Juries

Children's Jury Generation Kplus 2025

A Children's Jury with members aged 12 to 14 awards the Crystal Bears in the Generation Kplus competition. The jury members are selected by the section heads based on film questionnaires submitted the previous year.

The members of the 2025 Generation Kplus Children's Jury: .Bonnie Lou Severin, Lenja Utecht, Jim Anatol Hemmert, Madó Solís Wüst, Sergey Ivanov, Wanda Grduszak, Philipp Disselhoff.

Youth Jury Generation 14plus 2025

A Youth Jury with members aged 14 and up awards the Crystal Bears in the Generation 14plus competition. The jury members are selected by the section heads based on film questionnaires submitted the previous year.

The members of the 2025 Generation 14plus Youth Jury: Nour Ibrahim, Zeynep Atay, Tyler Kurokhtin, Jil Baalmann, Rohan Yadav.

Generation International Jury 2025

Emma Branderhorst (Netherlands)

Dutch director Emma Branderhorst has been closely associated with the Berlinale since the beginning of her career. Her short film Under the Skin premiered in the Generation section in 2020, as did Spotless two years later. The latter was awarded the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film in 2022 and competed for the Short Film Oscar as the Dutch entry. Her film Ma Mère et Moi also celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2023. Branderhorst, who studied at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht, is currently preparing her first feature-length film. She frequently directs commercials as well, for which she was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in 2024.

Aslı Özarslan (Germany)

Born in Berlin, director Aslı Özarslan first studied in Bayreuth and at the Sorbonne in Paris before beginning her studies in Documentary Film Directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. Her graduation film Dil Leyla (2016) received numerous awards. After receiving scholarships from the Academy of Arts and the Tarabya Cultural Academy in Istanbul and the Netflix Talent Workshop 2023 in Prague, her first feature film Ellbogen (Elbow) celebrated its world premiere in the Generation 14plus section of the Berlinale in 2024. Since then, the film has won various awards in Germany and abroad, including Best Literary Adaptation at the Frankfurter Buchmesse (Frankfurt Book Fair), at the Filmkunstmesse Leipzig and at other festivals in Frankfurt, Erfurt, South Korea and Marseille.

Ikoro Sekai (Canada)

Ikoro Sekai is a film curator who has been with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) since 2016, overseeing the programme for young audiences and emerging filmmakers. He is the Lead Programmer of the TIFF Next Wave Film Festival, Canada's largest festival curated for and by youth, celebrating the future of cinema. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Art History from Concordia University. Ikoro is dedicated to the intersection of art and community, using film to connect, inspire and empower youth.