Introducing our Jury

2023 #06

Introducing our Jury

NIFF takes great pride in the industry excellence that does into our jury. This year we have expanded this process and brought on Christiane Seidel as our Head of Jury. Welcome!

Getting insight from these talented individuals makes the process of selecting our winners even more fun. Will the right film win?

Christiane Seidel

Based in New York, Christiane is known for her acting in series such as Netflix's THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT and HBO's BOARDWALK EMPIRE, and can currently be seen in PARADISE HIGHWAY opposite Juliette Binoche and Morgan Freeman. As the Head Jury at the 9th annual Nordic International Film Festival, she will lead the jury through international and Nordic film categories that include documentaries, short, and long film.

Christiane Seidel is an American-German-Danish actor and producer. Besides THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, PARADISE HIGHWAY, and for four seasons on BOARDWALK EMPIRE, she can be seen in Netflix’s critically acclaimed series GODLESS as well as FX’s FOSSE/VERON.

She is a partner and producer at RED ROPE PRODUCTIONS and has produced several short films that have screened at Academy qualifying and international film festivals with numerous wins. She served as the Producing Director for the SCANDINAVIAN AMERICAN THEATER COMPANY that presents award-winning Scandinavian plays in the US. In theatre, Christiane starred in the US Off-Broadway premiere of THEN SILENCE by Arne Lygre.

Jury

Daniela Ruah

Daniela Ruah is a Portuguese American TV, Film & Theatre actress and director who has been in the business for over 20 years- most notably playing Special Agent Kensi Blye on the CBS hit drama NCIS LOS ANGELES, for 14 seasons. In the last few years her directing career has bloomed, propelling her into feature film development as well.

Michelle Tesoro

Motion Picture Editor and Chicago native Michelle Tesoro, ACE’s recent works includes Netflix's hit limited series THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT, directed by Academy Award-nominated Scott Frank, for which Tesoro won the 2021 ACE Award for Best Edited Limited Series Or Motion Picture For Television. Tesoro's versatile slate also includes Netflix's Emmy-nominated series WHEN THEY SEE US, directed and produced by Ava Duvernay, Sean Penn's independent feature FLAG DAY, Focus Features' biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ON THE BASIS OF SEX, Bold Films and Participant Media's SHOT CALLER, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Netflix's Emmy-nominated series GODLESS, directed by Scott Frank and starring Emmy-winner Jeff Daniels.

Her most recent work premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival: Bradley Cooper's second directorial venture, MAESTRO, produced by Amblin and Netflix.

Danelle Eliav

Originally from Canada, Danelle Eliav is an actor, filmmaker and producer based in New York. Producing work includes Joshua Z Weinstein’s debut feature MENASHE which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Berlinale and New Directors/New Films and was released by A24. MENASHE was nominated for a Gotham Award, an Independent Spirit Award and was named one of the top ten Independent Films of 2017 by the National Board of Review.

Producing work also includes THE GREAT DARKENED DAYS (TIFF, Winner of 5 Canadian Screen Awards); THE GREAT PRETENDER (Tribeca Film Festival, Berlin Critics Week); EMOTICON ;) featuring Carol Kane and Sonia Braga; THE SHEIK, a documentary feature film about Iranian wrestling legend the Iron Sheik featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Hot Docs Film Festival). Danelle recently produced Hugo Perez’s documentary OMARA: THE LAST DIVA on Cuban singer Omara Portuondo. She is a writer on MGM's reboot of #WARGAMES and a founder of WOMEN INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS (WIP).

Samantha Soule

Samantha Soule is an actress and filmmaker. Currently her work behind the camera can be seen in the films MIDDAY BLACK MIDNIGHT BLUE, TAFFETA, SHED, TELLING TIME and BIRDWATCHING among others. As an actress she can currently be seen in OUTER BANKS, GODLESS, TALES OF THE CITY and QUEENS GAMBIT on Netflix and CITY ON A HILL for Showtime. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and an Artistic Associate of Rising Phoenix Rep Theater.

Jacob A. Ware

Jacob A. Ware is a filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. Stars in the SHUDDER horror, AN UNQUIET GRAVE, and can be seen in the Amazon series, FALLOUT (2024), from the creators of WESTWORLD. His films have been Official Selections at Tribeca Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Fantasia, Atlanta Film Festival, Garden State Film Festival, et al.

Loves short films, NIFF, and Unions.

Johan Hallström

Johan is an actor and Film Programmer that, aside from working as an actor for film, television and theater, also has a Master in Film Programming and Curating from Birkbeck, University of London. This led to a job as program assistant at the British Film Institute and their Ingmar Bergman 100 retrospective as well as Short Film Programmer at Dublin International Film Festival and many other exciting experiences within the film festival industry.

Anna Gutto

Anna Gutto's feature debut PARADISE HIGHWAY, starring Academy Award-winning actors Juliette Binoche and Morgan Freeman, premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2022 to a sold-out 8000 seat Piazza Grande. Hailed by Variety as “a singularly promising debut for a first-time feature filmmaker,” the film is distributed by Lionsgate in the US and Netflix in select international territories, where it went straight to no. 1.

Anna directed part of the first season of the Netflix success HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, and her short films have won multiple festival awards, among them Best Director and Best Ensemble Cast. Her short comedy MOMMY HEIST was broadcast by France Televisions' channel FR3 and A LUCKY MAN is an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Award recipient and is in the screening catalog of the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.

Gjermund Gjesme

Gjermund Gjesme is an actor from Oslo, Norway. He studied at The Lee Strasberg Institute, and works in theater, film, TV, stunts, and motion capture. He toured the USA with the arena stunt show Marvel Universe Live, and is a member of the New York theater company Shakespeare Downtown. In Norway he recently acted opposite Aksel Hennie in PEER GYNT.

His film and TV credits include ACAPULCO (Apple TV+), ODD MAN RUSH (Hulu), BEFOREIGNERS (HBO) NESTE SOMMER (Feelgood TV), and CADAVER (Netflix). His latest project is the Disney+ series WHAT I WAS DOING WHILE YOU WERE BREEDING - a romantic comedy shot in Iceland, set for release in 2024.

He has a background in the military and has worked as a combat instructor for NATO.

Our Award

Photo by Jason Leiva

NIFF is beyond thrilled to have Orrefors design and make the awards for our winners. With a lineage of high quality, heritage and forward thinking Scandinavian design, the collaboration between NIFF and Orrefors is a match made in heaven. Or in a hot shop.

Orrefors Glassworks was founded in 1898 on the same site where ironworks operations had been run since 1726. In the same year that the glassworks was founded, a hot shop was built for making technical, medical and household glass and stemware to make use of waste wood and labour.