Jury of 19th FilmAT Festival
Alexander V. Kammel
AUSTRIA – EUROPE
President of International Tourfilm Academy
selection of the only in the World Tourist Owl Statuette
Which film will receive the Tourist Owl statuette this year?
The International Tourfilm Academy was established in 2007 at the FilmAT Festival in Płock. From the beginning its president was Alexander V. Kammel, who has great achievements, experience and knowledge in the field of tourist and corporate film. In 2011, the selection of the film „Famadihana”, which is very valuable for science, resulted in the creation of the only Tourist Owl statuette in the world. And so every year, the Board of the International Tourfilm Academy awards a statuette to films that should serve science.
Alexander V. Kammel is creator and director of the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals CIFFT, which as the only one in the World from 35 years selects the best tourism film of the year. He is also director of the world´s biggest corporate film festival – Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards – held in Cannes, the capital of cinematography, the director of Internationale Wirtschaftsfilmtage in Vienna and also director of US International Awards in Los Angeles, USA.
Zbigniew Żmudzki
POLAND – EUROPE
President of the International and National Jury of 19th FilmAT Festival
Graduated in economy at Łódź University and in film production at Lodz Film School. His whole professional life is connected with film, he has partecipated as a film production manager in a creation of many polish famous film and television series. He is a creator of Se-ma-for Production Company, Se-ma-for Film Festival and Se-ma-for Museum. He is a producer of many famous and Worldwide awarded animated films (stop-motion animation), among others he was a Polish producer of an Oscar-winner film „Peter and a Wolf” by Sergiusz Prokofiew directed by Suzie Templeton. Zbigniew Żmudzki is a jury member of many film festivals of feature films, animations, documentaries as well as tourism and corporate films.
Jury Members in alphabetical order
Elizete De Azevedo Kreutz
BRASIL – SOUTH AMERICA
Graduated and post graduate in Languages Portuguese/English and (Univates/Brazil). PhD and an MA in Social Communication (PUCRS/Brazil) and post-doc in: Multimodal Discourse of Mutant Brands (UnB/Brazil), Narrative Dimensions of Mutant Brands (UWL/London/UK), Brand Transparency (UAlicante/Spain) and Advertising in Contemporaneity (PUC/Chile). She was professor and researcher at Univates in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and she’s an invited fellow of other national and international institutions (BrandScience: Chair of the Corporate Brand of University of Alicante, Spain; Discourses in the Social Practices at the University of Brasilia, Brazil; Organizational Communication, Culture and Power Relations at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; and Marketing at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil). Coordinator of the International Branding & Business MBA. Director of Marcas Mutantes Consultoria and founder member and president of the Observatório de Marcas.
Daghan Celayir
TURKIYE – EUROPE/ASIA
Daghan Celayir studied visual arts, public relations, and cinema, earning the UNESCO Artist in Residency Prize, which took him to Bundanon, Australia. In 2008, he directed „The One Note Man”, supported by Turkey’s Ministry of Culture. Screened at 82 festivals, including Rotterdam and Angers, it won 28 awards, such as the Jury Prize at the 53rd Valladolid IFF and Best Film at the 32nd Cine de Elche IFF. The film aired internationally on Canal Plus, PBS, NBC, and more. In 2013, his co-directed short animation, A Cup of Turkish Coffee—a French-Turkish production—won Best Short Film at the 51st Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and the 59th Valladolid IFF.
Daghan is known for his visually rich storytelling and technical expertise. His first commercial, „Time Run” for Red Bull International, was part of the „World of Red Bull” campaign aired globally, including during the 2012 Super Bowl. In 2017, his tourism film „Home of Turquoise” for Turkish Airlines was named the world’s best tourism film by the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals, winning 23 awards, including 9 Grand Prix. Viewed over 95 million times, it aired across major US and EU channels. His fashion film „The Universe” won Best National Fashion Film at the Istanbul Fashion Film Festival and competed in Berlin and Los Angeles.
In recent years, Daghan directed „Istanbulls” for Red Bull, the brand’s most-watched content in 35 years, and „100th Years of Turkish Economy” for Vakıf Katılım, earning awards at the New York Film Festivals (2024), The US International Awards (2024), and Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards (2024). He also collaborated on orchestral recordings with Oscar-nominated composers.
Currently, Daghan is developing feature films and series, including „If Pope Knew” (a French-Turkish production), „Ghetto Drifters”, „Lycian Way”, and the dark comedy series „Kebabman”. A jury member for the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards in 2021 and 2022, Daghan continues to push creative boundaries in film and advertising.
Nikolay Kostov
BULGARIA – EUROPE
Nikolay Kostov is a Counsellor at the Bulgarian Embassy and has been heading the National Tourism Representation within the Embassy since March 2021.
Between 1990 and 1995, he studied at the Faculty of Foreign Trade of the Warsaw School of Economics. In 1996, he began working for the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation in Sofia with responsibility for relations with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. From 2002 he worked for another 5 years as Commercial Counsellor of the Bulgarian Embassy in Warsaw.In 2019, he took up the position of Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Tourism Investment at the Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria.
As director of the Bulgarian National Tourist Representation, he is responsible for promoting Bulgaria as a safe year-round tourist destination, facilitating relations between Bulgarian and Polish tourism companies, organising conferences, seminars and other meetings to present the potential of Bulgarian tourism, and maintaining direct contacts with tourism industry representatives, the media and tourists.
Nikolay Kostov was included in the list of the 100 most influential people in Polish tourism 2022 and 2023, as well as being awarded the badge of honour „For services to tourism” by the Minister of Sport and Tourism in 2023.
Magdalena Krucz
POLAND – EUROPE
Since July 2021 Magdalena Krucz has been the director of the Marketing Department of the Polish Tourist Organization. Previously, she headed the PTO International Office in Moscow. For many years she has been associated with the tourism industry, she worked in travel agencies and organized business events in Poland. Her specialty is the organization of large promotional projects. Magdalena Krucz has graduated in Tourism and Recreation at the Almamer University of Economics in Warsaw. She was awarded the honorary badge of the Minister of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland – „For merits for tourism”.
Agnieszka Pyla
POLAND – EUROPE
A philologist by education, professionally involved in territorial marketing. For several years associated with the Liszki Commune Office, where she is responsible for promotion. Its creative promotional activities meant that the Liszki Commune is indicated as an example of effective building a place brand. As the originator of films promoting the Liszki commune, she proved that success is determined by an idea and non-standard approach, not a high budget. The latest production of „Liszki – I’m from here” was very well received by critics all over the world, which is confirmed by numerous awards and distinctions at the most prestigious tourist film festivals in the around the world. I am not surprised by these victories. All promotional materials that Agnieszka Pyla – the head of the Promotion – directs to the whole of Poland and the world are of a high standard. She is able to implement very thoughtful activities promoting her little homeland. Proud of the value of the heritage of the Liszki Commune, she is able to intelligently, and most importantly effectively, emphasize its contribution to the heritage of Poland and the world.