JUDGING TEAM 2021
AISHA CERAMI - WRITER
Aisha Cerami, daughter of Oscar-winning screenwriter Vincenzo Cerami and actress Mimsy Farmer, is an Italian writer and screenwriter. She worked also as actress with great directors like Giuseppe Bertolucci, Taviani brothers, Peter Greenaway. And she worked also as singer and lyricist with Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani. Aisha Cerami has grown influenced by the “power of words”, and she made this her life. In recent years she devoted herself solely to her true passion: writing. She writes stories, screenplays, novels. Currently she works for one of the major Italian publishing houses, Rizzoli.
YARI GUGLIUCCI - ACTOR/WRITER
Yari Gugliucci was born in Salerno. After graduating in Sociology, he moved to the United States to study acting. In New York he attended workshops given by Susan Strasberg, Arthur Penn and Michael Margotta.He Founded the M.A.S.(modern acting system). He appeared in many films including: Ferdinando e Carolina and Francesca e Nunziata by Lina Wertmuller, and many more. He also had parts in foreign film productions: My House in Umbria directed by Richard Loncraine (HBO), A Room With a View directed by Nicholas Renton (ITV1). His work includes TV series and dramas: Gossip Girl directed by David Warren, Luisa Sanfelice directed by Paolo e Vittorio Taviani, and others. Stand up at Carlyle Hotel directed by Woody Allen. His various roles in the theatre have included: Caliban in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest in Rebinsky’s version where he appeared with Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Klein. He wrote two books (Billy Sacramento) and (Billy Sacramento 2).
ROBERTA MASTROMICHELE - ACTRESS CHOREOGRAPHER
Roberta Mastromichele is an actress, dancer, choreographer and artistic director of concerts, TV shows and events. She lives between Rome and New York. She started working in 1998 as an assistant of choreography of the well-known art director Luca Tommassini, participating in video clips and TOURS of the greatest Italian and international pop stars such as: Pavarotti, Robbie Williams, Ricky Martin, Kylie Minogue, Geri Halliwell, Pharrel Williams, Snoop Dog, Usher, Claudio Baglioni, Giorgia. In 2008 she was one of the main dancers of the cast of the Hollywood movie "NINE" directed by Rob Marshall, where she performed aside of stars like Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Daniel Day Lewis. In 2010 she worked as a dancer and as an assistant- choreographer, preparing Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp for the dance scene in the movie "The Tourist" directed by the Oscar-winner: Florian Henkel Vondonnesmark. She works as an actress in theatre from 10 years now.
ANILA NUGMANOVA - PRODUCER
Anila Nugmanova is an award winning producer of Kazakh origin based in Los Angeles. She has remarkable experiences of working on various motion pictures in Kazakhstan, Canada, Thailand, Hong Kong, Laos and United States.
Among her work are projects with Jamie M. Dagg on the international movie River that became an official selection at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015, a collaboration with Hollywood oldie Jeff Vespa on the internationally acclaimed feature film Paris Song and the outstanding Timur Bekmambetov on the web series Dead of Night together with Snapchat. She currently develops and produces films at Bazelevs production company that has recently signed a deal with Universal Studios to make 5 movies in Screenlife format, an innovative film language invented by the company. The company stands behind the successful projects such as Wanted, Night Watch, Unfriended, Searching and many more.
GIULIA MAZZONI - COMPOSER/PIANIST
Giulia Mazzoni is an Italian composer and pianist, she studied at Conservatorio G.Verdi of Milan. In 2013, her first album “Giocando con i bottoni” won the prestigious “Premio Ciampi” and she performed at the Christmas Concert (Rai 2) with Dolores O’ Riordan, Patty Smith, Asaf Avidan. Giulia performed in very important theaters in Italy and abroad like Oriental Arts Center of Shanghai, Auditorium Parco della Musica of Roma, Jinwan Grand Theater of Tianjin, Blue Note Milano and many others. On 2016 she released her latest album “Room 2401” with Sony Music Italy, Sony Music China and Sony Music Taiwan, where the artist performs regularly and enjoyed a great success with three sold-out tours Tianjin, Xi’an, Chongqing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Beijing, Nanning, Putien. In this project she collaborated with Maestro Michael Nyman creating a special version of “The departure” for two pianos. Currently Giulia is working on her new album with Sony Music and in July 2019 she will return to China for a fourth tour.
MASSIMILIANO MAUCERI - DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER
Born and raised in Florence (Italy), Massimiliano is a film director and screenwriter, and founder and director of Florence Film Awards. He had a degree in film directing at the Immagina Film School of Florence. Between 1995-2003 he worked as assistant director, editor, camera operator, for more than 20 music videos and commercials (Gucci, Tim, Gas Jeans, UnoAerre Jewellery, Piaggio, Coop, etc). In 2000 he has taught film directing at Immagina Film School of Florence. Between 2000-2003 he has edited and conducted the movies column for Interpuntonet magazine. He has been a Jury member for: Roma Fiction Fest, London Indie International Film Festival, World Music & Independent Film Festival (Washington D.C), New York International Screenplay, Tulipani di Seta Nera Festival in Rome. He wrote and directed nine short films and one commercial and he wrote four feature-length screenplays. He won 144 awards (47 first places) around the world: 89 awards (31 first places) with his short films and 55 awards (16 first places) with his feature-length screenplays.
