Mr.Amol Palekar (Jury Chairperson) :
Born in Bombay, he attended the J.J.School of Art. He is a well known actor and director of number of well known films. He started at the Marathi experimental stage with Satyadev Dubey and later started a group 'Aniket' in 1972. He introduced theatre of the absurd in Maharashtra and a street theatre-inspired practice of performing plays in the round becoming one of the leading personalities of avant-garde theatre in India. He moved on to become one of the more popular actors in Hindi cinema in the 70s and 80s, winning 3 Filmfare Best Actor awards and 6 state film awards. He then moved on to Film Direction where he has directed over 15 Feature Films that have been feted both nationally and internationally. Amol Palekar says, 'I was an actor purely by accident, a producer by compulsion and a director by choice.' Direction clearly is his forte.

Ms.Kavitha Lankesh:
Renowned filmmaker and director is the youngest daughter of well known Kannada writer and journalist P. Lankesh. Kavitha holds a Masters in English Literature and a diploma in advertising.

She started her film career with a documentary on children's nature camp. Deveeri, a movie based on a short story by P. Lankesh, saw her debut as a feature film director. Deveeri won several State, National and International awards. She has since made 7 acclaimed feature films the latest Avva in 2008.

Mr.G.P Ramachandran:
Born in Palakkad District of Kerala he graduated in Mathematics from St Joseph's College, Calicut and got his post graduation in Malayalam Language and Literature from the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. G P Ramachandran is a film and television critic and is published regularly in the Malayalam press. His talks are broadcast through All India Radio and television channels. He has been invited several times to submit papers in different universities and colleges of the state. He has been selected as the best critic of the year (2006) at the 54th National Film Awards. He has also won numerous other State and National Awards for his writing. At present he is a member of the general council of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.

Ms.Madhusree Dutta( Jury Chairperson) :
Madhusree is a filmmaker; curator, pedagogue, researcher, producer and activist. Though visual culture is the key to her works, multi-disciplinary initiatives and multi-layered representations frame her myriad engagements. An alumni of Jadavpur University, Kolkata and National School of Drama, New Delhi . She currently lives in Mumbai. Madhusree Dutta is the founder and executive director of Majlis, a centre for rights discourse and multicultural art initiatives in Mumbai. Retrospectives of Madhusree’s works have been held in NGBK art gallery, Berlin in 2001; International women’s film festival, Trivandrum in 2005, Feminnale, Koln in 2006, Madurai Short Film Festival in 2007 and Persistent Resistance Film Festival, New Delhi in 2008. Her film ‘7 Islands and a Metro’ has the distinction to be one of the first Indian non-fiction films to be commercially released. She has served as member of the jury in various international film festivals.

Mr.Navroze Contractor:
Born and brought up in Ahmedabad, Navroze received his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art, specializing in painting and photography, from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. After graduating, he went on to pursue his interest in film direction and cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. He also studied photography under Bhupendra Karia in India and the United States, and studied cinematography with Laszlo Kovacs in the United States. Photographer, cinematographer and jazz-lover, Navroze Contractor has been the cinematographer for over 25 films which have been both nationally and internationally acclaimed. He started his career as Cinematographer in Mani Kaul’s Duvidha and has traced a path which includes cinematography, photography, writing and adventure travel.

Mr.Sadanand Menon:
Sadanand Menon writes on critical issues of politics and culture, makes photographs and creates light design for stage. He has practiced and taught radical alternatives in media, has edited interventionist journals, is deeply involved with the creation of a contemporary Indian dance, and has curated major exhibitions of visual arts. He is member, committee to restructure the National School of Drama, Delhi; member, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Advance Study, Shimla, member, Executive Committee, Lalit Kala Akademi, Delhi and Managing Trustee, SPACES, An Arts Foundation, Chennai. He is currently Adjunct Faculty at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, where he conducts courses on ‘Arts & Culture Journalism’ and ‘Photojournalism’. He has recently been awarded the 'Kesari Puraskaram' 2009, by the Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi for contribution to critical writing on arts and culture