Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
INTERNATIONAL JURY MEMBERS 2018
Mr. Nik J. Van-Eckmann (Chairman) representing Finland and South
Africa has more than 40 years of experience in film and television
production worldwide. He started his career as a sound recordist
working on countless projects including news and current affairs ‐ 'live
television' ‐ adventure ‐ drama ‐ documentary ‐ natural history and as a
voice over actor for the music industry. Over the years, he has gained
much knowledge and experience not only in audio production, but also
as a cinematographer ‐ editor ‐ writer ‐ producer and director achieving
various awards for his work. His clients include some of the world’s
most prestigious broadcast companies ‐ the UK's independent television networks and the BBC ‐ ORF
Austria ‐ ZDF Germany ‐ RTL France ‐ Malaysian Television ‐ Channel 9 Peru ‐ NBC New York and National
Geographic. Nik has university degrees in Science, Education, Arts, Audio Technology and Philosophy and
he has written many papers on film language and narrative structure. His latest published work focuses on
the issues concerned when attempting to record wildlife sound, which has prompted him to design and
develop new techniques to reduce the problems.” Nik has been an important partner of our festival and a
member of the International jury since 2002.
Ms. Maikki Kantola is an acclaimed filmmaker, photographer and media
educator in Finland. She is currently working in the city of Pori as a regional
artist for the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (TAIKE). In the past, Maikki has
developed a media‐ and art education organization named Videootit and
worked as a director and producer arranging different kind of video workshops
in Finland and abroad. During a period of 20 years, Maikki organized two
different video festivals for children and young people. She was also the
producer of ”Living pictures” a series for YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company),
a children program about moving pictures and environment control (2002 –
2004). Maikki gets along also with her own media art, documentary and music
videos, as well as photography projects. Most of her subjects are dealing with
human beings, different cultures and happiness. Maikki Kantola is a board
member of CIFEJ (http://www.cifej.com) , the UNESCO‐based International Centre of Films for Children and
Young People.
Mr Jukka Tyni is a producer, and he works as a camera operator at
the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) since 1991. During his long
career, he has worked also in wildlife TV productions as
cinematographer and journalist at YLE’s most popular nature
programs “Uteliv” and “Liikeellä luonossa”. Jukka’s best memories
from all his filming projects come from the Red Sea and Norway
when once he had the opportunity to film underwater killer whales
while they were preying on herring. His first encounter with sharks
was also very impressive. Although his current working fields in
production are widely expanded in other areas too. Jukka’s passion
and respect for wildlife film makers work is on high level, because
very often, they face filming conditions that they are extremely
difficult. He believes that nature films can help us to understand
who we are and how we relate to our planet.
Ms. Anastasiya Kharchenko is a Ukrainian film and TV
director, writer, painter and an actress. She graduated from
the Film and Television Institute of the Kyiv National University
of Culture and Arts, with a specialization in Film and TV
Directing. She is a member of the National Union of
Cinematographers in Ukraine, and she has over 13 years of
experience in TV & Film directing. As a writer and director,
Anastasiya has produced documentaries such as "Firebird",
"Bozhychi" and "Bekendor" that received international awards
and they have been on screen in more than twenty
international film festivals, including the Wildlife Vaasa
Festival 2014 ("Bekendor). Her paintings are inspired from Nature and they will be on display during Vaasa
Wildlife 2018 festival at the Culture House Fanny.
Mr. Vesa Heinonen is one of the founders of Wildlife Vaasa Festival back in
2001, and he’s been the festival producer for about 15 years. Vesa has been
always a nature enthusiast since his childhood. After studying at Helsinki
University, he worked as a schoolteacher for about 30 years teaching biology,
geography and history and then he worked at the Terranova Nature Centre of
the Ostrobothnian musem for about 15 years also as a Nature educator and
guide. He has great experience in festival jury work and he has been a member
of International Juries in big nature film festivals around the world in China,
Taiwan. Russia and other countries. He has also taken active part in nature film
productions as a script writer, scientific advisor, guide, location manager,
photographer and presenter for several films. Vesa has worked also with media
education projects, producing films and animations made by schoolchildren and
young people. He has written several books and numerous articles about Nature and Environmental
Conservation. Nowadays, he’s training World Heritage guides and managing the development of a nature‐
based tourism in Finland as an expert and also as an entrepreneur. His hobbies are Nature photography,
bird‐watching, sailing, fishing and diving.
