Juries

Encounters Jury 2024

Lisandro Alonso (Argentina)

Born in Buenos Aires in 1975, Lisandro Alonso studied directing at the Universidad del Cine. His first feature film, La Libertad, celebrated its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes in 2001. After founding his own production company, he made Los Muertos three years later, which screened in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes, followed by Fantasma in 2006 and Liverpool (2008). Viggo Mortensen played the lead role in Alonso's film Jauja, which was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2014. The two also worked together on Eureka, which also celebrated its world premiere in Cannes in 2023

Denis Côté (Canada)

After studying film, Denis Côté made short films and worked as a critic for several years. In 2005, his feature debut Les états nordiques was awarded the Golden Leopard in the Video Competition at Locarno. After the Forum screened his internationally acclaimed film Bestiaire in 2012, he went on to participate in the Berlinale with Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Competition 2013), Joy of Man’s Desiring (Forum 2014), Boris Without Béatrice (Competition 2016) and Ghost Town Anthology (Competition 2019). In 2021, he won the prize for Best Director in the Encounters section with Social Hygiene, and in 2022 he presented That Kind of Summer in the Competition. Over 40 retrospectives have been dedicated to Côté worldwide.

Tizza Covi (Italy)

Italian-born director Tizza Covi studied photography in Vienna and soon after started collaborating with Rainer Frimmel on photography, theatre, and film projects. Their documentary Babooska (2006) won the Wolfgang Staudte Award in the Forum section, their debut feature, La Pivellina (2009), premiered at Cannes and was later screened at the Berlinale in the Generation section. Their second feature, The Shine of the Day, which screened in Perspektive Deutsches Kino in 2013, won the Silver Leopard at Locarno for Best Actor. Their documentary Notes from the Underworld (Panorama 2020) received a Special Mention at the Berlinale Documentary Award. In 2022, their most recent film, Vera, won Best Directors and Best Actress in the Orrizonti Section of the Venice Film Festival.