Jury
Meet our Jury of the Benidorm Skyline Film Festival 2023
The jury of this 7th Edition of Skyline Benidorm Film Festival is composed of prominent professionals in the film industry and will be in charge of awarding the prizes.
The jury may declare any of the prizes void if it deems it appropriate, as well as award runners-up prizes without economic endowment. No person interested in the production or exhibition of the films on which the jury is to give its verdict may participate as a jury member.
The decisions of the jury shall be final.
Assumpta Serna
Actress and president of AIECAU and of the First Team Foundation.
Official Section Jury
She has 42 titles on TV, 115 performances in movies, 27 as the lead, in 20 countries and in 6 languages. She has won 25 acting awards at international film festivals, she has been a jury member in more than 20: Chicago, Karlovy Vary, Mar del Plata, Mexico, Venice, Montreal, San Sebastián.
She is a member of the Hollywood Academy, (AMPAS) since 1993. She Engaged in the executive committee of the branch of actors. She has represented Spain at the European Film Academy for 8 years, organizing the European Cinema Gala in Barcelona in 2004. She is also an honorary member of the Catalan Film Academy.
She is the author of three published books: Between a rock and a hard place (2020), The Film Actor’s Work (1999) and Monologues in V.O (1998), and is in the process of writing: The Science of Interpretation, Monologues for Children and Monologues for adults.
Diego San José Castellano
Screenwriter for film and television specializing in comedy
Official Section Jury
He has hardened himself on the small screen writing for humor programs such as Vaya Semanita, El intermedio, Qué vida más triste or La noche de José Mota.
In 2009 came his first foray into the cinema with Pagafantas, for which he received the Best New Script Award at the Malaga Festival, shared with Borja Cobeaga. He also wrote the scripts with Cobeaga for No controls (2010), the successful Eight Basque surnames (2014) and its sequel Eight Catalan surnames (2015). He is also the author of the script for We have to talk (2016), the film adaptation of the comic Superlópez directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera, Fe de Etarras, or the television series Vota Juan, among many others.
Marta Medina del Valle
Screenwriter, short filmmaker and film critic.
Official Section Jury
Raised in Soria, she has a degree in Journalism from the University of Valladolid and a diploma in Film Direction from the School of Cinema and Audiovisuals of the Community of Madrid (ECAM).
As a screenwriter, she has written the thriller ‘Siege’, directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas and starring Natalia de Molina, which is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2023.
As a director, she is responsible for the short film ‘Despertar’, selected at various festivals around the world. She has also recently directed ‘La turista’, a short film for the NotodoFilmFest commissioned by the Valladolid Film Office. She herself is now working on editing a longer version.
Since 2016, she is the main film critic of the newspaper ‘El Confidencial’ and collaborates with magazines such as ‘So Film’ and ‘Cinemanía’. She is also a regular on television and radio programs such as ‘Historia de nuestro cine’ on Televisión Española and she leads the ‘Sesión continua’ section of the radio program ‘Carne cruda’. She has also participated in monographic books such as ‘Álex de la Iglesia: art and essay’, by Norma Editorial.
‘Lapland’ was selected by the Film Academy to participate in the third edition of its Residences.
Julu Martínez
Director, screenwriter and art director.
Script Jury
Graduate in Audiovisual Communication, director, screenwriter and art director. His short films Acantilado (2018) and Los Colores Pardos (2017) were awarded at national and international festivals, respectively highlighting the awards at the First Flame International Film Festival (Pune, India) or La Meko International Film Festival (Landau, Germany). In addition, these have been disseminated in institutions such as MACBA (Barcelona) or CA2M (Madrid), as well as in various Spanish universities (UCM, UC3M, URJCI). In 2019 he is a finalist in the Young Creators Contest of the Madrid City Council and Second Prize in the Young Artists Contest of Castilla y León.