Mr Jukka Seppälä (Scientific program coordinator)
Nature photographer, filmmaker, energy blogger and freelance.He's
a certified teacher in schools for more than 20 years, and also a
journalist. He has been photographing nature from late 1970s, but
more professionally from 2006. Seppälä has been active in anti‐
nuclear, pro renewable energy ‐movement in 1979 during Three
Mile Island nuclear reactor meltdown accident and a few years
after that. The accident in Chernobyl 1986 and 2011 in Fukushima
reactivated Seppälä’s motivation to search for the most accurate,
critical and up to date news and studies about nuclear power and
renewable energy. Seppälä started blogging in Finnish and English
to reach wider audience worldwide with his energy related blogs
and during the last years he’s trying to bring up the Mosul Dam Risk and the Water and Energy Crisis in Irak
. He’s one of the main organizers and the co‐ordinator of the scientific program of Vaasa Wildlife festival
and the secretary of Vaasa Wildlife Festival’s supporting association which was established and registered
in 2017.
Mr Evgeni Usov, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Evgeni is a film producer, a journalist, and one of our
art exhibitors during the festival. He studied
Journalism at the Faculty of "Nature Conservation and
Rational Use of Natural Resources" and film
production at Zhdanov film school for ecologists. He
has great experience in working with governmental
agencies in Russia and he is a member of the
Committee for the Protection of Nature in the
Leningrad Region. His work experience expands also
in NGOs such as VOOP, The Russian Green Party and
Greenpeace Russia. His professional skills include film
directing, editing, photographing, camerawork, producing, event organizing, environmental activism and
investigating journalism. His working experience in journalist work is around 30 years. He’s Member of the
Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation, the Russian Geographical Society, the Association of
Environmental Journalists of the Russian Federation and St. Petersburg. He is the author of more than 80
films including specific and thematic videos, and written more than 100 reports and plots on various
environmental issues. His photo‐poetry exhibition „Elements“ will be on display during Vaasa Wildlife
Festival 2018 at the Culture House Fanny along with the premier of the film „Grassroots“ which gets along
with environmental activism in the Russian Federation.
LIST OF DELEGATES 2018
THE JETLAGGED ‐Mr Hendrik S. Schmitt and Ms Claudia Schmitt, GERMANY
The Jetlagged is about diving, travelling around the world and protecting the oceans. They are action‐loving
filmmakers and passionate divers always on the search for adventures from the polar circle to the equator.
On their journey through the world’s most exciting destinations, they deliver beautiful impression and
enjoy diving as a lifestyle. They also support various environmental projects all over the world considering
themselves as ambassadors of the sea and fully committed to protect the world underwater. By taking
pictures, shooting films and telling stories in and around the sea, they want to inspire others to enjoy,
explore and protect our oceans Their documentaries have been shown on film festivals worldwide and
have won many international awards. . Their films “The Patterns of The Ocean” and The Pale Horse‐Coral
Apocalypse” are finalists of this year competition. Hendrik and Claudia are two of our panelists on the
Climate Change panel discussion on Wed. 26 15‐17 at the Vaasa City Library’s Drama Hall.
Ms Kelly Bakos Alaska USA
Kelly develops outreach materials and videos for wildlife conservation non‐
profit organizations. She has documented gorilla research in Central Africa,
designed exhibits for zoos and aquariums around the world, and managed
fundraising and communications for a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia.
