Jury 2026

Sarah vanagt

Born in 1976, Sarah Vanagt lives and works in Brussels. She studied History at the Universities of Antwerp, Sussex and Groningen, before pursuing film studies at the National Film and Television School in the United Kingdom. She subsequently developed a multidisciplinary practice encompassing documentary filmmaking, photography and video installation. Her work combines historical reflection with cinematic research, focusing particularly on memory, traces and childhood, often in territories marked by conflict, notably in Africa. In 2019, she was featured at the 18th edition of the BAFF with her short film 'Divinations'.

Thierry Smits

Thierry Smits is one of the leading figures in Belgian contemporary dance. Through more than thirty creations since the founding of Thor in 1990, he has relentlessly explored the relationship with the body — as a body of desire and pleasure, but also of finitude. Today, more than ever, he considers the body as a deeply political space, “the only territory of freedom we have left.” His work was awarded the SACD-Belgium Prize in 1995 and the Océ Performing Arts Prize of the French Community of Belgium in 1998 for 'Corps(e)'. In 'Bare', he is followed by Aleksandr M. Vinogradov during the creation of his performance 'Anima Ardens' (“Burning Soul”). The film was screened at the BAFF in 2021.

SOURAYA BAGHDADI

Souraya Baghdadi, actress, dancer and choreographer born in Beirut, began her career with the Caracalla company in 1975. In 1981, she crossed paths with Maroun Baghdadi against the backdrop of the Lebanese civil war, taking on the lead role in his film Petites Guerres, selected for the Cannes Film Festival. The couple moved to Paris in 1984, where she devoted herself to contemporary dance, founded the Centre de Danses Orientales and staged several productions with the troupe Bûrak & Cie. In 2025, we discover her in front of Nicolas Khoury's camera in Souraya Mon Amour, a documentary that invites us, through archives and conversations, to dive with Souraya into her past and into her relationship with Maroun.

PIERRE(s)

Pierre Leroy is a Belgian multidisciplinary artist. He studied piano at a music academy before discovering the guitar as a teenager. In 2019, he created his solo project, 'Pierres', and was selected as a finalist for the F. dans le Texte and Francofaune competitions that same year. His two albums have taken him to perform in France, Switzerland and, most recently, Canada. In 2026, he performs, sings and dances in Camille Déjean’s musical 'Fantômes Fantasmes', for which he composed and wrote the songs. In 2024, the short film 'Une Journée dans la vie de Pierres', directed by Alice Khol, which he co-wrote and in which he plays the lead role, was officially selected for six festivals, including the BAFF.