JURY
DIRECTOR | WRITER
“TOUCH” was the recipient of Greenpoint Film Festival’s 2021 Best
Narrative Feature award, among others. “TOUCH” was shot in China in
Mandarin Chinese and was distributed by HBO Europe and Indie Rights (US).
Her screenplay “TOUCH” was shortlisted for the Academy Nicholl
Fellowship, the Finish Line Script Competition, and the Sundance
Development Lab. Previously, she wrote, directed, and produced
numerous short films with her artistic partner Jean-Luc Ormieres.
Before filmmaking, Szczepanowska worked in environment, energy, and
security in TChad, China, Singapore, Europe, and North America.
Szczepanowska holds a BA in Political Science from Columbia College
and MIA in Energy Management from Columbia University.
“2nd Chance” premiered at Sundance 2022 and has been acquired by Showtime, releasing in spring 2023. “Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey” has received critically acclaimed reviews from around the world while reaching 720 million minutes viewed worldwide as of August 2022.
She is currently working with Emmy nominated director John Maggio on his feature documentary “Year One: A Political Odyssey” (HBOMAX) a film about president Joe Biden’s first year of presidency.
She was awarded a $50,000 grant from Google and the PGA to produce her short film, “Haider, Texas”, which screened at the 2022 ‘Produce By Conference.’ She was also a part of the inaugural PGA Create Fellowship, through which Sarah Green mentors her. Rabia recently produced the feature films ‘Sour Milk’ (Sierra McCormick, Jason Butler Harner, Ryan Simpkins, Emily Robinson) and ‘The Disruptors’, a comedy starring Grant O’Brien, Ally Beardsley, Marc Evan Jason, and Alexandra Grey.
Rabia believes a multicultural catalog of film is crucial to society’s health, as each culture has its special ingredient of wisdom. This is what Sultana Film wishes to celebrate and bring light to.
She is a member of BAFTA and the Producer’s Guild of America.
Other design credits include “Beneath The Banyan Tree”, starring Ah-Lei Gua, BBC’s documentary “Sex Planet”, starring Cara Delevingne, and “Think Like a Dog”, directed by Gil Junger.
Her most recent work includes production designing “The Wandering Earth 2” & “Accidental Get Away Driver” directed by Sing Lee.
Her work has screened at Cannes, Sundance, Telluride, MOMA, Sitges International Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, Docs Barcelona, Hamptons International Film Festival among many others.
Anna’s collaboration on Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell”, won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature and a Golden Globe for Best Actress. She recently received an AICP Award for her cinematography work on the Apple Commercial “Nian”
She is currently working on an Amazon TV Series called Expats starring Nicole Kidman.
DIRECTOR | WRITER
YUQING CHI is a screenwriter and director who specifically focuses on drama and romance genre films. Her previous short picture “Don’t write me off” has won over 17 international awards in both the directing and writing sections, that includes a platinum Remi Award at the WorldFest Houston Film Festival. She started her film career with a French movie “L.O.L” in which Sophie Marceau was cast in a lead role. Yuqing has currently just completed another two feature films; “Skip Over Yesterday“ & “Waiting For Another Instant.“