Her film “A Herd of Orphans” feature length film that offers a unique
perspective on the impacts of ivory poaching depicting its consequences on
baby elephants that lose their parents. Kelly’s hope is that after watching
her film and connecting with these enchanting and humorous orphans,
people will stand up to loudly say "no" to ivory, making sure to spread the
word amongst their friends and families. She comes to Vaasa with her
husband all the way from in Southeast Alaska where she resides working as
the volunteer director of a marine mammal conservation organization.
Mr Erkki Kalmari FINLAND
Erkki Kalmari is a Biogas Pioneer in Finland and one of our panelists at the Energy day.
Mr Markku Lehmuskallio + Ms Anastasia Lapsui (RETROSPECTIVE PROGRAM) FINLAND
Markku Lehmuskallio is one of the most known Finnish documentarists alongside with Pirjo Honkasalo.
Over the years, a self‐taught filmmaker has emerged as one of the most well known and internationally
recognized Finnish filmmakers and he has always been interested in the indigenous people and the cultures
in the northern regions. Already in the 1970’s he started, an extensive production in both documentary and
fiction films. Lehmuskallio’s productions are going through a time‐period of two decades working closely in
many of them with Anastasia Lapsui, a film director and scriptwriter. Since 1993, she has been living in
Finland and she is a Nenet native. Lapsui was born in Yamal Nenrtsia on the shore of the Arctic Ocean in
Siberia and she studied at Ural University, Sverdlovsk. Prior to her film career, she was working at a radio
station in the town of Salehard and she wrote manuscripts as well. He has directed together with her
husband Markku Lehmuskallio, movies of Nenets, Sámi and other indigenous peoples. Their films will be on
display during the festival during the Retrospective program at Ritz theatre and Vaasa Library.
Mr Panos Raptis UK/GREECE
Panos Raptis is a filmmaker with a multifaceted background
across both art and science. The Secret Life of Materials is
his first feature‐length production; a specialist factual film
spearheading a Europe‐wide outreach project. His work
ranges from short fiction to corporate communication and
TV entertainment in Greece and in the UK. Prior to directing
and producing, he has worked as an editor for 7 years. His
first degrees and research experience are in Physics and
Optics. But his parallel involvement with theatre as an AD
and director, in Greece and the USA, led him to study
filmmaking at UCLA and London Film School. He has, since taught editing and visual storytelling as a guest
lecturer in New York, London and Prague. The common denominator across his diverse work is narrative
expression and trans‐discipline communication. He is currently developing a fiction feature film and two
projects in intercultural education and multi‐media‐based science communication.
Dr Chrysoula Dalageorgou, UK/GREECE
Research Fellow in Genetics and Molecular Biology at the Institute
of Cardiovascular Science (ICS) of UCL (University College London) .
Her research work focuses on processing and analyzing patient
cohort samples using Next Generation Sequencing technology,
with the aim of finding genetic variations that may cause
cardiomyopathic diseases, heart failure, sudden cardiac death, and
implementing DNA diagnosis into clinical practice. She's actively
involved into teaching, having earned a recognition by the Higher
Education Academy as an Associate Fellow. Her teaching work
ranges from co‐planning and running an MSc module for the
teaching programme in ICS. She's also acting as a Research Project coordinator and examiner for
the BSc, MSc and PhD programmes in ICS and giving lectures for the Applied Genomics module at
the Institute of Child Health, UCL.
Mr Ari Häkkinen and Ms Anu Häkkinen, Aranu Production house, FINLAND
Acclaimed Finnish producers, writer and filmmakers festival winners in 2008 with the “Gate of the Birds”,
finalists of the Nordic category this year with their film “The Sea that Disappeared” (Meri joka katosi in
Finnish) which is filmed for the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, at the Kvarken Archipelago.
Dr Nasrat Adamo Consultant, Norrkoping, SWEDEN
Dr Nasrat Adamo is an experienced consultant with a
demonstrated history of working in the civil engineering industry.
