amur Autumn International Film Festival, acted as a special guest for Russia-India Film Week, and joined the second-round jury for the co-production market at Film Bazaar. In 2025, he attended Soul of Fire International Film Festival as a distinguished guest, participating in Russia-China Film Dialogues and a roundtable on BRICS film industry development.