For several years he is part of the Sub21 collective of the Center for Contemporary Art of the Community of Madrid (CA2M, 2015-2018) and of the II Edition of young programmers of the Cineteca
from Madrid, Cinezeta (2019). In 2020 he is selected in several national laboratories (FICX Pro Gijón, Queer Cine Lab, Links Cerdanya) and receives awards in Foro Emergente! and the Skyline Benidorm Film Festival script contest for his short film “Map of emotional geography”, which, after several years of development, will be released at the end of the year with the support of the Cantabrian government and ICAA 2022, by PicoTresCine y Pantalla. Departure.
In 2021 he received a double award for his short film Nicaragua (2021), receiving the Film Residency from the Valencia Cinema Jove Festival, with mentions for best script and direction, and a year later he received the award for Best Pitch/Project at Curt Creixent, within the framework from the same festival. In 2021 he receives a youth retrospective at the Joan Miró Foundation, within the framework of the U22 Cinema Jove Festival in Barcelona. He is currently preparing his next projects while he begins to develop his feature film ¿Dónde están los ladrones? awarded as a project in the last edition of the Gijón Film Festival (Semilleru Kids, FICX 2023).
Laura Márquez
Scriptwriter
Script Jury
Laura Márquez has a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the University of Valencia and a master’s degree in creativity and scripts for television.
She has worked as a scriptwriter on shows like The Comedy Club, Zasback, and Late Motiv, where she coordinated the script for the past few seasons and collaborated on screen.
She has participated in the script for galas such as the 2022 San Sebastián International Film Festival and the 2023 Goya Awards gala.
She currently works on the creation and development of projects for the production company El Terrat, coordinates the Showriano script for Movistar + and coordinates the script and participates in El Carolate, a Carolina Iglesias podcast on Spotify.
She combines participation in humor formats as a scriptwriter or collaborator and theatrical improvisation.
Avelina Prat
Scriptwriter, director and architect
Script Jury
Avelina Prat is an architect. She practiced the profession for a few years before dedicating herself to the cinema. Since 2004 she has worked as a script in more than thirty feature films, together with directors such as Fernando Trueba, Manuel Martín Cuenca, Javier Rebollo, Alberto Morais, David Trueba or Lucile Hadzihalilovic. She has also been a programmer at the International Youth Cinema Festival in Valencia.
She is the scriptwriter and director of the documentaries [On set with] Lilly Reich, Los niños de la Ropavejera, and the short films 208 words, Puerta 6, La fábrica de luz, El abrigo rojo and 3/105. The latter, co-directed with Diego Opazo, was selected at the 2014 Venice Film Festival.
She has recently released her first feature film as a scriptwriter and director, Vasil, produced by Distinto Films and Activist 38 (Bulgaria). The film has been awarded six Berlanga Awards and the Best Actor Award (ex aequo for Karra Elejalde and Ivan Barnev) at SEMINCI.
She is currently working on her second feature film that will be produced again by Distinto Films together with O Som e a Fúria (Portugal).
Victoria Minguez
Producer
Jury Shortpitch
She graduated from the Higher School of Dramatic Art in Valencia, she is studying Rose Bruford College in London for six months. She is a producer and playwright for the Teatre de l’Abast company, where she produces shows for both adults and families. Victoria has also started her facet as a director with the musical show BUH!.
In the audiovisual field, it stands out that she is one of the visible faces of Bromera and Algar; she was part of “El juego de las llaves” by Vicente Villanueva and the short film “Decadente” by new director Victor Devesa; and she carried out the project “Abastint-vos de teatre” where one hundred and four monologues were filmed during confinement and published on social networks.
As a theater actress, she has worked with companies such as Albena Teatre, CRIT, LA FAM, Bambalina Teatro Practicable, Horta Teatre, Panic Map or La Teta Calva, among others. Her last work was the show “Aforismats” of the Valencian Institute of Culture directed by Inka Romaní and Roberto Gracía, where she combines dance, singing and acting.