SIMONE BRACCI - PRODUCER
Born in 1983, Simone has spent his last decade working as freelance back and forth between Italy and US.
Publicist first, then Marketing Manager and now Film Producer, in 2008 he created the online magazine Film 4 Life, that he still runs.
He’s now focused on the success of his own company, Mad Rocket Entertainment, a film production company that has just produced two genre films: In the Trap and Shortcut, which are both going to be released in 2020.
STELLA SACCA' - ACTRESS/WRITER
Born in Rome, Italy, and based in New York, Stella is an actress, playwright, screenwriter and producer. She has been working in Theater since the age of 16 as an actress and started writing and producing when she was 23 after graduating in Languages at the University Roma Tre. Among all her productions, she was awarded for several plays including “How To Become Widows Without Affecting the Criminal Record", “There It Comes The Light, “My Birthday", “Lions Don’t Hug". She also co-wrote, acted and co-produced the short movie L’Appuntamento (The Date), awarded with the Golden Globe in 2013. She is currently writing her first feature film in English and she is working on her first direction of the Off Broadway play Lions Don’t Hug, selected at the New York Theater Festival and on stage at the end of January 2020. In 2018 she founded the blog Ninablablà.
MICHELE DIOMA' - DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Michele Diomà (1983) film producer and director. In 2019 he presented the world premiere of "Dance again with me Heywood!" at New York University, a feature film with special guest, Academy Award Winner James Ivory. In 2016 he co-produced and directed "Sweet Democracy", the last movie project in which Nobel Prize Winner playwright Dario Fo takes part. In 2014 he directed "Born in the U. S.E." a documentary that celebrates the 120th birthday of Cinema, featured by Francesco Rosi, Donald Ranvaud and Academy Award Winners Giuseppe Tornatore and Luis Bacalov.
CARLOTTA GALMARINI - ACTRESS
Carlotta Galmarini is an actress originally born in Leghorn, but living in Rome from her childhood. She studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris, then later graduated with a degree in Literature and History. She began acting during her studies in Paris and she continued her studies in New York with Susan Batson and in Europe with June Jasmine Davis. She speaks Italian, French, English and Spanish. She has been working as an actress in television, cinema and theatre winning in 2018 some awards in Los Angeles, Toronto and Las Vegas as best leading role actress for the film “The Mirror“ directed by Massimiliano Mauceri. She worked even in the movie Maria per Roma directed by Karen Di Porto and winner of the Globi D’Oro, in Television for the series 1992 directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi and we will see her in some new projects.
GUILLAUME TUNZINI - DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER
Guillaume Tunzini is a French screenwriter and director. He ’s a London Film School alumni. He wrote and directed many documentaries for French television, award winning shorts, and two feature films. He was first noticed in Hollywood when he wrote a screenplay for blockbuster director Roland Emmerich. The script was then acquired by Sony Pictures. Last screenplay "State of Consciousness" has been produced by Paradox Studios (USA) and Iervolino Entertainment (Italy), starring Emile Hirsch. And many other on-going projects.
CRISTINA SERAFINI - ACTRESS
Cristina Serafini was born in Turin, Italy. She won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Scuola del Teatro Stabile di Torino. She speaks Italian, English, French and Spanish. Serafini has appeared in 29 films and television series since the early 2000s. She won the Best Actress in a Leading Role Award at 2009 Chieti Film Festival directed by Roberto Faenza. In 2011 Serafini was selected for four lead roles. She played the role of Alessandro Gassmann's fiancée in Un Natale per due and received the Best Rising Italian Actress Award at International Euro-Mediterranean Awards, Rome, Italy. In her brilliant filmography: The Poison Rose (with Morgan Freeman and John Travolta), Acts of Vengeance (with Antonio Banderas and Paz Vega), Il Divo by Oscar-winning Paolo Sorrentino.
ABLAY NURMANBETOV - SCREENWRITER & DIRECTOR
Ablay Nurmanbetov is an award-winning screenwriter and director well-known for the short movie “The Burning Blue” that participated in 40 festivals and received 16 awards around the globe including nomination from Oscar qualifying The Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival. One of his recent works include film “Qash” (“Run”) with internationally acclaimed director Aisultan Seitov. It is the most anticipated film of 2022 year in CIS countries and the USA.
Currently, Ablay signed the contract with Tengri Production founded by Sergei Bodrov, Oscar nominated director and screenwriter. At the same time, he also works on the feature movie “Canary” with Radiance Pictures.