Skilled in Analytical Skills, Risk Management, Procurement, Data
Analysis, and Engineering. Strong consulting professional with a
Masters Degree focused in Irrigation Engineering And Dams from
Southampton University in Great Britain. Nasrat Adamo, was
working as the chief engineer at Iraq's Irrigation Ministry which
oversaw the building and upkeep of the country's dams. He was
the Project Manager of Mosul Dam and also Badush Dam (30‐40% constructed). He is a member of the
Luleå University of Technology Research Team specialized on Iraq water resources and dam issues.
Prof. Nadhir Al‐Ansari, Luleå SWEDEN
Professor at the department of Civil, Environmental and Natural
Resources Engineering at Lulea Technical University Sweden
since December, 2007. Prior to that, he worked as Professor at Al
al‐Bayt University, Jordan (1995 –2007) and Baghdad University,
Iraq (1976‐1995). I obtained my PhD degree in Hydrology from
the University of Dundee, UK in 1976 and MSc and B.Sc. in
Geology from the University of Baghdad, Iraq in 1968 and 1972
respectively. His research interests are mainly in Water
Resources and Environment especially sediment transport. His publications include more than 345 articles
in international/national journals, chapters in books and 12 books. He executed more than 30 major
research projects in Iraq, Jordan, Sweden and UK and supervised more than 60 PhD and MSc students. Prof.
Nadhir Al‐Ansari, has been awarded several scientific awards in Iraq and Jordan. The British Council on its
70th Anniversary awarded him top 5 scientists in Cultural Relations Award, 5th November, 2004.In 2013
awarded best Engineering Research award from Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education.
Mr Daniel Vega Martinez , SPAIN
Daniel is a Spanish writer, director and producer for TV
documentaries. His works are shown in the main
television channels: Nat Geo, Discovery, Animal Planet,
Time Warner, France 5, TVE, TVP, RAI , etc. Astronomy,
biology, nature, life origin, evolution, history,
archaeology are his favorite subjects in his films. He has
studied Astrophysics at the University of Alcala. His film
“Life Behind the Stars” is a finalist of the Science
category and it will be on screen at Culture House Fanny
during the researchers night. He is one of the Science
Day‐Panelists
Mr Jose Antonio Vallejo , SPAIN
Mr Jose Antonio Vallejo, producer director of the Planet
Alive Films in Spain and a finalist of the Natural History
category with his new film about wild boars called “The
Armored Warrior”.
‐Mr Carlos Romero Perez, SPAIN
Carlos is a producer director of 1080 Wildlife Productions
that has produces wildlife documentaries for
broadcasters such The Canales European and Asian Coma
ARTE, RAI, France Télévisions, TVE, Wildlife Planet, HRT,
RTP, CCTV. His film “Iceland‐The newborn island” is a
finalist of the Nordic category and his film “Dehesa” is
selected for school screenings (with Finnish subtitles)
Carlos comes to Vaasa accompanied by biologist, Mr
Fernando Ballesteros.
Ms Verena Lemmer Heidelberg, GERMANY
Producer in the production department of Marco Polo Film
AG, which was founded in 2000 by award‐winning
documentary filmmakers Annette and Klaus Scheurich.
Since then, Marco Polo Film AG has become one of
Germany’s most successful independent film production
company for nature, animal and wildlife, science, travel and
adventure films. With their own pool of authors and
filmmakers, they conceptualize and realize various formats
(documentaries, reports, short films and series) for the
domestic and international markets. Their most important
cooperation partners include ZDF, Arte, various institutions
within the ARD network and, on the international side, Smithsonian Channel, Terra Mater, NHK, National
Geographic, SRF and many more. Her studies at university included film TV and Scandinavian studies as she
has lived in Norway for several years.
Mr Klaus Scheurich, Heidelberg, GERMANY
World acclaimed cinematographer and producer at Marco
Polo Film AG in Heidelberg and in charge of development
and production of documentary films. He is a certified
geologist and interested in nature, environmental and
scientific themes. He has shot and produced numerous
nature and expedition films, many of which have won
international prizes. He works for national and
international broadcasters and organisations and he was
behind the camera for Werner Herzogs award‐winning
documentary film „The White Diamond“. Klaus Scheurich is
one of the pioneers for shooting High Definition films in
Germany. For years, he has been working with HD devices, gaining extensive in‐depth knowledge. As an
expert on HDTV, he is a frequent guest at panel discussions and lecturer at conferences, festivals and other
events.
