PAUL HAGGIS – JURY PRESIDENT

Born in Ontario, Canada, two-time Oscar winner Paul Haggis became the first screenwriter in Academy history to write back-to-back Best Picture Winners, with Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Crash (2005).  In total, Paul has been nominated for 5 Academy Awards, for writing, directing and producing.  He has received awards and praise for many of his screenplays, including Casino Royale and Letters From Iwo Jima.  Before moving into film, Paul wrote, directed and produced many highly acclaimed television shows, such as “thirtysomething” (for which he won two Emmys) and “The Tracey Ullman Show.” He created the acclaimed, if short-lived, CBS series “EZ Streets,” which the New York Times cited as one of the most influential shows of all time, noting that without it “there would be no Sopranos.”  Most recently Paul directed David Simon’s limited series Show Me A Hero for HBO, starring Oscar Isaac.

As the founder of Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), www.apjnow.org, Paul is committed to providing education, healthcare, and dignity to the poorest children of Haiti.  Creating The Academy for Peace and Justice in 2010, over 3,500 children a year now receive a high school education that was never available to them before.

CELINE RATTRAY
Celine Rattray has 40 independent films under her belt as a producer, including thirteen Sundance Film Festival selections, thirteen Toronto Film Festival selections and one Berlin International Film Festival selection. She won a Golden Globe and received an Oscar nomination for Lisa Choldenko’s 2010 Oscar-nominated hit film THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. She also produced NOVITIATE, which won the Breakthrough Director award at Sundance for Maggie Betts’ directorial debut, and THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, which stars Maggie Gyllenhaal sold to Netflix after its premiere at Sundance in 2018, where its writer/director Sara Colangelo won the Best Director award at the festival. In 2018 Celine produced SKIN, starring BAFTA-winning Jamie Bell, Danielle MacDonald, and Oscar-nominated Vera Farmiga and directed by Israeli director Guy Nattiv, whose short film of the same name won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film in 2019.
Prior to producing independent films, Celine was the Director of Marketing and Business Development for HBO. Celine graduated with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Oxford University. She currently serves on the Board of BAFTA New York and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

MATT DILLON
Matt Dillon’s film career has spanned over three decades. He has starred in films such as “The Outsiders,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” “There’s Something about Mary,” and most recently “The House that Jack Built,” by Lars von Trier.
In 2003 he made his directorial film debut with “City of Ghosts” shot on location in Cambodia which he co-wrote with Barry Gifford and starred in with James Caan, Gerard Depardieu, and Stellan Skarsgård.
In 2006 he was nominated for best supporting actor for his work in the Academy Award-winning best picture “Crash.” His performance earned him his second Independent Spirit Award, the first coming in 1989 for Gus Van Sant’s “Drugstore Cowboy.”
In 2014 he starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s limited series for television “Wayward Pines.”
Other film credits include, “Over the Edge,” “Rumble Fish,” “Flamingo Kid,” “Singles,” “To Die For,” “Wild Things,” “Factotum,” and “Fonzo.” He recently starred in the short film “Nimic” by Yorgos Lanthimos. Dillon has been a board member of Refugees International since 2008. He has traveled to Myanmar, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo where he directed short documentaries, bringing international awareness to the plight of refugees and those internally displaced by conflict and climate change. He’s currently editing a feature length documentary, “The Great Fellove” (El Gran Fellove.)

WILSON MORALES

Wilson Morales is known as a deep well of information when it comes to the world of movies, and opinions reflect this knowledge. The personable movie critic can be seen, heard, and even read on different occasions. Morales is the website editor/ journalist and film critic for Blackfilm.com. He’s Co-President of the Black Film Critics Circle and a voting member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association(BFCA) Online Film Critics Society (OFCS), the NAACP Image Award Nomination Committee, and the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA).

ZULEIKHA ROBINSON

Zuleikha Robinson is a British actress who has starred in numerous critically acclaimed television series including, HBO’s ROME, ABC’s ground breaking series LOST and Showtime’s Emmy winning HOMELAND.
Most recently, she appeared in Fox’s THE EXCORCIST. Some of her film credits include Michael Radford’s, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE and Mira Nair’s, THE NAMESAKE. Zuleikha has had a strong and varied career, working with some of the world’s greatest actors and directors, frequently flying under the radar, yet always delivering a powerful, noteworthy performance.

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