Every year for the Femme Filmmakers Festival we assemble a jury for the Competition Selection. It’s a huge job, to find 9 liked-minded souls who want to spend 2 months or so watching short films made by women, talk about them, and then go through the process of deciding where certain prizes might go. It’s a great job, and someone has to do it.
Let me crack on and introduce our 9 jury members for the 11th edition. In fact, I asked them to introduce themselves. And I hope you shall meet them along the way. From former prize winners at this very event, to multiple returning jury veterans. From last year’s high calibre crop of volunteers to inspiring new superstar creatives. This is indeed a jury to match them all. Here they are in no particular order.
Emelia Bason
I am currently a BA Film, Photography & Media student at the University of Leeds. My research typically concerns girlhood and adolescence in middle eastern cinema. I have volunteered at film festivals in the past, such as Leeds Queer Film Festival and LIFF, and I am currently also working in a film marketing role, aspiring to become a film programmer. My favourite works of female directorship are Mustang (2015), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), and anything directed by Celine Sciamma or Sofia Coppola! I am passionate about amplifying female and ethnic minority voices in the film industry, and I am excited to work with likeminded film lovers.
Ragini Bhasin
Ragini Bhasin is a writer/director based in Los Angeles, born and raised in India. She is drawn to intimate, everyday thrillers that center on women and children.
Her short films have screened at numerous Oscar-qualifying festivals, with two recent works premiering at Palm Springs International ShortFest and another at the BFI London Film Festival. Her films have been featured as a Vimeo Staff Pick and on Short of the Week, and distributed by PBS, Tubi, ARTE, Shorts TV, Argo, and The Wrap’s ShortList Film Festival.
Ragini is the recipient of the Meredith MacRae Memorial Award from Women in Film and was selected as a BAFTA Newcomer (2021–2024). She won the 2022 Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge presented by CAPE and Janet Yang Productions, was a Directing Fellow in Film Independent’s Project Involve (2023), and is a director in the AFI DWW+ Class of 2026. Her feature scripts were supported by the Cine Qua Non Lab in 2025 and 2026.
Ben Hill
I am a freelance film writer with experience across different parts of the industry, including interviewing filmmakers for last year’s festival. I love the work the Femme Filmmakers Festival does to uplift and celebrate underrepresented voices, and am honoured to offer my support for the second year running, now as a jury member. I take particular interest in grounded human stories for their ability to make audiences empathise with worlds beyond their own. Some of my favourite women-led projects include The Outrun and Never Rarely Sometimes Always.
Bella Madge
I have been a freelance film critic and interviewer since 2023, becoming a professional writer at just 20. My bylines include Little White Lies, Film Hounds and Picturehouse Cinemas. My interviews include acclaimed screenwriter Billy Ray, and journalists such as Helen O’Hara and Clarisse Loughrey. I am currently an Entertainment Journalist at Get Your Comic On. Since my career began, I have been interested in films that capture the nuances of the human experience. At last year’s festival (and for Filmotomy, as a whole), I interviewed some incredible female directors, from athlete-turned-directors to pro-choice activists. As an autistic woman, I know how important it is to champion unheard voices. I am incredibly excited to be part of this year’s jury – and I can’t wait to talk film with some amazing female creatives.
Ellen Chesire
I am a film historian, author and lecturer with a particular interest in women’s cinema and representations of gender on screen. I have written books on Jane Campion and Audrey Hepburn, and contributed chapters to collections on Jane Austen, Marilyn Monroe and women working behind the camera during the silent film era, amongst other topics. Through my writing, teaching and public speaking, I am passionate about championing women’s contributions to cinema, both past and present. I am delighted to be part of the jury for the 11th Femme Filmmakers Festival and look forward to discovering new voices, celebrating creative storytelling and supporting women filmmakers from around the world.
Nadia Kuligowski
I’m a writer, arts and culture journalist, and a lover of all things with fangs. I write features (frequently for the festival’s own Filmotomy) and have had the pleasure of interviewing a fascinating array of figures including an OBE-awarded author. Whilst I’m in the bizarre process of arduously drafting a debut novel, my shorter work has been selected and published across literary magazines and other cultural publications. Other skills include the unintentional ability to be given any piece of media and somehow misinterpret it as a romance (haven’t found much use for that one yet).
I’m absolutely thrilled to be a contributing writer to the festival again and ecstatic that I was selected for the Femme Filmmakers Festival jury this year! The festival has a wonderful curatorial identity and an absurdly talented selection each year—very excited to see what happens in the 11th edition.
Joan Amenn
I am the EiC/Owner of InTheirOwnLeague.com where I am delighted to work with the most articulate, intelligent and discerning group of people I have ever known-and they’re a lot of fun!
I am a member of GALECA: Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics as an ally, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and the Online Association of Female Film Critics. Recently, I was elected as a member of the Trustee Board of the Seattle Film Critics Society. This is all to say that I love cinema, I respect and admire those who write about cinema and I’m rather fond of those who work in industry too.
I am honored and excited to be once again participating in the Femme Filmmakers Festival.
Cansu Boğuşlu
Cansu Boğuşlu is an award-winning filmmaker, cinematographer, and visual storyteller based in Istanbul. A graduate of the prestigious Łódź Film School, she has worked internationally across film, television, and photography, developing a distinctive cinematic language that explores light, emotion, and human connection.
Her films have been screened and recognized at international festivals, including the French Riviera Film Festival in Cannes, where her short film Down from the Clouds received the Best Actor Award. As the creator and host of the cultural television series Chasing the Light (Işığın Peşinde), she continues to celebrate cinema, art, and storytelling across cultures.
Boğuşlu is the founder of Psykhe Cupid Films and is currently developing international feature film and documentary projects that focus on identity, memory, and the transformative power of human experience.
Doug Jamieson
Doug is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic and the Editor/Founder of The Jam Report. He is also the Awards Editor of Filmotomy and a proud member of the Online Film Critics Society, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and the Australian Film Critics Association. This is his second time serving on the Femme Filmmakers Festival jury.
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