Sabrina Baracetti is a founding member and president of Udine Far East Film Festival, president of cultural organisation C.E.C., an arthouse exhibition company, head of acquisitions of the distribution company Tucker Film, co-founder and consultant for Ties That Bind and member of the Board of Directors at Friuli Cinematheque. She served as a jury member on various film festivals dedicated to Asian Cinema.

Jacob Wong is Director of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, and the Film Industry Services Office of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society. He is also the Delegate for East Asia for the Berlin International Film Festival.

Ken WATANABE first gained worldwide recognition for his role in Edward Zwick’s 2003 epic The Last Samurai, opposite Tom CRUISE. WATANABE received Oscar, Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe, and Critics’ Choice Award nominations for his performance as honorable warrior Katsumoto in the film. Since that breakthrough film, WATANABE has remained active in Hollywood, working with master directors such as Clint EASTWOOD, Christopher NOLAN, Gus VAN SANT and Wes ANDERSON. WATANABE first stole the limelight in 1985 with his role in Juzo ITAMI’s gastronomic comedy classic Tampopo, In 2006 WATANABE starred and executive produced Memories of Tomorrow, for which he earned an Asian Film Awards nomination for Best Actor, as well as additional Best Actor awards back at home in Japan, his most recent Japanese-speaking role in Rage was also praised by critics. WATANABE actually started his career on the stage, which he has often returned to during his successful film career. In 2016, he received a Tony award nomination for portraying the King of Siam in Lincoln Center’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I. WATANABE reprised the role in London’s West End last year, followed by its Asian tour this year. WATANABE will next be seen on the big screen in Godzilla: King of Monsters and Detective Picachu.

One of the most iconic actresses in world cinema, Joan CHEN made her film debut at the age of 14 in XIE Jin’s Youth. In 1979, CHEN won Best Actress at the Hundred Flowers Awards with her performance in Little Flower, only her second screen role. CHEN later moved to the United States to study at California State University, Northridge. During her time in the US, she landed a small role in Dim Sum and a starring role in adventure epic Tai-Pan. After her performance as Empress Wan Jung in Bernardo BERTROLUCCI’s The Last Emperor put her in the global spotlight, CHEN also wowed audiences around the world in Twin Peaks. In 1993, she returned to Chinese-language cinema with audacious and astounding performances in Temptation of a Monk and Red Rose, White Rose. The latter earned CHEN her first Golden Horse award for Best Leading Actress. In 1998, CHEN made her first foray into directing with Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, a powerful drama that won seven Golden Horse awards, including Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Film. After directing Autumn in New York in 2000, CHEN returned to acting in both Chinese and Western films. In 2007, she won both the Golden Horse and the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress for Australian drama The Home Song Stories. In the same year, she won the Asian Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Sun Also Rises. CHEN returns to the director’s chair this year with Chinese-language film English.

Briccio SANTOS is a painter, director and a writer, known for films Ala Verde, Ala Pobre (2006), Ala Suerte, Ala Muerte (2008) and Anino ng Setyemre (2007). In the mid 1970’s, after returning from Germany, he was among the first artists in the Philippines who pioneered independent filmmaking and made “Damortis.” He chaired the Film Development Council of the Philippines for six years (2010-2016) whose cultural initiative of film preservation and restoration eventually established the National Film Archives. In 2013, French President François HOLLANDE knighted Santos as Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur for his advocacy of promoting Philippine culture through cinema. Subsequently in 2016 he was given the knighthood of Ordine Della Stella D’Italia by the Italian President for promoting film culture.
He is currently the president of Film ASEAN, composed of public and private agencies for film and audiovisual industries in the ASEAN region.

Worked as a staff writer of Korean weekly film magazine Cine21 from 1995 and promoted to editor in chief since 2004. Began to serve as General Manager of Asian Film Market from 2008 to 2013. From 2013, worked as Programmer of Busan International Film Festival, in charge of Korean films.

Janet WU Yanyan has been working on feature films, TV series and co-production projects in China and the US, many of which had box office success and recognition at major international film festivals. She has also been Producer for Bright East Entertainment Inc. and Heaven Pictures Inc.
 

Jennifer JAO obtained her M.A. from University of Colorado Boulder of U.S.A. Jao was joined the Central Motion Picture Corporation (CMPC) at the management department and participated in marketing, development, production and distribution for more than 60 feature films. Jao worked as a producer of co-production Taipei Factory I & II and Torokko. Now she is also the Vice President of Asian Film Commissions Network (AFCNet), Vice Chairman and Director of Taipei Film Commission, board member of Motion Picture Development Foundation, R.O.C., Director of Taiwan Film & Culture Association and Taiwan Original Filmmakers Union, as well as advisor to Taipei Film and Drama Union.

ISHIZAKA Kenji is a film critic. He was Film Coordinator at the Japan Foundation and serves as Dean/Professor at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image (a.k.a. Imamura Shohei Film School).