The five film professionals charged with awarding the Regard d'or, the Grand Prize of the Fribourg International Film Festival are: Spanish filmmaker Mercedes Álvarez, Swiss producer Christian Davi, Indian producer and distributor Sunil Doshi, Moroccan filmmaker Izza Genini and Georgian filmmaker George Ovashvili. The FIFF also announces the presence of American artist Joan Logue, who will carry out an exceptional project involving video portraits of the Festival guests in collaboration with students of the Eikon.

El Cielo Gira (2004), the first feature film by Spanish filmmaker Mercedes Álvarez, has enjoyed a phenomenal success at numerous festivals, amongst which Rotterdam and Buenos Aires. She is currently completing post production on her second feature film.

Christian Davi, the co-owner of Hugofilm, has produced some of the greatest hits in Swiss cinema, such as Fredi M. Murer's Vitus, Academy Award nominee 2007 for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Pipilotti Rist's Pepperminta and Bettina Oberli's Tannöd.

Sunil Doshi belongs to the new generation of creative, open-minded Bombay film professionals. As a producer, he has released Bheja Fry (2003), a major success in India. He has distributed many Western films in his country.

Filmmaker Izza Genini is a great lover of Moroccan music, a passion that has lead her to direct a series of films on Morocco's rich musical and cultural heritage entitled "Morocco Body and Soul".

Georgian filmmaker George Ovashvili returns to the FIFF after winning last year's Regard d'or and Audience Award with his first feature film The Other Bank, which is currently enjoying a major international career and will be released in Switzerland shortly. Ovashvili is now working on a new film.

The Regard d'or

Twelve feature films are selected to compete for the Regard d'or, which is awarded by the five members of the International Jury. The Grand Prize of the Fribourg International Film Festival is endowed with CHF 30.000. The winner of the Regard d'Or of the Festival's 25th edition will be announced on Saturday, March 26 2011, during the closing ceremony.

The International Competition

The detailed programme of the FIFF's 25th edition, and notably the names of the twelve feature films selected in the International Competition will be presented during our press conference on March 2, at 10:30 AM in Fribourg. The FIFF will take place from March 19 to 26, 2011.

Joan Logue, a pioneer of video portraits

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the FIFF and Eikon, the art and multimedia department of the Fribourg Ecole des Métiers have invited American artist Joan Logue to create video portraits of the Festival's guests. A legendary video maker, Logue will do us the honour of working together with the students and holding a personal conference within the school.