Mark Haslam Award Winner

Uýra: The Rising Forest

Juliana Curi

People’s Choice Award

Beyond Extinction: Sinixt Resurgence

Ali Kazimi

Green Pitch Winner

Warrior Spirit

Will George & Gloria Pancrazi

Best Canadian Feature Jury 

Stavroula Logothettis

Stavroula Logothettis is a documentary filmmaker based in Athens, Greece. She started as an actor and in 2008 she went behind the camera to document the financial crisis in Greece and the impact on its most vulnerable. Her last film, Athens ~ My City, My’hood, a film challenging the notion of national identity set against the various neighbourhoods of Athens, was premiered in the UK at the 2021 International Women Over 50 Film Festival. She’s worked for the CBC in Canada, Aljazeera English in Doha, TRTWorld in Istanbul and ERT in Athens. Her films focus on women’s and LGBTQ+ issues that span across borders. Her latest film ZAK, set in Athens Greece, is about the murder of a young gay activist and how his death ignited a society to confront the dysfunction of our political, social, judicial and media culture.

Nadine Pequeneza

Nadine Pequeneza is an award-winning Producer/Director/Writer specializing in character-driven films that offer unique access to stories about a wide range of topics from criminal justice, to global finance, to wildlife conservation. With nearly 20 years international experience her work has garnered worldwide recognition; Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing in a Documentary, nine CSA and Gemini nominations, Best Canadian Feature at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, Gold and Silver Hugos from the Chicago International Film Festival and a Silver Gavel Award honourable mention from the American Bar Association.  Read more

Christine Lee

Best International Feature Film Jury

Rob Karol

Rob Karol is the Executive Director of the Lighthouse International Film Festival in Long Beach Island, NJ. He is also the owner of Five Horses Media, which provides sound design and composition for features, documentaries, television shows, and other media, and Astrodamus Publishing, which creates original music for licensing. He lives in New York City, where he tries to see as many films as humanly possible.

Costa Boutsikaris & Anna Palmer

Costa Boutsikaris shot, directed and edited his first feature Documentary in 2013 entitled INHABIT: A Permaculture Perspective. This film explored ecological design solutions across the Northeast US and premiered in 2015 and has screened in over 30 countries and 25 film festivals winning multiple awards. Since Being Released in 2015 INHABIT has won the AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD at the Yale Environmental Film Festival and the Princeton Environmental Film Festival and the BEST IN THEME at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival. Anna Palmer has been researching climate change on tribal areas in the American Southwest for three years. She has developed strong working relationships with tribal members and research partners affiliated with the Native Waters on Arid Lands (NWAL) project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

Dr. Vasanti Rao

Dr (Ms) Vasanti Rao is the Director General of CMS (Centre for Media Studies) – a research based think tank in India. She also directs CMS VATAVARAN – Asia’s largest international film festival and forum on environment & wildlife. She has her PhD in Media Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University and has double Masters degrees in Psychology and Management. Vasanti specializes in strategy development, designing, researching and evaluating development programs communication initiatives. Her experiences are on a wide range of development issues, including health, gender, children, corruption, governance, rights and environment. She has to her credit numerous policy inputs, program evaluations, designing and organizing multi stakeholder events and research based publications.

Best Canadian Short Film Jury

Sandra Kleinfeld

Sandra Kleinfeld is Senior Director of Documentary for CBC Television, overseeing the network’s original documentary one-offs and series and for strands The Nature of Things, The Passionate Eye, CBC Short Docs, and the subscription based documentary Channel. Her career as a broadcast executive encompasses three conventional, three analog and two digital specialty channels. Prior to overseeing documentaries, Sandra was Director of Development for CBC’s Unscripted Content where she was responsible for finding new formats, overseeing development and production of formats, original factual entertainment series, and documentaries.  Read more

Kiera Boult

Kiera Boult is an interdisciplinary artist and performer from Hamilton, ON. Boult’s practice utilizes camp and comedy to skeptically address issues that surround the role and/or identity of the artist and the institution. Her most recent performance Hamilton’s My Lady (2022) was a part of the 2022 7A*11D performance art festival and Supercrawl – Hamilton’s Music + Arts Festival. In 2019, Boult received the City of Hamilton Arts Award for Emerging Visual Artist. Her work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and Artcite Inc. Windsor. She holds a BFA in Criticism and Curatorial Practice from OCAD University and is currently Vtape’s Submissions, Collections & Outreach Coordinator. Read more

Jesse Cumming

Jesse Cumming is a curator, writer, and researcher. He has served as a Consultant with the Berlinale Forum and Open City Documentary Festival, and as a Programming Associate with the Wavelengths section of the Toronto International Film Festival. His writing has appeared in Cinema Scope, Canadian Art, The Brooklyn Rail, MUBI Notebook, C Magazine, Hyperallergic, Another Gaze, and more.

Best International Short Film Jury

Renata Camarotti

Renata Camarotti has a degree in Psychology, Master in Social Sciences and Specialist in Cultural Management. Since 2001, she has been coordinating several socio-cultural projects in governmental and non-governmental organizations in Brazil and Argentina. Programmer of the International Human Rights Film Festival – FICDH and the International Environmental Film Festival – FINCA, both organized by the DerHumALC Multimedia Institute (Human Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean) – IMD of Argentina.

Jia Zhao

Jia Zhao is a Chinese-Dutch film producer based in Amsterdam. She founded MUYI FILM and SILK ROAD FILM SALON in 2012. The latter is cofounded with Afghan-Dutch film director Aboozar Amini and has as primary focus on regions along the ancient trade route Silk Road. Coming from Asia and based in Europe, Jia skillfully matches resources from the East and West to nurture and mentor emerging voices and to bring authentic stories to the world in high cinematic quality. In 2021, A Marble Travelogue by Sean Wang was selected for IDFA Frontlight and I’m So Sorry (co-producer) by Zhao Liang for Cannes film festival. Read more

Norma V. Toraya

Norma V. Toraya, aka Crankbunny, is an Emmy winning director / creative whose animation work consistently involves examining and poking at the human condition in an unique playful illustrated manner. Toraya, a Cuban-American artist originally from Miami, has an impressive body of work that includes animated commercial spots, TV intros, music videos, large scale projections, and documentary films for Nike, Nestle, The New York Times, Holt Renfrew, the band Rush, Etsy, W Network, USPS, MuchMusic, United Airlines other similar lovely clients.

Mark Haslam Award Jury

Julian Carrington

Planet in Focus Programmer

Julian Carrington is a freelance writer and film programmer based in Toronto. He has contributed to publications including The Globe & Mail, Indiewire, and Cinema Scope, and, in 2014, served as a programming associate with the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2015, he became manger of the Documentary Organization of Canada’s Festival Concierge initiative, supporting filmmakers in developing distribution and audience engagement strategies. Julian joined Planet in Focus as the festival’s associate programmer in 2016.

Lesley Johnson

Planet in Focus Programmer

Lesley Johnson is a director, producer and programmer, based in Toronto and Yellowknife. She studied Film Production in York University’s MFA program, and holds degrees in wildlife and environmental sciences. Before becoming a filmmaker, she worked in community-based research in the Northwest Territories, and on studies chasing after the likes of terns and wolverines. She is the former director and programmer of the Yellowknife International Film Festival, and of a Cinema Politica chapter.