Anne Gaschütz
Director of FILMFEST DRESDEN
Anne Gaschütz, festival director and programmer, grew up in Dresden, Germany before she moved to England in 2002 and later studied Film in Wales. Upon returning to her home town, she experienced all of the stages in film production at the Dresden-based production company filoufilm. Since then, she has worked as a production assistant and production manager on numerous short film projects. She joined FILMFEST DRESDEN – International Short Film Festival in 2013 as part of the International Selection Committee, became the festival’s co-director in July 2020 and its director in June 2024. In 2021 she became a member of the Pardi di domani Selection Committee at Locarno Film Festival. She is also one of the initiators of Talking Shorts, an online platform that focuses on short film criticism, and a member of the European Film Academy.
Phil Ox
Director and Producer
Phil Ox began as a film critic for 7 à Paris, Rock & Folk in France, and international magazines Details and 20/20, before becoming a director and producer for Canal+’s innovative CNET, the BBC, Channel 4, and MTV. He is also a Film & Television Sales Agent for Luckymatrix and ProduThing, representing projects such as HBO Max’s Oxygen Masks Will Not Drop Automatically and European and world cinema titles, including the 2025 Oscar entry In the Arms of the Tree. Born in Casablanca, Morocco, and of French, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese origin, Phil is a polyglot with a flair for storytelling, technology, and cross-cultural collaboration.
Nawaf Al Janahi
Emirati Actor and a Film Director
He started acting at 7, and at the age of 19 moved to California in the US to study the arts of cinema.
Al Janahi’s first feature length film “The Circle” was described by film critics as “a major turning point in Emirati and Gulf cinema”. Beside making films, Nawaf Al Janahi is also the founder of several film initiatives, including the Emirati Cinema Campaign, Black Box Cinema, and Cineolio.
He previously held a few official positions, including the Arab Program Manager at Dubai International Film Festival, the Competition Manager at Gulf Film Festival, he participated in many jury committees of film festivals around the world, most notably of which are Abu Dhabi Film Festival in the UAE, Ismailia International Film Festival in Egypt, and Chicago International Film Festival in the US.