A scientist by training, Frédéric Lavigne has been in charge of the selection of the films at the Angers Premiers Plans Festival from 2000 to 2004. He then became Audiovisual Attaché at the French Embassy in London in charge of promoting French cinema in the UK.

In 2006, he joined the Forum des Images in Paris as Director of Educational Action, before launching and programming the Séries Mania festival in 2010. In 2013, this public event dedicated entirely to TV series from around the world added an Official Competition and a Professional Forum.

In 2018, Frederic Lavigne became full-time Artistic Director of Series Mania, which moved to Lille and grew to 98,000 spectators and 4,200 accredited industry guests by 2024.

Daria Badior is a cultural critic, journalist and editor from Ukraine.

She had worked as a Culture editor at one of Ukraine’s most prominent online outlets, LB.ua, also covering film, and cultural and commemoration policies as a journalist. In 2018, she co-founded the Union of Film Critics of Ukraine that awards the best Ukrainian filmmakers with the Kinokolo prize. Now she is a member of the European Film Academy and the Preparatory Committee of the European Press Prize.

Since 2017, she has been the co-curator at the Kyiv Critics’ Week film festival, which takes place annually in October. Now she is a freelancer, contributing to Ukrainian and international outlets and editing articles in various outlets, and preparing a book about the post-Maidan generation of culture makers.

Geoffrey Macnab writes about film for The Independent. He is also a senior correspondent at Screen International. His books include Stairways To Heaven: Rebuilding The British Film Industry and Ingmar Bergman: The Life and Films of the Last Great European European Director.

Lithuanian film producer Marija Razgutė has been running production company M-Films since 2008. She is one of the most active producers in Lithuania, working internationally and focusing on feature length fiction films. Marija’s recently produced title Slow by Marija Kavtaradze – premiered at Sundance in 2023 and won Best Director award there. Marija has been producing several important Lithuanian film talents and actively working as a minority co-producer. Her co-produced films have been selected at various festivals around the world, including Venice, Toronto and Karlovy Vary among others. Since 2011 Marija has been an active member of the Independent Producers Association of Lithuania, and its Board member since 2016. She is a graduate of EAVE Producers Workshop 2016, Producer on the Move 2020, ACE Producers 2020, ACE Leadership 2022. She is a member of the European Film Academy, and a Board member for 2024-2025.