Jury

Nicholas Hobley, born in 1973, started climbing in Wales at the age of 13. Despite the drizzle, he immediately knew that mountains in all their forms would define his life, though he admits that mixed climbing in Scotland is not really his thing. Half English and half South Tyrolean, he studied languages at Manchester University before moving to Padua, Italy. There, with a small group of friends, he helped found Planetmountain in 1996. At that time, the internet was still barely a concept in Italy, and Google and social media didn’t exist yet, but over the years the website has established itself as one of the most important — and now oldest — in the mountain niche. Planetmountain has participated in all the major mountain events, from the Piolet d’Or to the Rock Master in Arco and the Film Festival in Trento. Since 2022, Nicholas has been self-employed and runs the website full-time; he has translated several climbing books from Italian into English and has previously been a jury member of the Tegernsee Berg Film Festival in Germany. He now lives in Trieste with his three children and two dogs, and sport climbing and the mountains remain his great passion. Or obsession, depending on whether you ask him or his wife.

Jinna Lee has been a programmer at the Ulsan Ulju Mountain Film Festival (UMFF) since 2018. She completed her PhD in film studies at Hanyang University. Prior to joining UMFF, she worked from 2005 onwards with numerous international film festivals, including the Jeonju International Film Festival, Jecheon International Music and Film Festival, DMZ International Documentary Film Festival, Busan International Short Film Festival, and the International Intangible Heritage Film Festival. She has served as a jury member at film festivals in Indonesia, Argentina, Taiwan, Nepal, Italy, Poland, and Korea. In addition to her curatorial work at UMFF, she has programmed special selections such as “BISFF Special” at the Kalpanirjhar International Short Fiction Film Festival in India, “Cuts of BISFF” at the Jogja NETPAC Asian Film Festival in Indonesia, “UMFF Special” at KIMFF in Nepal, and “Docs Docs: Shorts! – A Postcard from UMFF: Fresh Voices, Bold Visions” at FFD in Indonesia.

Janko Humar holds a degree in economics and is an alpinist and nature enthusiast. His life – both professional and personal – has always been closely connected to nature and the mountains. He is a co-founder of the Julian Alps community and a long-standing director of destination management organizations in the Soča Valley. He still climbs in his home mountains and has taken part in smaller expeditions to the Fann Mountains, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the USA. He was also a member of an international expedition to Greenland and of the last Yugoslav expedition to Yalung Kang. He is the author of climbing, ski touring, and hiking guidebooks, contributes occasionally to Planinski vestnik magazine, and enjoys photography. His involvement in film production has mainly been as a commissioner of promotional and presentation films, working with renowned filmmakers such as Gregor Kresal, Rožle Bregar, and Laurens Bubendorfer.