Polyglot

A big thank you to our professional jury members, who selected the 18 winners of the Polyglot video contest!

Vivian Paulissen (The Netherlands)

Youth & Media Programme manager

Vivian Paulissen (born 1970) graduated from Utrecht University, where her specialism was the role of soap operas and media in Latin American society. She has since worked as a manager, policy advisor, and consultant for a variety of arts sector institutions and independent cultural organisations both in The Netherlands and abroad (Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America), and has been involved in many international media projects (Havana Biennial, VideoBrasil, Filmfestival Rotterdam, Zanzibar Filmfestival). Currently  manager of the European Cultural Foundation's Youth and Media Programme, her main role is to forge partnerships with innovative organisations working with young people and media in different European countries and to aim for a wider recognition of youth media in mainstream public opinion.

Barnabas Toth (Hungary)

Screenwriter, director, actor

Born in 1977 in Strasbourg, France (but has lived in Budapest since the age of 2) into a francophile family, Barnabas Toth began his career as a child actor at 6: he played in movies and appeared in the scenes of the most prestigious theatres of Budapest. After graduating from high-school, he followed communication studies and was then admitted to the Budapest Academy of Cinema. He has so far written and directed 9 short films, including On a train (awarded in Aubagne, in Cottbus, presented in Cannes in 2005 and broadcast on Canal + and Channel 4), Un partout (in competition at Clermont Ferrand and Rotterdam) and Autograph where he appears alongside Jeanne Moreau. His debut feature film, Camembert Rose premiered in Montreal in 2009 and has been broadcast on TV, in theatres and on DVD.

Radka Weiserova (Czech Republic)

Festival coordinator, programmer

Radka Weiserova was born in 1978 in Prague. She graduated in Cultural Studies at the Philosophical Faculty of the Charles University in 2005. Recently she has been working as the head of production for Fresh Film Fest, International Festival of First Features and Student Films - and at the same time as the programme and production coordinator for the Prague Short Film Festival. Between 2000 and 2006 she worked for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Film Industry department and since 2003 has cooperated on several projects of the Institute of Documentary Film in Prague.

Massimiliano Spotti (Italy)

Researcher in multilingualism

Dr. Massimiliano Spotti was born in Cremona, Italy, in 1974. He graduated from Oxford University and in 2007 defended his doctoral thesis on the construction of immigrant minority pupils’ identities in multicultural primary school classrooms in the Netherlands and Flanders. At present, he is a researcher at the Babylon, Centre for Studies of the Multicultural Society at Tilburg University. He also covers the post of researcher within the FiDiPro (Finland Distinguished Professor) scheme, at the Department of Languages, University of Jyväskylä. His current research activities include multilingualism and why it is dangerous to some people and not to others; language testing of migrants for admission, integration and citizenship in the host country and the concept of Super-diversity.

Ulla Bergstrom (Finland)

Animator, production coordinator

Ulla Bergstrom graduated from the Helsinki University of Art and Design, in the Department of Art and Media. She has been working as an animator, character designer and animation director from 1995, making animations for television series, short films, commercials, multimedia, etc. Her illustrations have become well-known in popular Finnish magazines. Her animations have been seen for instance at the Tampere International Film Festival and the Annecy International Film Festival. Currently Ulla Bergstrom works for the European Capital of Culture Turku 2011 Foundation as a Production Coordinator for audiovisual art and media productions.