Juan Antonio Valverde Moreno
Concept Artist, 2D Animation and Storyboard artist
Jury Shortpitch
He was born in Valencia in 1977. From a very young age he has felt a true passion for drawing, design and art. Once he finished his training in Fine Arts, Graphic Design and Color Theory, he began his journey in the audiovisual world with one of his mentors, as Concept Artist, 2D Animation and Storyboard artist. He has had the opportunity to work with directors such as Robert Rodríguez or Alex de la Iglesia, among many others, as well as for PlayStation, MEDIAPRO, MTV Europe, Regency, RSA Films, etc, to name a few brands and/or producers, and with world’s leading VFX studios such as FRAMESTORE, AGORA VFX, BLUR Studio or Telson TRES 60. He has collaborated on the animation series “Love, Death & Robots Vol.1” on NETFLIX, and with the Goya-awarded studio USER T38 by Madrid, in the design of movie posters.
Delia Guerra
Director Movibeta
Jury Shortpitch
Delia Guerra is from Valencia and Murcia, passionate about the sea and non-motorized water sports. Years ago she left the Mediterranean, she lives and works in Madrid. Graduated in Economics, battered in various companies, she came to distribution by accident. For 10 years she has directed Movibeta dedicated to the distribution of works at film festivals. Currently, Movibeta has just finished a period of modernization and updating. We work with 600 festivals and with more than 20,000 distributors and directors.
Raquel Troyano
Member of the Steering Committee of the Royal Academy of Cinema and Cinematographic Sciences of Spain, President of PNR and CIMA delegate.
Jury Shortpitch
She has been working as an Art Director for more than 10 years, with more than 30 short films made, she has made the leap internationally with the feature films Palestine (2028), Lalla Aicha (2019), the series Glow and Darkness (2020) and A feature film. trip (2022)
In Directing, she made her debut films, the short film Pulse O and the feature film El Pomo Azul, with recognized selections and awards. At the end of 2019, she established herself in the sector as a director with her second feature film for which she is also a screenwriter, the documentary film Una Mañana Fría, winner of the “Best National Feature Film” award at the 28th Madrid Film Festival, Atresmedia – Ponle Award Brake and Medal of Merit by the Ministry of the Interior of Spain, among others.
Currently, she is preparing what will be her third fiction feature film El Pescador del Tajo, (selected in 2022 at the Scriptnest and Coofilm international residences).
Diego Saniz
Producer, director and editor with a degree from ECAM, and co-founder of the production company Kabiria Films.
Jury Shortpitch
Diego Saniz is a producer, director and editor graduated from ECAM, as well as the co-founder of the production company Kabiria Films.
He has produced more than 12 short films that have been selected in more than 200 festivals and have won more than 50 awards, including a Goya Award nomination. Festivals of the stature of Clermont Ferrand, InterFilm Berlin, GoShort, ALCINE, ÉCU, Festival de Málaga, Aguilar Film Fest or Márgenes, among others. All of his short films have been sold to platforms such as Movistar +, Filmin, RTVE, Telemadrid or Prime Video, promoting short films as an industry as well as achieving great recognition from both critics and the public. In 2022 he produces his first feature film, “El Aspirante”, in post-production. He is currently part of the 2023 selection of the La incubadora laboratory with his feature film project “A head on the wall”.
In 2021 he won the Skyline Benidorm Festival with the short film “El amor menacado” and in 2022 the ShortPitch Award of said festival.
Rosa Llorca
Head of the municipal filming office, Benidorm Film Office
Jury Shortpitch
Since February 2013, I am the head of the municipal filming office, Benidorm Film Office.
It has been 10 years since we reactivated the one-stop service to manage permits and the needs of audiovisual productions in the city.
In these years we have achieved full involvement of all municipal departments offering an immediate response to any production, therefore, we have seen the number of productions increase, year after year.
Throughout this history we have managed to position ourselves as a “film friendly” city where filming is easy and thus we take advantage of the advertising return of our city as a tourist destination, and we promote employment in the local audiovisual sector.