Mr Vigmantas‐Balevicius, LITHUANIA
Vigmanatas is a Lithuanian video artist, photographer participating with his video art “Memory Islands”
Mr Zoltán Török SWEDEN/HUNGARY
Zoltan is a Hungarian Director‐Producer After
graduating as a geographer he has started to
work in the film and television industry more
than one and half decade ago. Soon he
moved towards high‐end productions for the
international market with Scandinature
Films, Sweden. Besides producing many
award‐winning films with the acclaimed
Swedish company, he participated in the
prestigious Discovery Master school and took
an internship at BBC’s Natural History Unit. In
2007, he has founded Wild Tales
Productions (aka Azara Film in Hungary) working closely with acclaimed Finnish wildlife
cinematographer Janne Henriksson. By no surprise, the company’s first big international
coproduction (with NDR Naturfilm) was about his home country’s bogs, swamps and marshes:
Wild Hungary – A Water Wonderland …which was another perfect opportunity to hang around in
his fancy shiny gumboots. Besides filming nature, Zoltán is keeping himself very busy to make
moving images about his two little daughters Lujza and Zelma. And he has to admit, that making
videos about them is often more challenging than filming any other wild beings on this planet…
Mr Oliver Goetzl, GERMANY
Oliver is one of the world’s top wildlife film makers, he has worked for NDR, BBC, DISNEYNATURE,
SILVERBACK FILMSA, WILD HORIZONS, DISCOVERY CHANNEL,
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, ANIMAL PLANET, ARD, ORF, TERRA
MATER, S4C, ARTE, SVT, WDR and ZDF and filmed in various
countries: India, Russia, Canada, U.S.A., Africa (Tanzania, Kenya,
Namibia, South Africa, Botswana), Finland, Sweden, Norway (+
Svalbard), Italy, Poland, Estonia and Germany. He studied
Biology, Geology/Palaeontology as well as Hydrobiology / Fishery
science at the University of Hamburg. He was involved in the
wildlife film industry since 1999 as a camera assistant, sound man
and/or scientific advisor for wildlife film productions. In 2004, he
formed GULO FILM PRODUCTIONS: Wildlife film company with
Oliver Goetzl as director, writer and editor and Ivo Nörenberg as
main cameraman. His very first film was filmed in Finland.
“Wolverines – Hyenas of the North” was that film that won in
2006 the 3rd Vaasa Wildlife Festival and since then, Oliver has
produced a list of superb films that each of them won tens of festivals all over the world. Among
them, “Wild Scandinavia‐Finland” and “The Jungle Book Bear” narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
Since he has spent years filming all over Finland and he has adapted well to Finnish habits and the
culture so if he gets a chance to attend the festival, he always comes back. This year, he’s back
again with his new film “White Wolves‐Ghosts of the Arctic”, one of the finalists of the Natural
History award category.
Mr. Michael van Bürk GERMANY
Press Officer, Public Relations GREEN SCREEN Festival in
Eckernförde,
Since 2007, the idyllic town of Eckernförde on the Baltic coast
hosts the International Wildlife Film Festival GREEN SCREEN
each year in September. Meanwhile, it has grown to become
the largest annual wildlife film festival in Europe.
In 2018, 20 600 visitors saw nearly one hundred spectacular
nature related films and met with important representatives
from commerce and politics as well as numerous international
filmmakers, producers and many broadcasting commissioners.
GREEN SCREEN Festival, has established itself as an
international meeting place for natural history filmmakers and
offers a unique symbiosis to both professionals and public viewers: In a familiar and casual
atmosphere, moviegoers can ask questions, give feedback and make suggestions to attending
filmmakers. On the other hand, the filmmakers receive more than just audience ratings: here, they
are able to experience the viewer's reactions to their productions first hand.