Jury
Jury
Nataša Bučar has been Director of the Slovenian Film Centre (SFC) since 2016. She has extensive experience in the film industry and has been working in this area for over 20 years. She began her career in the industry as project manager of the Ljubljana International Film Festival, Slovenia’s largest international film festival. While working for the cultural and congress centre Cankarjev dom for a decade, she was involved in film distribution and the organization and implementation of the Documentary Film Festival. In 2008, she obtained a Young Film Manager licence within the framework of the international association CICAE.
She gained experience in film also as the Director of the Slovenian Film Festival, Assistant Director of the Slovenian Film Fund and as Director General of the Media Directorate at the Ministry of Culture. Later, as a film marketing expert, she collaborated with the arthouse cinema Kinodvor in Ljubljana. In 2016 she was appointed Director of the Slovenian Film Centre, the country’s central film institution. As the director of SFC, she helps set and lead the policies in the field of film development and film culture in Slovenia. Since 2017, she has been a member of EFAD, the Association of Directors of European Film Agencies, and has participated in two expert groups of the European Commission for the audio-visual fields, namely in the areas of European film circulation and European co-productions.
Photo Urška Boljkovac
Dragan Barbutovski currently embodies two key characteristics relevant to this year's Documentary Film Festival: he is one of the first members of Amnesty International Slovenia and the Director of the British Council in Slovenia.
A political science student in the early 90s, he joined the first AI group in the so-called East which has left an indelible mark on him. An activist with a focus on values and justice, he tackles all his professional projects in a similar manner. For more than three decades, he has been an active member of the society, an activist, journalist, editor, spokesman, communicator, political consultant, analyst and founder of think tanks and start-ups. He has been active in Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Brussels, Kosovo and Georgia.
Dragan is a big fan of stories. Sometimes he becomes a storyteller himself, performing the role of a communicator, sometimes as a spectator he merely monitors, analyses and thinks about other people's stories. His thoughts always spring from the ‘big-picture’ point of view. While living and working in Kosovo, he became a big fan of documentaries – at the Dokufest in Prizren, within the space of four years, he saw dozens of outstanding documentaries from around the world.
Ketty Nivyabandi joined Amnesty International Canada (English Section) as Secretary General in October 2020. She is the primary spokesperson for the Branch, is responsible for the development and delivery of Amnesty International’s human rights work in Canada and shares senior leadership with the Executive Director. A global human rights activist and advocate, Ketty holds in-depth and lived expertise on refugee issues and the intersections of gender, race, democracy, and human rights. Prior to seeking asylum in Canada in 2015, she faced police violence as a leading organizer of women’s peaceful protests for democratic change in her country, Burundi. In her previous roles, Ketty has led research and advocacy to support global women peace activists in several conflict and post conflict countries, including Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Myanmar and Guatemala. As a communications strategist, she has extensive experience working with activists to amplify their voices through international media and shape public policy. Her work is rooted in peoplepower, public accountability, and a feminist, decolonial approach to human rights. Ketty studied International Relations, is a former journalist and a published poet.