Our objective when collaborating in the jury of the short pitch of this festival is to achieve, together with the winning producer, that they have a great experience and that Benidorm is also the protagonist of the short.
Tamara García
Writer
Jury Iberoamerican Section
Tamara García has a degree in Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid. Currently, she works as a writer for the daily program “Hora América” on RNE-Radio Exterior de España. This magazine dedicates a weekly space to Ibero-American cinema and in it, she produces news and reports on that Ibero-American cinematographic news.
Teresa Montoro
Director and presenter
Jury Iberoamerican Section
Teresa Montoro is the director of the program “Hora América” from Monday to Friday on RNE – Radio Exterior de España, a magazine that pays special attention to Ibero-American cinema. She also directs and presents the microspace ‘De cine’ on Radio 5, and has collaborated since its creation as editor and film critic on the program ‘De película’ on RNE. She is the first vice president of the Association of Cinematographic Informants of Spain that awards the Feroz Awards; She has a degree in Information Sciences (Journalism) and Geography and History (specialties in Modern History and Art History) from the Complutense University of Madrid.
Sonia Bautista-Alarcón
Guionista, directora y productora
Jurado PNR
Es miembro de la Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España.
Guionista, directora y productora. Licenciada en Comunicación Audiovisual. Estudió Guion en la EICTV de San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. Entró en contacto con el cine por primera vez en el Grupo Etna de París en 2008, donde llevó a cabo su primer cortometraje experimental en 16mm de la mano del cineastas Hugo Verlinde. Ha presidido la asociación nacional de cineastas Plataforma Nuevos Realizadores y formado parte de la junta directiva durante cinco años. Ha dirigido el Festival de Cine de Madrid durante tres años hasta 2022. Ha escrito, dirigido y producido numerosos cortometrajes, branded content, videoclips y diversos contenidos audiovisuales.
Actualmente es productora en El Cañonazo Transmedia y se encuentra trabajando en un nuevo corto de ficción y en el que será su primer largometraje documental. Es curadora, programadora, asesora de proyectos y jurado en varios festivales de cine, laboratorios y muestras nacionales e internacionales.
Susana Ramírez de Arellano
Guionista, directora y jefa de producción
Jurado PNR
Susana Ramírez de Arellano una guionista, directora y jefa de producción de cortometrajes. Diplomada en guion por el ICM y estudiante de taller avanzado de guion en el EICTV.
Como directora y guionista destaca “Dilo” con más de veinticinco selecciones internacionales y un premio a mejor dirección.
En su faceta de jefa de producción destaca “Yalla” de Carlo D’Urci (Finalista de los Goya y Premio Forqué).
Su guion de largometraje “Los versos perdidos” ha sido seleccionado para el taller “Plume&Pellicule” en Sierre (Suiza).
José Ramón Soriano Suárez
Guionista
Jurado PNR
Guionista formado en la ECAM, en el Máster en Guion de series de Ficción 2020-21, así como en el Máster de Guion de Largometrajes de la Universidad de la Laguna 2015.
Su último proyecto, el guion de serie para televisión “Los Ángeles” ha sido seleccionado en el taller de showrunners de Ibersieries&Platino Industria 2022 (28 y 29 de septiembre).
Su cortometraje más reciente “Mates Aplicadas” (2020), cofinanciado por la Comunidad de Madrid, fue
estrenado en el Festival de Medina del Campo y participó en la 30ª edición del Festival de Cine de Madrid (sección PNR).
Entre sus trabajos está el guion del multipremiado cortometraje, El vendedor del año (2010, con Fernando Cayo y Javier Gutiérrez), ganador del Festival de Montreal con pre-selección Oscar y Goya y otros. Ha dirigido y escrito el cortometraje La bomba en el despacho (2013, con Luis Callejo y Diego Martín) premiado con más de 50 selecciones en festivales.
También ha trabajado como analista de guiones de largometrajes, para abcguionistas, y ha sido lector de guiones de cortos en varias ediciones del concurso de cortometrajes de abcguionistas.
