jury list

To this day, I still remember fondly my first frames as a novice filmmaker.

My first movies were on 8mm, subsequently on 16mm, and finally on 35mm after graduating from The Cinema and Theatre School /Academy of Bucharest in 1974.

As a professional filmmaker, I was fortunate enough to shoot, process, edit, assist with sound, etc. for literally hundreds of miles of film.

As a director of photography and producer, I was involved in the making of 14 feature films, 35 docudramas and documentaries, and many other cinema-related projects.

Between 2010 and 2014, I was a member of the The Administration Council of the National Film Centre, an organisation that finances and promotes 95% of the national independent films in Romania. The Council's mandate also includes fundraising to support emerging young artists involved in both short, and feature films.

I have been actively participating in national and international film festivals, both as a competitor (several awards) and as a jury member, as well as an organiser of film events.

I am currently an active member of The Romanian Association of Film and Audio-Visual Producers.

Today 4K films can be shot with pretty much any photo camera, mobile phone, or disguised fountain pen camera. Technologies have become more user-friendly, and editing a home-hobby.

Anyone can potentially make a movie.

However, there is much more to making a film that can effectively communicate an experience, a feeling, a slice of universe, capable of eliciting emotion, happiness, sadness, meditation, debate in its audience.

If and when the message reaches its intended audience it is great, and we are in the presence of an emerging filmmaker./p>

Technologies, festivals, juries are always changing and awards are basically blank cheques and challenges for future films.

The beginning of a road trip carries a certain magic and suspense, not unlike any other spiritual adventure.

The right support, encouragement, and advice can open the gates to a lifetime career.

For these reasons, I am honoured and humbled by the invitation to be part of the jury of the UNICA International Festival for non-professional filmmakers and it obliges me to high standards of responsibility and discernment.

Florin Paraschiv DOP / film Producer