International Jury

Simon Rieth was born in Paris on September 24th 1995 and grew up in Montpellier. At the age of only 26, he had already directed 6 short films including Saint Jean (2017) and Diminishing Shine (2018), which have been selected and awarded prizes in numerous festivals including BFI Future Film Festival, Beijing International Film Festival, MECAL Barcelona International Short and Animation Film Festival, and FIFIB. His first feature, SUMMER SCARS, produced by Les Films du Poissons, had its world premiere as the only French film in competition at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2022. It was with this same film that he came to BIFFF for the first time, winning the Silver Raven in 2022.

Among his insane background, Pedro has been a Showrunner for Prime-Time TV, Head of the Emergency Department at Médecins du Monde, a well-respected Film Professor, and a fiendish altar boy. He stormed into the industry as author of the multi-awarded hard sci-fi feature MOEBIUS, and his works have been showcased at the Lincoln Film Center and New York University, where he currently teaches THE LANGUAGE OF DARKNESS and GUERRILLA FILMMAKING. His masterclasses have been part of the BIFFF, the BIFAN, Ventana Sur and CineQuaNon Lab. His horror short films took over the Festival Circuit winning over 25 International Awards, and in 2024 his feature debut as director, the completely independent, mind-wrecking exorcism thriller DEUS IRAE, was acquired by XYZ Films and Reel Suspects.

Mikael Håfström is a director and screenwriter, born in Lund, Sweden. He studied film at the University of Stockholm and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Following the Academy Award nomination for his 2003 film, Evil, Håfström launched his international career. His notable works include Derailed, starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston, the Stephen King adaptation 1408, featuring John Cusack and Samuel L Jackson, the exorcism drama, The Rite, starring Anthony Hopkins, and the Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger prison break thriller, Escape Plan.

Håfström’s latest work includes the Scandinavian epic Stockholm Bloodbath and the upcoming sci-fi thriller Slingshot, starring Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishburne.