••• MEET THE TEAM •••
International Jury for 2026 Edition of Praha Film Festival
Michal Baláž is a Slovak screenwriter from Humenné. He studied film directing and screenwriting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU). He is the author of screenplays for the films Láska hory prenáša, Cesta do nemožna, and the documentary True Štúr.
He currently also works as a lecturer at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.
Dániel Erdélyi is a Hungarian director who experiments with form and structure. His short 411-Z was selected for the Festival de Cannes in 2008, introducing his visually inventive style.
Erdélyi’s films often deal with perception, isolation, and the unseen forces shaping our lives.
Liza Chakanava is a Belarusian film director based in Prague. Originally she worked as a lawyer, studied international law, and later moved to Prague to study directing at FAMU. During her studies, she also completed a study stay at the Polish National Film School in Łódź. Her films have been screened at Czech and international festivals, including Northern Lights (Baltic region and Poland), ZOOM Zbliżenia (Poland), and CinEast (Luxembourg).
During her studies, Liza participated in a practical mentoring program with Béla Tarr and was also mentored by Céline Sciamma and Zuzana Kirchnerová. In her work, she focuses on themes of collective trauma and intergenerational conflicts, often with elements of fantasy and surrealism. Her graduation film "Night Games" is being developed within the MIDPOINT Shorts program and was presented at the ECAM Pitching Forum (Madrid) and at When East Meets West (Trieste).
