Jury

Our Jury 2025

With only two film credits under his belt as a special effects artist in the late 80’s and early 90’s, Geoff Scott turned to television production as a freelance producer having already worked in staging at CBC, as a master control operator with Knowledge Network, and a freelance producer with Shaw Cable TV.

In 2005/06, while winding down his career as head of post production at Columbia Academy in Vancouver, Mr. Scott founded Tri-Cities Community TV in order to give his students the opportunity to produce programming and receive production credits for broadcast TV productions.

Ahoo Kheradmand is a distinguished and enduring figure in Iranian performing arts, nurtured in the world of theater. She began her acting career as a teenager on stage and has continued her artistic journey with quiet perseverance across cinema, theater, television, painting, and literary translation.

A permanent member of the Cinema House Academy’s jury, Ahoo Kheradmand has been nominated several times for Best Actress at international festivals such as Fajr and the Cinema House Celebration, and she received the Best Actress award at the City Film Festival.

Despite being away from Iranian cinema for many years, she continues to pursue her artistic path through painting and translation. Ahoo Kheradmand currently resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Panah Rezaee is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian filmmaker celebrated for his poetic and visu ally refined cinema. A graduate of Tehran Soureh University, he has built an international reputation with films that weave together art, humanitarian themes, and innovative storytelling. His works have been showcased and praised by Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and major festivals worldwide.

His debut feature, A Light in the Fog (2008), brought him global recognition, winning the Golden Aphrodite in Bulgaria and multiple awards at the Kazan International Film Festival, along with nominations at CPH PIX (Denmark), Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Australia), and Pusan (Korea). He followed with Daughter… Father… Daughter (2011), recipient of the Grand Prix at the Shaken Stars Festival in Kazakhstan and major awards in Iran and Italy. His third feature, A Cradle for Mother (2013), earned the NETPAC Award in Moscow and top honors at Iran’s Fajr International Film Festival.

Rezaee’s short The Old Man and the Rail (2007) was selected at Clermont-Ferrand, one of the world’s most prestigious short film festivals. His documentary Eyes and Arms (2020) won prizes at Hot Docs (Canada) and Oslo (Norway).

Founder of Panah Film Productions, he is currently developing his next feature in Vancouver.

As an actor James has had the privilege of participating in various productions, including Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” ABC’s “When We Rise,” CBS’s “Salvation,” Hallmark’s “Wedding Bells,” and Discovery Channel’s “Outrageous Births.” Notably, he played the Gargoyle King in CW’s season 3 of Riverdale and appeared in other roles such as Owen in “Owen and Drew,” Mike in “Peelers,” and Mike in “A Midwinter Nightmare.” He also played Dennis in “Young Single & Black” And Jeff in a short film called “Evergreen”. James’ theatrical repertoire includes performances in iconic works such as Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” and “Three Sisters,” Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” Jane

Austen’s “Emma,” and Alan Ayckbourn’s “Relatively Speaking.” He had the privilege of

performing at the Havana Theatre in independent successes like “Don’t Forget Your Pants” and “Feelings In the Window.” Furthermore, he toured with Shakespeare Canada in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and won the Audience Vote at the About Love festival for my role in “Carrots Baby.” He also played Joey in “A Steady Rain,” a gripping two-character play by Keith Huff. most recently played the Phillip in “Orphans” a high voltage dark comedy by Lyle Kessler & lead role of Kinnan in “The Duelist” & “Artist Revolution” for the 2023 & 2024 Vancouver Fringe Festival.